Hisham Dzakiria

Students' accounts of the need for continuous support in a distance learning programme

This paper looks at a qualitative case study of distance learning at Universiti Utara Malaysia as described by a small group of distance learners as they progress through their courses at the institution. It concerns the learners – it is their story, their experience, their perspective. In particular, this thematic report looks at learning support in distance learning as it surfaced as one of the central findings of this research. This is an issue that arose from discussions with the students, rather than being predetermined by the research design. Conclusions have been drawn regarding the role of learning support to facilitate distance learning at Universiti Utara Malaysia. The concept of need and support is important as it relates to the different requirements from support into action that enables the learners to connect with their teachers, the course content and with other learners.

Influence of recreation on education aspiration

In the wide context of travel and tourism, recreation plays a significant role in occupying holiday‐makers agenda, so much so that destination is often sought based on recreation activities it offers. Campus recreation for example, is a major component that influences the young when choosing the destination in which to pursue higher education. However, the truly‐important‐but‐often‐dismissed role of recreation is perhaps its value towards the intellectual development of youth. This special value is perhaps more apparent if we discuss it in the context of adolescents in a campus setting i.e. the students. This study is an attempt to examine the relationship between these two dimensions. Specially, it looked at the link between recreation and academic aspirations and achievement using a specific student population. Aspiration is measured by looking at an individuals attitudes, motivation and expectation with regard to formal education. Findings from the study indicated a strong relationship between intensity of recreation with aspiration. It is found that the more intense the recreation activity, the more positive the individuals aspiration towards in class learning is. However, the same cannot be concluded for relationship between intensity of recreation with academic achievement. This is because the study found that individuals who recreate most intensely do not show good academic achievement. The same scenario is also true for those who recreate least intensely. Individuals who showed the best academic achievement are found to be those who recreation intensity is comparatively moderate. The study provided several recommendations for the planning and provision of recreation activities in institutions of higher learning and emphasized the need for students to recognize the importance of balancing academic and nonacademic pursuit in their time management.

The combination of different modalities in the Web-based learning environment: a comparative analysis of the perceptual instructional outcomes

The Web-based learning environment (WBLE) has the capability to incorporate many modalities (text, graphics, audio and video) and their combinations into one single medium for instructional purposes. However, when each modality combination is used, information is extracted differently through the information pathways by the learners, resulting in varying levels of memory storage. This article reports on the comparative analysis between the three different types of modality combinations (text + graphics, text+ graphics + audio, text+ graphics +video) in the WBLE in terms of the instructional outcomes as perceived by the students. The Post Hoc Test for multiple comparisons revealed that the hierarchical modality combination with text + graphics + audio exhibited the highest mean score followed by the text + graphics combination. The text + graphics + video combination exhibited the lowest mean score. The effect of information degradation from the excessive rates of transmission through multi-channel communication is highlighted and discussed.

Luring the tourists: A positioning exercise

Positioning is essential in most business to ensure competitiveness, survival and success. This is certainly true for tourism since attracting more revenues entails making tourism destinations more appealing to tourists. Responding to the increase recognition on the importance of positioning, this research was an attempt to carry out a positioning exercise for the state of Kedah via understanding the perception of its market. Among the objectives of this research was: to identify’ Kedahs competitors; to profile the international tourists and identify the segments that exists; to segment benefit sought and evaluate the attractiveness of the resulting segments and last but not least, to provide suggestions on how Kedah should position itself. Clustering analysis using Wards method revealed 5 distinct clusters representing the type of visitors visiting Kedah: the nature and enlightenment seekers; the social and comfort seekers, the conscientious tourists; the nonchalant and perplexing tourists; and the sedate and cultural tourists. The ranking ofKedah in relation to competitive by these segments, and an abstract measurement of Kedahs image further revealed that despite the many places of heritage in mainland Kedah and Langkawis portrayal as an Isle of Legend, Kedah has not been perceived as a destination for ‘culture’. Instead tourist sees it as a relaxing destination and a safe heaven. In addition, Kedah is also viewed as a destination that offers value for money with good facilities. In view of globalization and the resulting enhanced competition, This paper concludes that Kedah has to position itself differently based on its strength, perhaps by portraying the image of “the safe place to unwind”.