Raja Maznah Raja Hussain

Problem-Based Learning in Asian Universities.

This study reports teacher and student experiences of problem‐based learning (PBL) in three Asian countries. PBL was introduced to provide an education that would allow students to compete successfully in a changing world. Student and tutor experiences were positive and PBL was seen to work extremely well, despite the typical problems that students can experience working in groups. However, conceptions of PBL varied between tutors, and PBL as a ‘method’ appeared to have limited utility for guiding teaching practice. There was evidence that students were developing useful knowledge and lifelong learning skills, but there were concerns about where this occurred in the PBL curriculum. We looked closely at the PBL tutorial in each programme, and how it lived up to the idea that it should be a key site for facilitating higher‐order thinking. We found that the tutorial was largely a space for reporting the outcomes of student inquiries, and there was little evidence for critical engagement. A key impediment to such engagement was the cultural inappropriateness of challenging peers or the tutor. A new type of academic socialisation may be required for Asian students and tutors to explicitly help them overcome this. A conceptual foundation for PBL is suggested, in which it is understood as a methodological idea founded on a system of principles, practices and methods. Introduced as a methodology, tutors and course teams would take the basic idea of PBL and align it with their ontological and epistemological beliefs as a starting point for instructional design and teaching.

Empowering Learners as the Owners of Feedback while YouTube-ing

Purpose – The application of a new technology (YouTube) can help lecturers in solving some of the issues related to workload and shifts support to students by giving them more responsibilities in their assessment. The purpose of this paper is to re‐characterize the role of the students in the assessment process.Design/methodology/approach – Reflection on open‐ended questions, observation on the feedback process which occurs in YouTube and interviews are used to approach the research objectives: to identify the occurred process when empowerment role is given to the students in the assessment process; and determine the possibility of using YouTube in addressing teacher workload and changing student roles.Findings – The findings show that YouTube, when correctly utilized together with proper scaffolding and thorough groundwork, can help lecturers address workload problems as well as affecting change in student roles while bringing about technological change in productive ways.Research limitations/implication...

The scholarship of teaching and learning: challenges for Malaysian academics

This paper explores the adoption of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) by 10 Malaysian university academics. SoTL was part of a pioneering sector-wide initiative for improving teaching and learning. The qualitative study showed that there had been no true learning phase for SoTL because academics had high expectations of rapid success in their new research area, including journal publication. Most of their peers did not understand or value SoTL and so SoTL researchers established minority self-sustaining groups across disciplines and universities. SoTL brought new ways of thinking about teaching that were transformational for the teacher but not necessarily welcomed by the students. Students resisted radical change, and teachers were drawn back to educational practices they no longer valued. SoTL was experienced in a hierarchical educational culture where questioning of self and others was difficult and this hindered teacher development. We conclude with recommendations about realistic expectations and the importance of social learning for those considering SoTL for academic development.