week 3b: Online Questionnaire.

salam and hye !

so, as usual, for this week, we have to complete another assignment, which is to create our own questionnaire using survey monkey and also google docs. and, as usual also, I'm doing this task with my partner, Helmi Syazwan.

first, we created a survey with 10 questions using survey monkey as our pilot test. our respondents for the survey monkey survey were our very own classmates. then, we've to create a proper questions form using google docs. for this question form, we've to send the questions to our fellow coursemates  in IPGKS also.

REFLECTION 

 for this assignment, I've learnt how to make my own survey, which was my first time.hehe. it's not easy to create your own questionnaires. like what me and my partner had to go through, our questions were rejected by our lecturer twice. it was very hard actually to create a survey that's fair to every respondents. plus, I've also learn how to use survey monkey-my first time, and also google docs- second time using google docs, first time making a survey. :) oh, forgot to mention that the questions must be based on our previous journal. i think that's all for today.thank you.

Reflection Week 3a: 21st Century Skills( Problems faced in enhancing 21st century skills in Malaysia)

for this task, me and my partner(Helmi) have to do research based on our topic is assignment 1, "21st Century Skills". *please refer to this entry  if you want to read our report* to complete this assignment, our research references must come from 3 source: 2 journal from UKM database, 1 from google scholar, 1 from google books.

Basically, I've learnt about many new things. they are:

1. learn how to use UKM database- my first time using that database( username, password given by coordinator). i have to seek assistance from course lecturer, YM Tengku Norazlan on how to use that database. now, i know how to use it already, i can use in in other classes also.

2.learn how to use openoffice. actually it is quite similar with office word, but what differs them is the file format. openoffice file is saved as .odf while office file saved as .docx. other than that, i don't think they have many differents * i don't explore much about openoffice.

3. time constraint. we're quite slow than others, so we have to speed up. this assignment is done in a very short time due to our pack schedule. so, it is quite a hectic week for us, me especially.hehe. but, never mind. afterall, this is how students' life should be right?? :D


i think, that's all for my reflection for this assignment. till we meet again in the next post. thanks for reading and, happy studying!

Week 3a: 21st Century Skills( Problems faced in enhancing 21st century skills in Malaysia)

*report on problems faced in enhancing 21st century skills in Malaysia.by Mohd Helmi Syazwan bin Mohd Zaki, Salina Sayang binti Kamal Arifin*

Problems Faced in Enhancing 21^st Century Skills in Malaysia.

     21^st century skills is not an unknown terminology to talk among people all around the world. It vibrates and propagates through all regions and makes it very important to acquire these skills. Community in the academic field, students and teachers especially, should master these skills. Classroom teachers need to be familiar with these skills and integrate them throughout the curriculum. What are 21^st century skills? Based on the U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2009) referred to 21^st century skills as "skills that increasingly demand creativity, perseverance, and problem solving combined with performing well as part of a team." As to wrap up, 21^st century skills means, how well students can do with knowledge and applying what they learn in authentic contexts. Their choicest or most essential , vital part of some idea or experience involves strong communication and collaboration skills, expertise in technology, innovative and creative thinking skills, and an ability to solve problems. 

 

In applying these skills to the youngsters, some difficulties are emerging and creating a barrier in achieving it. Especially in Malaysia, we are focusing more on the exam result rather than acquiring these skills. The problem arises by the critics, they argue by saying, “21^st century skills as a meaningless term and distraction from the more important work of teaching core context and these types of higher-order skills cannot be measured in reliable, cost-effective, or scalable ways”.  (Elena Silva, The Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 90, No. 9, May, 2009). Not to forget, Malaysian now live among the first class mentality people, so, they will see these problem as a global one and they tend to criticize it when these skills is implemented in Malaysia. How to solve this particular problem? In resolving this, government should convince and win the citizens hearts. We have to open our eyes widely as we are living among the first class mentality people and it is hard for them to accept anything or almost everything when it comes to something that is not reliable and ambiguous. They will not accept these skills easily when they are not seeing the result and consequences after these skills being implemented. Government should really convincing the citizens and disseminating the ‘21^st century skills’ ideas so that it can be accepted by our citizens. 

 

The implementation also can be really unmanageable when the teachers are not trained well by the professional in carrying these skills. Once these skills is running on track, it will be obstructed when the teachers could not deliver the teaching lessons and make the students master these skills and as the consequence, watering down the objective of the 21^st century skills. To make matters worse, students are leaving schools without mastering one of these skills neither communication skills nor expertise in technology. So, this problem has to be fixed. Teachers should be sent to some courses and trained well by the expertise and professional so that they will be running straight right on the track. This should be done before these 21^st century skills are implemented in schools. Students have to be trained well by the teachers because “skills for the future also were recommended long ago by John Dewey, who proposed an education "grounded in experience," in which students interact with the ever-changing world”(Gohnson and Reed 2008, 1 3).

Last but not least, another problem is the lacking of programs in 21^st skills is the lacking of programs of introducing and educating the students about 21^st century skills. As a result, students, especially in the rural area are not aware of these skills, and can not master them. For now, one program known for developing 21^st skills is the establishment of “Smart Schools”. Smart school is a learning institution that has been systematically reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in order to prepare the children for the Information Age (Yassim, 2010). Basically, smart schools are introduced to prepare the students with enough knowledge and skills to confront with the Information Age, a time where nothing else is valuable except knowledge. There is a phase in the implementation of smart schools, known as “making all schools smart” phase. This phase is a continuous process to acculturate the use of technology in education to ensure quality teaching & learning, effectiveness of school administration and management and teachers’ ICT competency (Yassim, 2010). In this phase, all schools in Malaysia will gradually undergo revolutions and change is smart schools. There are four primary objectives of this phase. They are:

1. To produce a knowledge society that is critical, creative, and innovative.
2. To produce technology savvy individuals for the Information Age.
3. To bridge the digital divide.
4. To cultivate life-long learning based on ICT.

From all of the above objectives, we can conclude that all of them are more towards benefiting technology as 21^st century tools. Besides, there are no specific criteria for the students to enter those smart schools. There are no limitations on which students have the right to enroll in those schools. In my opinion, there should be continuity for such programs. If providing another program is quite costly, maybe Ministry of Education can provide a new curriculum which contains the same elements as the smart schools’ curriculum.

To conclude, all of the problems above should be solved by all parties which include government, students, teachers, and society as well. This is very important to produce a better generation with vast knowledge and critical thinking. In Vision 2020, it is stated that “The challenge of establishing a scientific and progressive society, a society that is innovative and forward looking, one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilization.” This means that Malaysia also is very committed in producing knowledgeable citizens, those who can contribute more to the country.

References

Silva, E. (2009). Measuring Skills for 21st Century Learning. Phi Delta Kappan 90(9): 630-34.

Larson L. C. Larson. (2011). 21st Century Skills. Prepare Students for the Future. Retrieved 26 July 2011, from http://proquest.umi.com.www.ezplib.ukm.my/pqdweb?index=19&did=2310435251&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1311657535&clientId=39290

Salpeter. J. (2008). 21st Century Skills: Will Our Students Be Prepared? Retrieved 26 July 2011, from http://dca1to1.pbworks.com/f/21st+Century++will+our+students+be+prepared.pdf

Trilling.B., & Fadel.C. (2009). 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times,San Francisco, Market Street: Jossey –Bass A Wiley Imprint

Yassim, M. Y. (2010). The Malaysian Smart Schools: Developing 21st Century Skills. Kuala Lumpur: Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan Malaysia.

Course/ Learning Management System

hello girls, guys...


well, it seems that I'm quite lagging behind in updating the blog. so, first of all, my deepest apology to the course coordinator an lecturer. currently, we need to catch up with so many things, but i know that shouldn't be a reason to postpone our work. 


for the 2b week, me and my partner, Helmi were required to do some research on course/ learning mangement system (C/LMS) .we have to answer the question what, why, how, where, when, list the advantages of C/LMS and also provide a list of open source software for C/LMS.

C/LMS

" What are Course/ Learning Management System?

A course management system (CMS) is a tool that allows an instructor to post information on the web without that instructor having to know or understand HTML or other computer languages. They are used by educational institutions to enhance and upport classroom teaching. Using this software it makes everything easier for both teacher and students to co-operate.

Why Use Course/ Learning Management System?
Information technology is widely used in higher education. Internet is the main source for education nowadays. This also will allow teachers to assess every student although there are not in front of the teacher. It is also very simple and easy to use.

Where to use Course/ Learning Management System?
CMS is widely used, both in the classroom and outside the classroom. It can be access from anywhere as long as the students and teachers have the tools too access it. For example, students are asked to search information regarding a work and they have to dig it from the internet. So using CMS the information is easily get and for sure it is available 24/7 and even though students cannot finished the work at classroom they still
can finished in at home.

Who are involved in Course/ Learning Management System?
CMS involves students, teachers, lecturers, educators. In short, it involves all people in education sector. This will make teaching and learning process a lot easier.

How to use Course/ Learning Management System?
Easy breezy steps. First, sign up the software. Then, create your own module and use abbreviations so that it’s simple for the students for example, CI - a Content Item (an item that can be categorised and moved), DCI - a Discrete Content Item (a separate item that cannot be reused), MCI - Module Content Item (content locked within a module). After that create sections and categories to make it simpler and lastly, fill in
your course content.

Advantages of Course/ Learning Management System.
There are many advantages of Course Management System (CMS). First of all, it is available to the users 24/7. It can be access from anywhere, anytime. CMS also can enhance the students’ performance. Through CMS, the teachers can continuously track and monitor how their students doing. Besides, CMS also enables the teachers and students to review records of success, and teachers can analyze the records to identify
the strengths and weaknesses of their students. CMS ensures consistency in delivery and evaluation because each student gets to see the same materials as the others. They are also evaluated by the teachers based on the same materials that they have got.

Open source software for Course/ Learning Management System.
Moodle.org - http://moodle.org/
A Tutor Learning Management Tools- http://atutor.ca/
Joomla! - http://www.joomla.org/
Learning Management System- http://spp.moe.edu.my/ "


generally, C/LMS is very important as it meets the educational specifications nowadays. it ensures that all the students can assess the same informations, without any bias, anywhere, 24/7. so, that should help the students a lot with their study. it is a must use technology for both the teachers, and students. the ministry of education should give attentions to the use C/LMS too.

Second week class: 21st century skills.

For the second week, we have to form a pair and are required to choose one out of ten topics. so, as for me and my partner, Mohd helmi Syazwan bin Mohd Zaki, we chose to do topic 1: 21st Century Skills.

so, what are actually 21 st century skills? basically, it involves the full use of technology in learning. it can be defined as the developing skills or habit that allow people to actively participate in the society using all forms of media available. for further info, please visit the address below to read the notes that my partner and me had prepared before in our facebook group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/133698053379729?view=doc&id=137065469709654

in context of education, 21st century skills are the skills used to enhance the teaching and learning process. means that, the teachers and students use technology like videos, internets, and etc as a medium to maximised their learning. let's compare the traditional teaching and learning process with the current one. traditional method use the same modus operandi, that is the teacher speaks, and the students listen, after that they do their homework, then it is the end of the class. now, the current teaching and learning process use media like cds, and video-cam. in my opinion, e-learning also is one of learning method adapted from the 21st century skills. based on my readings and observations, our government, especially the ministry of education, is working hard towards benefiting the 21st century skills for the sake of Malaysia education system. we can see that the technologies and the facilities in schools are improving. both the teachers and the students should master these skills to make the learning process much more easier and are more interesting. when they master those skills, learning can takes place anywhere, anytime, so, it is time-saving.

First Week Class

July 5th, 2011 - our first meeting with the course lecturer, Sir YM Tg Norazlan Tg Sulaiman. We were given a short briefing on our course content. on that day, we were assigned to create :

1. Yahoo account

2. Google account

3. Facebook account

4. Individual Facebook group

5. Join the course yahoogroups

6. create yahoogroups for web portfolio

7. blog registration

for me, there aren't many problems for the 1st until the 4th tasks as I'm quite familiar with those things. the 5th task is quite new for me. this is my first time joining academic group like that. we are also required to create our own yahoo groups. to create this group, all you have to do is go to http://groups.yahoo.com/ and click "start your group button" . after that you have to fill in all the forms needed. and you're done creating a new yahoo group. the next task is to register a new blog. that blog is for me to write some sort of report after each classes for GGGE 1155 Computer in Education. simple steps are needed to register a blog. first, go to http://www.blogger.com . click 'get started' button. as usual you have to fill in all those registration forms before you can register a new blog. an email address is needed to register. you can use any email address that are yours, but it is recommended that you use a gmail account. for the last task for week 1, we have to send emails to our course lecturer and coordinator, complete with signature required.