Mohd Nihra Haruzuan Mohamad Said

Facebook as a Tool: Exploring the Use of Facebook in Teaching and Learning

In this paper, we explore the use of Facebook as an alternative to learning management system for tertiary teaching and learning purposes in a Malaysian university context. Three embedded approaches for Facebook were implemented, namely for mixing information and learning resources, mixing expertise and mixing context of learning. Each of embedded approaches was analyzed through two ways: within and cross-case analysis. The results from cross-case analysis indicate that Facebook has the potential of mixing affordances of technical, social and pedagogical for teaching and learning, and thus can deliver positive tool for teaching and learning but can also be a negative tool if it is not appropriately utilize.

Academic domains as political battlegrounds : a global enquiry by 99 academics in the fields of education and technology

This article theorizes the functional relationship between the human components (i.e., scholars) and non-human components (i.e., structural configurations) of academic domains. It is organized around the following question: in what ways have scholars formed and been formed by the structural configurations of their academic domain? The article uses as a case study the academic domain of education and technology to examine this question. Its authorship approach is innovative, with a worldwide collection of academics (99 authors) collaborating to address the proposed question based on their reflections on daily social and academic practices. This collaboration followed a three-round process of contributions via email. Analysis of these scholars’ reflective accounts was carried out, and a theoretical proposition was established from this analysis. The proposition is of a mutual (yet not necessarily balanced) power (and therefore political) relationship between the human and non-human constituents of an academic realm, with the two shaping one another. One implication of this proposition is that these non-human elements exist as political ‘actors’, just like their human counterparts, having ‘agency’ – which they exercise over humans. This turns academic domains into political (functional or dysfunctional) ‘battlefields’ wherein both humans and non-humans engage in political activities and actions that form the identity of the academic domain.

Challenges in distributed leadership: evidence from the perspective of headteachers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the issues and challenges faced by headteachers in practicing the suggested distributed leadership (DL) approach in three primary schools to their middle layer leaders. Design/methodology/approach – The study employed a case study design and data were collected through semi-structured interviews. A total of three headteachers were interviewed in examining and exploring challenges within the DL practices. The transcripts from the semi-structured interviews formed the basis of the findings. Findings – The findings suggest that senior teachers lack confidence in making decisions and rely on the consent from headteachers even though they are empowered to make their own decisions. Another significant issue faced by headteachers when distributing their leadership is the ability, expertise, experience, and willingness of teachers to hold leadership roles and responsibilities. Originality/value – The results are important since there have been few empirical studies on the issues and challenges faced by headteachers in practising DL approach in primary schools in the context of Malaysia. This initiative sidelines the traditional school leadership approach which emphasises on the accountability of headteachers as the sole school leader.

Mathematical problem solving skills among high achiever students

This study aims to examine the problem solving skills among form four high achievers in a boarding school. 52 students from two classes were purposively chosen based on their mathematics achievement in mid-year examination and PT3 results. As this study was to test students’ problem solving skills with the daily life problem, the Mathematical Problem Solving Skills Test (UKPMM) was created for this purpose. The items in this test were adapted from PISA mathematics questions and consists of ten multiple answer questions and eight openended questions. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that high achiever students have problems in solving mathematics questions especially in real life context. Most of the students managed to extract important information from the questions but possess limited ability to utilize and manipulate the information to solve the problem given. The students have tendency towards finding the correct solution rather than processing the information during the thinking process. Therefore, there is a need to introduce an alternative way of teaching approach to enhance problem solving skills among high achievers.

Developing Critical Reflection Skill among Pre-Service Teacher through Collaborative Inquiry Using Social Media

Despite the constructive comments provided by the lecturer and teacher educators, pre-service teachers still failed to reflect critically in their teaching skills. Concerning this matter, David (2008) suggests teachers to meet regularly through collaborative inquiry while Croco and Cramer (2005) suggest the use of technology as added-value in improving their teaching skills. By using technology such social media, pre-service teacher should continuously engage in discussions with their lecturer and teacher educator so that they could constantly reflect critically during their teaching practice. The ability to reflect critically among trainee teachers must start with reflective thinking. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop critical reflection among the pre-service teachers based on a conceptual framework developed from Schons (1983) reflective practices model and Kilbanes (2007) collaborative inquiry model using social media. The research sample comprised five pre-service teachers from a Malaysian public university which was selected on the basis of their ability in using social media platform. The instruments used in this study were Facebook group and interviews. The transcripts derived from the online discussions among the students, pre-service teachers, lecturer and teacher educators through Facebook group were analysed using coding procedure developed from Henris (1992) cognitive skills model and Kilbanes (2007) collaborative inquiry model. The findings indicated that the pre-service teachers were able to develop critical reflections during their teaching practice and thus, improved their teaching skills.

The Nature of Student Group Online Interactions in Learning ICT Education

This study investigated the nature of student group interactions through the incorporation of online collaborative learning (OCL) initiative, with its aim to enhance students’ learning in a Malaysian tertiary multimedia and ICT education course. Data collected from questionnaires, interviews and online forum transcripts were the basis for an interpretive analysis of students’ interactions in online collaborative learning and to assess the extent to which it was successful in enhancing students’ learning. The results showed four types of student group interactions styles: strategic, task directed, peripheral and disengaged which in support of the students’ cognitive, social and emotional development. The research also found that the incorporation of online collaborative learning can lead to the facilitation of the student and student’s group learning process and potential constraints from the technology or the lack of social and verbal cues can lead to different working methods of communication and different styles of interactions and student’s engagement.