Lecturers’ Competences in Relation to
Students’ Academic Performance
With
reference to the research you are proposing,
Explain
why you select the research topic/area. Provide the justification of your
research
Teaching and learning are two dimensions
of the academic world and both depend on lecturers capabilities therefore, an effective
lecturer has been conceptualised as one who produces desired outcomes in
the course of his duty as a lecturer. Therefore, upon the observed
deterioration in the academic accomplishments, attitude and values of students,
one curiously wonders if the high failure rates and the poor quality of the
students is not a reflection of the teaching quality or lack of lecturer’s
competencies. In other words the incompetence of lecturers in classroom
interaction with the students could be responsible for the observed poor
performance of students in the classroom (Cohen, 1981; Theall & Franklin,
2001).
A competency comprises of one or more
skills whose mastery would affect the attainment of the competency. A
competency has its relation with all the three fields under which performance
can be assessed. These fields are knowledge, skill and attitude. Because
the competencies are observable, they are also measurable. It is possible to
assess a competency from the performance of a lecturer. It is not necessary
that all competencies of a lecturer have the same extent of knowledge, skill
and attitude. There may be some competencies involving more of knowledge
than skill and attitude, whereas, same competencies may be skill or performance
oriented (Doyle,2008). Richards (2006) highlighted in his research that any
definition of lecturer competence depends on teaching in a particular
setting, the culture and values held in the community. It also depends on
the innumerable lecturer and student characteristics and the classroom context.
Through the above definitions we conclude that lecturer primary aim is to make
students learn effectively and efficiently. In doing so, a lecturer has to do
several activities such as plan classroom activity properly, provide effective
instruction and evaluate the learning using appropriate methods and techniques.
The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of teaching is closely linked to
lecturer competencies. Competent lecturer would also create classroom
conditions and climate, which are conducive for student learning. Research
shows that students are the most relevant and qualified sources to determine
the extent to which the learning experience was productive, informative,
satisfying or meaningful. Although opinions on these matters are not direct
measures of lecturer effectiveness, they do provide legitimate indications of
student academic performance and satisfaction. Furthermore, there is
substantial research connecting student satisfaction to effective teaching
methods (Theall & Franklin, 2001). A meta-analysis of 41 research studies
provides the strongest evidence for the validity of student ratings since these
studies examined the relationship between student ratings and student learning.
Doyle (2008) mentioned that, “The use of students’ ratings for evaluating
lecturer effectiveness is the single most researched issue in all of higher
education”.
There is ample debate within the
education community around the world on how teaching effectiveness may be
defined and measured. Braskamp and Ory (1994) include teaching and learning in
their definition, defining effective teaching as the “creation of situations in
which appropriate learning occurs; shaping those situations is what successful
lecturers have learned to do effectively”. There are many researchers who
focused on whether or not students are legitimate judges of teaching
effectiveness. Theall (2009) mentioned that the students can answer questions
about the lecturers teaching quality, the value of readings and assignments,
and the clarity of the instructor's explanations. Thus, students are
certainly qualified to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction through
their experience. They have a right to share their opinions in any case and no
one else can report the extent to which the experience was useful, productive,
informative, satisfying, or worthwhile. An expectation that cannot be fulfilled
on the institutions is the key factors for students’ withdrawal (Alridge &
Rowley, 2001). According to the study by Kanji, Malek, and Wallace (1999) do
give some insights on the real situation of the Higher Education Institutions
in Malaysia. Most institutions do give a great deal of importance to meeting
students expectations which is similar to business organization, but they still
lack customer awareness among the staff, and it has become a common drawback
for many institutions. This brings us to an understanding that students will
have more opportunity to support their continued into higher educational
institutions and on how well the educational programs and services met
students’ expectations.
More than that I have decided to make
research in this area because there are several factor that influence the
incompetence lecturer that directly bring impact toward student academic
performance. I have listed several research question that suit to my research
that will help to answer all the confusion in this research. Supposed that the
lecturers’ competence contributes towards student academic performance, it is
to be wondered whether are there any significant association between them.
These are the following questions in order to better understand the
factors of lecturers’ competence.
1. To
what degree does lecturer’s competence affect students’ academic performance?
2. Is
there any significant relationship between the lecturers’ teaching skills and
student academic performance?
3. Is
there any relationship between the lecturers’ experience and students’ academic
performance?
4. Is
there any relationship between the lecturers’ subject matter expertise and
students’ academic performance?
5. Is
there any relationship between the lecturers’ qualification and students’
academic performance?
6. Is
there any relationship between the lecturers’ attitude and students’ academic
performance?
In addition with regard to my research,
there are several significant why I choose to carry out research for this topic
that will bring advantages toward certain people or organization. A major concern in higher education is to
increase student achievement. One of the ways to do this is to focus on the
lecturers’ competences which will influence student achievement. The empirical
investigation of the distinct effects of diverse elements of the lecturer
competence on student’s academic performance in education management remains on
the area of substantial interest to education researchers. This study provides
some relevant insights on the distinct magnitudes to which distinct lecturer
competence elements affect students’ academic performances. Moreover, such
knowledge will help academic staff in designing more effective teaching
strategies that can improve learners’ academic achievements. In addition, this
study will be useful to both lecturers and students who may want to know the
factors that could make or hinder the student academic achievement.
Understanding lecturer teaching skills will allow for professional development
for lecturer to focus on the areas to increase student academic performance.
Lastly, understanding the importance of lecturers and the impact on student
performance will help universities administrators retain lecturers to make
their teachings student-centred.
What will you are measuring?
This study aims at determining the impact
of lecturers’ competencies on students’ academic performance at Mara University
of Technology Shah Alam in Selangor Malaysia.
Lecturers’ competencies are one of the most critical objectives in all
institutions of higher learning. Institution that fails to ensure good and
excellence lecturers’ competencies’ will definitely affect their reputation
as excellence higher institution.
Incompetence lecturers may also affect their students’ academic performance.
This study employed qualitative method in examining the hypothesis. Survey
method is used for data collection. Five competencies are selected to be
measured for this study and total of 30 lecturers’ are chosen as sample in this
case study. Competencies such as, subject matter expertise, lecturers
experience, lecturers teaching skills, lecturer qualification and lecturer
attitude are significantly relates to student academic achievement positively.
How you will ensure that the research is
scientific?
As we all know the purpose of the
research is divided into 4 categories, which are to describe - describe the shape, colour, change over time,
relation to other constructs and so on, to
predict - given what is known the scientist attempts to predict what might
happen, to control - by manipulating
certain variables the scientist is interested in determining whether it will
lead to controlling a particular condition, to explain in the form of a theory - ultimately the scientist is
interested in forming a theory to explain the phenomena being investigated.
I have ensure that my research on the
lecturers’ competence in relation to student academic performance is the
scientific research because of the research that I want to carry out have
several evidences and prove to make it valid and reliable. More that the
research that I’m going to carried out does not based on the intuition. Intuition can be defined where
sometimes beliefs are held because they appear to be self-evidence or just
common sense. There is several evidence that would back up my research. In
addition, my research is rationalistic. Rationalistic is the knowledge derived
from reasoning.
While the ability to reasoning fundamental in the scientific method of problem solving
and I need to be careful with the conclusion and every conclusion that are
about to be withdraw need to be support by the supporting evidence. The empirical method is fundamental in
every research. Although everything that have been said so far appears
conclusions because of faulty data collection and interpretation. I must be
careful to remain objective when evaluating data.
What is your dominant research approach?
(Qualitative or quantitative)
This study aims at determining the impact
of lecturers’ competencies on students’ academic performance at Mara University
of Technology Shah Alam in Selangor Malaysia.
Lecturers’ competencies are one of the most critical objectives in all
institutions of higher learning. Institution that fails to ensure good and
excellence lecturers’ competencies’ will definitely affect their reputation
as excellence higher institution.
Incompetence lecturers may also affect their students’ academic performance. This study employed quantitative method in
examining the hypothesis. Survey method is used for data collection. Five
competencies are selected to be measured for this study and total of 30
lecturers’ are chosen as sample in this case study. Competencies such as, subject
matter expertise, lecturers experience, lecturers teaching skills, lecturer
qualification and lecturer attitude are significantly relates to student
academic achievement positively.
If your research is quantitative,
describe how it is different from a qualitative one.
Sample size- QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH will be large
(small)
Information per respondent- QUANTITATIVE
RESEACH will be varies (much)
Types of analysis- QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH will be
statistical and summarization (subjective, interpretive)
Ability to replicate- QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH will be high
(low)
Hardware- QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH will be
questionnaire and computer print- out (tape recorder, projection devices,
videos, pictures and discussion guide)
Type of research- QUNTITATIVE RESEARCH will be
exploratory (descriptive causal)
Motivational and Learning Processes of Off-Campus University
Students
The study of motivational and learning
processes of university students has focused mainly on on-campus, mainstream
students. Until recently few studies have explored the complex relationships
between motivation and learning among working, off- campus adult learners given
that continuing education and lifelong learning are gaining grounds in the
Malaysian educational scene, it is important to develop a better understanding
of the relationships between motivation and learning processes among these
adult learners.
Suppose you want to conduct a research
based on this statement.
a. How do you
operationalize “motivation of adult learner” (propose an operational definition
of the phrase)
Motivation is the attribute that “moves”
us to do or not do something (Gredler, 2001). Students can be described as
self-regulated if they personally initiate and direct their own efforts to acquire knowledge
and skill rather than relying on teachers,
parents, or other agents of instruction (Zimmerman 1989, cited in Cole and Chan, 1994). Responsible learners are the ones who
accept the idea that their own efforts are crucial to progress in learning, and
behave accordingly. Responsible learners consciously monitor their own progress
and make an effort to use available opportunities to their benefit including
classroom activities and assignments (Scharle and Szabo 2000). Regarding to
this research, which link to the motivation of adult learner it related on how the motivation of
the learner affect the learner to continue studying even though it was
off-campus learning. For example, e-PJJ that have already been practiced in
Malaysia.
Distance education: An educational
situation in which the instructor and students are separated by time, location,
or both. Education or training courses are delivered to remote locations via
synchronous or asynchronous means of instruction, including written correspondence, text, graphics, audio-
and videotape, CD-ROM, online learning, audio- and videoconferencing,
interactive TV, and FAX. Distance education does not preclude the use of the
traditional classroom. The definition of distance education is broader than and
entails the definition of e-learning. E-Learning
(electronic learning): A term covering a wide set of applications and processes,
such as Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital
collaboration. It includes delivery of content via Internet, intranet/extranet (LAN/WAN),
audio-and videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive, TV, CD-ROM, and more.
b. Write two research
question for this research problem
1. What is the level of motivation of adult
learner in off-campus learning?
2. Are there any differences in the learners’
who prefer off-campus learning in terms of their gender, major field and
proficiency level?
