myjict - volume 1 - 2009

MyJICT – Malaysian Journal of Information & Communication Technology (Vol. 1, 2009)

http://www.kuis.edu.my/ftsi/myjict/ i

MyJICT | Malaysian Journal of Information,

Communication & Technology

Volume 1, 2009

Content

1. Augmented Reality Basic Reading Courseware for Down

Syndrome Learner: A Preliminary Analysis. (read…)

Roslinda Ramli & Halimah Badioze Zaman

2. LR-Transformer: Java Code Transformation By Reducing Line

Of Codes. (read…)

Ismadi bin Md Badarudin, Nor Fazlida Mohd Sani, Mohd Zul

bin Mohd Yusoff, Syarbaini bin Ahmad & Gawed Nagie

3. Pembangunan Sistem Carian Maklumat Islam Menggunakan

Kaedah Pengekstrakan Kandungan Web. (read…)

Evfi Mahdiyah & Juhana Salim

4. The Use of Mobile Phone And PDA Among Students In Private

Higher Education Institution. (read…)

Hasnuddin Ab Rahman, Jamaluddin Badusah & Rosdy Wahid

5. An Investigation Of The ICT Challenges And Practices Of

Malaysian Smart School Teachers. (read…)

Thang Siew Ming, Puvaneswary Murugaiah, Pramela

Krishnasamy, Azizah Yaa’cob & Hazita Azman

1

15

26

38

50

The Editorial Office would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to all the

reviewers and contributors involved in publishing this journal.


http://www.kuis.edu.my/ftsi/myjict/ ii

Editorial Board

Malaysian Journal of Information, Communication & Technology

Volume 1, 2009

Reviewers

Saedah Siraj (Prof., PhD)

Sharul Azman Mohd Noah (Associate Prof., PhD)

Nor Laila Md Noor(Associate Prof., PhD)

Jamaluddin Badusah (PhD)

Syahrul Nizam Junaini

Editor in Chief

Khirulnizam Abd Rahman

Secretaries

Nor Jannah Jaafar & Azfi Zaidi Mohd Sofi

Editors

Juzlinda Ghazali, Siti Nor Ahmad, Mohd Ridzal Mohd Yusof,

Hasnuddin Ab Rahman & Norfaizuryana Zainal Abidin.

Contributors

Roslinda Ramli & Halimah Badioze Zaman.

Ismadi bin Md Badarudin, Nor Fazlida Mohd Sani,

Mohd Zul bin Mohd Yusoff, Syarbaini bin Ahmad & Gawed Nagie.

Evfi Mahdiyah & Juhana Salim.

Hasnuddin Ab Rahman, Jamaluddin Badusah, Rosdy Wahid.

Thang Siew Ming, Puvaneswary Murugaiah, Pramela Krishnasamy,

Azizah Yaa’cob & Hazita Azman.

Editorial Office

Faculty of Information & Science Technology,

Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor (KUIS),

Bandar Seri Putra, 43600 Bangi,

Selangor, Malaysia.

Tel : +603 8925 4251

Fax : +603 8925 4473

Hotline : +6012 903 4614

Email : [email protected]


http://www.kuis.edu.my/ftsi/myjict/ 1

AUGMENTED REALITY BASIC READING COURSEWARE FOR DOWN

SYNDROME LEARNER: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

Roslinda Ramli1 & Halimah Badioze Zaman2 1Department of Multimedia

Faculty of Technology and Information Science

Selangor International Islamic University College

Tel : 03-89254251, Fax : 03-89254473

[email protected] 2Information Science Department

Faculty of Information Science & Technology

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor

Tel : 03-89216349, Fax : 03-89256732

[email protected]

Abstract

Augmented reality (AR) is a promising technology which allows seamless user

interaction between the real and virtual objects. Interaction with real environment

and virtual object generated by computer makes the technology is very interesting

to develop educational application which allows manipulation and visualization.

AR is created has given big impact to educational world because its capability in

enriching educational experience for children, enhance user experience and

enhance collaborative task. Indeed, this technology has important implications to

Down syndrome learners as they are identified as visual learner and also provides

a learning environment that matches their learning styles. This paper briefly

presents the benefits and findings from a preliminary analysis on problems in basic

reading teaching and learning of Down syndrome learner and the capabilities of

augmented reality for basic reading learning. We did a preliminary analysis by

carrying out survey using diagnostic test on one sample Down syndrome student,

interviews and class observation involving five teachers and ten students from

special education classes at one government school in Bandar Baru Bangi and

Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation, Petaling Jaya. The key findings from

analysis are types of problems faced by the students in basic reading learning and

the potential of AR technology in designing Augmented Reality Basic Reading

Courseware to increase students' interest in learning basic reading via an

interesting experience. Therefore, the researcher hopes that the findings from that

information will help us in designing augmented reality basic reading courseware

to be developed and will be successful by fulfilling the objectives of target user and

effective as teaching and learning aid tool. Research conceptual framework is also

explained in this paper as research guidelines. Designing augmented reality



courseware is crucial as a platform to provide a tool as an effective way of

delivering basic reading teaching and learning to Down syndrome learner.

Keywords: Augmented reality, special education, reading, Down syndrome

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Augmented Reality is a promising technology which allows seamless user

interaction between the real and virtual objects. AR is a growing area in virtual

reality (VR) research. In contrast with virtual reality, which refers to a situation in

which the goal is to immerse a user in a completely synthetic environment,

augmented reality refers to a situation in which the goal is to supplement a user’s

perception of the real world through the addition of virtual objects (Azuma 1997).

Recent studies show that AR holds great promise for a wide range of applications in

medical, military, services, architecture and entertainment. For example, in the

medical field, AR visualization has been suggested and investigated for ultrasound

imaging (Bajura et al. 1992; State, Chen et al. 1994) and image guided surgery

(Lorensen, Cline et al. 1993; With respect to entertainment, AR technology has

been used to create special effect for creating illusion (Pyros & Goren 1995) and to

enhance gaming experience through the development AR games (Liarokapis 2006).

Advances in technology together with affordable cost had enabled the use of

innovative teaching and learning tools for education. Augmented Reality (AR) is a

medium which overlays virtual objects on top of a person’s local real world

environment (Chen 2006). It is a new technology that generates three-dimensional

(3-D) virtual objects, and provides an interactive interface with which people can

work and interact simultaneously both in the real world and 3-D virtual objects.

Thus, it makes AR an interesting technology for developing educational

applications that allows manipulation and visualization (Ucelli 2005). Augmented

Reality (AR) which is a variation of VR had been used in education and had

demonstrated high potential to enhance students’ learning experience. Latest

development involves augmented reality mainly because of its capability in

supporting user interactions between the real and virtual objects at the same time.

This characteristic enhances users’ performances as the interaction becomes more

realistic and intuitive (Chen 2006).

In education, AR user can gain benefit from AR as this technology is providing user

friendly interaction method with better understanding of the concept taught (Dayang



et al. 2007). According to Billinghurst (2002), the educational experience offered by

augmented reality is different for a number of reasons including; support of

seamless interaction between real and virtual environments, the use of a tangible

interface metaphor for object manipulation and the ability to transition smoothly

between reality and virtuality. In reading, AR has also proven beneficial to students;

referring to MagicBook developed by Billinghurst (2001). AR view in MagicBook

is an enhanced version of a traditional 3D “pop-up” book. Users can change the

virtual models simply by turning the book pages and when they see a scene they

particularly like, they can fly into the page and experience it as an immersive virtual

environment The computer has become invisible and the user can interact with

graphical content as easily as reading a book. Initial work suggests that the

MagicBook technology has also strong application potential for scientific

visualization (Billinghurst 2001).

AR is also beneficial to individuals with learning disabilities or intellectual

disabilities (Correa et al. 2007). Initial work suggests that they are effective in

facilitating the students with learning disabilities by allowing stimulating creativity,

concentration, memorization, visual and auditory perception and motor

coordination. A number of AR have been developed to support people with learning

disabilities in encouraging social interaction among them via gaming (Brederode et

al. 2005).

As in the field of reading, AR has been implemented in MagicBook (Billinghurst

2002), Storytelling (MacIntyre 2001;2003) and Digital Storytelling (Bimber 2003).

Nevertheless, to date, there is currently no augmented reality for basic reading

courseware for Down syndrome learner implemented in Malaysia. This research

aims to design augmented reality basic reading courseware to cater for Down

syndrome learner as well as the special education schools as a whole. In this paper

we present findings from a preliminary analysis of problems in basic reading

teaching and learning of Down syndrome learner at special education schools and

creating a research conceptual framework for development and studying of the

effectiveness of the courseware.

2.0 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

For this preliminary analysis, the purpose of the study is to:

• Identify the characteristics of Down syndromes students.

• Identify the teaching and learning problems of Down syndrome students.

• Identify the problem of reading learning of Down syndrome students.

• Making the questionnaires on basic performance of students.



• Perform class observation and interviews with Down syndrome students and

special education teacher to identify the problems in reading learning using

existing method.

• Survey the Malay Language syllabus for learning problems in special education

school.

• Survey the potential and capabilities of AR technology in reading teaching and

learning.

• Create a research conceptual framework for performing the next research.

3.0 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

Overall, this research also gives several contributions as the followings below:

a) Helps the educators and students in solving reading problem in Malay

Language by using the AR technology to improve the students’ understanding

during teaching and learning process.

b) Designs and provides Malay Language diagnostic test to see the student’s

previous learning knowledge and capabilities.

c) Designs a research conceptual framework.

3.0 TEACHING AND LEARNING OF READING

This section discusses the problems in teaching and learning of basic reading and

we also present the results of preliminary analysis carried out at special education

school and Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation Centre (KIDSF).

3.1 Problems of Basic Reading Teaching and Learning of Down Syndrome

Students

Speech and language is a major problem of many people with Down syndrome

(Jenkins 1993). In Malaysia, there are many students with learning disabilities who

still cannot read (Yahya 2003). In addition, our society presumes that Down

syndrome learner cannot learn to read. However, according to Down Syndrome

Foundation President, Prof Madya Dr. Zainiyah it is found that few Down

syndrome students can learn reading like normal students. Learning problem for

students with learning disabilities like dyslexic and Down syndrome is unique but

the problem that hinders the learning can be corrected (Doman 2005).



The problem that is faced by Down syndrome students is particularly on how to

relate in whatever they have learned with the big picture. In teaching and learning of

Down syndrome learner, it has to be considered the contexts that they are familiar

with their daily life. Buckley (1999) suggests that joint attention session can be used

to ensure that they can quickly understand the meaning of the words.

Recent studies have demonstrated people with learning disabilities show deficits in

attention, perception (with better visual perception than auditory), language,

memory and a lack of interest in educational contents (Vera et al. 2007). They find

it difficult to cope with abstract concepts and to generalize and apply acquired

knowledge to other environments and also have a different cognitive style with

differences in their cognitive processes and strategies (such as poor private language

and difficulties when thinking for and about themselves (Vera et al. 2007). Those

people with Down syndrome show, in addition to their learning difficulties, a

weakness in their auditory channel. Poor auditory short-term memory may have

effect on sentence processing and hence the learning of grammar and syntax from

listening particularly difficult for the child and may explain why most children with

Down syndrome are still speaking in immature keyword utterances in their teens.

They also find it easier to manage with written language than with spoken language.

Among the preferences or strong points of people with learning disabilities, together

with their preference for the visual channel, they also show great curiosity for the

objects of their environment (Vera et al. 2007).

The use of phonetic method which is the traditional method of reading caused the

students to feel bored and lose interest because they don’t understand the meaning

during reading session using phonics method. Phonics method teaches sounds to be

associated with letters and combinations of letters.

The reading work is not going on in isolation from a whole range of other games

and activities designed to help the child to learn the meanings of the words and how

to use them in communicative interactions (Buckley & Bird 1993). For all children,

understanding of the meanings of words and the ways in which they are used

develop slowly.

3.2 Findings from Preliminary Analysis

A preliminary analysis was carried out to identify problems and to determine the

requirements to overcome these problems. In order to evaluate the basic

performance of student, four research instruments were done over the 6 months

such as survey, class observation, interviews and document analysis.



We did class observation and also interviews at Kiwanis Down Syndrome

Foundation Centre (KIDSF), Petaling Jaya and Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan 6,

Bandar Baru Bangi. In Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation Centre, the teacher

reports that students are easily bored in their learning. Therefore, they cannot pay

attention for a long period of learning session in classroom. During class

observation which consists of ten students, it is found that some students moved

around the class and sometimes went outside the classroom. So, the teachers have to

get the students to sit properly in the class. Table 1 shows details of problems faced

by students.

The interview with special education coordinator teacher at one government school

in Bandar Baru Bangi showed that there is currently no reading courseware used in

schools. Additional problem according to Malay Language teacher is lack of a

teaching aid material. We performed a document analysis of Malay Language

performance report (Table 2) on a Down syndrome student. The student is

recommended by the teacher as she had a positive attitude, was hardworking and

friendly with anyone. The report indicated that the student can recognize letters and

write letters but she was unable to read.

An interview with Educational Technology Division, reported that there is no

courseware development for special education especially for Down syndrome

except there is one courseware in Kemahiran Hidup for special education.

Furthermore, the problem faced by Special Education Department (Table 3) is that

the curriculum of primary and secondary schools are the same and the teachers have

to be creative in preparing the teaching material to ensure the students understand

the learning materials.

Table 1: Problems in basic reading teaching and learning of Down syndrome

Item Problems

Difficult to give attention during teaching and

learning session.

Student

Down syndrome is a visual learner

Teaching Method Traditional teaching method-teachers need to repeat

the same teaching material for many times

Teaching and learning via flashcard, picture book

and demo from teacher-Teacher needs to repeat the

demo so many times to ensure that they understand.

Material No courseware used



Table 2: Document Analysis:Reading Problems

Item Score

Do an easy instruction 5

Name the small letter 4

Name the big letter 4

Read kv 1

Read kvk 1

Write letter by tracing dotted line 5

Recognize letter and colour the same letter 5

Recognize picture and write the right vocal letter 1

Recognize picture and rewrite letter to make meaningful word 1

Coordinate dotted line and naming animal 4

Draw line 5

Read short passage 1

5=Very Skillful, 4=Skillful, 3=Moderate, 2=Unskillful, 1-Very Unskillful

Table 3: Special Education Department

Item Problems

Currriculum Special education curriculum for primary school and

secondary school is using the same curriculum.

Interview with officer – There is no CD or

courseware for Down syndrome students.

Material

Survey in Educational Technology Division - There

is no CD or courseware for Down syndrome

students.

A survey is performed to gain a general understanding of how well students

performed relative to his/her performance in reading as well as to assess their prior

knowledge. This survey also aims to assess their understanding of reading in Malay

Language. This survey was based on Malay Language topic of Curriculum PKBP.

One of the assessments carried out is the diagnostic test. The test is a process of

collecting information about a student that is used to form judgments and make

decisions concerning the student. Two types of assessment are used, which are;

i. Formal assessment

ii. Informal assessment

During the reading diagnosis, both formal and informal test are used. Formal test

accessed the student’s reading level and identify areas of reading strengths and

weaknesses while informal assessment offered information on the child’s language



ability. The results of reading assessment are categorized according to the

following:

i. Characteristics, behaviours during reading session and student interest

summarized in Table 4 (performed on subject samples in one school in Bandar Baru

Bangi area in Selangor)

ii. Down syndrome student and language components problems in Table 5

iii. Reading analysis in diagnostic test based on Malay Language topic of

Curriculum PKBP (shown in Table 6).

Table 4: The Characteristics, behaviour during reading session and interest of Down

syndrome student

Student Name Characteristics Behaviour during

reading session

Interest

Afiah (not the

real name)

Has a positive

attitude,

Friendly with

others,

Concentrate

during doing her

work

Show interest in

reading,

Not focus more

than 10 minutes

Drawing &

Coloring,

Music

Table 5: Language components problems

Student

Name

Speaking Writing Listening Spelling Level of

Reading

Afiah Can speak

but

sometimes

not loud

and clear

Can write by

copying or

tracing from

the words

given

Can listen

the

instructions

given

Cannot

spell

Cannot

read



Table 6: Reading analysis:Score Percentage Based On Malay Language Topic of

Curriculum PKBP

Topic Score (%)

5

Very

Skillful

4

Skillful

3

Moderate

2

Unskillful

1

Very

Unskillful

Alphabet reading

-Small letter

-Big letter

100% - - - -

Syllable reading

-Spell kv

-Spell kvk

- - - - 100%

Word reading

-Read kv+kv

-Read kv+kvk

- - - 25% 75%

Sentence reading - - - - 100%

Alphabet writing 66.7% - - - 33.3%

Syllable writing - - 33.3% - 66.7%

Word writing - - - 33.3% 66.7%

Write and

arrange sentence

- - - - 100%

Comprehension - - - - 100%

Result from diagnostic test has found from the questionnaires that a researcher done

in order to support the result. The results of students’ reading show that the student

has problems and weaknesses when learning to read particularly in syllable (100%),

word reading (100%) and sentence reading (100%). For the students’ writing, the

positive results are achieved for alphabet writing (66.7%) while moderate results are

obtained for syllable writing (33.3%). This shows that the student has weaknesses in

terms of syllable writing. It is concluded that the student does not performed well in

reading skills of syllable, word and sentence. The results also indicate that the

student is good in recognizing letters but sometimes are confused with letters ‘b’,

‘d’, ‘v’ and ‘y’. This student cannot relate the letter name with the graphics. When

using flash cards (which shows the picture and text), the student can read with the

support of pictures. The student is unable to read text when no pictures are

provided. This indicates that she is a visual learner. These findings are used in

designing and developing AR courseware for Down syndrome students.



4.0 RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Overall, this research will follow three process levels such as Preliminary Analysis

Process, System Development Process and Testing and Evaluation System

Processes. This can be seen in Research Conceptual Framework in Figure 1.

Level I : Preliminary Analysis Level

Preliminary Analysis Process involved several interview with special education

coordinator teacher and special education teachers who primarily teach the research

sample, that is Afiah who will be using the system that will be developed. The

interview with Afiah’s parents is also done in order to know her learning problem;

learning method which is being practiced at home; acquiring Afiah’s profile and the

level of her reading ability. This preliminary analysis is also involved the research

on past researches that were carried out on reading using PBK or computer aided

learning for Down syndrome children. A detailed research needs to be done in

analysis phase to ensure that the courseware development is followed with the right

and exact specifications.

Level II : System Development Process

System Development Process involved four processes such as Analysis, Design,

Prototype Development and Implementation that will be developed. Analysis

process needs researcher to fix teaching and learning theories and also methods that

can be included in system design that will be developed; survey and investigate

Whole Language Philosophy that is used as a basic approach in courseware and also

techniques and pedagogy which related to Whole Language Philosophy that can

help effective learning to Down syndrome children. Augmented reality technology

method is studied to produce learning environment which afford to attract and give

better understanding to students. On the other hand, Design process concentrated on

design and creating ID model which is suitable for system that will be developed.

Model of courseware development and forming convention and standard for system

are also developed. Development process involved preparing learning material for

reading which is suitable for Down syndrome learner; development of storyboard

and flowchart system for system programming implementation. For implementation

process, it involved process of introducing the usage of software to the research

sample, Afiah in order to know the errors that possibly done during the utilization of

that system.

Level III : Process of System Evaluation and Testing

Process of System Evaluation and Testing involved evaluation on the strength and

weakness of the system that will be developed. The evaluation will be performed



based on deep observation method towards research sample. Software Checklist

Instrument is developed for that purpose. Questionnaires about the usage of system

will also developed to get the feedback from teacher and parents about the software

that has been developed.

Figure 1: Research Conceptual Framework



5.0 PROPOSED AUGMENTED REALITY BASIC READING

COURSEWARE FOR DOWN SYNDROME STUDENTS

As an attempt to help Down syndromes students in learning to read, there is a need

to develop the augmented reality basic reading courseware which incorporates

features and elements of the Whole Language Philosophy. Whole Language is a

concept that embodies both a philosophy of language development as well as the

instructional approaches embedded within and supportive of that philosophy. This

concept includes the use of real literature and writing in the context of meaningful,

functional and cooperative experiences in order to develop the students’ motivation

and interest in the process of learning (Bergin & LaFave 1998). Thus, the research

has chosen the sight words from the daily life environment as the 3D environment

and will be known as AR SindDown. In addition, the characters, words learning and

surrounding materials of the virtual environment will be mapped to “real” objects in

our daily life to allow users to feel a sense of immersion as they navigate and

interact in the virtual environment. Not only would the AR SindDown help Down

syndrome students, it would also serve as a platform to trigger off ideas to Ministry

of Education Malaysia to develop subjects for Down syndrome students. The

development of the AR SindDown and augmented reality features and components

will not be discussed in this paper and will be discussed in future works.

6.0 CONCLUSION

This research is studying the learning based on computer using augmented reality

technology for basic reading for Down syndrome students where it can give benefit

to overall Down syndrome students and special education teachers. These research

findings will be analyzed and compared to the existing learning method. With this

research it is hope that it can afford to attract the students’ interest and improve the

students’ understanding in reading process. Learning based on augmented reality

technology is created to improve the effectiveness and capabilities of learning by

using teaching aid tool which effective to Down syndrome students and then will

trigger off ideas to the Ministry of Education Malaysia in encouraging research in

other subject areas as a teaching and learning aid tools for Down syndrome students

particularly and special education school generally. AR technology enables the

students to make a visualization and manipulation on teaching and learning

material. This can afford to provide learning which is meaningful and full of

experience to students.



7.0 REFERENCES

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Perguruan. Bentong: PTS Publications & Distributors Sdn. Bhd.



RL-TRANSFORMER : JAVA CODE TRANSFORMATION BY REDUCING

LINE OF CODES

Ismadi bin Md Badarudin1, Nor Fazlida Mohd Sani2, Mohd Zul bin Mohd Yusoff2,

Syarbaini bin Ahmad3, Gawed Nagie2 1 Department of Computer Science and Mathematics,

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) 2 Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) 3 Department of Computer Science,

Selangor International Islamic University College (SIIUC)

[email protected]

Abstract

A transformer is generally developed with an intention to transform program code

to be more readable and simple thus reducing computation time at the compilation

level. The RL-Transformer (Reduce code Line of Transformer) mostly focuses to

novice programmers who write the program to merely obtain the output without

taking into account a good structure of program. The RL-Transformer is able to

transform a set of Java codes by reducing the lines of code, and the result can

significantly contribute to the program codes readability and computing

performance. This project scope is to simplify the code statements that involve

primitive data types, string and single while() loop statement following the Java

language conditions. The RL-Transformer has been tested and successfully

achieved the objectives. In this project, an experiment was conducted based on 15

samples of program, and then the empirical finding was reported by showing the

robustness of the transformer.

Keywords: Readability, simplicity, code transformation, software engineering,

programming language

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The most important criteria for judging a programming language are the ease of

reading and understanding the program code. It also relies on reliability that must be

considered in the context of the problem domain. For example, a program that

describes a computation is written in a language not designed for such use, the

program may be unnatural and convoluted, making it usually difficult to read. The

simplicity of a programming language strongly affected its readability. A language

that has a large number of basic constructs is more difficult to learn that one with a



smaller number of them [Robert W. Sebesta, 2008]. Code transformations are

routinely used to improve the performance of programs for both scalar and parallel

machines. The main issues to transform a code are related to readability, flexibility

as well as computation time [Deborah, 1997]. By identifying various properties of

code-improving transformations, such as their interactions, costs, expected benefits,

and application frequencies, informed decisions can be made as to what

transformation to apply, where to apply them, and in which order to apply them.

The order of application is important to the quality of code as transformations can

interact with one another by creating or destroying the potential for further code-

improving transformations. For example, the quality of code produced would be

negatively affected if the potential for applying a beneficial transformation was

destroyed by the application of a less beneficial transformation. Certain types of

transformations may be beneficial for one architecture but not for another. The

benefits of a transformation can also be dependent on the type of scheduler

(dynamic or static) that is used [Watts et al. 1992].

In modern high level languages, a large part of source code consists of data

declarations. The improper declaration and manipulation of program date lead to

data anomalies. These anomalies may lead to serious software functionality

problems at run-time.

To overcome the problems particularly towards improving Java codes written by

novice programmer, we proposed a tool named Reduce code Line of Transformer

(RL-Transformer) that act as code transformation. According to Deborah (1997)

one approach that can be taken to determine the most appropriate transformations

and the order of application for a set of programs is to implement a code

transformer program (optimizer) that includes a number of code-improving

transformations, apply the transformations to the programs, and then evaluate the

performance of the transformed code. She adds that, actually implementing such a

code-transforming tool can be a time consuming process, especially when the

detection of complex conditions and global control and data dependency

information is required. In this paper, we only focus on the code transformation by

reducing the line of code in which our hypothesis will improve the code readability

and computation time at the compilation part.

We choose Java as the tested code in order to gauge the effectiveness of the

proposed tool because of Java is among the most popular programming languages

today. It is used by almost fields for various teaching and learning, applications

development, web pages support and others by academicians, students and lecturers,

programmers etc. This owing to Java as a general-purpose object oriented



programming languages that supported by a machine-independent byte code

representation. Thus, they can run anywhere on the Internet using Java-enabled web

browsers on multi-vendor and stand-alone personal computer or workstations

(Boujarwah, 2000].

2.0 RELATED WORKS

There are several studies about the dilemma of novice programmers in

understanding and writing program. Perkins and Martin (1989) reported that

students have fragile knowledge of basic programming concepts and a “shortfall in

elementary problem-solving strategies”. An entire volume of papers, called

‘Studying the Novice Programmer’, also documented the difficulties of learning to

program (Soloway and Spohrer, 1989). First, in 2001, the ‘McCracken’ working

group assessed the programming ability of an international student 2001, the

students were tested on a common set of program-writing problems and the

majority of students performed far more poorly than expected. Then, in 2004, the

‘Leeds’ working group (Lister et al., 2004) studied the code-reading skills of novice

programmers. Data was collected from 615 students, spread across 12 institutions in

7 countries. The students were asked to answer several multiple-choice questions

about short pieces of code. Again the majority of students did not perform well and

approximately 25% of the students appeared to be performing at a level consistent

with guessing.

To cater the novice programmer issues, Masayuki Arai and Tomomi Yamazaki,

2005, have designed a tool which sets problems of tracing a source program for

novice programmers. They claim that (1) the physical actions contribute to learning

novice programs; (2) novice programmers should write and read basic programs

repeatedly. Catching (3) up present content of variables and tracing past content of

variables is important for tracing a source program and (4) Learners should be

unrestricted in space and time. So, the tool can display source codes and a chart of

the program in parallel. Therefore learners can trace with both the program codes

and the chart.

3.0 OVERVIEW OF THE JAVA FEATURES IN DECLARING VARIABLES

AND USING REPETITION STATEMENTS

Java code is one of chosen programming languages that receiving wide attention

from both industry and academia. It was based on C++ and was originally intended

for writing program that control consumer appliances. Java is fully supported by

Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and being used for developing applications,



web pages and others. In this chapter, discussion focuses on the declaration of

variables and some different declaration examples that are permitted in Java.

Besides that, we discuss differentiate of the while statement and for statement with

same output purposes and decide the better one.

Variable

A variable has three properties which are a memory location to store value, the type

of data stored in the memory location and the name used to refer to the memory

location [Thomas, 2006]. Thus, before using a variable, a process of declaring and

assigning a value to it need to be done. In variables declaration, user can declare

variable depends on their style that are allowed by Java language, as a result giving

a ease of writing program but at the same time the issues of readability.

Data types in Java are divided into two categories; the primitive data types such as

Boolean, byte, char, short, int, long, float and double and non-primitive types. So

classes which specify the types of objects are reference types. A primitive-type

variable can store exactly one value of its declared type at a time. For example, an

int variable can store one whole number (such as 7) at a time. When another value

assign to that variable, its initial value is replaced. Primitive-type instance variables

are initialized by default – variables of types byte, char, short, int, long, float and

double are initialized to 0, while variables of types Boolean are initialized to false.

Instead using the default value, user can specify their own initial value for

primitive-type variables, however local variables are not permitted to initialize by

default [Dental, 2002].

Loop Construction

Java provides three loop constructions, these are the while( ), do and for( )

constructs. Each provides the facility for repeating the execution of block of code

until some condition occurs. We show the distinction of while( ) loop and for( ) loop

in terms their syntax and number of line statements used in which both generate a

same output as the table below.

Table 1: General structure of while and for.

General while( ) loop

While (boolean_condition)

repeate_statement

Example while( ) loop

int x=0;

General for( ) loop

For (init_statement; boolean_condition;

iter_expression)

Loop boby

Example for( ) loop



While (x < 10) {

System.out.println(“value is “ + x);

x++;

}

The while( ) loop needs 5 line

statements to solve the above problem.

for (int x=0; x < 10; x++) {

System.out.println(“value is “ + x);

}

The for( ) loop needs only 3 line

statements to solve the above problem.

4.0 THE DESIGN OF RL-TRANSFORMER

In this case, some novice programmers have various styles to write program without

following the proper steps in which their aim is to solve the particular problems,

consequently, leaving the program code is unreadable and spend high cost for

computation time. Let us show a program code written by a novice programmer as

the Figure 1.

Figure 1: Program1.txt file

The code in Figure 1 are program statements to compute the sum of two numbers

and display on the screen the value of sum for each of iteration. The codes were



successfully run without any error. However, there are at least two bad coding

practice in the program which are (1) the variables declarations are located

somewhere in the program that make the program difficult to be read, (2) many

lines are used to declare the variables in which can be simplified, this situation will

increase computation time during compiling process.

To solve the above problems, We developed a prototyped transformer named the

Reduce Line Transformer (RL-Transformer) with two main objectives are (1) To

simplify the code by using transformation technique, (2) make program more

reliable and efficient. In order to achieve these two objectives, firstly the RL-

Transformer acts to combine the same data types that are written in different line

together and secondly, to convert from the while() loop statement to the for() loop

statement.

Visual Basic was used to develop the RL-Transformer. Visual Basic is one of

popular programming languages that can be implemented in Graphic User Interface

environment. It has capability to read text files, besides that can determine every

line and word as well as to store data in array elements which are the main

requirements of codes towards developing RL-Transformer. The RL-Transformer is

purposely built to read only codes written in the Java program with an assumption

that the codes have been successfully compiled prior to the running of the RL-

Transformer. The figure1 is considered as Java code that has no error after

compilation process. To transform a new code, there are two steps will be

implemented by the RL-Transformer; (1) create a temporary file to eliminate

indentation (refer to figure 2), (2) RL-transformer creates a new text file containing

the simplified code of program (refer to Figure 3).



Figure 2: Temporary.txt file

Figure 3: Program1xyz.txt file

The Figure 4 clearly shows that program1.txt has been transformed to

program1xyz.txt by reducing the line code with number of line is 32 and 11

respectively.



Figure 4: RL-Transformer

5.0 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

The objective of design is to determine the capability of RL-Transformer to manage

basic program code written by student. We collected 32 programs code that consist

of several problem solving of Basic Programming course of Computer Science &

Information Technology, UPM, Malaysia students. An experiment has been

conducted involving 15 out of 32 programs that were randomly chosen in a

laboratory which has the same computers performance. The selected programs

contain 25 – 50 lines with various writing styles; have been compiled with no

syntax error and executed without logic error. Every single program was tested

using the RL-Transformer and the observation technique was used to determine the

transformation of code by involving primitive data types, String and While() loop.

6.0 RESULT

The Table 2 shows there are 15 programs written by novice students in which all

programs used data type and it out of 15 used while() loop statement. The RL-

Transformer transformed the 11 programs code that using primitive data types,



String with no syntax error and without changing the quality of output. The prog3

and prog6 remain the number of code line after transformation since they practiced

the good style. They managed the same variable in one line and use of for() loop

rather than while() loop. Another 3 programs (prog9, prog11 and pog14) used

while() loop, both show reduce the line code numbers. The Prog9 (one while() loop)

showed successfully transform, but the prog11 and prog14 produced a syntax error

since they used more than one while() loop in their programs. Another program

named prog10 has no error after transformation process but produce different output

in which we consider as a logic error.

Table 2: Result of the testing.

Primitive

data type

String While

1

While

2

Syntax

error

Logic

error

remarks

Prog1 X X No No

Prog2 X X No No

Prog3 X X No No Same

number

of line

Prog4 X X No No

Prog5 X X No No

Prog6 X X No No Same

number

of line

Prog7 X X X No No

Prog8 X X No No

Prog9 X X X No No

Prog10 X X X No Yes Reduce

line but

has logic

error

Prog11 X X X X Yes Yes Reduce

line but

has

syntax

error



Prog12 X X X No No

Prog13 X X X No No

Prog14 X X X X Yes Yes Reduce

line but

has

syntax

error

Prog15 X X X no no

In this experiment we conclude that the RL-Transformer is able to simplify the

programs involve the data types and single while() loop. However, several

limitations as stated in chapter 7 will probably resolve in the next version of RL-

Transformer. We consider the constraints as a future work that is discussed in

chapter 7.

7.0 FUTURE WORK AND CONCLUSION

There are several restrictions as stated below, and to be the RL-Transformer is more

reliable and robust, some refinement of code need to be carried out for future works.

- Dealing only with primitive data types and string.

- Not all while() loop can be converted into for() loop.

- Some of the program is not cater space or indentation

- No semantic involve analysis in transformation process

The RL-Transformer is able to transform program code towards simplifying the line

of code. In the code examples (figure 1) and transformed code (figure 4) explicitly

showed that lines of code have been reduced from 32 to 11 and resulting in a

reduced computation time in compilation process. It was also proven by empirical

finding which are 80% of tested code have been transformed successfully and have

no syntax and logic error. Moreover, the involvement of immense program code in

large project, as a theory will contribute more significant effect to time

performance. To prove it, an experimental analysis will carry out as another

direction of further work.



8.0 REFERENCES

A.S Boujarwah, K. Saleh, J. Al-Dallal, 2000. Dynamic data flow analysis for Java

Programs. In Elsevier - Information and Software Technology Journal, 755

– 756.

C. Thomas Yu, 2006. An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Java,

McGraw Hill, 4th edition, 81-85.

Deborah L. Whitfield and Mary Lou Soffa , 1997, University of Pittsburgh, ACM

Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, Vol. 19, No. 6,

November 1997, Pages 1053–1084.

Dental, 2002. Java Hoe to Program, Pearson-Prentice Hall, 6th Edition, 96 – 97.

Lister R., Adams, E. S., Fitzgerald, S., Fone, W., Hamer, J., Lindholm, M.,

McCartney, R., Moström, E., Sanders, K., Seppälä, O., Simon, B., Thomas,

L., 2004, A Multi-National Study of Reading and Tracing Skills in Novice

Programmers, SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 36, page. 119-150.

Masayuki Arai, Tomomi Yamazaki, 2005. Design of a tool which sets problems of

tracing a source program for novice programmers, Recent Research

Developments in Learning Technologies (2005), page 1-4.

McCracken, M., V. Almstrum, D. Diaz, M. Guzdial, D. Hagen, Y. Kolikant, C.

Laxer, L. Thomas, I. Utting, T. Wilusz, 2001, A Multi-National, Multi-

Institutional Study of Assessment of Programming Skills of Firstyear CS

Students. SIGCSE Bulletin, 33(4):125-140.

Perkins, D. N. and Martin, F., 1986, Fragile Knowledge and Neglected Strategies in

Novice Programmers. In E. Soloway and S. Iyengar (Eds), Empirical

Studies of Programmers, Ablex, Inc., Norwood, NJ, 213-229.

Robert W. Sebesta, 2008, Concepts of Programming Languages, Eight Edition,

Person International Edtion, pages 8-9.

Soloway, E. and and Spohrer, J. (Eds), 1989, Studying the Novice Programmer.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.

Watts, T., Soffa, M. L., and Gupta, R. 1992. Techniques for integrating parallelizing

transformation and compiler based scheduling methods. Proceedings of

Supercomputing ’92. IEEE, New York, 830-839.



SISTEM CARIAN MAKLUMAT ISLAM MENGGUNAKAN

KAEDAH PENGINDEKSAN KANDUNGAN WEB

Evfi Mahdiyah & Juhana Salim

Fakulti Teknologi dan Sains Maklumat, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

43600 Bangi, Selangor.

Telefon : 03-89216179 Faks : 03-89216184

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstrak

Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk membangunkan Sistem Pengindeksan Maklumat

Web bagi menyokong pembangunan Sistem Carian Maklumat Islam yang memenuhi

keperluan pengguna. Kaedah pengindeksan maklumat dipilih bagi tujuan

mengumpul dan mengintegrasikan sumber web Islam ke dalam pangkalan data

secara lebih cepat dan efisien. Proses pengindeksan sumber maklumat web

merangkumi proses pembuangan tag, kata henti, perkataan yang tidak bermakna

dan memfokuskan pada pengindeksan URL, tajuk, meta tag dan kandungan

perkataan daripada ‘body’ atau kandungan keseluruhan suatu dokumen HTML

(laman web) berdasarkan pattern yang telah ditakrifkan dalam aturcara sistem

melalui aplikasi teknik Regular Expression. Secara keseluruhan, sistem

pengindeksan yang dibangunkan dapat mengekstrak kandungan web seperti :

maklumat url, tajuk, meta tag, pautan dan kandungan perkataan daripada laman

web Islam, manakala sistem pencariannya dapat melakukan pencarian maklumat

Islam dengan menggunakan kaedah carian perkataan/frasa pengguna dan

direktori/pautan. Sistem ini dapat memberikan sumbangan kepada

penemuan/pemerolehan maklumat dan hasil carian atas talian tanpa mengira

batasan waktu dan tempat serta boleh di dapati oleh sesiapa sahaja yang

memerlukan maklumat Islam.

Kata Kunci : Pengindeksan maklumat web, meta tag, capaian maklumat Islam

1.0 PENGENALAN

Pertumbuhan yang pantas dan terhasil daripada sumber maklumat di Internet telah

menjadikan Internet sebagai sumber kemudahan maklumat global dan penyedia data

yang penting bagi pengguna. Internet telah menyediakan akses kepada pelbagai

jenis maklumat dan salah satunya adalah maklumat tentang Islam. Menurut Sidek

Baba (2007), teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) menjanjikan pembaharuan

dalam penyebaran maklumat. Kajian Nor Shahriza & Norzelatun (2005) mendapati



bahawa Internet telah menyediakan kemudahan akses terhadap maklumat, terutama

maklumat Islam sehingga pelajar dan pihak akademik menjadikan Internet sebagai

sumber rujukan untuk pengajian Islam.

Menurut Mansourian (2007), perkhidmatan Internet telah membawa kepada

peningkatan bilangan laman web yang drastik dan perkembangan ini memberikan

implikasi terhadap fenomena saiz sumber web. Hal ini telah menimbulkan masalah

baru kepada enjin carian dan penstrukturan sumber maklumat web (Shahizan,

2008). Maklumat yang tersedia di Internet, kebanyakannya wujud dalam bentuk

data yang tidak tersusun (Mendez, A. & Monte, M. 2002). Kajian Nurul et al.

(2006) mendapati pengguna menghadapi masalah untuk mendapatkan maklumat

yang tepat dan khusus melalui laman web kerana masalah dalam penstrukturan

maklumat laman web. Menurut Rowley (2001), maklumat menjadi berharga jika

distrukturkan dengan baik. Kekurangan kerja penstrukturan dalam penciptaan,

pengagihan dan penerimaan maklumat, akan menyebabkan maklumat melalui

Internet tidak dapat dicapai apabila diperlukan. Bagi membantu pengguna menemui

maklumat atau kandungan topik tertentu dengan cepat dan mudah, pengorganisasian

dan penstrukturan kandungan maklumat web adalah diperlukan (Sharhida, 2006).

Kajian Rachagan (2005) juga mendapati bahawa melayari laman web dengan

kumpulan data yang banyak, akan menyebabkan ramai individu terpaksa

mengambil masa yang lama untuk mencari, mengumpul dan menyusun data.

Beberapa enjin carian, seperti Google, Yahoo! dan MSN, telah dibangunkan untuk

membantu pengguna dalam menemukan laman web yang relevan secara efektif.

Namun, enjin carian masih tidak dapat memberikan jawapan yang tepat dan lengkap

bagi permintaan yang lebih spesifik mengenai domain tertentu (Gregg, D.G &

Walczak, S, 2007). Enjin carian dan direktori, kerap memulangkan hasil carian

yang berjumlah berjuta pautan laman web kepada pengguna. Ini akan

mengakibatkan kesukaran bagi pengguna untuk menemukan maklumat yang tepat

dalam senarai pautan yang banyak (Rainer, Turban, & Potter, 2007). Pengguna

Internet yang ingin mengesan maklumat berkaitan dengan Islam turut mengalami

permasalahan yang sama apabila mengesan maklumat melalui Internet. Menyedari

masalah ini, usaha tertentu perlu diambil untuk menyediakan pengaksesan atau

capaian yang lebih baik kepada sumber maklumat Islam secara dalam talian dan

membangunkan strategi pencarian web yang efektif, untuk mendapatkan maklumat

yang relevan.



2.0 REKABENTUK KAJIAN

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk memenuhi keperluan pengguna mendapatkan maklumat

tentang Islam secara lebih tepat dan mudah, dengan membangunkan sistem

pengindeksan. Sistem ini akan memanfaatkan kaedah pengindeksan kandungan

web automatik untuk mengumpul dan mengintegrasikan kedalam satu pangkalan

data, pelbagai jenis maklumat web Islam yang telah dikenalpasti kandungannya.

Pangkalan data tersebut merupakan asas bagi membangunkan sistem carian

maklumat Islam yang berasaskan web. Pelaksanaan kajian ini dilakukan melalui

empat fasa :

2.1 Fasa 1 : Perolehan Pengetahuan

Di dalam kajian ini, pengumpulan data diperlukan bagi memahami masalah yang

dihadapi oleh pengguna semasa melakukan pencarian maklumat Islam. Fasa ini

melibatkan langkah berikut: pemerolehan pengetahuan mengenai perkara-perkara

yang berkaitan dengan kajian; menjelajah Web menggunakan enjin carian, gateway,

indeks dan direktori bagi mendapatkan laman-laman web Islam yang telah dikenal

pasti kandungannya; dan memilih laman web Islam yang akan dijadikan data untuk

diekstrak, berpandukan kriteria penilaian laman web yang digariskan dalam kajian

Saemah & Siti (2007) dan Juhana et al. (2007).

Kriteria pemilihan laman web Islam adalah melalui pemikiran kritis terhadap

proses pengenalpastian dan penilaian kandungan daripada laman web berdasarkan

kejelasan sumber, ketepatan, kerelevanan kandungan, logik, struktur yang baik, dan

pencantuman tarikh kemaskini.

2.2 Fasa 2 : Pembangunan Sistem

Untuk kajian ini, penyelidik menggunakan model Prototaip. Pembangunan prototaip

sistem carian maklumat Islam adalah berorientasikan web, yang disebabkan

fungsinya untuk berinteraksi dengan pengguna yang terdapat dalam persekitaran

web.

Sistem ini dibangunkan dengan ciri mesra pengguna. Antaramuka yang ringkas dan

menarik, juga dihasilkan dengan menggunakan perisian Macromedia Dreamweaver

8 dan Adobe Photoshop. Perisian pengaturcaraan PHP 5.2, Hyper Text Markup

Language (HTML), CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) dan Ajax (Asynchronous



Javascript and XML) digunakan sebagai bahasa pengaturcaraan untuk

membangunkan aturcara yang terlibat dalam pembangunan prototaip. Sementara

itu, perisian pangkalan data MySQL 5.0 digunakan sebagai perisian untuk

membangunkan struktur pangkalan data. Oleh kerana prototaip ini berasaskan web,

maka perkhidmatan web diperlukan dan penyelidik memilih Apache HTTP Server

2.2.4 sebagai perkhidmatan web yang dilarikan pada sistem pengoperasian

Windows XP Professional.

2.2.1 Senibina Sistem

Senibina sistem ini terdiri daripada pembangunan antaramuka pengguna, enjin

carian, pangkalan data, perisian pengindeksan kandungan web secara automatik

seperti yang ditunjukkan dalam Rajah 1.

Rajah 1. Senibina Sistem Pengindeksan dan Carian Maklumat Islam

2.2.2 Modul Pengindeksan Kandungan Web

Modul ini melakukan pengindeksan kandungan daripada web iaitu URL, tajuk,

meta tag (tittle, description, keywords), hyperlink, dan kandungan perkataan pada

laman web secara automatik. Pengindeksan kandungan laman web adalah penting

dan perlu bagi mendapatkan senarai kata kunci yang relevan dan mencerminkan

kandungan suatu laman web.



Sistem melakukan pengindeksan URL, hyperlink, maklumat meta tag (tittle,

description, keywords) dan perkataan atau teks daripada kandungan laman web

berdasarkan pola atau struktur dalam HTML yang telah ditakrifkan dalam aturcara

sistem melalui aplikasi teknik regular expression yang merujuk pada pelbagai

format atau struktur hyperlink yang berbeza. Teknik regular expression bagi

penjanaan suatu struktur wrapper yang membolehkan perisian atau penghurai yang

dibangunkan mengenalpasti kesemua tag HTML, maklumat tajuk, hyperlinks dan

meta tag (tittle, description, keywords) sesuatu laman web, sebelum mengindeks

setiap perkataan atau kandungan laman web tersebut.

Contoh penggunaan teknik regular expression yang digunakan dalam kajian

penyelidik bagi menjana struktur format tag HTML, tajuk, hyperlinks, dan

maklumat meta tag bagi laman-laman web ditunjukkan dalam Rajah 2.

� Regex untuk tajuk :

"/<title>(.*?)<\/title>/i"

� Regex untuk meta tag :

"<meta\s*(.*?)\s*=\s*[\'\"](.*?)[\'\"]\s*(.*?)\s*=\s*[\'\"](.*?)[\'\"]>"

� Regex untuk hyperlink (tag <A>)

"/<a\s*(.*?)>.*<\/a>/i"

� Regex untuk atribut href (pada tag <A>)

"/href\s*=\s*[\'\"](.*?)[\'\"]/i"

� Regex untuk memisahkan string ke dalam array of word

"/[\s.,]+/"

Rajah 2. Teknik Regular Expression bagi menjana maklumat laman web

Proses pembuangan kata henti juga dijalankan pada kandungan web. Penapisan kata

henti dilakukan melalui rujukan pada senarai kata henti bahasa Melayu dan bahasa

Inggeris yang disimpan dalam pangkalan data dalam bentuk notepad. Kata-kata

yang ditemukan di laman web akan dibuat unik, dengan menghapus kata-kata yang

sama. Data meta tag, hyperlinks dan kandungan web yang diekstrak dipaparkan dan

disimpan dalam pangkalan data.



2.5 Fasa 3 : Pengujian

2.5.1 Pengujian Kebolehgunaan Sistem

Pengujian kebolehgunaan sistem dilakukan bagi mengetahui sejauhmana

kebolehgunaan dan prestasi sebuah sistem daripada pandangan pengguna. Objektif

pengujian kebolehgunaan adalah untuk memastikan sistem mesra pengguna dari

segi antara muka dan masa tindak balasnya.

Dalam kajian ini, tahap pengujian sistem dilakukan ke atas sepuluh orang penguji

dan jumlah ini dianggap mencukupi. Menurut Nielsen dan Laundauer (1993), untuk

mendapatkan keputusan terbaik, pengujian haruslah dilaksanakan ke atas tidak

lebih daripada lima orang penguji. Pengujian kebolehgunaan ke atas lima orang

akan menyebabkan 85% masalah kebolehgunaan dapat dijumpai dan pertambahan

bilangan pengujian tidak akan mendatangkan perubahan besar.

Disamping itu, Common Industry Format for Usability Test Reports (Industry

Usability Reporting 1998), telah digunakan sebagai asas dan rujukan di dalam

membuat pengujian kebolehgunaan dan prestasi sistem. Pengujian kebolehgunaan

dan prestasi ini dibahagikan kepada 5 bahagian. Setiap bahagian pengujian

ditandakan dengan P1 hingga P7, iaitu : pengujian untuk kemasukan data pentadbir

(P1), pengujian untuk pengindeksan maklumat web (P2), pengujian untuk

pengurusan maklumat web (P3), pengujian untuk pengurusan kandungan maklumat

URL (P4) dan pengujian untuk pencarian maklumat Islam (P5).

Selain itu, populasi terhadap sepuluh orang penguji ini juga telah dibahagikan

kepada dua sampel dan setiap sampel terdiri daripada lima orang penguji. Sampel

tersebut adalah sampel kawalan (SK) dan sampel eksperimen (SE). Penguji

daripada sampel kawalan telah diberi pendedahan terlebih dahulu cara

menggunakan sistem dan mereka merupakan tutor dan pelajar (master/phd) bidang

IT. Sampel eksperimen merupakan pengguna biasa yang diambil secara rawak

dikalangan pelajar fakulti Pengajian Islam dan pegawai (awam/swasta).

Cara pengujian dijalankan sebagai berikut :

a) Penguji diberikan tugasan pengujian. Tugasan pengujian ini mengandungi

arahan yang perlu diikuti oleh penguji.

b) Semasa penguji melaksanakan tugasan pengujian, masa, kesalahan dan ralat

yang telah dilakukan dicatatkan.

c) Setelah semua pengujian dilaksanakan, penguji dikehendaki mengisi borang

soal selidik.



2.5.2 Pengujian Kecenderungan Pengguna

Pengujian kecenderungan pengguna dilaksanakan untuk mendapatkan maklumbalas

daripada pengguna berkenaan kriteria yang diuji. Pengujian ini juga bertujuan untuk

mengenalpasti dan mendapatkan komen daripada pengguna terhadap sistem untuk

penambahbaikan sistem pada masa akan datang.

Bagi melaksanakan pengujian ini, 20 penguji dari kalangan pelajar dan pegawai

telah dipilih secara rawak untuk membantu pengujian berkenaan keberkesanan

sistem yang dibangunkan. Jumlah ini sudah termasuk didalamnya 10 orang penguji

kebolehgunaan sistem. Pengujian kecenderungan pengguna terhadap sistem

pengindeksan dan carian maklumat Islam dilakukan dengan penguji melengkapkan

borang soal selidik yang telah disediakan. Borang soal selidik ini terbahagi kepada

empat bahagian, iaitu :

a) Bahagian A (antaramuka sistem), mengandungi 4 soalan

b) Bahagian B (kandungan dan kebolehgunaan sistem), mengandungi 9 soalan

c) Bahagian C (teknik capaian), mengandungi 4 soalan

d) Bahagian D (Pandangan dan cadangan daripada pengguji), merupakan

soalan subjektif

Bahagian A, B, dan C menggunakan skala Likert yang mengandungi 5 julat iaitu 1

= Sangat Tidak Setuju, 2 = Tidak Setuju, 3 = Kurang Setuju, 4 = Setuju dan 5 =

Sangat Setuju.

3.0 KEPUTUSAN

a) Pengujian Kebolehgunaan Sistem

Pengujian kebolehgunaan yang telah dilakukan menunjukkan penguji daripada

sampel kawalan mencatatkan masa yang lebih baik berbanding sampel eksperimen

dalam semua pengujian yang dijalankan. Situasi ini berlaku kerana sampel kawalan

terdiri daripada individu yang dapat memahami dan menguasai sistem baru dengan

mudah dan lancar dan sebelumnya telah diberikan pendedahan awal tentang cara-

cara mengendalikan sistem, sehingga mereka tidak menghadapi masalah dalam

melaksanakan pengujian kebolehgunaan sistem ini. Sampel eksperimen terdiri

daripada individu yang tidak berpengalaman dan kurang dapat menguasai sistem

baru dengan mudah, sehingga mereka memerlukan sedikit masa untuk

menyesuaikan diri dengan sistem pengindeksan dan carian maklumat Islam ini.



Jadual 1: Masa (saat) yang diperlukan untuk melaksanakan pengujian

Bahagian Pengujian Pengujian

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Jumlah

SK1 16 194 21 48 93 372

SK2 11 146 14 52 82 305

SK3 12 144 16 34 84 290

SK4 13 180 18 43 79 333

SK5 14 189 24 36 84 347

Jumlah SK 66 853 93 213 422 1647

Purata SK 13.20 170.60 18.60 42.60 84.40 329.40

SE1 37 174 44 86 142 483

SE2 45 202 37 96 148 528

SE3 36 188 36 108 171 539

SE4 35 206 41 97 164 543

SE5 32 180 39 102 134 487

Jumlah SE 185 950 197 489 759 2580

Purata SE 37.00 190.00 39.40 97.80 151.80 516.00

Jumlah

SK,SE 251 1803 290 702 1181 4227

Rajah 3 menunjukkan peratusan masa yang dilaksanakan untuk setiap bahagian

pengujian. Merujuk pada rajah tersebut, pengujian untuk pengindeksan kandungan

web (P2) mencatatkan peratusan masa tertinggi iaitu 43%. Pengujian untuk

pencarian maklumat Islam (P5) mencatatkan peratusan kedua tertinggi, iaitu 28%.

Pengujian P5 menghendaki penguji mencuba semua teknik carian yang disediakan

sistem dan melihat terus pautan yang diberikan dalam senarai hasil carian.

Pengujian untuk pengurusan kandungan maklumat URL (P4) mencatatkan 17%

peratusan masa. Ini merupakan proses pengemaskinian data atau URL dari hasil

pengeksrakan. Pengujian untuk kemasukan data pentadbir (P1) dan pengujian untuk

pengurusan maklumat web (P3) mencatatkan peratusan masa yang hampir sama,

iaitu 6% dan 7%, ini menunjukkan bahawa kedua-dua pengujian tidak sukar untuk

dilaksanakan oleh penguji.



43%

28%6%

7%

17%

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5

Rajah 3 Carta Pai peratusan masa (saat) untuk setiap bahagian pengujian

Secara keseluruhan, kajian mendapati bahawa penguji hanya memerlukan usaha

yang sedikit dalam menggunakan Sistem Pengindeksan dan Carian Maklumat

Islam, walaupun penguji merupakan individu yang baru pertama kali

menggunakannya.

b) Pengujian Kecenderungan Pengguna

Hasil keseluruhan pandangan pengguna terhadap antaramuka, kandungan,

kebolehgunaan dan teknik capaian pada sistem, dinyatakan dalam pai peratusan

persetujuan yang boleh dirujuk pada Rajah 4.

4%

69%

27%

Kurang Setuju Setuju Sangat Setuju

Rajah 4 Carta Pai purata peratusan respon bagi soal selidik

berkaitan sistem



Berdasarkan keputusan keseluruhan soal selidik, dapat dilihat bahawa sebanyak

69% pengguna memberikan jawapan setuju, 27% sangat bersetuju dan 4% kurang

bersetuju dengan semua kriteria pengujian tersebut. Pilihan tidak setuju dan sangat

tidak setuju pula mencatatkan 0%. Kesemua ciri keberkesanan antaramuka,

kandungan, kebolehgunaan dan aspek teknik capaian pada sistem menunjukkan

keputusan yang baik secara keseluruhannya. Hal ini bermakna pengguna puas hati

dengan kebolehgunaan dan keberkesanan yang disediakan oleh sistem.

Hasil kajian turut mendapati bahawa penguji berpendapat sistem ini boleh

membantu dalam proses pengindeksan maklumat web dengan mudah dan cepat,

sehingga proses pengurusan maklumat/data dapat dilakukan dengan lebih baik.

Selain itu, sistem ini turut membantu dalam pencarian maklumat berkaitan Islam

dengan lebih mudah dan tepat. Penguji juga menyatakan antaramuka sistem yang

berasaskan web telah membuat sistem mesra pengguna dan boleh dicapai dimana

sahaja berada.

4. PERBINCANGAN DAN KESIMPULAN

Kajian dan tinjauan literatur yang dilakukan penyelidik mendapati beberapa enjin

carian telah dikembangkan untuk membantu pengguna dalam mengesan laman web

yang relevan secara efektif. Namun, enjin carian yang sedia ada masih mempunyai

kelemahan dalam membantu capaian maklumat secara lebih tepat dan berkesan.

Enjin carian masih belum dapat memberikan jawapan yang tepat dan lengkap bagi

permintaan yang lebih spesifik mengenai domain tertentu (Gregg, D.G & Walczak,

S, 2007). Bagi mengatasi masalah pencarian maklumat melalui Internet, penyelidik

telah menstrukturkan dan menyimpan maklumat web Islam yang relevan ke dalam

pangkalan data melalui pembangunan sistem pengindeksan web. Sistem berkenaan

menyokong pembangunan enjin carian maklumat Islam, bagi membolehkan capaian

kepada maklumat Islam yang terdapat dalam talian dibuat secara lebih tepat, mudah

dan komprehensif.

Kajian ini telah menyumbang kepada pembinaan modul pengindeksan kandungan

web yang mampu mengekstrak maklumat url, tajuk, hyperlinks, meta tag (tittle,

description, keywords) serta kandungan perkataan yang relevan daripada laman web

Islam secara mudah dan cepat. Salah satu fungsi program iaitu fungsi pengindeksan

url menggunakan teknologi Ajax yang dapat meningkatkan keupayaan dan

penggunaan aplikasi web serta menghasilkan laman web yang interaktif. Frekuensi

atau kekerapan perkataan dalam kandungan dokumen web juga turut dikenalpasti.



Sistem ini mempunyai pangkalan data yang mengandungi laman web sumber Islam

yang sahih dan berwibawa. Laman web yang dipilih sebagai data adalah laman web

yang kandungannya bersesuaian dengan kriteria pemilihan sumber atau bahan yang

disediakan melalui Internet. Kriteria pemilihan laman web Islam adalah melalui

pemikiran kritis terhadap proses pengenalpastian dan penilaian kandungan daripada

laman web berdasarkan kejelasan sumber, ketepatan, kerelevanan kandungan, logik,

terperinci, memiliki struktur yang baik, dan pencantuman tarikh kemaskini.

Pemilihan laman web yang tepat menyebabkan sistem dapat memberikan hasil

carian yang tepat dan bersesuaian dengan keperluan pengguna.

Maklumat dan ciri-ciri pada sistem ini adalah berorientasikan pengguna, yang

menyediakan khidmat pencarian maklumat berkaitan Islam. Sistem ini juga

berfungsi sebagai enjin carian khusus bagi bidang Islam. Modul pencarian yang

disediakan, membolehkan pencarian dengan menggunakan kaedah carian

berasaskan kueri / kata kunci dan kueri frasa / Boolean, serta pautan hiperteks

mengikut kategori yang menghubungkan pada topik penting berkaitan Islam. Selain

itu, pengguna juga boleh mencari maklumat dalam bidang Islam melalui

kemudahan direktori, yang merupakan gateway yang memautkan sumber laman

web Islam yang terdapat dalam talian.

Sistem ini secara keseluruhannya dibangunkan untuk membantu orang ramai bagi

mengesan maklumat Islam dengan tepat, mudah dan komprehensif. Sistem yang

terhasil boleh menjadi rujukan mana-mana pihak yang ingin membangunkan sistem

yang seumpamanya untuk kegunaan peribadi atau pun organisasi. Segala proses

dapat dilakukan di mana-mana sahaja tanpa mengira masa hanya dengan adanya

talian Internet tanpa wayar.

5. RUJUKAN

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Arasu, A. (2001). Searching the Web. ACM Transactions on Internet Technology

1(1), 2-3.

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Technology. A Tutorial Prepared for IJCAI-99



Gregg, D.G & Walczak, S. (2007). Exploiting the Information Web. IEEE

Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics Part C : Applications and

Reviews 37 (1), 109-124

Juhana Salim, Junaidah Mohamed Kassim & Azizah Jaafar. (2007). Kemahiran

Maklumat Teori dan Amalan. Bangi : Desktop Publisher.

Mohd. Shahizan bin Othman. (2008). Pengelasan Sumber Maklumat Web secara

Automatik Menggunakan Pendekatam Pengindeksan dan Pembelajaran

Mesin. Tesis Dr. Fal. Teknologi Maklumat. Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan

Malaysia.

Mansourian, Y. (2007). Web search efficacy: definition and implementation. Aslib

Proceedings: New Information Perspectives. 60(4), 349-363.

Nielsen, J & Landauer, T.K. (1993). A mathematical model of the finding of

usability problems. CHI’93: Conference poceedings on human factor in

computing systems, hlm: 206-213.

Nor Shahriza Abdul Karim & Norzelatun Rodhiah Hazmi. (2005). Assesing Islamic

information quality on the Internet : A Case of Information about Hadith.

Malaysian journal of library and information science 10(2), 51-66.

Rachagan, S. (2005). Rakyat tidak boleh harapkan usaha kerajaan tapis Internet.

Berita Harian, 11 ogos : 10.

Rainer, R.K., Turban, E.& Potter, R.E. (2007). Introduction to Information Systems.

USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Saemah Rahman & Siti Fatimah Mohd Yassin. (2007). Aplikasi Pemikiran Kritikal

dalam Penggunaan Sumber Maklumat daripada Internet untuk Menyokong

Pembelajaran Sepanjang Hayat. ICLL : Proceeding International

Conference on Lifelong Learning, hlm : 414-421.

Sharhida Zawani Binti Moh. Saad. (2006). Sistem Carian Sumber Bisnes (SCSB)

dengan menggunakan Kaedah Pengekstrakan Kandungan Web. Tesis

Sarjana Teknologi Maklumat. Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Sidek Baba. (2007). Teknologi selamanya alat bukan matlamat. Utusan Malaysia

Online. 21 Jun 2007.

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2007&dt=0621&pub=utusan

_malay sia&sec=Bicara_Agama&pg=ba_02.htm&arc=hive [2 ogos 2008].



THE USE OF MOBILE PHONE AND PDA AMONG STUDENTS IN

PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

Hasnuddin Ab Rahman, Jamaluddin Badusah & Rosdy Wahid

Faculty of Education

National University of Malaysia

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

Mobile phone relatively connected to society and also students’ daily life. The

applications and features in hand phone can boost up and develop the concept of m-

learning. This paper looks at the readiness and the pattern of the mobile phone

usage for learning purposes among students in private higher education institution.

1460 students from International Islamic University College were selected

randomly as a respondent. The paper conclude that majority of the students are

holding the device. Most of them are utilising the basic applications in the hand

phone such as camera, ring tones, MP3, Instant Messaging, radio, call register,

games and Bluetooth. They are less number of students using wireless application

such as TV, e-mail, internet, infrared and recording. Exchanging the information

through MMS and SMS is the most frequent application that been used by the

respondents but not for the learning purposes.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The growing use of mobile phone and PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) technology

is relatively connected to the society nevertheless students and lecturers. The use of

these two handheld devices are gradually increasing and diversifying across every

sector of education. Lecturers should seek to exploit the potential of the

technologies that their students bring with them and find a ways to put them into

good use for the benefit of learning practice rather than seeing them as disruptive

devices. This paper looks at the readiness and the pattern of the mobile phone or

PDA usage for learning purposes among students in private higher institution.

2.0 MOBILE PHONE USAGE

A 2005 International Data Corporation survey across seven key markets including

Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan

recorded an increase in mobile phone owners to 90.2 per cent from 80.2 per cent the



previous year (Star InTech, 2006). The statistics show that mobile technologies

today are pervasive as a new medium for communication.

According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s

(MCMC) Hand Phone Users Survey 2005 (Malaysian Communications and

Multimedia Commission, 2005), as of 31 May there were 16.2 million hand phone

subscriptions on the five digital networks operating in Malaysia. In the first quarter

of 2006, the number had increased to 20.5 million, a 5.3 percent growth rate and

77.7 per cent penetration rate nationwide (Malaysian Communications and

Multimedia Commission, 2006). This shows that there has been an increase in the

usage of Malaysian mobile technologies, especially, hand phones. More than two

million hand phone users in Malaysia last year were 19 years old or younger. Adults

between 20 and 49 years of age make up 12.7 million or 78 per cent of users, but

this group has shrunk by 0.6 percent since 2004, while the numbers of senior users

(aged 50 and above) also dropped 0.3 percent to 1.4 million (Lee, 2006). This

shows that teenagers and adults dominate the Malaysian mobile technologies

market.

3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Mobile learning still in its infancy in Malaysia, a deeper understanding of its design

principles as well as of the opportunities arising from it and its limitations is

paramount. This paper strives to examine the effect of mobile phone and PDA in

students learning achievement.

Mobile learning defined and conceptualised in many ways. Some scholars defined

and conceptualised it as a mobility of the learners and the mobility of learning.

According to Kaplan – Leiserson (2005), mobile learning is the opportunity for the

students to access information with their handheld. It is also known as an

edutainment which combining entertainment and education. Mobile learning

devices allow learners to learn wherever they are located and in their personal

context so that the learning is meaningful (Sharples 2000). The use of mobile

devices in learning is referred to as mobile learning (m-learning): this is the delivery

of electronic learning (e-learning) materials on mobile devices such as personal

digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones and etc. Wikipedia (2008) conceptualized

mobile learning as learning focuses through hand phone.

In 2000 – 2007, many initiatives and research studies have been conducted to

investigate the use of mobile technology in learning. Sharples (2000) and Seppala

and Alamaki (2003) reported that mobile learning as a long run learning and the



opportunity for adult to pursue their study. Whitsed (2004) and Thorton and Houser

(2005) found that medical students and university students in Japan can easily

access the information and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) through their

hand phone. Pulchino (2006) and Gomez (2007) found that mobile phone is suitable

for mobile learning due to its audio and texts features.

4.0 METHODOLOGY

This research has been conducted in order to examine the readiness and pattern of

the mobile phone usage among students in Selangor International Islamic

University College for learning purposes. The respondents for the study were 1460

students in the particular college. The data is based on self-administered

questionnaires which divided to 5 sections. Section A (Students’ Profile), Section B

(Mobile Phone Device), Section C (Mobile Phone Network), Section D (Mobile

Phone Service) and Section E (Mobile Phone Usage Pattern). The data then

analysed with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 11.5 based on

frequency and percentage.

5.0 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This section portrays’ respondents feedback on their readiness and also the pattern

of the usage of mobile phone and PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) for learning

purposes. A question on respondents profile is indicated in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Respondents’ Profile

Respondents’ background F %

1 748 51.2

2 370 25.3

3 276 19.0

Year

4 66 4.5

Male 425 29.1 Gender

Female 1035 71.9

Outskirt 672 46.0 Residence

Urban 788 54.0

Yes 1460 100 Own mobile phone

No

0 0



1 1014 69.5

2 413 28.3

3 27 1.8

Number of mobile phones

4 6 0.4

Yes 308 21.1 3G service

No 1152 78.9

Postpaid 66 4.5 Network package

Prepaid 1394 95.5

Below RM30 895 61.3

RM31 – RM60 456 31.2

RM61 – RM 90 54 3.7

RM91 – RM 120 32 2.2

Prepaid monthly costs

More than

RM120

23 1.6

Yes 248 17.0 Internet usage

No 1212 83.0

Out of 1460 respondents, 748 (51.2%) were first year students, 370 (25.3%)

respondents were second year students and 276 (19.0%) respondents were third year

students. Whereas another 66 (4.5%) respondents were forth year students. From

the gender aspect, 1035 (71.9%) of the respondents were female and 425 (29.1%)

were male. 672 (46.0%) respondents were the residents in outskirt area whereas 788

(54.0%) were living in the urban area.

From the aspect of the mobile phone possessing, 1460 which is 100% respondents

admitted that they owned mobile phone. 1014 (69.5%) respondents owned at least

one mobile phone. 413 (28.3%) respondents own two mobile phones and 27 (1.8%)

respondents possess three particular device where as another 6 (0.4%) respondents

have four mobile phones. With regard the 3G service, 308 (21.1%) respondents

were the subscribers of 3G service and another 1152 (78.9%) respondents were not

the subscribers.

From the aspect of the network package, 66 respondents which are 4.5% were using

post paid, where as 1394 (95.4%) respondents were the prepaid users. With regard

to the costs per month, 895 (61.3%) respondents spent below RM30.00. 456

(31.2%) respondents spent around RM31.00 to RM60.00 per month. 54 (3.7%)

respondents spent between RM61.00 to RM90.00 per month for their prepaid.

Whereas another 32 (2.2%) respondents spent about RM91.00 to RM120.00 per



month and 23 (1.6%) respondents spent more than RM120.00 per month for their

prepaid. 83% which are 1212 respondents were not using their mobile phone to

access the internet and only 248 (17.0%) were accessing internet via their phone.

With regard to the features that the respondents used in their mobile phone, Table 2

indicates that mean score 2.72 is for the camera, 2.70 is for the ringtones, MP3

playback is 2.67,mean score for the Instant Messaging is 2.57, radio 2.55, call

register is 2.52, Bluetooth 2.24 and for the video feature mean score is 2.19. The

less features that been used by the respondents were TV which the mean score is

1.52, e-mail 1.61, Infra red 1.64, internet browsing is 1.69, wireless 1.76, picture

download is 1.83, Personal Organizer Functions 1.85 and mean score for memo

recording is 1.93.

Table 2: Mobile Phone Features

Feature Mean Standard

deviation

Camera 2.72 1.00

Ringtones 2.70 .985

MP3 Playback 2.67 1.17

Instant Messaging 2.57 1.15

Radio 2.55 1.04

Call Register 2.52 1.02

Games 2.35 1.01

Bluetooth 2.24 1.04

Video 2.19 .952

Memo recording 1.93 .903

Personal Organizer Functions 1.85 .918

Picture Download 1.83 .943

Serve as wireless modem 1.76 1.00

Internet browsing 1.69 .921

Infrared 1.64 .781

E-mail 1.61 .881

TV 1.52 .946

In the mean comparison of the pattern of mobile phone usage as presented in Table

3, 3.49 shows that respondents utilized their mobile phones to make a phone call.

For SMS the score mean is 3.46, information exchange is 3.19. For the percentage,

out of 1460 respondents, 57.4% were strongly agreed that they use their mobile

phone to make a call and another 29 (2.2%) respondents were disagreed. 820



(56.2%) respondents strongly agreed from the SMS using statement where as 2.2%

(32) respondents were disagreed that they are utilizing their phone for SMS. For

information exchange, 754 (51.6%) respondents were strongly disagreed with the

statement where as 123 (8.6%) were disagreed. The lowest score mean 1.64 is

indicating the usage mobile phone for the contests participating.

Table 3: The Purpose of Using the Mobile phone

Statement/Item

SDA

F

%

DA

F

%

A

F

%

SA

F

%

Mean

Score

Level

I am using my

mobile phone to

make a call

29

2.0

50

3.4

542

37.1

839

57.47

3.49 High

I am using my

mobile phone for

SMS

32

2.2

71

4.9

537

36.8

820

56.2

3.46

Average

I am using my

mobile phone for

MMS

200

13.7

463

31.7

629

43.1

168

11.5

2.51

Average

I am using my

mobile phone for

internet access

400

27.4

610

41.8

388

26.6

62

4.2

2.08

Average

I made a call to

information

exchange

62

4.2

123

8.6

754

51.6

521

35.7

3.19

Average

I made a call to

average socialize

340

23.3

470

32.2

503

34.5

147

10.1

2.30

Average

I made a call to

deliver speech

154

10.5

316

21.6

749

51.3

241

16.5

2.73

Average

I am using my

mobile phone to

participate in

contests

774

53.0

505

34.6

138

9.5

43

2.9

1.64 Weak

Score mean

total

2.68

(SDA: Strongly Disagree, DA: Disagree, A: Agree, SA: Strongly Agree)

Mean score 3.19 for the usage of the SMS for exchanging information is illustrated

in Table 4 below. 48% (702) respondents were utilizing SMS service for



exchanging information where as 2.2 % (116) respondents disagreed with the

statement. To deliver the speech via SMS, 697 (47.7%) respondents agreed with the

statement and 276 (18.9%) respondents disagreed. Utilizing SMS to socialize, 496

(53.6%) respondents agreed and 404 of them disagreed with the statement. The

lowest mean score is 1.58 indicates the usage of SMS to participate in the contest.

Table 4: SMS Service

Statement/Item SDA

F

%

DA

F

%

A

F

%

SA

F

%

Mean

score

Level

I am utilizing SMS

service

for exchanging

information

86

5.9

116

7.9

702

48.1

556

38.1

3.19 High

I am utilizing SMS

service

to socialize

378

25.9

404

27.7

496

34.0

182

12.5

2.31

Average

I am utilizing SMS

service

to deliver speech

193

13.2

276

18.9

697

47.7

294

20.1

2.74

Average

I am utilizing SMS

service

to participate in

contests

822

56.3

472

32.3

139

9.5

27

1.8

1.58 Weak

I am utilizing SMS

service to obtain

ringtones

466

31.9

587

40.2

340

23.3

66

4.5

2.01

Average

Mean score total 2.37


Table 5 shows that the highest mean score 2.31 is for the usage of MMS service to

exchange information. 35.5% (518) respondents agreed that they are utilizing their

MMS service to exchange information where as 29.9% (436) respondents disagreed

with the statement. From the aspect of delivering speech via MMS, 523 (35.8%)

respondents were agreed with the statement where as 27.9% respondents disagreed

with the statement. The lowest mean score 1.85 indicates the usage of MMS service

to obtain the ringtones.



Table 5: MMS Service

Statement/Item

SDA

F

%

DA

F

%

A

F

%

SA

F

%

Mean

score

Level

I am utilizing MMS

service

for exchanging

information

353

24.2

436

29.9

518

35.5

153

10.5

2.31 High

I am utilizing MMS

service to socialize .

586

40.1

523

35.8

273

18.7

78

5.3

1.92 Weak

I am utilizing MMS

service

to deliver speech

396

27.1

407

27.9

523

35.8

134

9.2

2.25

Average

I am utilizing MMS

service

to participate in a contest

776

53.2

532

36.4

130

8.9

22

1.5

1.60 Weak

I am utilizing MMS

service

to obtain a ringtones

630

43.2

503

34.5

275

18.8

52

3.6

1.85 Weak



As indicated in Table 6, mean score 2.26 is the usage of the internet access to

exchange the information. 488 (33.4%) respondents agreed that they were accessing

the internet for the exchanging information purposes and 391 (26.8%) of them

disagreed. The lowest mean score 1.85 is the accessing the internet for speech

delivering.



Table 6: Internet Access Service

Statement/Item SDA

F

%

DA

F

%

A

F

%

SA

F

%

Mean

score

Level

I am utilising my internet

access to exchange

information

416

28.5

391

26.8

488

33.4

165

11.3

2.26 High


access to socialize

614

42.1

520

35.6

251

17.2

75

5.1

1.88 Weak


average access to deliver

speech

460

31.5

540

37.0

379

26.0

81

5.5

2.06

Average


access to participate in a

contests

758

52.0

542

37.1

136

9.3

24

1.6

1.62 Weak


access to obtain a

ringtones

633

43.4

510

34.9

254

17.4

63

4.3

1.85 Weak



6.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the study shows that most of the students possess at least one mobile

phone or PDA. They were utilizing the basic features of their mobile phone such as

camera, MP3 playback, ringtones, and call register. Most of them were using their

mobile phone to make a phone call, SMS, MMS but not for the internet accessing.

Students were rarely utilizing their wireless, internet, e-mail and recording features

in their mobile phone. The sample was tending to use their MMS and SMS services

via their hand held device to exchange information instead of taking part in the

contest. The study also portrays that students were not ready to utilize their hand

held device for learning purposes. This finding provides a new perspective on

mobile phone usage for m-learning among the students. Further research is

encouraged in order to gain a deeper understanding of mobile phone usage for

learning among Malaysian students.



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http://www.educause.edu/er/erm05/erm0532.asp



AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ICT CHALLENGES AND PRACTICES OF

MALAYSIAN SMART SCHOOL TEACHERS

Thang Siew Ming, Puvaneswary Murugaiah, Pramela. Krishnasamy, Azizah

Yaa’cob, Hazita Azman

The National University of Malaysia

[email protected]

Abstract

Teacher professional development is essential to improve and develop new

instructional practices to enhance student learning. Such professional development

is not complete without incorporating technology in teaching and learning. This

paper reports on some initial interviews carried out on a group of teachers from

five selected Smart schools in the Klang Valley on their ICT challenges and

practices. The findings cover aspects on ICT facilities, their support and training,

challenges and concerns. The findings reveal that the five schools are generally

well-equipped as far as ICT facilities are concerned. However, the teachers require

more support in the form of reduction in work load and physical and emotional

support in order to participate more fully in an ICT-driven curriculum. Initial

support by the Malaysian Ministry of Education in the form of basic training has

proven to be not too effective. Thus, it is proposed that the support offered should

be in the form of an interactive model that it will provide the “climate’ that will

propel changes that lead to changes in mindsets, school management and physical

conditions.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The introduction of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to benefit

teaching and learning in many developing countries over the last decade or so has

largely been based on the assumption that once the hardware is made available in

schools ICT integration will automatically follow. However, in reality this does not

necessarily happen as revealed by studies done in the region; Siti Salim and Mohd.

Nor (2005), Hajar Mohd. Nor (2005), Azizah Ya’acob et al (2005) and Lee (2007).

The integration of ICT into professional practice requires teachers to provide

students with the opportunity to develop the skills required for them to engage in a

progressive society and become life-long learners. It also gives teachers the

opportunity to enrich the learning of content materials. However, the extent to

which teachers can successfully do this is still debatable. Thus, there is a necessity



to provide teachers the supports that will enable them integrate ICT into their

teaching successfully. In order to provide the necessary support there is a need to

identify the factors responsible for teachers’ lack of success to integrate ICT into the

classrooms. Teachers’ efforts to introduce ICT into the school curricula are

hindered by both extrinsic factors and intrinsic factors. Ertmer (1999) describes

extrinsic factors as first-order barrier to ICT integration which includes obstacles

such as the lack of access to required hardware and software, insufficient time for

teachers to plan instruction and to familiarize themselves to ICT and inadequate

technical training and administrative support. Second-order barriers, on the other

hand, are obstacles that impede fundamental change towards ICT integration

(Ertmer, 1999). These obstacles are usually rooted in teachers’ underlying beliefs

about teaching and learning and may not be immediately apparent to teachers

themselves. According to Dede (1998), second-order barriers may be more

difficulties to overcome than the first-order barriers as they are more personal and

more deeply ingrained. These barriers include teachers’ unwillingness to embrace

ICT as a mean towards improving teaching and learning.

2.0 THE MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE

In the Malaysian context, ICT has been used in teaching and learning, but only to a

limited extent due to lack of ICT facilities. In an attempt to promote greater use of

ICT, the government, in 1999, initiated the Smart Schools project. The first step in

the Smart School initiative (SSI) was the introduction of computers, multi-related

applications, software and courseware into schools, classrooms and the teaching and

learning processes. Four subjects (English, Bahasa Maelayu, Science and

Mathematics) were selected to be taught the smart-way (Ministry of Education,

1997). These schools were expected to serve as the nucleus for the eventual nation-

wide deployment or roll out of Smart school teaching concepts and materials, skills

and technologies. The approach used to integrate ICT into education encompasses

the following five main elements:

(1) Teaching-Learning Materials.

Materials include 1,494 items of courseware and printed matter for four subject

areas: Bahasa Melayu (Malay language), English, Science, and Mathematics.

(2) Smart School Management System (SSMS).

This is software for managing and administering student enrolment, educational

resources, school finances, human resources, external resources, facilities,

technology, and hostel facilities.

(3) Technology Infrastructure.

The infrastructure provided to schools included hardware, software and other

related equipment.



(4) Systems Integration.

This was implemented to ensure integration between the various components and

processes of the Smart School Integrated System (SSIS), between the Smart School

System and other flagship applications, and to ensure data integrity and security.

The SSIS was implemented in the 87 pilot schools at a cost of about RM300 million

(USD78 million).

(5) Support Services.

The support services include Help Desk services, maintenance and support. The

Help Desk is located at the Educational Technology Division of the Ministry of

Education.

(Bismillah Khatoon, 2007)

The approach used by Malaysia in introducing ICT into schools differs significantly

from those undertaken by other countries. In Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland,

Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and the USA, initiatives for incorporating ICT into

education have tended to be initiated by schools rather than by the national

governments. The schools set the goals themselves, with the governments providing

funds. The SSIS is different in that it is primarily a government-led effort hence it is

supported by relevant government policies and the government sets the vision and

provides the budget with the private sector only providing the necessary expertise

(Bismillah Khatoon , 2007)

Since its implementation, the challenges faced by the SSIS have both been extrinsic

as well as intrinsic. There has been an enormous disparity in the level of ICT

availability and use in schools, especially between schools in rural areas and schools

in urban areas. Another challenge was the lack of Internet connectivity. Without

infrastructure and connectivity, the integrated system (encompassing web-based

courseware, on-line management tools, and technical support) provided by the

Smart Schools project was not accessible to rural schools. This posed a big

challenge for the Ministry of Education. To address this issue, the Ministry

provided schools in remote areas with special training programmes and provided

teachers with notebook computers and with CD-ROMs containing teaching

materials. In addition, the Ministry launched special schemes for the schools and

communities which are located on remote islands and in mountainous districts.

However, the bigger challenge was getting the teachers to use the courseware

effectively and creatively. According to Bismillah Khatoon (2007), common

misconception among teachers was that using the courseware simply means

assigning a topic for students to learn or search. Thus, the teacher merely projected

the courseware on the screen and the students used the courseware without any



guidelines or teacher supervision. At the other extreme, some teachers claimed that

teaching with the provided courseware required more preparation time and more

work and hence the software remained in the box for these teachers. Thus, there

was a need for these teachers to be trained properly. The Ministry adopted a system

designed by Internexia, using as a guide the United Kingdom’s Teacher Training

Agency (TTA) specification. This system was teacher training software to allow

teachers to learn at their own pace, place and time. The software incorporated a

tracking of learning and a self-assessment system, and also mapped the learning

pathway for each teacher. Teachers were expected to complete the training in nine

to twelve months at their own pace. On successful completion, teachers were to be

awarded an internationally recognised certificate of competency. However the

Malaysian Ministry of Education required the training to be implemented through

face-to-face instruction to accommodate the style of learning preferred by teachers.

The system was re-worked and the on-line programme was reduced to a full-time,

10-day, face-to-face training course. The training programme was launched in 2004

and the first phase was to be completed in mid-2007. The advantages of the face-to-

face training programme were that there was no distraction from the day-to-day

teaching activities and there was immediate tutorial support from the trainer,

opportunities for collaborative work with fellow teachers, and a quick evaluation of

progress. However, the disadvantage was that intensive face-to-face training tended

to limit the amount of time for teachers to digest what was imparted to them,

leaving them having to fend for themselves once the training was over when they

had to implement what was expected of them without sufficient continuing on-site

support from the trainer. Schools also viewed such training programs as a

disadvantage for them as they need to source for replacement teachers while they

were away for the course.

3.0 CURRENT AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

To ensure successful implementation of ICT in the classroom, the importance of

necessary infrastructure cannot be denied. But this is only the first step. Without

teachers’ full involvement, the initiatives will likely not achieve its desirable goals.

The roles of teachers in the successful implementation of ICT in schools have been

discussed time and again and they cover general broad areas such as those listed

below.

(1) Teachers emphasising on students as learners, rather than as recipients of

teaching which demands a significant shifts in their behaviour and attitude.



(2) Teachers being familiar with ICT tools for accessing learning resources and

information, solving problems and presenting results so that they can impart these

skills to their students

(3) Teachers supporting students in adopting learning skills that would enable them

to learn independently in the future.

(4) Teachers using technology to develop new skills to re-balance the curriculum

and enhance learning but not abandoning subject-based learning in the process.

In order to achieve the above, teachers not only need to be equipped with all the

necessary know-how and skills but also need to be active, enthusiastic, innovative

and fully committed to embrace the new technologies. This is a daunting task. The

intention of this paper is to investigate the ICT challenges and problems a group of

teachers from five Smart Schools face and their readiness to take on the challenge

of embracing ICT in their classrooms.

4.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In order to understand the challenges and problems faced by the teachers and the

extent in which they are ready to embrace the innovation, focus group interviews

(involving four respondents from each school) were conducted in all the five Smart

Schools studied. Each group comprised one English, one Mathematics and two

Science teachers (of different disciplines). According to Morgan (1988), focus

groups are a form of group interview which relies on the interaction within the

group who discusses a topic supplied by the researcher. It was felt that focus group

interview was particularly suited for this purpose and was thus employed as the

main tool for data elicitation. The interview comprised 8 questions on the teachers’

use of ICT in their teaching and learning. The questions regarding ICT use aimed to

explore teachers’ extent of ICT use, the problems they faced, their training in ICT,

the development of ICT materials and school support regarding ICT use. Interview

data from each school were audio recorded and later transcribed.

Descriptive analysis, namely in the form of frequency count, was used to analyse

the data. The analytic procedures involved first conducting a general analysis of the

data, before following up on a specific analysis. The former involves reviewing data

concerning the teachers in all schools, while in the latter analysis, data was analysed

based on schools and subject groups.

5.0 Description of the Schools

Table 1: Profile of the schools

School Established Type Basis for selection of students



A 1971 Non-residential

(All girls)

Public Examination Achievement

B 1980 Non-residential

(co-education)


C 1893 Non-residential

(All boys)


D 1958 Fully

Residential

(All boys)

Public Examination Achievement &

Entrance exam/Interview

E 2002 Fully

Residential

(co-education)

Public Examination Achievement &

Entrance exam/Interview

All of the five schools selected for this project are schools classified as “A” schools

(i.e. schools that consistently produce good results) by the Malaysian Ministry of

Education. As shown in Table 1, two of the five schools selected for this study (i.e.

schools D and E) are fully residential schools. They are located outside Kuala

Lumpur and the students are selected based on their performance in an entrance

examination. The other three schools are located in Kuala Lumpur. All students

have to pass the public examination before they can apply to them but no screening

process is used to select students. All students living in the vicinity of the schools

are allowed to apply for enrolment into these schools.

6.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE TEACHERS

Each school had 4 teachers from the Science, Mathematics and English Language

subjects. As shown in Table 2 their experiences in teaching range from 28 years to

only 4 months. There is a good mix with regard to teaching experiences. There are

nine teachers with teaching experiences of 10 years and more. Four teachers have

less than 4 years of teaching experiences. Out of these four, two are very new with

only 4 and 6 months of teaching experiences. All four teachers from School E and

teacher B (the only male teacher in the research) volunteered to take part in this

study. The rest were asked by their Heads to do so.



Table 2: Profile of the teachers

School Teacher Gender Forms

taught

Subjects taught Teaching

Experience

A A1 Female 4, 5 Chemistry 28 years

A2 Female 4, 5 Physics 11 years

A3 Female 3, 4, 5 Mathematics 10 years

A4 Female 1, 3, 5 English 15 years

B B1 Female 2, 5 Mathematics 6 months

B2 Female 4 Mathematics 4 years

B3 Female 3, 4 English 11 years

B4 Male 1, 2 Mathematics 8 years

C C1 Female 4 English 8 years

C2 Female 1, 5 English 14 years

C3 Female 6 Biology 10 years

C4 Female 4 Biology 5 years

D D1 Female 1, 2 Science,

Mathematics

2 years

D2 Female 1, 4 Biology,

Science

4 months

D3 Female 2, 3 Mathematics 5 years

D4 Female 2, 3, 4 English 5 years

E E1 Female 3, 4, 5 Chemistry 14 years

E2 Female 1, 4, 5 Science 6 years

E3 Female 3, 4 English 18 years

E4 Female 1, 2, 3 Mathematics 5 years

7.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The following themes were identified through a scrutiny of the transcripts of the

data: ICT facilities; frequency of ICT use; reasons for using ICT; factors hindering

the use of ICT; development of online materials; training; and school support. The

findings are analysed and discussed according to these themes.

7.1 ICT Facilities

With regard to ICT facilities in the five schools investigated, it is apparent from

Table 3 that the schools are sufficiently well-equipped with computer labs, laptops

for teachers involved in the implementation of the Smart School curriculum, LCD



projectors (permanently fixed in classrooms or portable) and Wi-Fi hotspots. These

facilities were provided by the government in support of the Smart School initiative.

Analysis based on schools, revealed that there is not much differentiation in terms

of the type of facilities available. Any disparity, if at all exists; lay in the number of

ICT tools, laboratories, and coverage of wireless areas. Comparatively, School E

seems to be the best equipped among all the five schools as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: ICT Facilities for Teaching and Learning

School ICT Facilities

A 5 computer labs, LCD in all classes and science labs, laptops,

wireless areas

4 ICT labs, laptops, LCD, wireless areas

C 5 computer labs, LCD in Science labs, Math room, English

room, laptops,

wireless areas

D 4 computer labs, LCD in science labs and some classes, laptops,

wireless areas

E 3 computer labs, 3 Active boards,1 multimedia room, computers

in all classes

& science labs, school wireless, LCD in exam classes & half of

Forms 1 and 4

7.2 Frequency of Use

Analysis of frequency of ICT use is based on comparisons between schools and

subject groups.

Frequency of ICT Use by Schools

Table 4a shows the frequency of ICT use among the respondents from the five

schools. Ten out of twenty respondents (50%) use ICT in their teaching and

learning often. Their responses include ‘quite often’, ‘a lot’ and ‘always’. Out of the

five schools, all the four teachers from School E claimed to have used ICT quite

often, followed by two out of four teachers from Schools A and C, and 1 teacher

each from Schools B and D respectively. Six respondents (30%) said they

moderately use ICT , while 4 of them (20%) said that they only use ICT sparingly.

It should be pointed out here that all five teachers from School A are teachers with



much experience and they all volunteered to take part in this project. Another point

to take into consideration is that 3 of the 4 teachers who claimed not to have used

ICT are new teachers. For example, one of the teachers has only been in the school

for 3 weeks prior to the interview. She would probably be using more of it once she

has gained familiarity and access to the ICT facilities.

Table 4a: Frequency of ICT Use by Schools

School Often Sometimes Seldom

A 2 (50%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%)

B 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 2 (50%)

C 2 (50%) 2 (50%) 0 (0%)

D 2 (50%) 2 (50%) 0 (0%)

E 4 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Frequency of ICT Use by Subject Groups

In terms of ICT use based on subject matter discipline, it can be gleaned from Table

4b that English teachers use ICT most often while Mathematics teachers use it the

least. It would be interesting to find out the reason for this and this will be

undertaken in a later study. A guess is that it is easier to use ICT to teach a language

than to teach concepts.

Table 4b: Frequency of ICT Use by Subject Groups

7.3 Reasons for Using ICT

With regard to rationale for ICT use, responses provided could be grouped under

three headings: pre-teaching and learning (planning stage), during teaching and

learning and post teaching and learning (evaluation stage) as demonstrated in the

Table 5.

Subject Teachers Often Sometimes Seldom

English 4 67% 2 33% 0 0%

Mathematics 2 33% 1 17% 3 50%

Science 5 63% 3 37% 0 0%



Table 5: Reasons for ICT use

R* S* Pre T & L During T & L Post T & L Others

1 E Internet

information

PowerPoint

presentations,

online

homework etc.

2 M get students to

start thinking

forced to use

it

3 S interesting

4 S Internet

information

when real

experiment cannot

be conducted

5 M

reinforcement

especially for

Science

exercises from

Internet

6 M

submit work

online

7 E Internet

(websites)

PowerPoint

presentations,

encouraged

to use

8 M PowerPoint

presentations

9 S can view clear

images

promote self-

learning

10 S PowerPoint

presentations

(promotes

creativity)

11 E for

teaching

materials

don’t have to

print, copy

send homework

via attachment

(e-mail)

12 E attracts students’

attention

13 M enhance

understanding

14 S for difficult topic

15 S find they find



activities information

16 E find

activities

prevent boredom

17 S for lesson

preparation

tackling difficult

topics

online

homework

18 S use courseware PowerPoint

presentations

19 M can show 3-D

images

20 E Internet

information

explain certain

things

e-mail their

work

R* = respondent; S* = subject, M = Mathematics, S = Science, E = English

It is noted that 8 respondents (22%) use ICT for pre-teaching and learning, 14 of

them (39%) use ICT during teaching and learning and 11 others (31%) for post-

teaching and learning. There were three respondents (8%) whose reasons did not

fall in any of the three groups.

In the planning stage of the teaching and learning process, the respondents

mentioned that they mainly use ICT for finding information and also preparing their

Power Point slides. During the actual teaching and learning process, ICT is used

mainly to aid and facilitate teachers’ instruction; especially when tackling difficult

topics. For instance, one respondent found it was easier to explain the scientific

concept of prism with ICT as multimedia has the capability of providing 3-

dimensional images of the prism. Apart from that the varied features in ICT makes

lessons interesting. Moreover, the use of ICT provokes students to think and

enhances understanding.

Besides using ICT for the planning and while-teaching phases, the respondents also

use ICT to carry out evaluation tasks. Students are either asked to do and send in

their homework online via e-mail to their teachers, or prepare PowerPoint

presentations. They are also required to find information in the Internet. In fact,

according to one respondent, ICT allows her to equip her students with the

necessary presentation skills that they would need during their tertiary education.

Besides the aforementioned rationale for ICT use, three other reasons were also

cited. One teacher found the use of ICT helped promote independent learning. She

mentioned that by providing related hyperlinks about a topic to her students,

students were found to have learned more about a topic concerned on their own.

Empowering students to be responsible for their own learning is one of the aims of



the Smart School initiative (Azian, T.S. Abdullah, 2006). However, two

respondents conceded that they use ICT due to pressure from the administrators and

not because they want to.

When analysed, based on subject discipline, it was found that Mathematics teachers

rarely use ICT in lesson preparation. As mentioned earlier, the most probable

explanation might be attributed to the difficulty in incorporating ICT in explaining

Mathematical concepts.

7.4 Factors Hindering the Use of ICT

Table 6 below summarises the list of factors that hinder the respondents from

utilizing ICT in their teaching and learning process. As can be seen, the range of

factors included those that are student-related, technical, infrastructural, courseware,

and heavy workload of teachers. Heavy workload seems to be the main factor cited.

Fifteen teachers (36%) reported that due to the workload which comprises

administrative, co-curricular duties, and teaching responsibilities, they have limited

time to prepare lessons that incorporate ICT. Another major obstacle is student-

related problems as stated by nine teachers (22%). Students were said to be noisier

and less controllable when ICT was used. Some students even strayed from the

lesson by viewing other sites while others chose to meddle with the computers until

they became faulty. As a consequent, teachers were reluctant to use ICT. Apart

from these, technical and infrastructural limitations were also mentioned. Lack of

connectivity is among the technical problems cited by 8 respondents (18%). Other

technical problems are the lack of compatibility of computer systems and shortage

of technicians. In one of the schools, ICT-based lessons could not be conducted in

classrooms on the top floor due to weak Internet connections.

Infrastructural limitations, as stated by 5 respondents (12%), refer to the limited

number of computers, computer labs and LCD projectors. In other words, in an

average classroom of 30 students with six computers in it, computer usage has to be

shared among five students. In the case of computer lab, computer usage is better,

i.e., being shared between two. However, the flipside is that there are only a few

computer labs in a school. On average, there are about four labs for all students in

each of the 5 schools. Hence, teachers have to compete with one another to use the

labs. Other than these problems, the courseware provided by the Smart School

curriculum is found to be problematic by 5 respondents (12%). One shortcoming is

the lack of proper guidelines regarding its usage. Furthermore, the courseware

designers seem to have focused more on the design and layout of the teaching

material rather than the content. Thus in order to use them, teachers, claimed that

they need to supplement the content. Teachers also cited problems relating to the



lack of individualisation, boring, and unchallenging tasks used in those courseware.

One teacher found the courseware to be impractical for certain subjects like

Additional Mathematics as it does not provoke students to think of the various steps

involved in solving a problem.

Table 6: Factors Hindering the Use of ICT

R* S* Problem

with

students

Workload /

Time

Infrastructural

Limitation

Technical

Problems

Coursewa

re

problem

1 E Can’t

control

class

Teaching

different

subjects for

different

classes/ No

time

Lack of

computer labs

2 M Too much

work

Too slow

3 S No time Not

practical

4 S Many duties Too slow

5 M Cannot

control

class

6 M No time

7 E students

view other

sites

Too busy Connectivity

8 M

9 S Connectivity

and

compatibility

10 S No proper

guidelines

11 E students

view other

sites,

talking

Too busy Limited number

of computers

Lack of

technicians

Not

challengin

g

12 E Cannot

control

Unavailability

of labs



class

13 M Cannot

control

class

Too much

work

Lack of

computers

14 S Too much

work

15 S Too much

work

Connectivity

16 E Too much

work

compatibility

17 S meddling Too busy Lack of

computers

Time

consuming

18 S Noisy, view

other sites

Too busy

19 M Class

control

Too busy connectivity

20 E Too busy connectivity


7.5 Development of Materials

Table 7 reveals that only 7 out of the 20 respondents (35%) have produced other

materials besides their PowerPoint slides. These include brochures, interactive

courseware, MDeC (Multimedia Development Corporation) materials and video

authoring materials. Only one teacher has indulged in creating software and a portal

for the school as he is an IT expert.

When analysed by schools, School E is the most active in terms of developing

materials as all of them have developed ICT materials. Schools A and D have not

developed any materials thus far. This is probably because the teachers in school D

are relatively new with less than 5 years of teaching experience. They may be

focusing more on their teaching than on developing their own materials. In school

A, on the other hand, although the teachers have not less than 11 years of teaching

experience, they seem to be bogged down with a heavy workload. They have no

time to develop any materials on their own. In other words, it is incorrect to imply

that experienced teachers will develop teaching materials and vice-versa. There

might be other contributing factors that have boosted or hindered the development

of ICT-based materials.



Table 7: Production/Development of Materials

School R* S* Materials

1 E Powerpoint slides

2 M Powerpoint slides

3 S Powerpoint slides

A




7 E Powerpoint slides, MDeC

materials

B

8 M Powerpoint slides, software,

portal

9 S Powerpoint slides, brochures



C





D


17 S Powerpoint slides, brochures

18 S Powerpoint slides, brochures,

interactive courseware

19 M Powerpoint slides, brochures

E

20 E Powerpoint slides, video

authoring materials


7.6 Training in ICT

The ICT training of the respondents is examined from two perspectives; that is the

training they have received and the kinds of training they need as Smart School

teachers.

Training Received regarding the Use of ICT



As far as training is concerned, Table 8a shows that all the respondents have

received training in ICT – whether the training was out-of-school or in-house

training. Outside-school training programmes are those organized for Smart

Schools, such as those by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Professional Teaching

Guide in ICT (BPPT), MDeC and Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English

(PPSMI). Two teachers from School A went for ICT training by external agencies

that are probably government-sponsored. Only one teacher (from School B) seems

to have undergone training by non-government agencies. Besides receiving training

from outside their school, teachers are also trained in their schools. ICT

coordinators in all 5 schools conduct in-house training in the use of ICT. This shows

that the schools are keen to provide continuous training for their staff in ICT.

Table 8a: ICT Training Received

Sc R* S* Outside Training In-house Training

1 E Sunway College - use of

spreadsheets, PowerPoint

2 M PPSMI

3 S Smart School Piloting

A

4 S INTEL technology centre, PPSMI-

use of notebook

i) Smart School

Management System

ii) e-portfolio

iii) Web logs

5 M

6 M Multimedia Development Corp --

preparing interactive activity

sheets, creating websites,

BESTARI training

7 E BTTP – Designing websites

B

8 M Introduction to Dream weaver,

Intermediate in Dream weaver,

Flash

i. video clips

ii. animation

9 S PPSMI, BTTP

10 S MoE

11 E MoE

C

12 E

i. EXCEL

ii. PowerPoint

iii. Word

iv. hyperlink using ICT

13 M Basic usage of ICT, like

powerpoint

14 S

D

15 S Basic usage of ICT, like

powerpoint

i. “Fear Not IT”

ii. Use of videos in

classroom




ICT Training Needs

The need for other forms of training in the use of ICT by the respondents is listed in

Table 8b.

Table 8b

Training Needs

Sch R* S* Yes No Don’t

know

1 E Sufficient

2 M Sufficient

3 S Sufficient

A

4 S Sufficient

5 M Developing own materials

6 M Developing own materials

7 E Developing own materials

B

8 M Advanced courses for

Webmaster

9 S

10 S Advanced use of ICT

11 E Advanced courses in Word,

Excel, PowerPoint

C

12 E

13 M No idea

14 S No idea

15 S No idea

D

16 E No idea

17 S Hardware maintenance E

18 S Hardware maintenance

16 E Basic usage of ICT, like

powerpoint

17 S BTTP training, Active Board

18 S BTTP training, Active Board

19 M BTTP training, Active Board

E

20 E BTTP training, Active Board

i. Use of PowerPoint, Excel,

Publisher, hyperlink

ii. Developing websites,

web logs

iii. Integrating IT in T & L



19 M Hardware maintenance

20 E No idea


When analyzing training needs of the teachers, an interesting pattern emerged. Nine

teachers voiced the need for more training; that is in the development of teaching

courseware, hardware maintenance (trouble shooting, maintaining the hard disc),

maintaining the smooth running of their laptops and others. One of them would like

an advanced course as he is an ICT expert. Four teachers felt the training they have

received is sufficient and there is no need for more training. Five other teachers are

uncertain about their training needs.

When analysed based on schools, teachers in schools B and E wanted more training

while those in school A felt the training they have received is sufficient for them to

carry out their ICT-based teaching and learning duties. Teachers in School E

seemed to go for hardware maintenance, teachers in School B asked for training in

developing materials and two teachers in School A requested for advance courses

on use of ICT software. It would seem there is a great deal of variation in

perceptions of usage and needs. It would appear that most of them have some

training in ICT and its application in the classroom and the extent they are willing to

use ICT in the classroom depend on their perceptions of how useful it is and current

practice and expectations of the schools they are from. However, further

investigation needs to be undertaken on this, in the form of on-site observations and

involvement, to have a clearer idea of the issues involved.

7.7 School Support

School support for the use of ICT by the teachers is viewed from two angles: the

support received from the school as well as the kind of school support needed.

School Support Received for the Use of ICT

The kinds of support the respondents have received from their schools with regards

to the use of ICT in teaching and learning is demonstrated in Table 9a.

Table 9a: School Support Received

Sch Infrastructural

Support

Technical

Support

Pedagogical

Support

Financial

Support

A Computer labs,

LCDs, create a

more ICT-

Technicians,

Minimal

problems with

Training,

Encouragement



friendly

environment

(wireless areas)

connectivity

B Labs, laptops,

WIFI in labs,

staffroom, office

ICT Mentor Training

Purchase of

accessories

C Computer labs,

laptops, wireless

areas

Good Internet

connections

Training,

Encouragement

D Laptops, LCD

projectors,

computer labs,

WIFI in the

whole school

Technician Information

regarding use of

ICT

E Labs, laptops,

LCD projectors,

Active boards

Able technician Training

As far as support is concerned, Table 9a reveals that all the five schools provide

infrastructural, technical and pedagogical support. Infrastructural support received

by these Smart Schools includes computers, labs, LCD projectors and wireless

areas. Technical support is provided in the form of technicians and Internet

connections. To help the teachers with the use of ICT, the schools provide training

and encouragement. Only school B is aware of the financial support to purchase

accessories as this teacher is in charge of the ICT unit. However, no mention is

made about the financial support obtained to maintain the ICT facilities in the

school.

School Support Needed

The forms of school support that the teachers need is displayed in Table 9b.

Table 9b: Support Needed

School R* Infrastructural

Support

Technical

Support

Pedagogical

Support

Financial

Support

1 More computers Reduce

workload

To

purchase

accessorie

s

A

2 Reduce

workload



3 Reduce

workload

4 Reduce

workload

5 More computers More training

6 Emotional

Support

7 ICT & Content

expert

B

8 To

purchase

accessorie

s

9 More

challenging

courseware

10

11 More computers Technician

s

Better

courseware

C

12 Emotional

support

13 Repair

computers, new

computers

14 Repair

computers, new

computers

15 Repair

computers, new

computers

Better

connectivit

y

D

16 Language labs, a

radio station

More

technician

s

17 Reduce

workload

18 Reduce

workload

19

E

20 More



computers,

laptops

It can be gleaned from Table 9b that 12 teachers (52%) reported the need for

pedagogical support; i.e. lesser workload, training, courseware, mentor and

emotional support. School A seems to particularly need reduction in workload as

that is the main complaint of all the teachers. Emotional support is the second

request and one teacher explained that the teachers had to rely on each other

support, especially in applying and trouble-shooting problems related to ICT.

Eight teachers (35%) mentioned the need for physical support. This is

understandable as the student-computer ratio of in the classroom is about 5:1.

Moreover, as reported by the teachers, many of the computers are either old are

faulty. One teacher expressed the need for a new physical facility; that is, a

language lab and a radio station using ICT. This could be because she has been

exposed to such facilities overseas.

Only three teachers (13%) reported the need for technical support. This is probably

because the schools already have technicians and Internet connections. It could be

that the Internet connections are weak and they can do with more technicians.

7.8 Overall Discussion

This study was conducted with the intention of identifying the factors responsible

for Malaysian teachers’ lack of success to integrate ICT into the classrooms. The

findings reveal that the 5 schools participating in this project are generally well-

equipped as far as ICT facilities are concerned. However the use of ICT is still

lacking in most of these schools except for School E. The teachers of this school

were all volunteers and they consistently used ICT in teaching and even in

developing ICT materials. Thus, enthusiasm and interest seem to be the key

motivating factors to ICT promulgation. Reasons given for lack of use of ICT by

the teachers of the other schools include heavy workload, difficulty in controlling

class and technical, infrastructural and courseware limitations with heavy workload

topping the list. As far as training is concerned the findings demonstrate that all the

teachers have received some training in ICT use and only approximately fifty

percent felt more training is necessary. Generally their perceptions for the needs of

more training and support depend to a large extent on their perceptions of the

importance of ICT to teaching and learning and the current practice and

expectations of the schools they are from. As for support, according to the teachers

more physical support is required but more important are reduction in workload and

emotional support.



8.0 CONCLUSION AND THE WAY FORWARD

Implementation of the ICT-driven curriculum will not be effective without the

cooperation of these teachers as their concerns and perceptions influence the way in

which they implement the SSC (Smart School Curriculum) and this influence the

success of the SSC initiatives. Thus, for the SSC initiatives to experience genuine

significant changes or reforms, support must be given to teachers to help them

improve their involvement and commitment to the use of ICT in their teaching

practices. The support given by SSIS in the form of basic training has been found

to be lacking in effectiveness in achieving the above goals. Hence, it is essential to

consider alternative measures. The findings discussed indicated that enthusiasm

and interest are the key components to success followed by providing the necessary

physical and emotional support and a reduction in workload.

Hence there is a need for change and here I would like to propose a model for

change that is not only more interactive but also has far-reaching implications. It

may not address the physical needs such as providing necessary infrastructures and

reduction in workload immediately but it will provide the “climate’ that will propel

changes that lead to changes in mindsets, school management and physical

conditions. The model proposed is an action research model that draws upon

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) hub and spoke model based on a

critical relationship between a number of school-based cadre of change–agents

(spokes) and a Higher Education Institutions (HEI)-based research team (hub). The

spokes are the four teachers (of English, Mathematics and Science) from each

school from the five schools and the hub is the researchers from the Higher

Education Institute (HEI) research team from three universities: The National

University of Malaysia (UKM), University of Nottingham, UK and University of

Sabah, Malaysia.

The HEI research team will bring together the school-based cadres to share

emerging issues, themes and evaluation. The proposed model is based on the

Improvement Quality Education for All (IQEA) action research framework which

has been extensively used in the UK as a vehicle for school improvement. In the

IQEA project the teachers (in groups of 6-8) comprising subjects in a range of

hierarchy, experience, age etc. meet and work together to bring about changes in

their respective schools by reflecting on and sharing their teaching practices which

include exploring teaching models and looking into practices that work and things

that do not (Hopkins et al. 1996). The online model will lead to the development of

online communities of practices. The sharing of teaching practices is through blogs,

online discussion and video clips of lessons using the Virtual Interactive Platform



(ViP) which is designed to allow the teachers to put in comments to sections of

video clips. These communities differ from the IQEA in two important aspects. The

sharing in the case of the IQEA was mostly face-to-face whereas in this model the

sharing between the teachers will be done online. Second, the goal of the proposed

project extends beyond bringing changes in teaching and learning. It extends to

giving teachers an opportunity to work with ICT from the start so that they are

aware of all the problems involved when they attempt to impart the skills to their

students.

9.0 REFERENCE

Azian T.S. Abdullah (2006). Deconstructing Secondary Education: The Malaysian

Smart School Initiative. Paper presented at the 10th. SEAMEO INNOTECH

International Conference, Quezon City, Philippines.

Azizah Ya’acob, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor & Hazita Azman (2005). Implementation of

the Malaysian Smart Schools: An investigation of teaching-learning

practices and teacher-student readiness. Internet Journal of e-Language

Learning and Teaching, Vol. 2(2). Retrieved March 15, 2009, from

http://www.eltrec.ukm.my/ijellt

Bismillah Khatoon Abdul Kader (2008). Malaysia’s experience in training teachers

to use ICT. In E. Meleisea, (Ed.), ICT in Teacher Education: Case Studies

from the Asia-Pacific Region. (pp. 61-66). Bangkok: UNESCO

Publication.

Dede, C. (2008). Learning with Technology: The 1998 ASCD Year-book.

Alexandria. VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Ertmer, P. A. (1999). Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change:

Strategies for technology integration. Educational Technology Research

and Development, 47(4), 1999, pp. 47-61.

Hajar Mohd. Nor. (2005). Conditions facilitating the implementation of Information

and Communication Technology (ICT) Integration in the Malaysia Smart

School. Unpublished PhD, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor.

Hopkins, D. West, M. & Ainscow, M. (1996). Improving the Quality of Education

For All. London: David Fulton Publisher.

Lee, K.W. (2007) ESL Teacher Professional Development & Curriculum

Innovation: The Case of the Malaysian Smart School Project. Unpublished

PhD, Lancaster University, UK.



Ministry of Education (1997). The Malaysian Smart School Implementation Plan.

Ministry of Education, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 1997.

Siti Suria Salim & Sharifah Mohd. Nor (2005). Teachers as Implementers of

Change: The Smart School Experience. International Journal of Learning,

12(10), 2005, pp.197-204.

About the Authors

Thang Siew Ming is an Associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and

Linguistics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She obtained her PhD from the

School of Education, University of Nottingham in 2001. Her areas of professional

interest are CALL, Learner Autonomy, Distance Education and Learning Styles,

Approaches and Learning Strategies.

Puvaneswary Murugaiah is a lecturer at the School of Distance Education,

Universiti Sains Malaysia. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD at the School of

Language Studies and Linguistics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her areas of

professional interest are TESOL, Distance Education and Strategic Learning.

Pramela Krish is a senior lecturer at the School of Language Studies and

Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan

Malaysia. She has researched and published work on online learning. Her research

interests include Distance Language Learning and Technology-based Language

Learning.

Azizah Yaacob is a lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics,

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, University Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her

work interest includes English Language Teaching (ELT), Oral Communication and

Distance Learning Education.

Hazita Azman is Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

and Associate Professor at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from

University of Western Australia. Her areas of professional interest are

Multiliteracies and Education and CALL



MyJICT, Malaysian Journal of Information and Communication Technology, is

devoted to disseminate high quality refereed articles in the field of ICT. It is an

biannually published journal, and also available online for free.

We would like to invite all the researches, academicians, and ICT professionals

throughout Malaysia to contribute to this journal. Send in your articles related to

ICT to the address below, or email the softcopy to us.

Editorial Office

Faculty of Information & Science Technology,

Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor (KUIS),

Bandar Seri Putra, 43600 Bangi,

Selangor, Malaysia.

Tel : +603 8925 4251

Fax : +603 8925 4473

Hotline : +6012 903 4614

Email : [email protected]

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