Journal of ICT in Education

Using video blogging (Vlog) to enhance English language speaking skills in a Malaysian secondary school

Maitha Comendador Vender — 2023-12-22

Technology offers various means to enhance teaching and learning. In this study, Video Blogging (VLOG) was implemented as a tool for second language learning. The aim of the study was to investigate the use of VLOG to enhance the speaking skills of Malaysian secondary school students and to explore their experiences of using VLOG. The participants consisted of 80 Form 2 students enrolled in a Malaysian public school. This study employed a qualitative research design and collected data through open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Data collected from the questionnaire and interview were analyzed using thematic analysis. Based on the findings, the study demonstrated that using VLOG contributed positively to the students’ speaking skills by improving their fluency, motivating them to speak in English, and enhancing their vocabulary. Considering the findings, it is recommended for teachers and practitioners to incorporate VLOG in the teaching and learning of speaking in the second language classroom.

Perceptions of secondary school students towards the use of Wakelet Students' Ambassador Programme

Shirley Ling Jen — 2023-12-22

Blended learning is the integration of digital tools in supplement to teachers’ teaching in class. Although blended learning has been implemented in higher institutions for decades, blended learning has only been practised in Malaysian secondary schools since Movement Control Order (MCO). Teachers have started using technological platforms such as Google Meet, Google Classroom, YouTube, WhatsApp and Telegram to share information with students heavily since most of the daily lessons could only take place using online platforms at that time. Due to that, there are not many studies on the use of blended learning among secondary school students. Thus, this study investigates secondary school students’ perceptions regarding the use of blended learning and Wakelet Students’ Ambassador Programme. The subjects were a sample of 50 Form 3 students in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Taman Universiti, Johor Bahru. Students’ perceptions regarding blended learning and the Wakelet Students’ Ambassador Programme were gathered through mixed mode methods that included observation, questionnaire and interviews. The findings of the study show that the majority of the respondents favoured blended learning and all of them liked to use Wakelet Students’ Ambassador Programme. Among the reasons they favoured the use of the Wakelet Students’ Ambassador Programme are that it is an interesting programme, they could learn a lot from their friends or online resources and they felt a sense of accomplishment by completing the project. To sum up, the Wakelet Students’ Ambassador Programme is indeed a wonderful programme that can be utilised in teaching all kinds of subjects. This is because the Wakelet Students’ Ambassador Programme is a student-centred approach that stimulates students’ thinking skills and promotes students’ collaboration. Hopefully, blended learning and the Wakelet Students’ Ambassador Programme will be widely practised in Malaysian secondary schools.

Unlocking the potential of game-based learning for soft skills development: A comprehensive review

Bee Sian Tan — 2023-12-27

Soft skills are critical for undergraduate students to succeed in the workplace, but there exists a gap between the skills possessed by undergraduate students and those required by the industry. This review explores the use of game-based learning (GBL) for developing soft skills among undergraduate students. The review aims to answer four research questions that cover essential aspects of GBL, such as its theoretical foundation, skill development, game design elements, and assessment methods. Following the Preferred Reporting for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, we selected 24 journal articles with empirical results from Scopus databases spanning 2017 to 2023, applying inclusion and exclusion criteria to finalize 18 articles for review. The review identified potential challenges in using GBL for soft skills development, such as the exploration of least developed soft skills, effectiveness of theoretical foundation adoption, game design elements development, and validation of assessment methods. This study aims to provide recommendations for game designers and educators to enhance GBL for soft skills development. The study proposes integrating established learning theories with emerging technologies and social media to provide a personalised learning experience, exploring generative AI in soft skills games, designing open-ended or sandbox game environments to develop innovation skills, incorporating in-game assessment features to assess self-management skills, aligning game rewards with learning objectives, encouraging peer-to-peer assessment, and collaborating with psychometricians to align captured data with the intended soft skills assessment. The study also highlights limitations and suggests future studies to address them, such as adopting emerging technologies to address limitations. Overall, the study contributes to the understanding of GBL for soft skills development and provides valuable insights and recommendations for future research and practice in this domain.

The Hooray! Hooray! ABC: The evaluation of mobile application for preschool students

Noor Hidayah Che Lah — 2023-12-27

Mobile applications are now being used for 21st-century learning, including alphabet learning. There are numerous mobile application products for online learning, particularly those relating to the alphabet ABC. It was revealed that previous mobile applications did not provide interactive activities that suited preschool students. Therefore, this study aims to develop Hooray! Hooray! ABC for learning the alphabet. This study employed Design and Development Research (DDR) as the research design, which is divided into three phases: Phase I - the needs of the application; Phase II - the design and development; and Phase III - the evaluation. ADDIE model is used as the instructional design to design and develop the mobile application. Two experts were chosen to validate the application. It was tested for usability and student performance on 35 preschool students. The results reveal that Hooray! Hooray! ABC can be used for learning the alphabet based on experts' agreement in terms of usefulness (96%), ease of use (97%), ease of learning (94%), and satisfaction (100%). In addition, the result shows that Hooray! Hooray! ABC can increase students' performance (t = 13.271, p = 0.00) in learning the alphabet, making it beneficial for preschool students, teachers, and schools. This study also acknowledged the limitations and future suggestions of this study.

Language preservation: The role of infographics

Taiwo Mosunmọla Ọladeji — 2023-12-29

Preserving indigenous languages, notably the Yoruba language, is imperative for both cultural heritage conservation and academic advancement, particularly within linguistic studies. As one of Nigeria's top three spoken languages, the Yoruba language faces a threat to its counting and numbering systems due to English language influence, prompting a critical need for empirical investigation. To address this research gap, our quantitative study experimentally explores the impact of infographics on language instruction among seventy-one junior secondary students. Results reveal substantial gaps in students' prior exposure to infographics. Also, positive attitudes and increased engagement with infographics significantly improve comprehension of the Yoruba counting and numbering system, with no significant difference in learning outcomes based on gender. These findings underscore the potential of infographics in preserving the Yoruba language, advocating for its integration into indigenous language studies to enhance language preservation efforts. This study emphasizes the instrumental role of infographics in safeguarding cultural and linguistic heritage, advocating for their incorporation into educational strategies for indigenous languages.

An exploration of experiential learning using business simulation and gamification: A case study

Ru Fu Tan — 2023-12-29

Education with advanced technologies improves the learning of students. Experiential learning prepares students to thrive in today’s digital world. Experiential learning and advanced technologies in education offer a lot of room to be explored. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the student’s experience in using a business simulation and gamification platform on the student's knowledge of business competency and soft skills. This study also aimed to discover the experiential learning experience using the MonsoonSIM platform as a case study. This study used content analysis and narrative analysis to analyse the results. The focus group interview was carried out with the Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA) from Gambang and Pekan students who have played MonsoonSIM more than 10 times. The results indicated that business simulation and gamification can improve the students’ knowledge and soft skills by using MonsoonSIM. This study also provided significant implications for experiential learning, business simulation and gamification in the future for Malaysian education.

Intelligent tutoring system: New criteria and evaluation to measure students’ degree of mastery

Siti Khatijah Nor Abdul Rahim — 2023-12-29

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are computer software designed to simulate or imitate a human tutor’s behavior and guidance. ITSs can be seen as personalized tutoring systems that arouse students’ learning enthusiasm. One of the important features of ITS is the capability to interpret complex student’s responses and to estimate the student’s degree of mastery, and as a result, it manages to adjust the behaviour of the tutoring accordingly. Mastery learning requires that the tutoring system have a mechanism to evaluate the student’s degree of mastery in a particular knowledge. Motivated by this, and realizing that ITS still needs to improve its capability in helping students attain knowledge according to their degree of mastery of the underlying knowledge of a particular topic, this study has proposed new criteria and approaches to measure the student’s degree of mastery through data pre-processing. The pre-processing was done on some data files to obtain more meaningful data to achieve the aim. From the results obtained, it was shown that student’s degree of mastery was able to be measured through the proposed approach. This can benefit the ITS to be a personalized tutor according to the student’s capability.

Beyond the classroom: Students’ perspectives on e-learning portal in blended and online learning

Mohammad Nur Azhar Mazlan — 2023-12-29

Evaluating the e-learning portal is essential to ensure the success of online teaching and learning activities. The portal should be assessed regularly to determine its value as a tool to support learning. This study aims to investigate students’ perspectives on using the e-learning portal as a blended and online learning activity. A survey involving two cohorts of students from a public university in Malaysia was conducted in 2016 (n = 805) and 2020 (n = 1027). The survey required the students to evaluate the use of the e-learning portal in blended and online learning, regarding their self-learning experiences, learning performances, quality of learning materials, quality of communication, and their level of interest in using the portal. The findings revealed that the majority of the students from both cohorts were generally positive about using the e-learning portal to support their learning. However, it is interesting that both cohorts preferred face-to-face instruction over online learning. Hence, future research should widen the scope of the study by analysing the perspectives of course instructors, administrators, and other relevant learning support agencies.

Transitioning from Scratch to Java: A mixed method investigation into students' learning processes

Siti Sakinah Mohd Yusof — 2023-12-29

This research examines the transition from Scratch to Java programming, highlighting high achievement among participants. The study includes 70 students and utilizes mixed methods, combining quantitative analysis and qualitative narratives. Findings demonstrate the effectiveness of Scratch Visual Teaching Aids (VTA) in developing educational games, understanding algorithm concepts, and improving programming projects. Students' attitudes towards Scratch VTA show increased interest, concentration, and enjoyment in learning. Quantitative analysis indicates positive tool capabilities (mean scores ranging from 3.25 to 3.46). Qualitative narratives reveal varying perceptions of the transition, with prior programming knowledge influencing the shift. Challenges include adapting to the learning session and mastering Java's syntax and concepts. This study enhances programming education practices, providing recommendations for educators during the Scratch-to-Java transition.

The development of a web-based infographic for the introduction of palm industry to young learners

Shahrina Shahrani — 2023-12-29

Exposure to the palm industry begins in the early stages of secondary school, highlighted through the agricultural sector topic in the geography subject syllabus. However, the information provided about the palm industry is insufficient to give young learners adequate exposure. Consequently, Generation Z lacks knowledge and remains unaware that the palm industry significantly contributes to the national economy. This paper aims to explain the process of developing an infographic website to expose the palm industry to young learners. The topics are traditionally presented using textbooks, but it is essential to incorporate information delivery methods in line with technological developments and interactive aspects to cater to today's Generation Z. An infographic website has been developed to introduce the palm industry to the younger generation, serving as a platform for information delivery and exposure. The website development process follows the Agile model, encompassing planning, analysis, design and development, testing, and deployment phases. Based on end-user testing involving 81 high school students who completed questionnaires, the three usability test criteria yielded an average score of 4.82 for web usability, 4.72 for information quality, and 4.82 for interface quality. The results of the students' feedback were positive, indicating that the infographic offered more detailed information, and the use of animation and posters provided a clearer depiction of palm industry-related information. In conclusion, an infographic website introducing the palm industry to the younger generation proves to be a suitable alternative for their initial exposure, garnering positive responses from this target group.