No abstract

The vast development in information technology nowadays has brought a shift to change politics in Malaysia. Blogs have then become an influential medium in reporting various news as our community begins to reject mainstream media due to the fact that this reported news were bias. In countries that do not practice freedom of media, blogs will serve as an important medium in the dissemination of information to the public which was often deemed as lacking of new information and was not presented by the mainstream media. Thus, this research paper is looking into how blogs have unfolded a pathway towards the democratization of information in Malaysia. This study has used a qualitative approach by conducting in-depth interviews on two blogger groups comprising of different political ideologies. A total of eight well-known bloggers in Malaysia were selected as participants. The results show that blogs have opened a new platform in delivering information to the community. Besides that, laws or acts that can be imposed to bloggers do not stop the bloggers from expressing their opinions freely. Additionally, an exposure to the identity of a blogger has led to an increase in the credibility of a blog. Blogs are also seen to have a strong influence on the public's mind. Exposing to disclose news or events by bloggers is seen as an effort to provide important information for the public to view the truth from the disseminated information. It also turns out that freedom of speech through cyberspace especially blogs has taken place in Malaysia. However, the stated freedom is not absolute.

This study examined the use of infographics as a tool for facilitating learning among Graphic Design and Digital Media learners at UiTM Melaka. The study involved ninety-nine learners with similar demographic background who were selected using simple random sampling method. The data collection is based on methodology using quantitative and descriptive statistics. These were derived from a set of questionnaire which is the main instrument. This instrument has undergone content validity as well as the reliability testing. A pilot study was conducted with the results of 0.884 of Cronbach‘s Alpha. The findings suggested that the main learning problems encountered by learners was to execute instructors‘ assignment without proper guidelines while others found that the use of too many slides in presentation and too wordy information presented by instructors were a hindrance to their classroom learning. Besides, the study also discovered that all infographics‘ features including the use of images and symbols, good design, attractive colours, concise texts and diagram or chart can encouraged learners to understand better any learning information delivered through it. Finally, infographics application for facilitating their learning sessions was appreciated mostly due to the high suitability of infographics to make information concise and coherent, to enhance creativity and productivity, and to improve understanding and concentration in the learning session. Therefore, infographics should be promoted as one of the tools to ease learners‘ problems in learning especially those that involve learners with the tendency of having visual literacy abilities.

This study describes the importance of looking into the theory of constructivism in the process of teaching and learning for higher learning institution in Malaysia. 56 participants from 3 different groups of Art and Design final year students in Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Melaka campus have been chosen as the subjects for this study. It investigates how these groups of students are able to construct knowledge based on their prior knowledge, past experiences and the cultural factors that govern the environment they are in to produce good and interesting final year project. Problems arisen in the process of teaching and learning whereby students and lecturers were not able to meet up during lecture and studio hours due to many constrains like absenteeism, meetings, and insufficiency for monitoring and consulting student’s project progress and developments resulting in inefficiency and less productive of the final products by the students. Thus, Social Constructivism is looked into using a well- known Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) tool which is Facebook. The qualitative method is used for collecting data to examine the social interaction and the development of communication among students. The findings in this study indicate that the use of Facebook has served as a good tool for Graphic Design students to achieve better social interaction amongst them in the process of teaching and learning session. Therefore, CMC should be used as an alternative tool for lecturers to be able to communicate with students. Learning process should not be confined only during classroom. Both the students and lecturer should participate in students’ own learning time and to overcome the constraint of face-to- face interaction.

Time is a significant and massive worry in behaviour that causes difficulties amongst instructors and learners in ensuring an effective process of teaching and learning in open and distance learning (ODL) environment. This study aimed to identify instructors’ and learners’ ability to allocate time in ODL. The study was conducted with 320 respondents, and the instrument used was questionnaires. The results showed that ODL instructors and learners were challenged with many obstacles to prioritizing tasks and allocating time accordingly in their teaching and learning. A close inspection of the role of time management is much required. The most reported challenges were managing the academic schedule on ODL and multitasking while teaching and learning on ODL. Lastly, it was deemed unnecessary to have additional time to satisfy the expectations of ODL. It was found that both instructors and learners from public and private higher education institutions needed effective educational practices to succeed in ODL and blended learning. In short, time allocation in prioritizing tasks is still an obstruction to achieving effective and balanced teaching and learning system with ODL that satisfies the desire of the instructors and learners. This research suggests investigating social, cognitive, teaching and emotional presence to successfully conduct the teaching and learning process.