Saifuddin Kumar Abdullah

The Evaluation of Employment Marketability Connectivity Skills Within Polytechnic Engineering Diploma Students in Malaysia

This study is to evaluate the employment marketability of polytechnic students in achieving its main aim in mastering connectivity skills in employment marketability. There are four research objectives and one research question. This study employs the Content, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) evaluation model as the research framework. The connectivity skills status aspect employment marketability within students for the attributes of communication, teamwork, application, and technology, as well as leadership are studied. This study uses the quantitative approach with a two-layer questionnaire as instruments and the Cronbach’s alpha value of students between 0.664 and 0.776. The sample was selected randomly. Overall, the status of employment marketability among students through the findings of the research shows that all aspects are in the highest level, where connectivity skills (communication) (Mean = 3.87), teamwork (Mean = 2.94), application and technology (Mean = 3.97), as well as leadership (Mean = 3.97) are high. However, the two-layer questionnaire applied shows the strength of which the mean achieved a high level does not mean that the student has truly mastered an aspect fully. Through the summary, it was shown that the evaluated attributes possess strengths and weaknesses for all the items evaluated in this study. The highest and lowest values are interpreted based on the evaluation percentage by the students. This study was featured to fulfill the aims of the Higher Education Strategic Plan, 10th Malaysian Plan, to produce high skilled human capital in the workforce.

Development of the Double Layer Rubric for the Study on the Implementation of School-based Assessment Among Teachers

The school-based assessment (SBA) is a holistic assessment which evaluates the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects in line with the goals of the Malaysian National Philosophy of Education (NPE) in the national curriculum. The extent of achieving the goals of the NPE and national education depends on the teachers as its implementers. Therefore, this study aims to identify the extent of the implementation of SBA within teachers from the aspect of knowledge and skills, teachers’ planning, the implementation of assessment, item construction, as well as teachers’ restraints in implementing SBA. Through the literature analyses related to the implementation of SBA, it was found that many teachers did not know and were not skilled in assessing their students. This could affect the reliability and the validity of the assessment. In the many studies that were observed, a majority of teachers still refuse to accept the implementation of SBA. A detailed response is needed to gain the correct information from the teachers. The use of rubrics in the instruments enables gaining more detailed information and reports which are more profound could be presented. This study discusses the steps in constructing instruments in the form of the double layer rubric to identify the extent of SBA implementation within teachers. The Instrument Determination Table was developed to accommodate related elements until it produces items which are able to measure a construct or sub-construct. After the validation process from five professionals, a pilot study was conducted. The discussion focuses on the issues and the procedures on the methods in which the validity and reliability of the instruments were built on through five professionals and the internal uniformity via the Cronbach’s alpha. Therefore, the item analysis to determine the status of statements can be explained by the scores of each rubric objectively and systematically. Undeniably, the uniqueness of an instrument does not only depend on the