Discussions on critical thinking skills among students in higher institutions of learning continues to be an important topic for discussion. These discussions revolve around the facts that students are not capable of displaying critical thinking skills abilities or researchers suggesting on ways to improve critical thinking skills among learners. Teachers often report on learners' critical thinking (or lack of it) and how critical thinking skills influence classroom learning. Not many realize that writing and thinking are inter-related in many ways. The teaching of critical thinking skills can be embedded in the teaching of writing in the classroom. This study explores the connection between critical thinking skills and academic writing. It looks into how writing process mirrors critical thinking skills. This quantitative study is done on 207 first semester undergraduate students who signed up for academic writing course in a public university in Malaysia. Findings of this study revealed interesting implications for the teaching of writing process and critical thinking among undergraduates. Contribution/ Originality:The study contributes in the existing literature on the connection between critical thinking and academic writing. Existing characteristics of critical thinking skills is merged with academic writing skills.According to Karakoc (2016) because of the way the world is moving, there is a need to make sure learners are able to think critically. Employers prefer recruiting candidates who display critical thinking abilities. It is hoped that employers who can think critically are able to solve problems on their own and make informed choices about work and personal issues. People are talking about critical thinking-;the lack of, how to improve, yet ,not internalizing much about the characteristics of critical thinking. Many articles have been written on how to improve critical thinking skills, or what institutions can do to increase the skills. Nevertheless, have we looked into what institutions are currently doing already?

The inception of distance learning in the Malaysian educational landscape began in the 1970's and ever since then the growth in distance learning kept increasing year by year. Despite the demand for distance learning due to the many benefits that it offers, there have been issues experienced by distance learners as well. Many studies have investigated the situation and relate them with university mattering. University mattering is an area of study that helps higher learning institutions understand on aspects that make learners feel that they matter. Hence, this study was conducted for the purpose of understanding distance learners' experience of mattering at their higher learning institution in the local setting. The objectives of this pilot study are twofold. Firstly, it is to investigate distance learners' perceptions of mattering with their faculty members and secondly, to investigate distance learners' perceptions of mattering with regards to their university's administration. Students coming from semester two onwards were selected as part of this study. Semi structured interviews were conducted via online, and data collected were presented based on the two objectives outlined in this study. Findings from the study revealed interesting outcomes which build as a platform for future studies on mattering among distance learners at higher learning institutions in the Malaysian educational setting.

The theory of Mattering and Marginality was first formulated in 1981 by Morris Rosenberg and Claire McCullough. It is a form of acceptance of an individual by other people. Mattering is divided into two and they are Interpersonal Mattering and Societal Mattering. Interpersonal Mattering is where a person feels that he or she matters to their siblings, spouse or parents and Societal Mattering refers to a community, learning institution, workplace and others. In this pilot study the Societal Mattering is the focus. This is because the study was carried out at a higher leaning institution. The two objectives of this study looked into Mattering and Marginality among non-traditional learners with regards to their perception towards their peers and faculty at their univeristy. A number of 30 non-traditional learners from a public university took part in this online survey. Mattering Scales for Adult Students in Postsecondary Education was adapted and used to measure the variables; peers and faculty. Interesting implications in the field of Education was found in this study specifically under the concept of Mattering.