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This paper presents a project‐based learning pedagogy for undergraduate mechanical engineering students which integrates traditional hardware‐based laboratory with LabVIEW to control the angular position, velocity, and acceleration of AC servo motors of a six‐degree of freedom manipulator. The proposed experimental modules have been proved to be very effective in assisting teams of undergraduate students within the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus, who have used the modules in designing a new mechanical structure of a robot during their capstone design project. The proposed pedagogy inspired undergraduate students to publish their first paper based on the outcomes of their project. The focus on this paper is to present how the students' learning experience has been significantly enforced and their role in developing the modules introduced in this paper. Three modules are presented; the first configures a timer to generate a signal that drives the servo motors. The second drives the servo motor to a specific angular position with a constant angular velocity. Finally, the third is used to control the servo motor to follow any desired angular position, velocity, and acceleration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Movement Control Order was implemented in early 2020, lectures shifted from faceto-face to online classes. Various initiatives were made to improve the experience of online classes. The use of online tools such as Padlet and Kahoot helped in generating interactive sessions and communication between lecturers and students. Some students adapted well to online classes, and some found it less interesting and difficult to follow. Engineering courses require strong understanding of concepts and mathematical calculations. Since the transition to the endemic phases, universities have gradually begun shifting back from online to face-toface classes. However, online classes has its own advantages, and may be still be conducted in certain cases. Therefore, the aim of this research is to understand students' perception and comparison on the effectiveness of online and face-to-face classes for engineering courses. A survey was conducted among engineering courses from five universities in Malaysia. A total of 255 engineering students participated in the survey. To analyse the data, the methodology used in this paper consists of correlation analysis, the mean correlation coefficient (MCC), multiple regression model and ANOVA. The results show that there are five key factor contributes to the effectiveness and quality in engineering education. In conclusion students satisfied with the effectiveness and quality in engineering education based on five perception questions. The key outcome of this study contributes to the future implementation of online and face-to-face classes for engineering courses in Malaysian universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a sustainable work readiness framework for engineering students, incorporating core skills, personal skills, and self-efficacy as mediating variables. The study aims to investigate the impact of core skills and personal skills on engineering students' work readiness, as well as the mediating influence of self-efficacy on this relationship. The researchers designed and tested a work readiness framework with three focal points: skills, personal skills, and self-efficacy, and their influence on engineering students' work readiness. The findings indicate that core skills, personal skills, and self-efficacy positively and significantly influence engineering students' work readiness. Self-efficacy can be explained by the core skills and personal skills variables at 87.8%, while the work readiness variable can be explained by core skills, personal skills, and self-efficacy at 85.4%. This study contributes to the existing literature by proposing a sustainable work readiness framework and measurement instrument that link core skills, personal skills, and self-efficacy as mediating variables influencing work readiness. The results are beneficial not only to Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia, as they directly reflect the work readiness of UTP's final-year undergraduate engineering students but also to individuals, universities, teaching staff, organizations, human resource specialists, and public administrators. They can use these findings to enhance the development of individual work readiness skills and increase the work readiness of students in their respective universities. The novelty of this study lies in proposing a sustainable work readiness framework tailored to equip engineering students with the skills required and acquired in Industry 4.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outcome-Based Education (OBE) implementation is one of the qualifying requirements for engineering programme accreditation in Malaysia. Implementation of the OBE in Integrated Design Project (IDP) is essential in producing high quality engineering graduates that are able to meet the challenges especially in the era of Industry 4.0 in Malaysia. IDP is the course offered to the final year students of undergraduate programme in Faculty of Civil Engineering, University Teknologi MARA. This paper presents the mapping of the addressing Course Outcomes (CO) and Programme Outcomes (PO) to the scopes of assessment in a capstone project (CP) for IDP. The explicitness in the measurement of CO and PO in the course is demonstrated. The rubrics for the assessment of CP are also presented. Finally, evaluation of student performance in IDP particularly CP is discussed through a sample analysis of the CO and PO attainments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating from the steady declining rate of engineering students in Malaysia, the country is predicted to be short of 236,000 engineers and technical personnel to achieve its 2020 Mission. Hence, it has built the first technical MARA Junior Science College that introduced engineering to lower secondary students. However, there is yet a study on whether or not it helps the students to increase their interests in engineering. Therefore, in this paper, a survey has been conducted to first and foremost investigate the technical students' interests in engineering as well as finding out the reasoning from those who are not interested in engineering. After that, a half day engineering program is introduced with a measurement on the interest in engineering before and after the intervention is held. Finally, the survey studies which field of engineering the students are most interested in. The results show that, before the program is introduced, only 8.47% of the technical students have shown high interests in engineering field with only 7.5% female students are interested in engineering compared to 18.42% for male students. After the program is introduced, as high as 33.05% students rated their interest in engineering field as 'most interested', with 39.47% in male students and 30% in female students. It proves that an engineering event is crucial in increasing students' interests in engineering. It also concludes that Electrical Engineering is the most favourite field of engineering with percentage score of 38.98%, while Electrical Power being the least. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the first use of failure report as a reflective learning tool in engineering education from a university in Malaysia. Failure Report is a document that publishes and discusses failures as part of a reflective learning process for students. This reflective learning method attempts to encourage students to actually learn from failure and to take negative experiences as a learning opportunity. This paper describes the experience of introducing Failure Report as a means for engineering students to reflect their learning after completing an engineering design project. The Gibbs' Reflective Learning Model is used as the base of the reflective work. This introductory study reveals some findings on how students view and reflect on their failures and setbacks during the project work. It is noted that this was their first ever experience in doing a reflection study. Most of the students' writing revolves around interpersonal skills like teamwork and communication. The element of 'blame game' is prevalent in their reports. In addition, based on this first experience, we provide several principles to follow to replicate the Failure Report activity and further recommendations for future failure reflection work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The programme outcomes or synonymously known as graduate attributes stipulated in the International Engineering Alliance's graduate attributes and professional competencies serve as a benchmark of standards for engineering education to higher learning institutions in Malaysia as well as other signatory countries under the educational accords. However, with regard to assessing the programme outcomes, the Engineering Accreditation Council Malaysia, similar to most accreditation bodies in the Washington Accord, does not prescribe any specific model to inspire innovation and creativity in assessment. As a result, higher learning institutions often experience challenges in implementing a model that can reflect students' real performances in these programme outcomes. In essence, a few assessment models have been adopted, namely the accumulating, culminating and comprehensive culminating. This review paper unveiled the advantages and disadvantages of these models and revealed why the comprehensive culminating model is a better approach in the Malaysian experience. From the literature review, and document analysis of accreditation visit reports and records from some accreditation bodies and higher learning institutions, a systematic approach to implement the comprehensive culminating assessment model is proposed. This approach will be useful for higher learning institutions and faculty members in the Washington Accord signatory countries in sustaining assessment efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychomotor and affective domains are important to assess student's achievement during the industrial training period. Students are exposed to engineering practices, real civil engineering environments, and the required ethical and communication skills through industrial training. Previous research primarily has relied on the employers 'perspectives on non-technical skills of engineering graduates. Still, there are none of the studies depends on student achievement in the psychomotor and affective domains. This study aims to identify the employer's evaluation of the student's performance for psychomotor and affective domains during their industrial training. 272 students undergoing the Industrial Training in session II 2019/2020 are involved in this study. The portion of marks from the industry evaluation for the psychomotor domain is 40% and for the affective domain is 10%. The marks were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis. The Pearson correlation (r) was used to identify the relationship between each Program Outcomes (PO) with the related domain. The t-test analysis was completed to evaluate any significant difference between the performance evaluation of student's gender. The statistical analysis discovered that most of the students were excellent in the psychomotor and affective domains. Furthermore, the r-value for each POs shows a moderately positive correlation. Therefore, the findings indicate that the designed curriculum of the program meets the industrial requirement. However, improvements will always be made to keep nurturing a good quality of future civil engineering technical personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inculcation of critical thinking elements into the engineering undergraduate programme in Malaysia as one of the national Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) priority has been included in nation's Vision 2020 to produce competent and innovative graduates with high ethical and professional standards. One of the major concerns raised in this inculcation model is the absence of Islamic critical thinking concept. The present concept of critical thinking taught in this country fails to connect with Islamic teaching and could lead to misunderstanding of the concept among Muslim engineering students. This paper aims to explore the elements of critical thinking embedded within the engineering curriculum in Malaysian higher learning institutions with particular interest to Muslim undergraduate students. The paper adopts the conceptual approach in stating the case for current implementation practices of critical thinking at higher learning and proposes a reformulation of how critical thinking based on Islamic teaching could be embedded into the formal learning institution elaborated through three main themes: a) the embedding of critical thinking in Malaysian faculties of engineering; b) the significance of elements of Islamic critical thinking to engineering education; and c) the accessibility of the main elements of Islamic critical thinking in engineering curriculum. Based on these themes, argument will be developed to illustrate the significance of Islamic critical thinking in relation to engineering education before finally reaching the approachable context on how to incorporate the elements of Islamic critical thinking which are yet to be identified within the content of Malaysian universities' engineering curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of learning efforts is important in providing a better understanding of learners of different disciplines. Lack of a valid and reliable instrument is making the assessment of learning efforts difficult. This paper describes the design and development process of a learning efforts instrument to be used among engineering students. The learning efforts items were generated based on Carbonaro's learning efforts model. He proposed that learning efforts constitute three components, namely, intellectual effort, rule-orientated effort and procedural effort. The draft instrument was judged by experts on its face validity and was subsequently distributed to 360 engineering students, who were instructed to rate their agreement to given statements. The subsequent reliability analysis and exploratory factor analysis supported the existence of two components. In conclusion, the data provided evidence that the efforts construct may be different from the learning efforts model proposed by Carbonaro in 2005. However, further analysis showed the existence of two components instead of three for the learning efforts construct that would fit the Malaysian education context. Thus, this paper provides evidence that replication research using the same instruments in cultural differences can provide differences in answers and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of a comparative study in which students' perceived attainment of the objectives of an engineering ethics education and their attitude towards engineering ethics were investigated and compared. The investigation was carried out in Japan and Malaysia, involving 163 and 108 engineering undergraduates respectively. The research method used was based on a survey in which respondents were sent a questionnaire to elicit relevant data. Both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed on the data. The results of the analyses showed that the attainment of the objectives of engineering ethics education and students' attitude towards socio-ethical issues in engineering were significantly higher and positive among Japanese engineering students compared to Malaysian engineering students. Such findings suggest that a well-structured, integrated, and innovative pedagogy for teaching ethics will have an impact on the students' attainment of ethics education objectives and their attitude towards engineering ethics. As such, the research findings serve as a cornerstone to which the current practice of teaching and learning of engineering ethics education can be examined more critically, such that further improvements can be made to the existing curriculum that can help produce engineers that have strong moral and ethical characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment and evaluation of outcomes and continuous quality improvement often lead to uneasiness among engineering educators, which is a barrier to implementing an effective system of results-assessment. The sophisticated evaluation models and analytical instruments adopted by higher learning institutions are believed to worsen this uneasiness, impeding the successful implementation of programme quality improvement. In this paper, the challenges in assessing and evaluating learning outcomes, types of programme outcome assessment model and an analytical tool known as Engineering Outcome Analytics developed by Tunku Abdul Rahman University College for the assessment were presented. Documents related to quality improvement from two higher learning institutions in Malaysia were reviewed and discussed based on the key elements of continuous quality improvement. The results can be used to avoid the shortcomings and adopt the best practices in continuous quality improvement. With proper understanding on the key elements of continuous quality improvement, and adoption of culminating assessment model and a highly integrated analytical tool, engineering educators and programme owners are expected to benefit from this research in three ways. First, it cultivates a culture of continuous improvement of quality by increasing the educators' willingness to evaluate results. Second, it enhances their existing analytical tools to reflect students' actual developments, resulting in significant continuous actions to improve quality. Third, it satisfies the accreditation requirements on outcomes-based assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this globalization-focused era, the demand for globalized engineers in the creation of borderless societies is increasing. Despite the initiatives by the Japanese government to promote internalization through increasing the intake of foreign students, the exposures gained by the Japanese students from these programs are minimal. For years, internship has been used globally as a platform for training and educating future engineers, but only a few studies have examined the proactive transformation from domestic to international internship. International internships overseas offer a completely new dimension of experiences when carried out in multicultural environments. This article reports and offers evidence of a Japanese engineering university's rapid global internship reform strategy toward the expansion of international internships in Malaysia. This paper provides insights into the process, from initial setup to implementation of the internship program covering all the necessary preparation and support. From the establishment of an overseas collaboration base and rapport building with hosting industries, the systematic steps taken are reported. Regarding the internship program, feedback from Japanese engineering students who completed their internships show improved satisfaction due to continuous improvement of the internship program with progressing years. It was also discovered that the low participation rate in overseas internship by Japanese students is not due to their inward-looking temperament, but due to the lack of internship program availability that is administered with sufficient preparation enabling them to challenge themselves in a new environment. The challenges encountered in the program, and the sustainable improvements made in alignment with sustainable development goals toward equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning are also stated. In this paper, the future perspectives and outlook of internships are also described considering today's rapid technological advancements and the fast-changing needs of industries, which require future internship programs to have flexible approaches and ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethical decision-making (EDM) is an important element in the engineering profession. This paper explores the use of an ethical decision-making model (EDMM) as a tool for analysing and assessing the ethical reasoning skills of student engineers and their ability to apply the rationale of EDM process for ethical vignettes. The tool, distilled from several existing EDMMs, was tested against interview data collected from 12 graduating students at one private university in Malaysia. The students were asked to examine two ethical vignettes of varying scenarios and difficulty levels. This was followed by a semi-structured, face-to-face interview (corresponding to the first four steps of EDMM) to gauge their ethical reasoning behind their decision for each vignette. Their verbal responses were analysed and categorised into a four-tier rubric developed in accordance with the four steps of EDMM. Findings revealed that generally, students were able to identify the underlying issue (step 1) and the affected parties and the consequences (step 2), but they did not give much thought to potential course of action (step 3) or to testing available options (step 4). Levels of development of ethical reasoning provided by students varied between the first and second vignette. Findings suggest that the EDMM holds promise as a way to better understand and diagnose students' readiness to face ethical challenges in their profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, there has been tremendous growth in online social networking which contributed to the revolution of higher education's learning environment. Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) is now common in online education, which provides open networks of self-directed learning. MOOCs are referred as a continuation trend in innovation that initiated by learning from geographical distance and online. MOOCs is a current evolvement in higher learning institution in Malaysia with the aims to provide quality education for the students. However, there are some challenges in developing effective instructional design courses and retaining learners in MOOCs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to discover the relationship between MOOC's content design and students' performances among UTeM's engineering students. Through literature review, variables are identified such as courses content design, enhancement in teaching and learning and students' performance. In this study, 373 samples have been collected and the data analysed using SPSS. The results revealed that there are significant relationships between courses materials, courses activities, and courses tools with students' performance. It is believed that this research paper will beneficial to higher education to improve MOOC's content design in order to enhance the students' performance in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineers form an important part of our technical workforce to successfully transform Malaysia into a fully developed nation as envisaged in the Vision 2020 document. Thus, it is essential for higher learning institutions in Malaysia to produce effective and competent graduates who are able to contribute to the current needs and rapid changes in the engineering industry. However, a key challenge faced by engineering programmes is to address the misalignment in the graduates produced and the industry needs. To address this, industrial training in universities plays an important role in bridging academia and industry where students are able to experience real-life problems as opposed to only classroom challenges. In addition, it is also important that engineering students in universities are well equipped with critical thinking skills and strong technical knowledge toface current and future challenges in industries. In this study, feedback and evaluation forms from industries were analysed to explore the working competency of engineering students in a new engineering programme. It identifies aspects that call for improvement to successfully help engineering students' competency at workplace. This paper also offers a few suggestions on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) based on the Plan- Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model to improve strategies prior to, during and post industrial training for the betterment of this new engineering programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the critical reading proficiency of engineering students from two private institutions in Malaysia and Vietnam. It examines the degree to which PISAbased critical reading test scores of first- and final-year students vary. 182 engineering students, including 86 Malaysian and 96 Vietnamese undergraduates, were involved in this project. Descriptive and quantitative analyses were performed on the data. According to the findings, most students at two universities exhibited moderate critical reading skills. Moreover, the study's outcomes revealed no substantial disparities between the critical reading levels of the final year Malaysian and Vietnamese students. By contrast, the performance of first-year students at two universities varied significantly on some test items. Some considerations regarding the selection of Western-based texts and the use of open-ended questions in the PISA reading test that might cause difficulties for Eastern students are also demonstrated in this study. This study compares the critical reading proficiency of engineering students from two private institutions in Malaysia and Vietnam. It examines the degree to which PISAbased critical reading test scores of first- and final-year students vary. 182 engineering students, including 86 Malaysian and 96 Vietnamese undergraduates, were involved in this project. Descriptive and quantitative analyses were performed on the data. According to the findings, most students at two universities exhibited moderate critical reading skills. Moreover, the study's outcomes revealed no substantial disparities between the critical reading levels of the final year Malaysian and Vietnamese students. By contrast, the performance of first-year students at two universities varied significantly on some test items. Some considerations regarding the selection of Western-based texts and the use of open-ended questions in the PISA reading test that might cause difficulties for Eastern students are also demonstrated in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been said about the high unemployment rate among local graduates in Malaysia. This issue has raised two pertinent questions: 1). What are employers' perceptions toward Malaysian engineering graduates?; 2). What do employers expect from them? This study was carried out among individuals who are superiors to Malaysian engineering graduates currently in the workforce to answer both these questions. Forty-eight companies within seven states from various locations in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Perak, Kedah, Penang and Negri Sembilan were involved in this study. Sixty five individuals from these companies responded to the survey. This paper will present the findings of this preliminary study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How crucial are engineering mechanics courses for Mechatronic Engineering Technology Programme (METP)? Engineering dynamics is one of the mechanical fundamental courses taught in METP, UiTM Shah Alam, Malaysia. Teaching engineering mechanics courses can be challenging for several reasons: abstract concepts, math-intensive, and diverse backgrounds. Even though deep learning is mostly desirable in higher education, the learning scenarios can sometimes inspire different learning styles. The purpose of this study is to examine the learning approach adopted by mechatronic engineering technology students during engineering dynamics course in two learning situations: theoretical and experimental learning. Samples were recruited from the first cohort of METP students in UiTM. Online questionnaires that consist of revised R-SPQ-2F were distributed after completion of course assessment. Students were clustered into three types of learning approaches in the two scenarios: deep learning, mixed learning, and surface learning. Results showed that students from different backgrounds adopted different learning approaches in different scenarios. Factors such as previous institution, grade, and theoretical exposures play major roles in classifying students' learning approaches. The study findings can help improve students' learning approaches by specifically manipulating changes in the learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to entering the workforce, engineering students are expected to be highly skilled and contribute to decision-making with confidence in their abilities. Despite this, most students are lacking in these areas. Engineering students typically have a hard time finding work because they lack the necessary skills and are unable to take decisions with confidence. Accordingly, the Washington accord created job-ready features for engineering students that contain core knowledge and design (FKD), project management and finance (PMF), communication (C), modern tool use (MTU), teamwork (TW), engineers' society and environment (ESE), ethics (E), and lifetime learning (LL). Work readiness (WR) literature will be examined in this study in an effort to promote decision-making self-efficacy (DMSE), which in turn leads to more successful career exploration (CE). Career discovery is then examined as a two-step process, with work readiness influencing decision-making self-efficacy and decision-making self-efficacy influencing career exploration. Malaysian private engineering universities were surveyed using a quantitative way to acquire the data. Results found a strong correlation between work readiness and decision-making self-efficacy, according to scientific evidence. Decision-making self-efficacy was also found to have a significant impact on career exploration. This study is to be useful to curtail unemployment by adopting the required skill set, which will help universities to produce engineers who are able to contribute to decision making with confidence towards exploring their careers. Overall, the results of this study might provide significant information to the related institutions and policymakers on the scarcity of decision-making of talented engineering students in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineers of the future must be capable of working successfully in multidisciplinary teams. Consequently, to advance innovative endeavours, engineering education and training should be considered in economic policies. The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of differences in innovation capabilities between engineering and non-engineering students. The research design is quantitative, using a questionnaire as the research instrument. The population were undergraduate students at a Malaysian university. Only 223 out of 370 respondents provided feedback within two weeks of data collection. 117 were non-engineering students, and the other 106 were engineering students. To measure the differences between the two groups of students, an inferential t-test was used. The Rasch analysis approach was applied to analyse the profiles of the students. The results showed that the innovation level of engineering students was greater than that of non-engineering students. Nonengineering students demonstrate marginally more (n=105, 47.09%) than engineering students (n=99, 44.39%) in "Very High Levels" of innovation. As a result, engineering education has grown and increased demand to efficiently train a diverse group of engineers for these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the impacts of education for sustainable development subject(s) offered at University A, Japan and University B, Malaysia on the attitude and perception toward environment, social and economic issues of sustainability among the engineering undergraduates of the institutions from different countries. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was administered to 108 engineering students at University A, Japan and 117 engineering students at University B, Malaysia to measure their attitudes and perceptions toward sustainability. Findings: The findings suggested that the sustainable development courses offered at University A, Japan, have developed positive attitudes and perceptions on environmental and social sustainability issues. The subjects on sustainable development offered at University B, Malaysia have developed positive attitudes and perceptions on the environmental issues of sustainability. Respondents from both universities, Japan and Malaysia, have not properly developed positive attitudes and perceptions toward economic sustainability issues. The findings also revealed that geographical boundaries have no influence toward the development of the attitude and perception toward sustainability issues. Originality/value: This study provides insight into the attitude and perception toward the three pillars – environment, social and economic – of sustainability among engineering undergraduates from two different institutions of two different countries that apply different pedagogic strategies in education for sustainable development in educating undergraduates on sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is commonly believed that personality traits determine a person's ability to work in a team and academic performance. However, studies have shown inconsistent results with some personality traits better than the other in predicting students' performance in different academic majors. The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelation between personality traits, teamwork competencies and academic performance among first-year first semester engineering students in an Australian university located in the Sarawak state of Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: The Individual and Team Performance (ITP) metrics were administered among 189 students to gauge their personality traits as well as self-rated and peer-rated teamwork competencies. The correlations between personality traits and teamwork competencies as well as correlations of both the variables to academic performance were subsequently analyzed. Findings: This study shows no significant difference between the self-rated and peer-rated teamwork competencies. Adventurous trait appears to negatively correlate with teamwork competencies. This study also reveals teamwork competencies as better predictors of academic performance than personality traits. Commitment and focus show relatively larger effect on academic performance. It can be concluded that commitment is the most significant factor to excel in first-year engineering in the university. Therefore, interventions that promote commitment is crucial to academic performance of the first-year first semester engineering students. Practical implications: This study promulgates the development of team competencies which are more crucial to academic excellence than personalities. It is useful for the design of team learning activities which lead to the development of teamwork competencies while improving academic performance. It shows that team activities which reinforce commitment especially and focus secondarily, will have significant positive effect on academic performance of the first-year engineering students generally. Originality/value: While most studies in this area examine the correlation between personality traits and academic performance, this study is among the very few that looks into the aspect of teamwork competencies. This study also finds its value in its regional significance as such correlational studies are not prevalent in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting students' engagement has been of great interest to engineering educators as it is associated with better teaching and learning effectiveness. However, students' engagement is a multifaceted construct comprising the cognitive, affective, and behavioural aspect of engagements which makes it difficult to get a holistic measure of it. Thus, the behavioural engagement alone is often measured as it enables the researcher to investigate outcomes 'in-action' and evaluate the individuals' ability at high-order thinking. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of an integrated affective-cognitive teaching and learning approach on behavioural engagements. The study utilized the quasi-experimental design method with pre- and post-test. The experimental group (n = 36) was taught a course on mechanics of material using the integrated approach while the control group (n = 34) was taught the same course using the conventional method. The results indicate that the integrated affective-cognitive learning approach promotes some types of positive behavioural engagement while suppressing other types of negative engagements. Thus, it was concluded that the integrated teaching and learning approach is effective in promoting positive behavioural engagements among engineering students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the English language needs for a group of engineering students at a defence university in Malaysia as part of curriculum review for English Language subjects. In a curriculum review, students' perceived English Language needs are collected and taken into consideration towards any curriculum revision. The objective of this study is to investigate the perceived English Language needs for a group of Engineering Foundation students at the National Defence University of Malaysia (NDUM) to be used as a guideline as one of the attempt to revise the curriculum. A total number of 169 Engineering students from the Centre for Foundation Studies, NDUM participated in this study and using a set of questionnaire, their perceived English Language needs are examined. Data collected from the questionnaire are analysed using SPSS version 19.0. The findings suggest important implications for evaluating and redesigning the English Language curriculum for engineering students at the NDUM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial ability across gender was examined among the first year engineering students in a Malaysian university. A sample of one hundred and eighty four participants, with a balanced ratio of male and female students, were recruited using stratified random sampling. In this study, participants were asked to complete a spatial ability test at their best in one hour. The test was adopted from Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R) and the Mental Cutting Test (MCT). In addition, by using another set of comparable spatial ability test, the impact of instruction was measured. The results support many of the findings in previous research that males significantly outperformed females in spatial ability. However, there was no significant difference found between students' spatial scores and their entry qualifications. Results of this study also reveal an interesting finding on the significant effect of instruction in improving the spatial ability of engineering students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This quantitative study is done on a cohort of engineering lecturers with the aim of studying emergent effectiveness of participatory action research and reflective practice after having them use the constructive approach with Engineering subjects. Part one describes the participatory action research design methodology and the reflective model. Part two discusses how the data was gathered. Part three illustrates the content analysis procedure used for data analysis. The following section on research findings explains the introductory and advanced coaching during the cycle of participatory action research. The challenges faced by the practitioners are also discussed in depth. All reflective journals from 20 lecturers were analyzed and eight teaching knowledge bases were identified through content analysis. The fifth part, explains the most important teaching knowledge base as reflected by lecturers The role of peers and university supervisors in creating collaborative educational practice is also discussed. Finally, part six concludes that reflective practice that can be applied in the engineering faculties as an appropriate mean to enhance professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]