scholarly journals Project Zero: A Framework for Innovative Pedagogy in the Teaching of English in Malaysia?

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-35
Author(s):  
Laura Christ Dass ◽  

This paper marks the beginning of a project aimed at trialing a Western learning model in a Malaysian context where it is yet to be tested by previous research. This paper is the first of a series of research papers written to show the process in which a framework used in a bigger study was designed. It gives a sound theoretical background to support the building of Project Zero (PZ) framework and provides a comprehensive argument to realise the needs identified by the government of Malaysia, by explaining why Visible Thinking (VT) might be a useful tool for developing a more constructivist pedagogy. Most of PZ research was conducted in school classrooms in a Western setting. This study prides itself in taking PZ research to a whole new level, that is to a higher learning institution in a Malaysian classroom setting where undergraduate students were studied, this marks the novelty of this research. The PZ framework for observation and analysis was developed by carefully studying the Visible Thinking Project to determine the thinking routines used, this in turn formed the core of the framework. Data from interviews with 3 groups of 59 undergraduate students and their 3 teachers were then analysed qualitatively. It was found that this Western learning model has positive implications for students’ learning.

Author(s):  
Normah Abdullah ◽  
Laura Christ Dass ◽  
Siti Akmar Abu Samah

This paper is taken from a bigger study aimed at trialing a Western learning model in a Malaysian context where it is yet to be tested by previous research. The Visible Thinking (VT) Project of Project Zero research is used as benchmark for this study. A summary of selected PZ research projects presented in this paper highlights the learning benefits of establishing patterns of thinking within the classroom as projected by PZ studies of Harvard Graduate School of Education, the hallmark institution. Many aspects of classroom teaching have been shown by PZ research to enhance learning, this paper will focus on a Malaysian undergraduate classroom that has decided to trial this highly recommended model using a framework derived from PZ school settings. Part of the focus of the study was to check if the ideas and paradigms are transferable to a Higher Education ESL context of a culturally different setting in terms of the manifestations of classroom interactions, students’ and teacher’s perception of it as well as from the researcher’s observation of this classroom in session. The literature on the findings of VT project, mainly the thinking routines employed, the importance of establishing thinking routines in the classroom and examples of instances where these routines were visible in the classroom contexts are the summarized in this paper. Most of PZ research was conducted in school classrooms in a Western setting. This study prides itself in taking PZ research to a whole new level to study undergraduate students in a Malaysian classroom setting.


2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Larsson ◽  
Josef Frischer

The education of researchers in Sweden is regulated by a nationwide reform implemented in 1969, which intended to limit doctoral programs to 4 years without diminishing quality. In an audit performed by the government in 1996, however, it was concluded that the reform had failed. Some 80% of the doctoral students admitted had dropped out, and only 1% finished their PhD degree within the stipulated 4 years. In an attempt to determine the causes of this situation, we singled out a social-science department at a major Swedish university and interviewed those doctoral students who had dropped out of the program. This department was found to be representative of the nationwide figures found in the audit. The students interviewed had all completed at least 50% of their PhD studies and had declared themselves as dropouts from this department. We conclude that the entire research education was characterized by a laissez-faire attitude where supervisors were nominated but abdicated. To correct this situation, we suggest that a learning alliance should be established between the supervisor and the student. At the core of the learning alliance is the notion of mutually forming a platform form which work can emerge in common collaboration. The learning alliance implies a contract for work, stating its goals, the tasks to reach these goals, and the interpersonal bonding needed to give force and endurance to the endeavor. Constant scrutiny of this contract and a mutual concern for the learning alliance alone can contribute to its strength.


Author(s):  
Ellen Chung ◽  
Hamish B Coates

Community engagement is a phenomenon that has received increasing attention among institutions of higher learning in recent years, and students engaging with communities are generally seen as beneficial. Given this, surprisingly little is known about this form of engagement in Australian higher education, let alone methods to measure its benefits on students. This study discussed the development of the Student Community Engagement Benefits Questionnaire (SCEBS), a questionnaire that measures the perceptions of community engagement benefits among undergraduate students in Australia. The final questionnaire has 32 items allocated to four benefit scales: (1) Career skills, (2) Diversity skills, (3) Interpersonal skills, (4) Civic skills. Most benefit items had a factor loading of atleast 0.40 with its own scale. The results of the factor analysis revealed that the four scales accounted for 53% of the total variance. The alpha reliability coefficient for the four scales ranged from 0.79 to 0.91. Based on these findings, the Student Community Engagement Benefits Scale (SCEBS) is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used in the field of education. Undergraduate students also reported statistically significant changes in the four dimensions after participating in community engagement activities.


Author(s):  
Ardhin Primadewi ◽  
Mukhtar Hanafi

Higher education in Indonesia is regulated by the government with the Higher Education Accreditation (APT). In APT 3.0, Higher Education is required to be able to present performance data in the form of a Higher Education Performance Report (LKPT) as a reference in making a Self-Evaluation Report (LED). However, it is necessary to have an in-depth analysis to determine the gaps in the data required by Higher Education according to the APT 3.0 standard. The process of integrating the samples refer to the Zachman Framework (ZF). The results of this simplification that the data is available in support of APT 3.0 approximately 79% of the total data both inside and outside the core business of Higher Education and is well managed in an integrated database. The remaining 21% of the data that are not available is spread across several information systems, especially SIMMawa, SIMHumas and Cooperation, and SIMAKU. This shows that the change in accreditation standards that have been in effect since April 2019 has created a significant data gap for Higher Education. This research also produced an alternative model of integrated data management that can be used as input for Information System developers in the Higher Education scope.


Edupedia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Ilzam Dhaifi

The world has been surprised by the emergence of a COVID 19 pandemic, was born in China, and widespread to various countries in the world. In Indonesia, the government issued several policies to break the COVID 19 pandemic chain, which also triggered some pro-cons in the midst of society. One of the policies government takes is the closure of learning access directly at school and moving the learning process from physical class to a virtual classroom or known as online learning. In the economic sector also affects the parents’ financial ability to provide sufficient funds to support the implementation of distance learning applied by the government. The implications of the distance education policy are of course the quality of learning, including the subjects of Islamic religious education, which is essentially aimed at planting knowledge, skills, and religious consciousness to form the character of the students. Online education must certainly be precise, in order to provide equal education services to all students, prepare teachers to master the technology, and seek the core learning of Islamic religious education can still be done well.


Author(s):  
R. A. W. Rhodes

The core executive is a new concept replacing the conventional debate about the power of the prime minister and the Cabinet. It refers to all those organizations and procedures that coordinate central government policies, and act as final arbiters of conflict between different parts of the government machine. In brief, the ‘core executive’ is the heart of the machine. The chapter reviews the several approaches to studying the British executive: prime ministerial government; prime ministerial cliques; Cabinet government; ministerial government; segmented decision-making; and bureaucratic coordination. It then discusses several ways forward by developing new theory and methods. The Afterword discusses the core executive as interlocking networks, and the fluctuating patterns of executive politics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73
Author(s):  
Zarina Kassim ◽  
Nor Aishah Buang ◽  
Lilia Halim

Only 23% of Malaysian workforce has tertiary education compared to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries such as Singapore and Finland that have tertiary education with an average of 28% and around 35%, respectively. This study investigates perceived needs lifelong learning programmes for professionalisation among the workers. A survey was conducted on workers from the industries. Most of the workers felt that lifelong learning programmes provide personal satisfaction. In terms of perceived needs, workers from higher positions in industries need lifelong learning programmes to get better positions and better salaries as compared to those with lower positions in industries to get better job and education. Both groups have different preferences for means of learning whether face-to-face or online learning. The implications are that the government has to change their policy in terms of requirement for these companies to register with the Human Resource Department Fund so that their workers be subsidised for attending lifelong learning programmes and to encourage the participation of public higher learning institutions for providing online and weekend lifelong learning programmes to the workers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Laura Cervi ◽  
Fernando García ◽  
Carles Marín Lladó

During a global pandemic, the great impact of populist discourse on the construction of social reality is undeniable. This study analyzes the fantasmatic dimension of political discourse from Donald Trump’s and Jair Bolsonaro’s Twitter accounts between 1 March and 31 May. To do so, it applies a Clause-Based Semantic Text Analysis (CBSTA) methodology that categorizes speech in Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) triplets. The study findings show that in spite of the Coronavirus pandemic, the main beatific and horrific subjects remain the core populist signifiers: the people and the elite. While Bolsonaro’s narrative was predominantly beatific, centered on the government, Trump’s was mostly horrific, centered on the elite. Trump signified the pandemic as a subject and an enemy to be defeated, whereas Bolsonaro portrayed it as a circumstance. Finally, both leaders defined the people as working people, therefore their concerns about the pandemic were focused on the people’s ability to work.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-366
Author(s):  
Rajeev Ranjan Kumar ◽  
Muhammad Rizwan

Abstract Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a controversial figure and has polarised public debate for over a decade. He is criticised for the decline in growth rate and increase in unemployment rate. It has been five years since the Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party (bjp) came to power, so analysing the economic performance and extremist religious behaviour of the Modi-led bjp/rss (Rastriya Sevak Sangh) is interesting. This article discusses the non-conventional views on the economic performance of the government in India, and the ideology of Hindutva and hatred towards religious minorities. This deep-rooted hatred of religious minorities and the lower caste is the core philosophy of Hindutva and is followed by the bjp and rss. Under the shadow of the rss, the Modi government has focused on Hindutva rather than the economy and the people, which has been the most important factor in the economic decline of India.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document