The Summary Journal 11

Opportunities and Challenges Faced by Private Higher Education Institution Using the TPACK Model in Malaysia

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 91 ( 2013 ) 294 – 305

By Lau Teng Lye

INTI International University of Malaysia

The important of ICT in educational system has become a policy choice in public and private educational development. This is due to the conventional or traditional teaching and learning approaches are not able to cope with the high demand for education. The institution group online teaching and learning training program has helping 90% of the staff in each branch to effectively integrate up-to-date (ICT) into teaching and learning processes. Since year 2010, all of the academic staff must undertake at least one module of the online teaching and learning training modules in whole year academic year. This policy was making compulsory to academic staff for improving their teaching and learning skills in this advanced technology age.

The Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model, focuses on the challenges of integrating ICT in teaching and learning by the instructor or academic staff. The TPACK model addressed on how the academic staff knowledge on integrated the technology in their teaching and learning environment. The academic staff basic natures of knowledge or elements are included in the form of pedagogy, content and technology knowledge. At the centre or heart of the TPACK model is the complex intersection of these primary form of academic staff basic nature of knowledge.

In this research study will examines the opportunities and challenges faced by one of the private higher education institution group in Malaysia that implementing the Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model in their teaching and learning processes. The questionnaire survey designs based on the TPACK model specifications, used to identify the aspects of technology knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and the content knowledge of the respondents of the research. There are 39 respondents in this research that is 19 academic staff that from technology faculty and 20 from the non-technology faculty.  

The researcher concluded that there are still having rooms for improvement in private higher educational institution on ICT based educational system. Most of the academic staff only achieved an average level (3.9 out of 7) of integrating ICT in their teaching and learning processes. The top management of this private higher education institution should reconsider to intensify the support in terms of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge aspects in academic staff teaching and learning skills. Another evidences that showed the academic staff was not utilize the ICT in their teaching and learning environment was 80% (30 out of 39) of the staff were undertaken the online training modules.

The average scored might due to the challenges feedback (open ended question) by the academic staff in teaching and learning environment such as time consuming to design the instructional or teaching materials using the ICT tools, do not have time to look for instructional materials, heavy loaded with the teaching loads, poor technical support and facilities. In order to improve the integration of ICT in teaching and learning processes, the academic directors have to improve the TK, CK, PK aspects of the academic staff. At the same time, there were needs for resolving the challenges faced by the academic staff in this private higher education institution group.