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The purpose of this study is to explore mathematics teachers' collaboration within their professional learning communities (PLCs), and to gain insight into how the teachers developed their collective efficacy through it to focus on improving student learning.

Using a qualitative approach, data were collected from three high-performing secondary schools, mainly through semi-structured in-depth interviews with the Heads of Mathematics Unit. For explication and triangulation purposes, focus group interviews with the mathematics teachers and students and document analysis were also conducted.

The findings indicate that PLCs were the vessel through which a culture of disciplined teacher collaboration was fostered. More importantly, this culture encouraged teachers to participate in reflective dialogues that became a driver for their learning, and eventually led to their changed professional practice for improved student learning. The collaborative setting within the PLCs allowed teachers to pool their resources, knowledge and individual expertise to identify their student learning focus, and administer and measure their student intervention strategies. This collaborative professional learning reduced professional isolation, and as a result, improved teachers' collective pursuit of professional growth to impact student outcomes.

The aim of this qualitative study was to provide a detailed description of the teachers' collaboration within their PLCs based on the researchers' interpretation of how the participants make sense of their PLC practices and experiences. Hence, findings are indicative, and not definitive. In addition, the Heads of the Mathematics Unit, and the mathematics teacher participants in this study illustrated salient aspects of subject subcultures, where their beliefs, norms and practices were non-generic, or specific only to their subject context. Therefore, the implications to practice were built from commonalities shared only among the mathematics units.

This is a study in a Malaysian context that provides empirical evidences that are concerned primarily with the process of teachers developing their collective efficacy through disciplined collaboration within their PLCs.

Teaching and learning are being transformed by digital technology, where the present generation of students, termed millennials, are more adept with the increasingly digitalised world we live in. Following this, lecturers and institutions are adapting and adopting a blended learning model across disciplines, which now commands an entire domain of research and application. However, questions remain about how ready students are for a blended learning model of instruction. The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ readiness for blended learning in a leading Malaysian private higher education institution.

This study used a non-experimental quantitative research design. Data were gathered from a sample of 274 pre-university and undergraduate students using the blended learning readiness engagement questionnaire. Data was analysed using WINSTEPS Rasch model measurement software to determine the validity and reliability of the instrument. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) scores, (logit) value of the item and (logit) value of a person was used to examine students’ readiness for a blended learning model of instruction and specifically assess their readiness based on gender, age, ethnicity and field of study.

Findings indicate that students were ready for blended learning. Further analysis indicated there were differences in students’ readiness for blended learning based on gender, age, ethnicity and field of study.

This study provides insight into students’ readiness towards blended learning in a leading Malaysian private higher education institution, discusses implications for blended learning practices and offers recommendations for future research.

Universities have shifted from face-to-face learning environments to e-learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the sudden change to online teaching has raised concerns among lecturers about students' readiness for e-learning. This study investigates students' readiness for e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and specifically assesses any significant differences between students' gender, age, ethnicity, level of education, field of study and their readiness for an e-learning environment.

The study employed a non-experimental quantitative research design. Data were gathered from a sample of 298 undergraduate and 101 postgraduate students. WINSTEPS Rasch model measurement software was used to determine the reliability and validity of the research instrument. Descriptive, inferential statistics and differential item functioning (DIF) test were used to assess students' readiness for an e-learning mode of instruction with the latter specifically analysing students' demographic factors and their readiness for an e-learning environment.

Findings identified that most students are ready for an e-learning mode of instruction. Further analysis indicated that there were differences in students' readiness for e-learning based on their demographic profiles.

This study provides insights on students' readiness towards e-learning, discusses implications for e-learning practices in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic and offers recommendations for future research.

This study provides evidences of students' readiness for e-learning in respect to their gender, age, ethnicity, level of education and field of study. This information could help lecturers to reflect on their own teaching practices, adjust their teaching approaches and subsequently, develop appropriate e-learning methods that best suit the student diversity in their classrooms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the degree to which the different attributes of Islamic banks in Indonesia are preferred by the community.

This paper uses a quantitative approach by applying Rasch analysis to measure the relative importance of 18 attributes of Islamic banks to the community. The data were collected by questionnaires, which were distributed online and completed by 345 respondents. In addition to the Rasch model, the preference of attributes was measured by a statistical inference test, using “SPSS” software, which employs binary logic regression related to the agreement between the performance of attributes and expectations.

The instrument used in this study showed good reliability, and its validity fits the expected model. The results show that the assurance of financial security, friendliness and the application of Islamic principles in their operations are the most important attributes to be considered when people choose an Islamic bank. The degree of importance placed by the community on the various attributes of Islamic banks will have an effect upon the actual and perceived quality of those attributes. An increase in the community’s preference for a particular attribute will eventually be followed by an increased agreement between the actual performance of that attribute and the community’s expectation.

The varied profiles of individual respondents were not explored fully: this research relies solely on quantitative analysis. So, there is no empirical information to inform the Islamic banks as to which segments of the community should be the focus of their promotional activities.

The use of Rasch analysis to measure the community’s preference for various attributes of Islamic banks has not been done previously.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the findings from a small-scale, exploratory, study of principals’ instructional leadership practice in Malaysian primary schools. The dimensions and functions of instructional leadership, explicitly explored in this study, are those outlined in the Hallinger and Murphy’s (1985) model.

This study is part of a larger international, comparative research project that aims to identify the boundaries of the current knowledge base on instructional leadership practice and to develop a preliminary empirically based understanding of how principals conceive and enact their role as instructional leaders in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 primary school principals in Malaysia. The sample comprised principals from 14 Government National schools (SK), nine principals from Chinese schools (SJKC) and seven principals from Tamil schools (SJKT). The qualitative data were initially analysed inductively, and subsequently coded using ATLAS.ti to generate the findings and conclusions.

The findings showed that the Malaysian principals, who were interviewed, understood and could describe their responsibilities relating to improving instructional practice. In particular, they talked about the supervision of teachers and outlined various ways in which they actively monitored the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. These data revealed that some of the duties and activities associated with being a principal in Malaysia are particularly congruent with instructional leadership practices. In particular, the supervision of teaching and learning along with leading professional learning were strongly represented in the data.

This is a small-scale, exploratory study involving 30 principals.

There is a clear policy aspiration, outlined in the Malaysian Education Blueprint, that principals should be instructional leaders. The evidence shows that principals are enacting some of the functions associated with being an instructional leader but not others.

The findings from this study provide some new insights into the principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia. They also provide a basis for further, in-depth exploration that can enhance the knowledge base about principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia.

The advancement of technology is fast, disruptive, and currently known as the new civilization of the Industrial Revolution 5.0. It causes changes in the human lifelines in their economy, politics, culture, and social aspects. Particularly, third world nations and developing countries need to prepare the alertness for this adjustment, especially for the young generation. International political events will come, and the developed countries will crush the other countries those are unable or not having the skill to manage technology and innovate learning process. It is following the proverb of who controls the technology will master the resources. Global advancements and its dynamics in the era of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 have impacted the education system in South Asian and South East Nations specifically due to changing characteristics of learning. The objective of this study is to investigate the characteristics of learning in the era of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0, specifically in the master’s program of advertising and public relation of a private university in Indonesia. This study adopted a qualitative approach, through the technique of focus group discussion (FGD) to obtain the result on the basis of thematic analysis. There were 12 participants of the FGD representing various groups of stakeholders consisting of students, teachers, and leaders. The results of this FGD indicate that learning characteristics in the era of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 are swiftly transforming and there is a vital need of accommodation and acceptance by learner and instructor during dissemination of knowledge. Overloading of technology has become a blockage too during the facilitation of an educational activity in lack of appropriate awareness and training.