Yusri Kamin

Instructional Competencies Required by Technical College Teachers for Effective Performance in Technical Drawing

The National Business and Technical Education Board (NABTEB) chief examiners reported that instructors employed to teach the students lack the required competencies in teaching methods in Technical Drawing (TD), which leads to poor performance. Therefore, a study was conducted to identify the instructional competencies required by technical college teachers in teaching TD. To achieve this objective, 3 (three) research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study comprised 103 technical college teachers in Ondo state, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire of 38 items was used for data collection. The instrument was face validated by 3 (three) experts. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions and the reliability of the instrument was also established using Cronbach’s Alpha, with the reliability coefficient being 0.84. Based on the findings, it was determined that technical college teachers required the identified 15 instructional competencies to teach effectively. It was also found that there are factors that militate against the teachers’ competencies. The study’s findings contributed to identifying these factors and to how the competencies could be enhanced.

A Conceptual Model of Scenario Based Learning for Developing Higher Order Thinking Skills in Engineering Education

Engineering educators always belief that teaching and learning activities in their classrooms should closely represent what is happening in business and industry sectors. After an extensive literature review on active learning approach, researchers found that Scenario Based Learning should be incorporated in today’s classrooms. Scenario Based Learning is one of the active learning approaches which adopt industrial environment into the classrooms. In addition it can also develop students’ higher order thinking Skills. This study used qualitative research approach to gather data from reputable journals and experts in the attempt to suggest a conceptual model of Engineering Education program which can develop engineering students’ higher order thinking skills (HOTS).

Technical skills competency level among students at vocational colleges in Malaysia

Competency is the ability to perform a task which covers aspects of knowledge, skills and attitude which can be derived from experiences and process of learning. This study aimed to identify the technical skills competency level of students. This quantitative research using questionnaires and survey was conducted among mechanical program students at Vocational Colleges in three states. Data were analyzed descriptively in the form of frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. The findings of the study show that the technical skills level of competency for students in Mechanical Program from three courses namely, Automotive Technology, Welding Technology, Air Conditioning And Refrigeration Technology” is at a high level. However, Industrial Machining Technology” students are at a moderate level. Therefore, improvements for each program need to be addressed to ensure that students possess the technical skills competency which are significant for their future undertakings.

Important skills for biomedical services: the perspectives of Malaysian employers and employees

BACKGROUND Increase in the occurrence of existing diseases, continual emergence of new or exotic diseases and re-emergence of old diseases have placed increasing demands on biomedical services in Malaysia. Biomedical technicians play an important role in operating biomedical instruments. However, there are no clear specifications about characteristics and traits for these semi-professional employees. Employers in a few studies claimed that biomedical graduates are not ready to enter and face challenges in the job market. OBJECTIVE Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify technical and generic skills for a biomedical technician from the perspectives of the biomedical technicians and their employers. METHODS A quantitative survey design was employed whereby data were obtained through the administration of an instrument developed by the researchers. The sample consisted of 20 hospital managers and 186 biomedical technicians who are currently working in Malaysian government hospitals. RESULTS The findings show that there are no difference in the perceptions of hospital managers and biomedical technicians regarding technical and non-technical skills. CONCLUSIONS These findings resulted in a checklist which can be used for institutions to produce future biomedical technician graduates in order to meet job demands. However, future research is needed to validate the findings and explore the variables in depth.

Development of sustainable agriculture subjects in secondary academic schools: A Comfirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach

The aim of this paper is to discuss the development of a valid and reliable measurement of sustainable agriculture subjects for secondary academic school. The elements of the instrument were developed using the four rounds of Delphi technique that finally end up with 20 indicators. The five-point scale of 139 items were then derived and validated. This instrument was administered to 312 agriculture subject teachers from all over Peninsular Malaysia which were randomly selected. AMOS software version 16 was used to analyze the data. The value of Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker Lewis Index (TLI), and the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) were used to maintain or drop the items. The findings of the study using confirmatory factor analysis measurement model featured 48 items as valid and reliable items to measure 13 indicators of sustainable agriculture subjects after dropping 91 items. This instrument can be used to obtain the status of sustainability of the agriculture subjects in daily secondary academic schools in Malaysia.