The Quality of Interface Design for Educational Courseware Development in Malaysian Educational Context

Interactive educational courseware has been adopted in diverse education sectors such as primary, secondary, tertiary education, vocational and professional training. In Malaysian educational context, the ministry of education has implemented Smart School Project that aims to increase high level of academic achievement in primary and secondary schools by using interactive educational courseware. However, many researchers have reported that many coursewares fail to accommodate the learner and teacher needs. In particular, the interface design is not appropriately designed in terms of quality of learning. This paper reviews educational courseware development process in terms of defining quality of interface design and suggests a conceptual model of interface design through the integration of design components and interactive learning experience into the development process. As a result, it defines the concept of interactive learning experience in a more practical approach in order to implement each stage of the development process in a seamless and integrated way.

Executive and organisational leadership development in universities : exploring key elements and perceptions

Organisational and leadership development is said to be one of the most challenging and important activities facing universities, particularly in the current environment of fast-paced change and accelerated age-related attrition. Succession leadership development being timely, the purpose of this study was to explore the nature of leadership development most suited to meeting the leadership and organisational development challenges for contemporary universities. A blend of literature-based and empirical research was undertaken. This resulted in seven papers submitted to internationally refereed journals; five papers published, one in press, and one under review. Six of these are sole authored papers and one is a co-authored paper. The papers identify some of the issues and challenges facing the tertiary sector. They shed light on factors influencing executive and organisational leadership development deriving from the literature review and from empirical research reporting the views of current university leaders. The papers and submission document herein include recommendations and suggested models informing executive and organisational leadership development in universities. The "Lantern" model - an Illuminated Model for Organisational Leadership Development - is a key original conceptual model framing the study.

Educational Development in Australasia : 2010 Benchmarking Survey

In 2010, the third bi‐annual ADAPE Australasian benchmarking study was conducted to track educational development in Australia and New Zealand. Invitations to participate were sent to ADAPE’s membership of 820. Non‐members were also welcome to participate. In total, 92% of the 250 survey respondents were members of ADAPE. The 2010 Benchmarking Survey supports and extends results from 2005 and 2008. The 2010 survey was developed by taking into account participant feedback from 2008. With a view to provide the key information that participants want to know, the 2010 survey included more questions about salaries and other employment conditions; marketing and communications, especially new electronic technologies; and major gifts.

The significance of owner participation in a successful detached housing development in Malaysia: A literature review

The detached housing scheme is a unique and exclusive segment of the residential property market in Malaysia. Generally, the product is expensive and for many Malaysians who can afford them, owning a detached house is a once in a lifetime opportunity. In spite of this, most of the owners fail to fully comprehend the specific need of this type of housing scheme, increasing the risk of it being a problematic project. Unlike other types of pre-designed ‘mass housing’ schemes, the detached housing scheme may be built specifically to cater the needs and demands of its owner. Therefore, maximum owner participation is vital as the development progresses to guarantee the success of the project. In addition, due to it’s unique design the house would have to individually comply with the requirements and regulations of relevant authorities. Failure of owner to recognise this will result in delays, fines and penalties, disputes and ultimately cost overruns. These circumstances highlight the need for a model to guide the owner through the entire development process of a detached house. Therefore, this research aims to develop a model for a successful detached housing development in Malaysia through maximising owner participation during it’s various development stages. To achieve this, questionnaire surveys and case studies methods shall be employed to acquire the detached housing owners’ experiences in developing their detached houses in Malaysia. Relevant statistical tools shall be applied to analyse the responses. The results gained from this study shall be synthesised into a model of successful detached housing development for the reference of future detached housing owners in Malaysia.

Positive design and construction of mechanisms for the sustainable development in microenterprises in Africa

Enterprise development and its contribution to societal and economic outcomes are well known. However, limited research into microenterprises and the practices of microfinance and microcredit in developing countries has been carried out. This chapter presents the findings of research based on six years of engagement with the microentrepreneurs of Beira in Mozambique and suggests a model for responsible and sustainable support for enterprise development in developing economies. Building on semistructured interviews, observation, and participatory action research, this research project articulates a new approach supportive of enterprise development, as a process of cocreation with local people and based on sustainability principles. These findings are part of a longitudinal study of the successes and failures of small enterprises and their impact on social and economic activity.

Integrated governance arrangements of airport-region urban infrastructure development : gaining insights from urban infrastructure development in the Brisbane airport region

Polarising the issue of governance is the increasingly acknowledged role of airports in regional economic development, both as significant sources of direct employment and as attractants of commerce through enhanced mobility (Vickerman, Spiekermann & Wegener 1999; Hakfoort, Poot & Rietveld 2001). Most airports were once considered spatially removed from their cities, but as cities have expanded their airports no longer sit distinct of the urban environment. This newfound spatial proximity means that decisions for land use and development on either city or airport land are likely to have impacts that affect one another in either or both the short- or long-term (Stevens, Baker and Freestone 2007). These impacts increase the demand for decision making to find ways of integrating strategies for future development to ensure that airport developments do not impede the sustainable growth of its city, and likewise that city developments do not impede the sustainable growth of its airport (Gillen 2006). However questions of how, under what conditions, and to what extent decision making integration might be suitable for “airport regions” are yet to be explored let alone answered.

Sustainable urban infrastructure development in south east Asia : evidence from Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore

Many South East Asian cities have experienced substantial physical, economic and social transformations during the past several decades. The rapid pace of globalisation and economic restructuring has resulted in these cities receiving the full impact of urbanisation pressures. In an attempt to ease these pressures, cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur have advocated growth management approaches focussing especially on urban infrastructure sustainability. These approaches aim to achieve triple bottom line sustainability by balancing economic and social development, and environmental protection. This chapter evaluates three Asia-Pacific city cases, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and assesses their experiences in managing their urban forms and infrastructure whilst promoting sustainable patterns of urban development.

Mobile phones in PNG villages : an island village experience

As a new communication technology expands in a disadvantaged, rural area of a developing country, changes take place in the lives of the people in the area. The paper examines the introduction of mobile telephony into a rural village in Papua New Guinea, and contains findings from field research conducted in February 2009. The analysis is undertaken through a social lens, providing an understanding of the roles of mobile phones in this community by foregrounding the feelings, thoughts and attitudes expressed by the village people. This in turn enables a deeper understanding of the sociological effects related to the uptake of mobile telephony.

An evolution of waterfront development in Malaysia

River has long been recognized as one of humanity’s most important natural resources. It is one of the most important of all the natural resources necessary to ensure human health and civilization. A close association between cities and water is inherent since the history of civilization and in fact, many urban cities in Malaysia are located close to river areas. The last two decades shown Malaysia has shifted development strategy from agricultural based to industrialization, and manufacturing industries have become the economy’s main source for the country until now. This transformation in 18th century is clearly shown that rapid urbanization, industrial and intensive agricultural activities, as well as wide-spread land development, have contributed to extensive changing of river functions for economy, national development and environment. In particular, river roles are become less significance for human life and river function limited only for transportation purposes only. So, viewed historically, waterfront development in Malaysia have undergone cycles of change over the decades and the latest in this pattern to more public purposes such as recreational and mixed used development. This paper aims to identify a transition of waterfront development in Malaysia from history time to modernization era and it would give a significance contribution for the research is currently on going.

Executive function effects and numerical development in children : behavioural and ERP evidence from a numerical Stroop paradigm

Most research on numerical development in children is behavioural, focusing on accuracy and response time in different problem formats. However, Temple and Posner (1998) used ERPs and the numerical distance task with 5-year-olds to show that the development of numerical representations is difficult to disentangle from the development of the executive components of response organization and execution. Here we use the numerical Stroop paradigm (NSP) and ERPs to study possible executive interference in numerical processing tasks in 6–8-year-old children. In the NSP, the numerical magnitude of the digits is task-relevant and the physical size of the digits is task-irrelevant. We show that younger children are highly susceptible to interference from irrelevant physical information such as digit size, but that access to the numerical representation is almost as fast in young children as in adults. We argue that the developmental trajectories for executive function and numerical processing may act together to determine numerical development in young children.

Assessing cognitive development in early childhood : a comparison of the Bayley-III and the Stanford-Binet fifth edition

The Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III) and Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (SB5) were administered in a sample of 26 typically developing children (12 males and 14 females) aged 24 – 42 months. Children completed the assessments in two separate sessions, counterbalanced for order of administration. Scores on the two instruments were not significantly related, with the exception of the SB5 Knowledge score, which was moderately correlated with the Language score on the Bayley-III (r = .41, p = 0.04). Despite no other significant correlations, for 22 of the 26 children, scores were very consistent across the two instruments. Implications for test selection are discussed.