Evaluating the Effectiveness of the SULAM Program in Developing Students' Soft Skills Using Structured E-Forms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37134/ajatel.vol16.1.4.2026Keywords:
Structured E-Form, Soft Skills, SULAM Program, Leadership, Teamwork, Experiential LearningAbstract
The Service-Learning Malaysia–University for Society (SULAM) initiative combines community service with academic learning to cultivate critical thinking and civic responsibility in Malaysian higher education. Drawing on Kolb’s experiential learning theory which posits that knowledge arises through a cycle of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation, SULAM encourages students to translate classroom concepts into real‑world projects. This study evaluates whether the program develops leadership and teamwork skills by administering a structured electronic survey to a case cohort of 60 students enrolled in OBM310 at UiTM Cawangan Terengganu. The instrument comprised ten Likert-scale items measured pre‑ and post‑program, validated by expert review and pilot tested, yielding high reliability (α=0.89). Descriptive statistics, paired t‑tests and visual analytics (radar and spider-web charts) were used to assess changes. Results show substantial skill gains. Leadership improvement was reported by 88.3 % of participants (58.3 % strongly agree; 30.0 % agree), while teamwork was rated “good” or “excellent” by 90 % of respondents. Mean scores across eight soft skills ranged from 4.28 to 4.65 on a five-point scale, with communication and leadership receiving the highest ratings. Inferential analysis confirmed these gains were statistically significant, suggesting the program enhances multiple competencies concurrently. The structured e‑form streamlined data collection and enabled scalable evaluation across cohorts. The study concludes that SULAM, underpinned by experiential learning theory, effectively builds leadership and teamwork skills and demonstrates the value of digital assessment tools. Limitations include reliance on self-reported data and a single-institution sample; future research should involve multi‑site longitudinal studies and objective performance measures.
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