Testing in educational system perform a number of functions, the results from a test can be used to make a number of decisions in education. It is therefore well accepted in the education literature that, testing is an important element of education. To effectively utilize the tests in educational policies and quality assurance its validity and reliability estimates are necessary. There are two generally acceptable frameworks used in evaluating the quality of test in educational and psychological measurements, these are; Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). The estimates of test items validity and reliability depend on a particular measurement model used. It is vital for a test developer to be familiar with the different test development and item analysis methods in order to facilitate the development of a new test. The CTT is a traditional approach which was widely criticise in the measurement community for its shortcomings such as sample dependency of coefficient measures and estimates of measurement error. However, the IRT is a modern approach which provides solutions to most of the CTT"s identified shortcomings. This paper therefore, provides a comprehensive overview of the IRT and its procedures as applied to test item development and analysis. The paper concludes with some suggestions for test developers and test specialists at all levels to adopt IRT for its identified crucial theoretical and empirical gains over CTT. IRT based parameter estimates should be superior and reliable than CTT based parameter estimates. With these features, IRT can help resolve the problems associated with test design based on CTT Keyword:Classical Test Theory Item Response Theory Reliability Validity

Related previous studies have recognized service learning ability to im-prove students’ generic skills during the service learning projects, however strategies for implementing and evaluating the effects of service learning on students’ generic skills in online environment remain limited. Therefore, this study conducted to identify what are the generic skills mentioned in students’ reflections, the differences when the responses compare to stu-dents’ performance in the course, and to analyze students’ perception to-wards the integration of e-Service Learning platform. A learning environ-ment was created using face-to-face with integration of online delivery of service learning. By the end of the course, thirty-five students were required to reflect upon their learning process while using the e-Service Learning platform. Results showed that the design of the learning environment was effective in promoting the development of these generic skills such as Global Citizen, Scholarship, Adaptability and Teamworking. The major contribution of this study is that generic skills can be promoted through the hybrid strategy of service learning that combine both face-to-face and online delivery. Academic success is strengthened both via the use of tech-nologies as well as through the implementation of experiential learning op-portunities such as service learning.

Research-support librarians have to play an effective role in supporting learning, providing services and anticipating the requirements of academic researchers. However, previous studies revealed that these librarians lacked the competencies to keep abreast of new resources, services and technologies. Although there is a large body of literature discussing the comprehensive competencies required of research-support librarians, very few have attempted to investigate this issue in the Malaysian context. Based on this situation, this study attempts to investigate the self-directed learning traits and competencies of research-support librarians in Malaysian public universities. This study also aims to identify the influence of self-directed learning on competencies. A total of 215 research-support librarians from Malaysian public universities were selected. The findings revealed that the competencies of these librarians are still at medium level. The most noticeable and lowest competency was in information technology skills, followed by research and contributions to the profession and library management. The most prevalent competencies were interpersonal skills, followed by information literacy, entrepreneurialism, foundational knowledge and collections development.

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<span>Social-emotional competencies have been established as important predictors in children’s mental health, school readiness and academic success. Age and developmentally appropriate screening for preschool children is important for early detection of developmental delays and early intervention. The purpose of this study is to measure preschool children’s social emotional competencies (SEC) based on the Malaysian context using the Preschool Social Emotional Competency Inventory (P-SECI) developed to provide parents, teachers and childcare professionals with a standardized, norm-referenced, reliable and valid instrument.  A pool of 50 items were created for P-SECI, representing eight clusters of social emotional competencies in children: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship management, attachment, communication, responsible decision making and pro-social skills. This pilot study involved two public Annex preschools in Johor Bahru, purposely selected with 49 preschool children as respondents. Results showed that P-SECI has a high reliability index (Alpha Cronbach-Teachers .98 and Parents .95). Initial findings also showed that Teachers and Parents differ in their evaluation of their children’s SEC according to age and gender. But for the age criteria, the mean difference is slightly wider in comparison to gender. Therefore, P-SECI is relevant in predicting children’s mental health, school readiness and academic achievement. Results from the study also showed that the inventory holds promise as a reliable and valid instrument to evaluate SEC in young children according to the <br /> Malaysian context.</span>