This study investigated the current level of awareness on diversity-related issues and its relations to diversity climate and global-mindedness of students and lecturers in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions. A total of 615 students from various private and public universities, polytechnics and community colleges participated in the survey. They comprised Chinese, Malay, Indians and others. The Diversity Climate Survey and the Global Mindedness Scale by J. E. Hett were used and the analysis was conducted using ANOVA and Bivariate Correlational Analysis. The construct reliability for both tests ranged between .86 and .90 and .58 and .76 for Diversity Climate and Global Mindedness respectively. Results indicated that differences were found in the perceptions of diversity climate and levels of global mindedness in terms of gender, ethnicity and types of institution. Overall, the Malaysian Higher Education Institutions have reported a moderate climate in diversity and a low level of global-mindedness. In terms of ethnicity, there was a significant difference in students' perception of Diversity Climate and Global Mindedness. A broader scope of knowledge and awareness on learner diversity is needed to ensure sustainable development of our higher education institutions.
Situated in the first stage of Lewin’s Change Management Model (Lewin, 1947), this study examined the strategic communication plan needed to enable Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to embrace learner diversity via diversity engagement. Participants were 56 academics from 14 public and two private universities in Malaysia who attended the Learner Diversity training module at the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) between the periods from 2014 to 2015. During the training sessions, participants were asked to diagnose the existing communication strategies of their respective universities that concerned learner diversity, and to suggest ways to fulfill the mission of driving diversity in their respective universities. Each participant wrote three series of reflective writings and these created a total database of 168 reflective notes. The data were analyzed using the six phases of thematic analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). The findings have identified three main themes for a strategic communication planning approach: (1) re-examining the institutional mission statement on inclusive diversity practices, (2) changing the mindset of academe, and (3) starting with small steps when introducing change in embracing learner diversity. This study served as one of the baseline studies conducted at the national level to comprehend the potential of a strategic communication planning process in HEIs from the perspectives of employees.
Objective - The main objective is to examine the experience using a hauntological approach during an online learning phase on fresh undergraduates during the pandemic and to determine undergraduates’ Academic Identity Status (AIS) and awareness of Communities of practice (COP). Methodology - The respondents are 34 first-year undergraduate students at the university via mixed methods that comprised of classroom observations, online questionnaires, and online interviews. Findings –The results show that respondents were not ready to embrace heutagogy and virtual learning affected the respondents’ academic identity status and their awareness of their Community of Practice (COP) Novelty - The paper addresses new findings in experiences of using a hauntological approach during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on academic identity status and COP awareness. The implication of this study suggests the need to develop a conceptual framework for a hauntological approach that could be accustomed to a large classroom and a virtual platform. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: I23, I29 Keywords: Pandemic; online learning; Academic Identity Status; Communities of Practice; Heutagogy. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mumin, M.A; Valdez, N.P. (2023). Managing Heutagogy during COVID-19 Pandemic via Virtual Learning and its impact on Academic Identity Status and Communities of Practice (COP), J. Mgt. Mkt. Review, 8(1), 45 – 62. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2023.8.1(6)
In August 2021, marked a new semester for all universities in Brunei. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks into the semester, Brunei academic institution was forced to resort to full on-line learning due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. This prompted a study on thirty- four first year students' who just started to call themselves undergraduates. The objective was to uncover the participants' learning and academic preparedness of facing university-level of online learning for the first time as higher education students that constitutes their idea on their academic identity status and awareness of their community of practice (COP). All these could signify heutagogical elements in their learning in tertiary education. Due to the pandemic constraints, this mixed-method study utilized online questionnaire and virtual interviews for data collection. Qualitative analysis with the use of NVivo was used to gather common themes and build research findings using Academic Identity Status Measure (AIM) (Was and Isaacson, 2008;Ireri, Wawire, Mugambi and Mwangi, 2015; Kroger, Martinusen & Marcia, 2009), Lave & Wenger (1991) for COP and following Blaschke, 2012 ; Blaschke & Hase, 2021, for heutagogical element analysis. The participants were expected to cope well as they barely have other worldly commitments such as work and children, and this was their second experience with online learning. However, the data showed majority of the participants reported feelings of demotivation and a sense of detachment of academic identity hence failing to feel the sense of belonging in their Community of Practice (COP). Evidence showed that majority of the participants seemed to still be dependent on their teachers (andragogy), showed little to no evidence of moving towards independent learning and seemingly reluctant to change their learning behaviour regardless their newly acquired status as undergraduates. Participants who prosper academically during the pandemic however, showed evidence of a sense of resilience and acceptance to change, following the new academic norm. Regardless, the findings, it was apparent that heutagogical evidence in learning was nowhere to be found.
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