A Study on Digital Natives’ Reading Trends and Preferences in Malaysia (Published)
In the wake of a rapidly growing generation of digital natives, educators face greater challenges of identifying, understanding and acknowledging their learning habits, interests and preferences, let alone teaching them. The current study aims at investigating the reading trends and preferences of digital natives in higher education in Malaysia and more particularly Engineering and Management students. It has conducted a survey among Engineering and Management undergraduates of various ethnic, cultural, linguistic and geographical backgrounds at a Malaysian university while highlighting their preferences of a) types of reading materials, b) reading frequency, c) reading topics, d) reading habits, e) reading reasons and f) vocabulary learning strategies for reading. The findings have reported that digital natives are avid and frequent readers, with a constant consumption of all sorts of social media content, who prefer reading for more information and current affairs, fun and pleasure or even for personal development.
Keywords: Higher Education, Reading Habits, digital natives, millennial learners, reading preferences, reading trends
Women Participation in Higher Secondary Education in Bangladesh (Published)
Formal education is a fulcrum of sustainable development. Education allows individuals to develop within their community and country, and allows nations to compete and survive in the global economy. Education plays a critical role in fostering basic intellectual abilities, expanding further educational opportunities that are vital to success in a world where power is closely linked with knowledge. Education is the nourishment of the mind with knowledge and as such it helps in the formation of an integrated personality of an individual. Education has a special significance in the context of a quasi-traditional or transitional society like Bangladesh. In this paper I shall try to delineate the picture of women participation in higher secondary education in Bangladesh. I shall also mention the necessity and factors responsible for women participation in higher education. From the analysis it is observed that there is a skyward trend for the female passed students that lead to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Keywords: Higher Education, Higher Secondary Education, Knowledge, Millennium Development Goals (MDGS), Women, Women Education
Students’ Life Goals, Their Awareness Category and Cognizance on the Benefits of Higher Education (Published)
This study aims to determine the level of participants’ perception on the different life goals. This paper would like to investigate also the level of participants’ awareness on the benefits of higher education, and the most dominant category of their awareness are also be looked into in this paper. The descriptive design of research was utilized in this investigative work. The survey checklist form was administered to the students who are enrolled in the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016 in one of the private colleges in Muscat, Oman. The findings of the study declared that the participants’ goals in life like career, pleasure, and public service are reasonably important while their family is important only at some extent. Furthermore, knowledge on the benefits of higher education is at a reasonable extent and they are aware that they could develop their skills through higher education. It is also learned that mastery is the most dominant category of their awareness level and followed by experience category. This finding leads the researchers to conclude that these group of participants had a liberal perception. It is delightfully found that they are judiciously aware on what higher education could contribute to their life as they continue to grow in the field of their forthcoming professions. Moreover, the category of their awareness level when wisely utilized coupled with their experiences could pave the way and lead them towards their brighter future.
Keywords: Awareness Category, Benefits, Higher Education, Life Goals
Graduate Employment Type In Relation To Areas of Specialisation: A Case Study of a Selected Higher Learning Institution in Botswana (Published)
The purpose of this paper was to determine whether graduates of a selected higher learning institution (HLI) in Botswana got jobs in their areas of specialisation. The issue of graduates who are not employed in their field of specialisation has gained prominence in national debates world over. The mismatch between graduate employment types in relation to graduates’ fields of specialisation has created a dichotomy which has generated growing interest for governments, ministries of education, regulatory authorities, institutions of higher learning, industry, students, and parents at large. With a bigger chunk of the national fiscus in Botswana going to funding education, the dichotomy has turned into an issue of national interest. The study employed the case study research design while the research approach was quantitative. Survey strategy was used for data collection. This study’s target population was all former full time students at the selected HLI in Botswana who graduated between 2007 and 2014. Since the study was a quantitative one, convenient sampling procedure was adopted. The sample size adopted for this study was 250. The study revealed that across gender, more graduates were employed in their fields of expertise when compared to those employed in fields they did not specialise in. Gender-wise, there were more female graduates employed in areas of expertise when compared to male graduates.
Keywords: Higher Education, Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), graduate employability, graduates
Graduate Employment Type In Relation To Areas of Specialization: A Case Study of a Selected Higher Learning Institution in Botswana (Published)
The purpose of this paper was to determine whether graduates of a selected higher learning institution (HLI) in Botswana got jobs in their areas o specialisation. The issue of graduates who are not employed in their field of specialization has gained prominence in national debates world over. The mismatch between graduate employment types in relation to graduates’ fields of specialization has created a dichotomy which has generated growing interest for governments, ministries of education, regulatory authorities, and institutions of higher learning, industry, students, and parents at large. With a bigger chunk of the national fiscus in Botswana going to funding education, the dichotomy has turned into an issue of national interest. The study employed the case study research design while the research approach was quantitative. Survey strategy was used for data collection. This study’s target population was all former full time students at the selected HLI in Botswana who graduated between 2007 and 2014. Since the study was a quantitative one, convenient sampling procedure was adopted. The sample size adopted for this study was 250. The study revealed that across gender, more graduates were employed in their fields of expertise when compared to those employed in fields they did not specialize in. Gender-wise, there were more female graduates employed in areas of expertise when compared to male graduates.
Keywords: Higher Education, Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), graduate employability, graduates
ESSAY OR FORCED-CHOICE TESTS? FACTORS DETERMINING INSTRUCTORS’ PREFERENCES IN DESIGNING TESTS FOR CORE CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS IN THE COLLEGE OF BASIC EDUCATION IN KUWAIT (Published)
This research aims at exploring the factors determining instructors’ preferences in designing tests for Core Curriculum required courses at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait. For this purpose, a sample of 120 instructors was randomly chosen from a population consisting of 500 instructors teaching the Core Curriculum Program in the CBE. The sample of instructors responded to a 21-statement questionnaire. Furthermore, a sample of 12 instructors, selected randomly from the population, was interviewed. The results of the study were based on the instructors’ response to a questionnaire and the interview related to two Core Curriculum required courses (Science Education and Kuwait and Development) which fairly represent the Core Curriculum Program at CBE. The study has shown that the main factors determining the choice of one test over the other are external to the processes and steps used in test design, like the class size and the amount of time consumed in designing and scoring the tests. Such factors were prioritized by instructors mainly because of special circumstances related to CBE’s admission policies of accepting a large number of students without strategically planning for proper teacher-student ratio. The study also showed that the tests were limited to the lower-order thinking skills, knowledge, comprehension and retrieval of information, a shortcoming attributed to the course designers who limited the learning objectives to the lower levels of thinking.
Keywords: Curriculum, Education, Higher Education, Testing, essay tests, forced-choice tests
TEACHING RESEARCH WRITING TO FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES IN SAUDI ARABIA (Published)
Female undergraduate students and their teachers in the Department of Science at Najran University, Saudi Arabia face many challenges when it comes to producing high-quality academic writing, such as gaining access to the knowledge-based resources required for academic writing, learning the conventions used in academic writing, and acquiring and applying knowledge and skill sets within different contexts. The results suggest that the primary concerns for addressing the challenges are aligning the views of the students and teachers on the potential problems of essay writing and integrating academic-writing skills and practices into the curriculum through informal activities. To improve the teaching and practice of academic writing at Najran University, short essay assignments and literature reviews could be incorporated into existing courses, and a new intensive course on academic reading and writing could be established. Any strategy should, however, consider the value and impact of the proposed measures and the whole scope of problems faced by the students.
Keywords: Academic Writing, Higher Education, Self-learning, Teaching practices, Undergraduates, Writing essays
TEACHING RESEARCH WRITING TO FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES IN SAUDI ARABIA (Review Completed - Accepted)
Female undergraduate students and their teachers in the Department of Science at Najran University, Saudi Arabia face many challenges when it comes to producing high-quality academic writing, such as gaining access to the knowledge-based resources required for academic writing, learning the conventions used in academic writing, and acquiring and applying knowledge and skill sets within different contexts. The results suggest that the primary concerns for addressing the challenges are aligning the views of the students and teachers on the potential problems of essay writing and integrating academic-writing skills and practices into the curriculum through informal activities. To improve the teaching and practice of academic writing at Najran University, short essay assignments and literature reviews could be incorporated into existing courses, and a new intensive course on academic reading and writing could be established. Any strategy should, however, consider the value and impact of the proposed measures and the whole scope of problems faced by the students
Keywords: Academic Writing, Higher Education, Self-learning, Teaching practices, Undergraduates, Writing essays
GENDER AND PROMOTIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA, GHANA (Published)
This study focuses on the experiences of faculty members about the systems of promotions at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. Eight (8) senior members were interviewed comprising of four (4) female senior lecturers, two (2) male senior lecturers and two (2) senior administrative staff using a semi structured interview guide. Policy documents governing promotions, annual reports and other institutional publications were examined and analyzed as well as disaggregated statistics on promotions for senior members at the University of Education, Winneba. The findings reveal that even though there are no separate criteria for promotions for female senior members of the University, it seems that female faculty faces unparallel challenges more than the males when it comes to promotions, which the respondents attributed to existence of institutional policies/practices that works to disadvantage women. In effect there are variations in the experiences of female and male faculty members regarding promotions in academia.The study recommended that the criteria for promotion should be reviewed to give serious considerations to the weighting of teaching, vis-à-vis research, in promotion, merit increment, and tenure decisions.
Keywords: Gender Equality, Higher Education, Promotions
Learning, Self –Efficacy and Student Course Experience: Focus on Higher Education (Published)
This study is based on the research conducted at the Higher Institution. Every country in the world want to flourished economically, peacefully, educationally, socially, politically and after all a healthy educated population. The main purpose of this study is to seek academic understanding of the pivotal role which learning, self efficacy and student course experience play in accessing, learning, understanding student own perspective in viewing learning environment and courses in Higher Education field. This current study is based on quantitative analysis methodology. Research method used was cross sectional research method. Participants in this study were second year University of the Free State students (all participants were psychology students). Twenty five participants were invited on their availability (availability sample). Six male students and nineteen female students participated. The average age of the male participants was 24.3, whilst the female was 21.2. The value of this research is that it is multidisciplinary, and takes into account the plight of the student population learning experience and their psychological well-being “self efficacy” into consideration. A positive result concerning student perspective was positive it shall be reflected and discussed in detailed in the section of results and discussion in this same paper
Keywords: Higher Education, Learning, Self-Efficacy, Student Experience