joe othman | International Islamic University Malaysia (original) (raw)

Papers by joe othman

This paper reports the findings of a national study involving 534 lecturers from 33 higher learni... more This paper reports the findings of a national study involving 534 lecturers from 33 higher learning institutions in Malaysia to find out their self-reported practices and perceived competencies in assessment for learning. Data were collected using a 24-item assessment practice inventory drawn from five of the six standards stipulated in an established USdeveloped assessment competency framework for teachers. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and descriptive statistics were used to analyse lecturers' reported practices and competencies. The PCA procedures extracted four underlying dimensions of AfLpractice among the lecturers that corresponded to four of the five standards used. Further descriptive analysis produced a rank order of the four AfLdimensions in terms of practice and competency. Lecturers reported to quite frequently practise'communicating results and feedback to students' and 'using diverse AfL methods'. They also perceived to be more competent in these two aspects than in AfLcompliant grading practices and recognising unethical uses of assessment information. The findings produced adequate empirical support for instructional interventions and training to be provided at the national level to upgrade lecturers' current competencies in assessment and support their adoption of AfL.

The main function of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) is to produce skilled and knowledgeab... more The main function of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) is to produce skilled and knowledgeable workforce who are able to not only function with minimal guidance but also to contribute effectively to the hiring organizations. Many studies have indicated that most HEIs have somewhat similar course content and thrived at producing students with good academic achievement. But what differentiated them from one another is their ability to develop knowledge workers with the right employability skills or 'soft skills' such as communication, problemsolving, interpersonal and other skills deemed important as the foundations by which they require to function at work regardless of the nature of employment. This paper reports findings of a large-scale study looking into the soft skills attainment of Malaysian HEI graduates. A quantitative survey design was employed whereby data were obtained through the administration of an instrument called the Malaysian Soft Skills Scale (My3S). My3S consists of 180 items covering seven elements namely Communications, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Teamwork, Moral and Professional Ethics, Leadership, Life Long Learning and Entrepreneurial aspects. The mean scores for the seven My3S subscales were found to be between 6.3 and 7.8 from the maximum possible score of 10. Specifically, comparisons were made between graduates of public and private institutions with respect to the seven elements. Findings of the study suggest that, in general, students of public HEIs scored higher in all seven skills. With respect to gender, male students scored higher than female students in all elements except for teamwork skills and moral and professional ethics. A comparison between fields of study showed that for both types of HEIs, technical students scored the highest in all skills except for moral and professional ethics. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that in addition to offering specific courses to improve soft skills attainment, HEIs need to embed soft skills in their academic curricula.

Soft Skills' refers to behavioral competencies and also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people ... more Soft Skills' refers to behavioral competencies and also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills. As required by the Ministry of Higher Education, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, creative & critical thinking skills, teamwork skills, ethical moral skills, leadership skills, lifelong learning skills and entreprenuership skills. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the difference(s) in soft skills among Science graduates and Non Science graduates in Malaysian universities. A large sample was obtained from several local universities from administration of My3S in 2011. Independent t test analyses were done on this sample to investigate mean differences across subject field type. The results showed that all 6 soft skills components mean scores are significantly different for Science and Non Science graduates, while only one soft skill (critical thinking skills)were not. This is also true when the same analyses were done across gender. Finally result showed that in terms of ethnicity, Malay graduates showed significant difference across all 6 soft skills components, whereas the other two ethnic groups did not show significant difference.

Soft Skills' refers to behavioral competencies and also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people ... more Soft Skills' refers to behavioral competencies and also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills. As required by the Ministry of Higher Education, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, creative & critical thinking skills, teamwork skills, ethical moral skills, leadership skills, lifelong learning skills and entreprenuership skills. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate the relationship in graduates' soft skills among research and nonresearch universities in Malaysia. A large sample was obtained from several local universities via administration of My3S in 2012. Independent t test analyses were done on this sample to investigate mean differences among the two types of universities in Malaysia (RU and non RU) across all 7 soft skills components mean scores. The most compelling result of this study demonstrated quite a surprise. It is shown that all 7 soft skill components are significantly different across RU and Non RU.