NIGEL LAWAI WILLIE (A135748 / UKM-IPGKS)
Assignment 4: Literature Review Using Online Materials
INTEGRATION OF E- LEARNING (WHAT SHOULD BE DONE IN MALAYSIA?) BY FREDDY BAIWAL AND NIGEL LAWAI WILLIE
During a CBT seminar in Los Angeles, in October 1999, a strange new word was used for the first time in a professional environment – ‘e- Learning’. This word associated itself with such expressions as ‘online learning’ or ‘virtual learning’. In another word, it is a way to learn based on the use of new technologies allowing access to online, interactive and sometimes personalized training through the Internet or other electronic media (intranet, extranet, interactive TV, CD-Rom, etc.), so as to develop competencies while the process of learning is independent from time and place.
The rise of the development e- Learning revolution begins from a number of other ‘educational revolutions’. Four of such revolutions cited by Billings and Moursund (1988) are the invention of reading and writing, the emergence of the profession of teacher/ scholar, the development of moveable type (print technology) and the development of electronic technology.
In Malaysia, the whole society is facing a big problem in terms of their education’s progress because of the ineffective integration of e-Learning in this country. In other countries, emphasis is given more on the ways to improve the effectiveness of e-Learning and thus their education system becomes more stable and advance. Generally, there are few factors which cause the slow development of the integration of e-Learning in Malaysia.
One of the factors that cause this problem is the deficiencies in the adaption of the course contents to the local educational needs. In other word, there is no proper management on the right selections of the educational contents that need to be applied in every school and also the proper discussion among the educational developers about the reasons why the course contents need to correspond well with the local educational needs. For instance, one of the main goals of our education system is to produce human capitals who are highly competent not only in academic field but also in science and technology, but unfortunately the lack of self-awareness on the importance of acquiring and gaining knowledge on ICT skills among the Malaysians has resulted into the deterioration of the students’ performance in those areas and at the same time our education’s goals would not be achieved successfully.
Apart from that, it is also because of lack of adjustment to the current system that introduces e-Learning as one of the compulsory systems which often used interchangeably with distance learning, virtual learning, online learning, or web-based learning. This will give many negative consequences among the students and to our country itself.
Other than that, the lack of local management engagement affected the learners’ motivation negatively and also their perception towards the importance of e-Learning in order for them to be advanced in their studies. For instance, the authorities may have not come up with some alternatives on the ways to cultivate and bring a new culture to the society especially among the students on the importance of acquiring and building knowledge on ICT skills in order to prepare them with strong foundations in ICT skills to face this changing world. This is also due to the economy factor which is one of the most serious hindrances that causes a long pause in the implementation of e-Learning for example the insufficient income to implement any strategies that can be used to encourage the applications of e-Learning in our education system. Thus, most of students who live in the rural areas would not be able to experience the e-Learning process compared to those students who live in the urban areas since they cannot afford to buy laptops due to financial problems and so on. It is actually the most basic item that we need to have in order for us to develop our ICT skills. In addition to that, lack of facilities will also contribute to the lower development of e-Learning in Malaysia for instance most of the rural schools do not have computer labs, 24 hour electric supply and also the conduciveness of the classroom environment itself.
The application of e-Learning in Malaysia has become more substandard than it is now. It is still proven debilitated mostly in rural areas where almost 100% students are still IT undiscerning. Yes, it is unassailable that e-Learning is efficacious in urban areas where it plays a crucial role in giving information to the students both in schools and universities. The primary limelight here is how e-Learning can be made highly efficient in the rural areas mostly located in Sabah and Sarawak.
Kigozi et al, 2009; Gao et al, 2006, stated that we need to further explore efficient design principles and adequate pedagogical approaches. Basically the cognitive development of the students in rural areas is much slower compare to the students in urban areas who are much more exposed to the usage of IT. How do we teach the ideology of e-Learning to the students in rural areas has to be taken into account. The reinvention of the methodology of teaching is highly recommended. The design of an e-Learning course should correspond with the learning needs of the individual in order to be effective. Let’s say that a student is not being exposed to any constituents of IT. He or she will face a lot of barricades if e-Learning is taught at the parallel level as a student who has a lot of exposé to IT.
Additionally, the design of the e-Learning courses must be relevant for different local communities of practices. There is also a need for establishing an e-Learning culture and organization facilitating the integration of e-Learning outcomes into education processes. Before we can reach to the students to learn about e-Learning we have to learn about their culture beforehand. We must know the most fitting methodology to teach the students based on their culture so that there is no gap between the information to be transferred. Apart from that, there is also a need for finding examples of best practices and a need of more evaluation studies from a socio-cultural perspective, in order to improve our understanding of e-Learning processes in large organizations.
Simultaneously a high degree of management engagement contributed to the learners’ motivation in the studies. If the participation of the management is less, the ability of the learners to learn will deteriorate because lack of motivation given by the management of the course. In addition there is a need for increased co-operation among the developers (often IT-professionals) and schools, in order to integrate knowledge and support.
In a nutshell, the integration of e-learning in Malaysia can be enhanced if there is a full cooperation among the Malaysians and also the government itself in order to make sure that the application of e-Learning in our country becomes wider and wider.
The rise of the development e- Learning revolution begins from a number of other ‘educational revolutions’. Four of such revolutions cited by Billings and Moursund (1988) are the invention of reading and writing, the emergence of the profession of teacher/ scholar, the development of moveable type (print technology) and the development of electronic technology.
In Malaysia, the whole society is facing a big problem in terms of their education’s progress because of the ineffective integration of e-Learning in this country. In other countries, emphasis is given more on the ways to improve the effectiveness of e-Learning and thus their education system becomes more stable and advance. Generally, there are few factors which cause the slow development of the integration of e-Learning in Malaysia.
One of the factors that cause this problem is the deficiencies in the adaption of the course contents to the local educational needs. In other word, there is no proper management on the right selections of the educational contents that need to be applied in every school and also the proper discussion among the educational developers about the reasons why the course contents need to correspond well with the local educational needs. For instance, one of the main goals of our education system is to produce human capitals who are highly competent not only in academic field but also in science and technology, but unfortunately the lack of self-awareness on the importance of acquiring and gaining knowledge on ICT skills among the Malaysians has resulted into the deterioration of the students’ performance in those areas and at the same time our education’s goals would not be achieved successfully.
Apart from that, it is also because of lack of adjustment to the current system that introduces e-Learning as one of the compulsory systems which often used interchangeably with distance learning, virtual learning, online learning, or web-based learning. This will give many negative consequences among the students and to our country itself.
Other than that, the lack of local management engagement affected the learners’ motivation negatively and also their perception towards the importance of e-Learning in order for them to be advanced in their studies. For instance, the authorities may have not come up with some alternatives on the ways to cultivate and bring a new culture to the society especially among the students on the importance of acquiring and building knowledge on ICT skills in order to prepare them with strong foundations in ICT skills to face this changing world. This is also due to the economy factor which is one of the most serious hindrances that causes a long pause in the implementation of e-Learning for example the insufficient income to implement any strategies that can be used to encourage the applications of e-Learning in our education system. Thus, most of students who live in the rural areas would not be able to experience the e-Learning process compared to those students who live in the urban areas since they cannot afford to buy laptops due to financial problems and so on. It is actually the most basic item that we need to have in order for us to develop our ICT skills. In addition to that, lack of facilities will also contribute to the lower development of e-Learning in Malaysia for instance most of the rural schools do not have computer labs, 24 hour electric supply and also the conduciveness of the classroom environment itself.
The application of e-Learning in Malaysia has become more substandard than it is now. It is still proven debilitated mostly in rural areas where almost 100% students are still IT undiscerning. Yes, it is unassailable that e-Learning is efficacious in urban areas where it plays a crucial role in giving information to the students both in schools and universities. The primary limelight here is how e-Learning can be made highly efficient in the rural areas mostly located in Sabah and Sarawak.
Kigozi et al, 2009; Gao et al, 2006, stated that we need to further explore efficient design principles and adequate pedagogical approaches. Basically the cognitive development of the students in rural areas is much slower compare to the students in urban areas who are much more exposed to the usage of IT. How do we teach the ideology of e-Learning to the students in rural areas has to be taken into account. The reinvention of the methodology of teaching is highly recommended. The design of an e-Learning course should correspond with the learning needs of the individual in order to be effective. Let’s say that a student is not being exposed to any constituents of IT. He or she will face a lot of barricades if e-Learning is taught at the parallel level as a student who has a lot of exposé to IT.
Additionally, the design of the e-Learning courses must be relevant for different local communities of practices. There is also a need for establishing an e-Learning culture and organization facilitating the integration of e-Learning outcomes into education processes. Before we can reach to the students to learn about e-Learning we have to learn about their culture beforehand. We must know the most fitting methodology to teach the students based on their culture so that there is no gap between the information to be transferred. Apart from that, there is also a need for finding examples of best practices and a need of more evaluation studies from a socio-cultural perspective, in order to improve our understanding of e-Learning processes in large organizations.
Simultaneously a high degree of management engagement contributed to the learners’ motivation in the studies. If the participation of the management is less, the ability of the learners to learn will deteriorate because lack of motivation given by the management of the course. In addition there is a need for increased co-operation among the developers (often IT-professionals) and schools, in order to integrate knowledge and support.
In a nutshell, the integration of e-learning in Malaysia can be enhanced if there is a full cooperation among the Malaysians and also the government itself in order to make sure that the application of e-Learning in our country becomes wider and wider.
1. http://www.ezplib.ukm.my/login
Grundén, K. (n.d.). Retrieved 7 20, 2011, from Integration of e-learning outcomes into work processes: http://eleed.campussource.de/archive/7/2916/
Abdulkareem Al-Alwani, E. (n.d.). Retrieved 7 20, 2011, from A study on Integration of Information Technology in Higher Education in Saudi Arabia: http://eleed.campussource.de/archive/7/2990/
2. http://scholar.google.com.my/
Hansen, D. J. (n.d.). Retrieved 7 20, 2011, from E-Learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age: http://www.ifets.info/journals/6_3/11.html
3. http://books.google.com:
Ruth C. Clark, R. E. (n.d.). Retrieved 7 20, 2011, from E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers: http://books.google.com/books?id=twoLz3jlkRgC&pg=PA284&dq=elearning+journals&hl=en&ei=cf8jTo6jIczLrQfXxfWFAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=e-learning%20journals&f=false
4. Website:
(n.d.). Retrieved 7 21, 2011, from e-Learning Fundamentals: http://www.leerbeleving.nl/wbts/1/history_of_elearning.html
FREDDY BAIWAL
B.ED TESL (SM) UKM-IPGKS
INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU KAMPUS SARAWAK
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SARAWAK.
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