Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance in Malaysian Online Distance Learning Institutions

Osman, Zahir; Mohamad, Wardah; Mohamad, Ratna Khuzaimah; Mohamad, Liana; Sulaiman, Tuan Fatma Tuan

doi:10.21315/apjee2018.33.2

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Institutional support in designing and providing infrastructure and technology is also recognised as critical for transition to enhanced BL (e.g. Graham et al, 2013;Adekola et al, 2017;Mohd Fadzil, 2020;Osman et al, 2018;Tang & Intai, 2017). Similarly, the 'support' category in Graham et al's BL Adoption Framework includes institutional implementation and maintenance of its BL design, technical and pedagogical support staff, and for staff incentives (Graham et al, 2013).…”

Section: Infrastructure and Relevant Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic Staff’s Perspective on Blended Learning Practices in Higher Education Post COVID-19: A Case Study of a Singaporean University

Azizan¹,

Lee²,

Crosling³

et al. 2022

APJEE

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The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 saw the rapid adoption of fully online higher education (HE) academic programmes across the world. With the likely post-pandemic return to on-campus education, online learning in some form is expected to continue. It is apparent also that globally, students’ mindsets about online learning have changed during the pandemic period. It is thus timely to investigate the potential of blended learning (BL), a hybrid form of online and faceto-face education, as a pedagogical approach for HE in the future worldwide. As academic staff are instrumental in implementing effective HE pedagogical approaches, this study explored the academic staff’s views and practices with BL. The study implemented the qualitative case study approach, and the in-depth interview method was applied with eight academic staff representing different departments in a Singaporean higher education institution. Thematic analysis on the qualitative data gathered in accordance with the study’s foci elicited inputs about the academic staff’s BL understandings, usage and impacts, as well as challenges and suggestions for enhancing BL in HE. The findings revealed the academic staff’s positive BL perceptions, sound understandings, and strong experience with various digital tools. From this sound foundation, the staff interviewees made suggestions for developing effective BL practices which apply for HE in the future. The study’s important implication is that the findings are relevant and valuable in the situation where, post the pandemic, HE adjusts for students return to campuses where BL is likely to replace the face-to-face education. Importantly, these suggestions form the elements of a BL ecosystem that includes policy, infrastructure, training and evaluation and demonstrates flexibility for the ecosystem’s application to both the Singaporean context and to effective HE BL design globally post the pandemic.

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Section: Infrastructure and Relevant Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic Staff’s Perspective on Blended Learning Practices in Higher Education Post COVID-19: A Case Study of a Singaporean University

Azizan¹,

Lee²,

Crosling³

et al. 2022

APJEE

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“…Various studies have shown mixed results on the relationship between academic performance with critical predictive factors of online learning such as satisfaction, self-efficacy, social interactive engagement, and environment. Recent local studies (Lilian et al, 2021;Azzieatul & Lai, 2021;Karim et al, 2021;Zahir et al, 2018) have suggested a positive relationship between academic achievement and online learning readiness. Most of these studies showed optimistic narratives of student readiness that had a positive impact on their performance, which coincidentally, was based on perceived academic performance.…”

Section: Academic Performance With Predictive Factors For Effective O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dichotomization of Objective and Subjective Outcome Measures of Academic Performance in an Online Learning Environment

Singh

Anthonysamy

2023

Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction

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Purpose – Various recent studies are perplexed with the situation if subjective measures such as perceptions of learning reflect knowledge gains and whether they can be used as a surrogate for evidence of actual learning in an online learning environment. Due to a rising trend in current research studies interpreting perceptions of learning compared to actual learning as a measure of success, this study investigates the dichotomous measures of objective and subjective measures of academic performance in an online learning environment with selected predicted variables. This is followed by an investigation on the effect of online learning on students’ academic performance prior to and during the Covid environment. Methodology – This cross-sectional study employed a correlation design for the purpose of data collection among 382 universitystudents. The dependent variable of study comprised objective measures of CGPA scores while the subjective measures was basedon a composite score from perceived items in a questionnaire. The predictive independent variables included, i) satisfaction towardsonline learning, ii) online learning self-efficacy, iii) social interactive engagement in online learning, and iv) online learning environment. Findings – The findings showed an extremely weak and nonsignificant relationship between actual academic performance(GPA) and perceived academic performance in an online learning environment. A statistically significant increase was notable instudents’ academic performance through GPA scores before and during Covid-19 academic semester and this increase was prevalentamong low and intermediate achievers. Apart from environment, all other predictors were significant predictors of perceived academic performance. Engagement was a predictor for the subjective measure of CGPA scores. Significance – Subjective measures data should not be considered as knowledge gain, and it should be used cautiously as a surrogatefor evidence of actual learning. Educational research studies should be designed using more objective measures of learning ratherthan subjective measures in isolation as dependent variable. This should be seen as a caveat by policymakers in decision-making topractise consciousness in terms of judgemental modes employed in measurement and to exercise caution in collecting, analysing, andinterpreting subjective data.

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“…This surge is contributed by the advancement of learning technologies and the shift towards 21st century learning (Miller, 2018). Prior to this, the use of e-learning is limited to institutions that offer distance learning programmes (Osman et al, 2018). As technological devices and tools become more cost-effective and the internet network coverage is expanded, the implementation of e-learning in higher education can be seen to be more wide-ranging.…”

Section: Literature Review E-learning In Higher Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bricks to Clicks: Students’ Engagement in E-Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Adams¹,

Chuah²,

Mohamed³

et al. 2022

APJEE

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced higher education institutions to execute mitigation efforts such as an e-learning mode of instruction to reduce the impact on pedagogical activities. These challenges have raised concerns on students’ engagement in e-learning as students are at risk of falling behind in education. However, there is little empirical research focusing on students’ engagement in e-learning experiences. The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ engagement in e-learning as well as specifically assess their engagement based on gender, age, ethnicity, level of education and field of study in a Malaysian public higher education institution. This study used a non-experimental quantitative research design. Data were collected from a sample of 281 students using the Blended Learning Engagement Questionnaire©. WINSTEPS Rasch model measurement software was used to determine the reliability and validity of the research instrument. Subsequently, Differential item functioning (DIF) was conducted to assess students’ engagement in e-learning as well as specifically assessing student’s demographic factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, level of education and field of study. Findings indicate students have high levels of behavioural engagement as compared with cognitive and emotional engagement in e-learning. Further analysis indicated there were differences in students’ engagement based on demographic factors such as gender, age, and field of study. This study provides insight into students’ engagement in e-learning that will help lecturers to reflect on their own teaching practices. Implications and recommendations for future research are presented.

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Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance in Malaysian Online Distance Learning Institutions

Cited by 7 publications

References 17 publications

Academic Staff’s Perspective on Blended Learning Practices in Higher Education Post COVID-19: A Case Study of a Singaporean University

Academic Staff’s Perspective on Blended Learning Practices in Higher Education Post COVID-19: A Case Study of a Singaporean University

The Dichotomization of Objective and Subjective Outcome Measures of Academic Performance in an Online Learning Environment

Bricks to Clicks: Students’ Engagement in E-Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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