INSIGHT

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

INSIGHT

Teaching & Learning Bulletin
Vol. 30/2017

LSEERAVRINCIENG:

BRIDGINGTHEGAP
BETWEENCLASSROOMS
ANDCOMMUNITIES

DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION SL AT SCHOOLS REFLECTION

Designing Service Learning Implementing Service Learning Service Learning Experience Reflection on Service
into Technopreneurship and in Technopreneurship & at Schools and the Impact to Learning for School
Product Development Course Product Development course Students and the Community Community

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin INSIGHT

Dean’sMessage Teaching & Learning Bulletin

VOL 30/2017

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Dear INSIGHT Readers, Patron :
Professor Dato’ Dr Mohamad Kadim bin Suaidi
Advisor :
Professor Dr Wan Hashim bin Wan Ibrahim
Chief Editor :
Associate Professor Dr Chen Chwen Jen
Editors :
Dr Rebicca Edward
Dr Kartini Abd Ghani
Dr Siti Mariam Abdullah
Design and Layout :
Fitzpatrick Anak Ricky Guing
Hayati Sahari
Events and Photos :
Fitzpatrick Anak Ricky Guing

Welcome to this 30th volume of working groups and resources, preparing Cover photo by FItzpatrick Ricky Guing
INSIGHT with the theme ‘Service student engagement with communities,
Learning: Bridging the Gap equipping them with adequate technical No part of this bulletin may be reproduced
between Classrooms and Communities’. knowledge and skills, executing the or copied in any form without prior written
Service learning, also known as community- programme, to reflecting the impact as permission from CALM.
based learning, is classified as a high well as insights for enhancing future Everyone is invited to contribute articles,
impact educational practice as research implementation. reviews, events and news on teaching-
studies have shown that it correlates learning issues. All contributions must be
positively with educational results of This volume also features a significant submitted to CALM, UNIMAS.
students from diverse backgrounds. It international partnership between by You can also reach this bulletin online at:
is a form of experiential learning that the Institute of Social Informatics and http://www.calm.unimas.my/what-we-offer/
emphasises the importance of engaging Technological Innovations (ISITI) and publication-of-teaching-and-learning
students with the community in such a Cornell University on the service learning To make content suggestions for future
way that it provides them the opportunity programme in which it has benefitted issues or to contact the bulletin, email
to apply the knowledge and skills that they students from both universities. Service [email protected]
have learned in the classroom to address learning has also been integrated into
community needs. the group counselling practice of the
counselling programme at the Faculty
Acknowledging the significance of of Cognitive Sciences and Human
integrating service learning into university Development (FCSHD) as well as the
teaching and learning, the Ministry of medical programme curriculum at the
Higher Education has made compulsory Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
for all Malaysian public universities to (FMHS). I trust the sharing of experience by
integrate service learning into every the lecturers involved provides noteworthy
academic programme. In line with this guidance, ideas and confidence to
new requirement, this volume compiles academics who need to incorporate
the experiences of service learning service learning into their courses but yet
implementation in UNIMAS that we hope to do so.
will give insights on the various means
and possibilities to effectively incorporate Hope you enjoy the reading of this
service learning into the existing academic voluminous issue. Indeed, this is the
curriculums. thickest issue of INSIGHT that we have
ever published.
Kudos to the Faculty of Computer Science
and Information Technology (FCSIT) Associate Professor Dr Chen Chwen Jen
as the faculty has successfully piloted Dean
service learning in their curriculum with Centre for Applied Learning and Multimedia
the involvement of 378 students. A group UNIMAS
of dedicated academics from FCSIT
has contributed a series of articles that
succinctly describe the faculty service
learning initiative, starting from the initial
planning of the programme, setting up of

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

04 Inside this issue

07 04 32 59
44
62 DESIGN VOTER TRACKING DO’S & DONT’S

Designing Service Learning into Techno- Requirements Analysis in Service FCSIT Service Learning for School
preneurship and Product Development Learning Project using SOFL Approach: Community: Dos and Don’ts
Course A Case Study of Voter Tracking System

07 38 62

IMPLEMENTATION LEVERAGE REFLECTION

Implementing Service Learning in Leveraging Technology in Service Reflection on Service Learning for
Technopreneurship & Product Learning Project School Community
Development course

12 41 68

STEPS SKETION UNIMAS-CORNELL

7 Steps of Service Learning Sketching Engagement Experiences: UNIMAS-CORNELL Partnership in
Implementation at FCSIT UNIMAS SKETION, a Tool for Community Building Indigenous Community
Engagement and Reflections in Service Resilience
Learning

18 44 70

PRE-ENGAGEMENT SL AT SCHOOLS SL BATON

Service Learning Implementation: Service Learning Experience at Schools Passing on the Service Learning
Pre-engagement Processes in and the Impact to Students and the Baton
Kuching and Kota Samarahan Community
Divisions

22 49 72

SUCCESSFULENGAGEMENT FIRST EFFORT GROUPCOUNSELLING

Six Steps to Successful FCSIT First Effort on Engaging Service Merging Group Counselling into Service
Community-Faculty Engagement in a Learning in School Learning: Insights from Counselling
Service Learning Project Educators

23 52 75

SUCCESS STORIES RESOURCES MEDICAL STUDENTS

Success Stories of FCSIT Service FCSIT Service Learning for School Service Learning For Medical Students
Learning Programme with Village Community: Putting All Resources
Communities Together

29 55

CHALLENGES PRE-VISITS

Challenges in Service Learning Activi- Pre-visits Prior to the
ties for Villages Implementation of Service Learning
Programme in School Communities

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INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

DLTPeeeraocsirdhgnunnincoingtpgDirneESmetmneyovDaherleiavnauHlioocsrsasinpehhedamhilipana@eunaimnasn.mty, d
Rosita Mohamed Othman [email protected], Dr. Tariq Zaman [email protected],
Fatihah Ramli [email protected],
Jennifer Fiona Wilfred [email protected]
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

TMC3034 Technopreneurship and ventures with the products and services as
Product Development (fondly known their core business.
as Techno, as the full name is quite a
mouthful) was selected as the “pilot course” Service learning is incorporated into this
for the Service Learning (SL) project at the course to allow for experiential learning in the
Faculty of Computer Science and Information sense that the students need to learn, identify
Technology (FCSIT). There was another and address the real needs in the communities,
course that was shortlisted for this project propose technological solutions to the needs,
– TMP3113 Project Management – but and explore further the potential of turning
ultimately Techno was chosen, for the reason these proposed technological solutions into
that students need to produce ICT-related technopreneurship opportunities.
products and services at the end of the
course. The choice of Techno is also in line Designing the course
with the faculty’s efforts of working with rural
communities and ICT for rural development. Upon being informed that Techno was
Besides, by allowing our students into selected for the SL project, the first task
communities to carry out SL, it is hoped carried out was to review and update the
that the communities they work with will be course contents, so as to fit SL requirements.
aware of the possibilities that ICT can bring This process falls under Continuous Quality
to help improve their livelihoods and visibility Improvement (CQI) of the course, hence
of their local products and/or villages. As for related paperwork and documentation were
the schools, ICT can also assist in promoting prepared and submitted to JPPA and Senate
schools via web, simplifying daily work tasks for approval before implementation. The
for teachers by developing applications and Techno teaching team sat down with the
upgrading their skills in ICT through training SL committee of the faculty and BPPA to
conducted by Techno students. discuss and determine the course contents
that complies with SL requirements. Updates
All FCSIT students are required to complete were made to the course learning outcomes,
TMC3034 as this is a faculty core course. synopsis, learning units, student learning
This is a 4-credit third-year course, offered hours, assessments, and references in order
in both semesters of the academic year. to reflect the inclusion of SL. The process of
The course is designed to equip our reviewing and updating the course contents
students with the knowledge and skills in took about 2 months (June – July 2016)
technology entrepreneurship (amalgamated and the new course contents were approved
into technopreneurship) and product in August 2016, in time for implementation
development. Our students are trained to in the 2016/17 academic year beginning
produce Computer Science and Information September 2016.
Technology products and services through
the technical courses in the faculty. Techno
serves to prepare them with the how-tos of
running technology-based entrepreneurial

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Some students of Techno course

The National Commission on Service previous and current learning units of
Learning defines SL as “a teaching the Techno course.
and learning approach that integrates
community service with academic As students must visit their assigned
study to enrich learning, teach communities for at least three times
civic responsibility, and strengthen during the semester, the teaching
communities.” (Fiske, 2002). With schedule was arranged to allow the
this in mind, we came out with new visits. Table 2 shows the course
learning outcomes to address the SL schedule. Out of the 10 learning units in
components. the course, there are four learning units
incorporate SL elements, thus these
The new learning outcomes of the units were taught before each visit.
course were identified as: (the words in These learning units include Learning
bold are addressing the SL components) Units 2, 3, 5, and 8 which are marked
with * in Table 1. SL elements refer to
• Propose technological solutions for the learning units that students need
technopreneurship opportunities based to acquire before each SL visit and are
on the real needs of the community [C5]
>important for the related assignments
• Evaluate the nature, impact and
potential of technopreneurship and and project.
product development opportunities [C6]

• Work in a group to demonstrate
appropriate social skills, analytical
abilities, and civic and ethical
responsibilities in addressing
community real needs [A3, CS, TS, LS]

The pre-SL course contents have
fourteen (14) learning units, which are
mapped to each week of the semester.
Taking into consideration the need for
students to conduct their SL visits, the
fourteen learning units were combined
and reduced to ten (10) learning units.
Students were required to conduct a
minimum of three (3) SL visits to the
communities they were attached to.
No lecture was conducted during the
three SL visit weeks as these visits were
considered as a part of the student
learning hours. While the students
were required to fullfill the compulsory
three SL visits, they were also free to
conduct extra visits, should the need to
do so arises. To prepare the students on
how to interact with the communities
they would be working with, a new
learning unit entitled Community-Based
Research Approach was introduced into
the course contents. Table 1 shows the

A SL Group with the community members (school)

One of the SL groups 5

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

For example, Learning Unit 2 on Learning Unit 5 on Models for LU5 was taught before SL Visit 2.
Internet Commerce was taught The SL visits were scheduled on
Community-Based Research before LU 4 because LU5 contains Lecture Week 3, 6 and 11 as shown
Business Model Canvas (BMC) in Table 2. The final visit was done
Approach needs to be taught before and Social Business Model Canvas by November to enable students
(SBMC) that the students need to whose communities are schools to
the first SL visit as it is important develop as part of the coursework conduct their visits before the 2016
requirements (Assignment 2). The school term ends.
for students to be prepared for students need to obtain information
for the social business model canvas
community engagement. The during the second visit, hence

learning unit covers various methods

to engage with communities as

well as how to do reflections which

is a very important part of the SL

concept.

Table 1: Previous and current learning units (LU)

Table 2: TMC3034 Course Schedule of Semester 1, 2016/2017
Session

Figure 1: Timeline of the SL visits, coursework assessments and
students’ SL/community contact hours in relation with the LU5

In conclusion, when designing a SL classroom and community settings. to immediately use and apply the
course, there are several factors Service-learning is a pedagogy that theories and skills that they have
need to be considered from the combines educational objectives learned in class and to gain valuable
lecturers’ perspectives such as and real world experience in such feedback through assessment and
the course learning outcomes, a way that students, academic reflection.
learning units, assessment, as well institutions, and communities
as coordinating the schedule to benefit from it. The emphasis on
ensure learning takes place in both the “real world” enables students

Reference:

Fiske, E. B. (2002). Learning in Deed: The Power of Service-Learning for American Schools. A Report from the National
Commission on Service-Learning, Education Development Center, Inc., Newton , MA. Retrived from http://www.
learningindeed.org

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

PITmercpolhdenuLmeoceacptnrorDtneuieinnrvnegseguelSoriensprhmvieipcn&et

Rosita Mohamed Othman [email protected],
Emmy Dahliana Hossain [email protected], Dr Tariq Zaman [email protected],

Fatihah Ramli [email protected], Jennifer Fiona Wilfred [email protected].
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Service learning (SL) is a technology products and services Samarahan divisions (20 villages
teaching and learning as their core business. In addition, and 20 schools), the 380 students
approach that integrates the incorporation of service were asked to form small groups
community service with academic learning into this course also allows comprised a maximum of ten
study to enrich learning, teach civic students to be viewed as a social members each. A total of 41
responsibility and strengthen the technopreneurs by looking at the groups, with six to ten members
relationship with communities. social impacts that can be created. per group were formed. Each group
Existing studies have shown was assigned with two lecturers
that integrating academics and The students were split into three to supervise and evaluate their
community service delivers greater lecture groups and taught by a progress: a SL supervisor from
development of student soft skills, teaching team of five lecturers that the SL committee, and a Techno
enriches learning experiences and includes Rosita Mohamed Othman lecturer from the teaching team.
improves academic performance. (course coordinator), Fatihah Ramli, Each school and village had one
Dr. Tariq Zaman, Emmy Dahliana SL project, except for Kampung
The Faculty of Computer Science and Jennifer Fiona Wilfred. Out of Tanjung Bundong (Samarahan)
& Information Technology (FCSIT) these five lecturers, two of them which had two SL projects.
in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak are also SL supervisors and SL Before the semester started,
(UNIMAS) has decided to reap committee members. There are representatives of each school
these benefits as another milestone ten SL supervisors who are also (headmaster) and village (village
in achieving better teaching and members of the SL committee led head) had discussions with the
learning quality. In Semester 1 of by Dr. Nadianatra Musa and Dr. assigned SL committee supervisor
the 2016/17 academic year, a total Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim. to agree on the ICT-related projects
of 380 undergraduate students have The members are Dr. Kartinah Zen, that the communities would like
enrolled for the Technopreneurship Dr. Tariq Zaman, Dr. Sarah Flora the students to do. During the SL
& Product Development course, Samson Juan, Mr. Abdul Rahman visits, every group of students
a third year faculty core course. Mat, Mohd. Johan Ahmad Khiri, obtained further information and
Through other courses, they have Suhaila Saee, Seleviawati Tarmizi requirements for the project before
already been trained to develop and Fatihah Ramli. The role of a proceeding to design, implement
Computer Science and Information SL supervisor is to facilitate the SL and hand over the project. Table
Technology products and services delivery between the community 1 and 2 show the list of schools
whereas this course serves to and students. and villages that the students were
prepare them with the knowledge
in running technology-based To carry out the SL projects in >assigned to and the projects that
entrepreneurial ventures with 40 communities in Kuching and
were carried out.

Some participants at 7
Kampung Sungai Mata

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Table 1: List of schools involved in SL projects

Table 2: List of villages involved in SL projects

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

For this course, each SL group 1, students were asked to design marks was given by the teaching
was assigned a project where they interaction protocols for community team, while and other 5% came from
need to develop products and/ engagement, after they returned the communities that they were
or services for the community from their SL Visit 1. Then in assigned to. The 5% community
that they were assigned to. For Assignment 2, a Social Business assessment was considered
the technopreneurship part, Model Canvas (SBMC) had to be because the communities are the
students were asked to roleplay created for the entrepreneurial ones who interacted directly in the
as a group of technopreneurs venture based on the product and/or delivery of the products or services
running an entrepreneurial venture service that they would provide as a by the students. It is important
(company) providing the products solution for the community’s needs. to consider the communities as
and/or services to the clients For the project, students need to assessors as they have played their
(the communities). The SL visits document the implementation of roles as part of the SL projects. This
conducted were for them to gain the products and/or services as also gave them a sense of belonging
the clients’ requirements and then required by the clients as well as and responsibility towards the SL
to design and develop the solutions document the details of the company process.
(products and/or services) for the that they run (assumption). The
clients. project also required the students to As for paper-based examinations,
discuss the challenges, obstacles, the mid-semester examination
The course has five (5) assessment experiences and reflections of covered LUs 1-5, while the final
components: two assignments the 14 weeks they went through examination covered LUs 6-10
worth 10% each, a project (20%), carrying out the SL project and respectively. Table 3 shows the LUs
a midterm examination (20%) and roleplaying as technopreneurs.
a final examination (40%). In both Another requirement of the project >covered in each component of the
the assignments and project, the is that students need to design
students had to obtain related the e-Commerce website of their assessment.
information and requirements from company which further elaborates
the communities that they were how to turn ideas into opportunities
assigned to, in order to complete and create an impact to the society.
the coursework. In Assignment The project carried 20%; 15% of the

Table 3: Assessments components

89

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

At the end of the semester, having application of knowledge and skills their experiences in delivering the
delivered the products and/ in various areas, as illustrated required products and services.
or services requested by the in Figure 1. These findings were
communities, as well as completing gathered from the reflections done
their required coursework, the by students in their project reports.
students had demonstrated the Students had also presented

Figure 1: Students’ application of various knowledge and skills.

Looking from the Techno course courses from another faculty activities for students, the university
contents perspectives, they would along with Techno, namely Project (via faculty) has the opportunity
have applied the theoretical Management, and Ethics and to strengthen ties with the local
knowledge of community-based Professionalism. The opportunity communities. Communities also
research, idea generation, product to work on the SL projects with the benefit from the collaboration as
development, financial planning and communities and role-playing as they are able to undertake projects
social business modeling. In this technopreneurs running business that budgeted resources cannot
course, students were not directly ventures (companies) also gave accommodate.
taught technical contents and them the chance to practise and
development such as programming, apply what they have learned in
web, database and so forth. Project Management and Ethics
Students would need to rely on what and Professionalism course.
they have learned prior to taking
Techno which include system Through the implementation of SL, it
analysis and design, database can be seen that SL allows students
concept and design, programming, to experience typical professional
IT tools for knowledge workers, activities and relationships in real
multimedia technology, web-based world setting. Students learned
system development, user interface how to communicate (IT training
design and content development. and presentations) and prepare
documentation (user manuals,
Interestingly, the majority of training modules etc.) professionally.
these students also took two In creating and organising such

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

A compilation of students’ reflections:

csiaum“ncauttFehpmhchwsrxhreeoaopmooimseterverankeovicrsnevitrhackehtegiaeoosrsnieanosounacwamngurfseitismireld,etnwiehrillaetgeaeyvomnthainrhrutctnedokt,esetlima.eo”apnstlrnodespgcsadaahiobukgrrpamieisionpnttlcatsiogptooanoloflsmngedtee Rpeleelx“rahaapeTnarlelhannssritiieygsenedsodingstvuaeectearmnoernsnvdedadiudclnaevseoextdeavtsplhseeobee.elx”aaromrpisrpeotneuhmnsicwinucnheegergnedst.,
hcas“soivyWmteusetmateoetmiuxoanpncwiettorhyaifeseadrnspeecrcvweoleifelteeohnhspestaiiaanvocengntdtuathhlawseel.e” oufuonprspsdr“teeaaeeWnlctrrvhvessteiitcogrcasoefaoninssnond,modiclencerebnigaeanecraltothnhtlutaeiiehnfrvaeaarigo.ntig”graeahnltd

Basic IT Training Interview session with a community
for the community representative (village)
(village)
11

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Imp7leSmteeLpnestaaortfnioiSnengravticFCe SIT

Nadianatra Musa [email protected], Johari Abdullah [email protected],
Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim [email protected], Abdul Rahman Mat [email protected],

Mohd Johan Ahmad Khiri [email protected], Suhaila Saee [email protected],
Fatihah Ramli [email protected]

Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology
Introduction

The aim of this article is to share the steps involved in Service Learning (SL) implementation
process at the Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, (FCSIT) UNIMAS.
There are seven steps 1) Formation of the SL Committee; 2) Pre-Engagement with
Community; 3) Course Preparation; 4) Sponsorship and Budget; 5) Fieldwork; 6) Final Work
and; 7) Reflection and Evaluation. See Figure 1.

7 STEPS OF SL PROGRAMME
IMPLEMENTATION AT FCSIT/UNIMAS

Figure 1: 7 Steps of SL Implementation Process

172

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Steps of Service Learning The pre-engagement is a crucial of different undergraduate
Implementation process. The Faculty Service programmes at the faculty. The
Learning Committee was tasked to management of the Faculty had
Step 1: Formation of the Service collaborate with various groups of assigned five lecturers to teach
Learning Committee people with different background this course last semester. The
and cultures. Every community lecturers worked closely with
The management of the Faculty of required different engagement the Faculty Service Learning
Computer Science and Information protocol and procedure. To Committee to ensure efficient
Technology had formed the Service achieve the objective of this and effective implementation.
Learning Committee in March 2016 process, we adopted a top-down Firstly, a meeting was conducted
comprising Advisors, Coordinators approach to gain access to the between the Faculty Academic
and Faculty Members. community in Kuching and Kota Committee, Faculty Service
Samarahan. There were two types Learning Committee and lecturers
The Committee is responsible of communities involved in this to discuss and get agreement in
to design and implement SL project, Village and School. These terms of the SL requirements. The
programme as part of the two types of communities were lecturers involved had redesigned
undergraduate programme as selected to provide the greatest the course through the Continuous
well as conduct engagement and impact of the SL program in terms Quality Improvement (CQI) process
collaboration with the community. of outcomes. to ensure the course outline fulfills
To achieve the SL objective at the both students’ and communities’
Faculty, tasks were delegated to Step 3: Course Preparation requirements After obtaining
smaller groups: Coordination and approval from Senate, the course
Planning, Pre-Engagement Group Course preparation is also was ready for implementation
at School, Pre-Engagement Group another crucial process in SL
at Village, Course Preparation, implementation. In order to >in September 2016, Semester 1
Sponsorship and Finance, implement the SL program as part
Launching and Visibility, Intellectual of the undergraduate curriculum, 2016/2017. See Figure 2.
Property, Commercialisation and the faculty decided to embed the
Publication. SL component into one of the
core courses for the faculty which
Step 2: Pre-Engagement with is compulsory to all students
Community

Figure 2: Course Preparation for TMC3034 Technopreneurship and Product Development

813

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Step 4: Sponsorship and Budget Samarahan covering 20 villages and prepared by the Faculty Service
20 schools. There were 40 locations Learning Committee that took into
One of the main challenges of SL with 41 projects and 378 students account the cost needed to design
programme implementation is the who participated in this programme. and plan the programme as well as
financial aspect as substantial Managing 41 projects within the to secure sponsorship. See Figure 3.
amount of allocation is needed, community was a challenge and
mainly for logistic purposes. The required an enormous amount of
faculty had decided to implement time, work and also cost to achieve
SL on a big scale involving two the ultimate aim of SL. The Service
divisions, Kuching and Kota Learning Budget Proposal was

Figure 3: Sponsorship and Budget

The sponsorship application was sent to various groups including the Members of Parliament, Members of State
Legislative Assembly, State Government, State Agencies, private organisations and business entities.

Presenting SL Proposal to the Kota
Samarahan Member of Parliament, YB Puan
Rubiah Binti Wang, 2016.

174 Presenting SL Proposal to the Member of
State Legislative Assembly (DUN Satok)
cum Sarawak Chief Minister, YBhg Datuk
Amar Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun
Abang Haji Openg, 2016.

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

We received five sponsorships with Members of Parliament and private >printing, SL launching, administrative
the total amount of RM 38,000 organisations. The amount received
from the Chief Minister Office, from sponsors was used for field and related work.
Deputy Chief Minister Office, work, transportation, food, material

The launching of the SL Programme in Kota Samarahan by YB Rubiah binti Wang.

YBhg Prof Dato’ Dr Mohamad
Kadim bin Suaidi, the Vice-
Chancellor of UNIMAS at the
launching of SL programme in
Tanjung Bundong.

815

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Step 5: Fieldwork the course during the first week of and UNIMAS safety precautions, list
the semester. During the session, of computer science projects, list
Before students went for the field they were given the details on SL of villages, list of schools involved,
work, they were required to attend and its implementation including SL list of SL supervisors and list of
a briefing session by the Faculty SL requirements, guidelines and ethics, Community supervisors.
Committee and lecturers involved in insurance coverage, driving licence

As part of the fieldwork for the SL supervisor because students were community and obtained feedback
programme, students were required introduced to the community by the for improvement. In the final visit,
to conduct three visits: (1) early faculty supervisor and students had students handed over the products/
semester, (2) mid-semester and an engagement with the community modules to the community and
(3) end of semester. The first visit regarding their collaboration ended with a project closure. See
was an important meeting between project. In the second visit, Figure 4.
students, community and faculty students presented their work to the

Figure 4: The Three Visits

As the SL programme involved 41 projects with 378 students, students were divided into 41 groups with a maximum
of ten members per group. Each group was supervised by a Faculty Service Learning Supervisor and a Community
Supervisor.

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Step 6-7: Final work, Reflection and Conclusion Acknowledgements
Evaluation
There were two phases of The faculty would like to thank En
After the visits, students went back implementation in the SL project. Shahrin Bin Hashim and Dr Mohd
to the university to complete their The first phase, from Step 1 to Step Hisyam Bin Rasidi of Universiti
tasks and reflect in terms of the 4 involved pre-engagement with Teknologi Malaysia, Prof Dr Roger
learning units that they have learned, community from various entities Harris the Visiting Professor at the
individual development, soft skills, and different backgrounds. The Institute of Social Informatics and
communication skills and technical second phase, from step 4-7 was Technological Innovation (ISITI
skills. Students were required to implemented at the university and UNIMAS), Amy and Dr Shorna of
complete their student reflection also at the community. University of Cornell, USA who
forms. Students also had to present continuously giving us support and
their work at the university and advice on how to implement SL.
the lecturers evaluated their work. The faculty would also like to extend
During the last visit by students appreciation to all sponsors for our
(refer to Step 5), the Community SL programme.
supervisor evaluated the students
on various aspects.

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INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Service Learning Implementation:
Pre engagement Processes in Kuching

and Kota Samarahan Divisions

Nadianatra Musa [email protected], Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim [email protected],
Abdul Rahman Mat [email protected], Mohd Johan Ahmad Khiri [email protected],

Suhaila Saee [email protected], Fatihah Ramli [email protected]
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Introduction to the community because the Faculty and local leaders discussed
This article aims to share the pre- learning objectives emphasise how and exchanged their expectations
engagement process of service students can propose technological to ensure students and community
learning implementation in Kuching solutions for technopreneurship will benefit each other and create
and Kota Samarahan. The first shift opportunities based on the real impact in terms of social, economic,
of Malaysia Education Blueprint is needs of the community. The tourism and so forth as the result
to achieve “holistic, entrepreneurial course was offered in the first of the collaboration. After that, pre-
and balanced graduates where semester of 2016/2017 with 378 visits to the selected villages were
every graduate will have the relevant students as well as conducted and conducted by the Faculty Service
disciplinary knowledge, skills, managed by 5 lecturers, 10 Faculty Learning Committee two to four
morality as well as appropriate Supervisors and 41 Community weeks before the semester started.
behaviours, mindsets, cultural and Supervisors. Two divisions, Kuching
civilization literacy to advance and Kota Samarahan were selected School Sites Selection Process
them to a high level of personal to be the project sites for the SL The first step in the process of
well-being (Malaysia Education implementation. school selection started with a
Blueprint 2015-2025, pg.1-9). In meeting with the State Education
order to achieve this objective, one Village Sites Selection Process Department in Kuching. The Faculty
of the key strategies initiated by The Faculty Service Learning Service Learning Committee had
the Ministry of Higher Education Committee decided to approach and been informed in terms of the
is to integrate a more holistic and meet the Kuching District Officer procedures and potential projects
integrated curricular through the and Kota Samarahan District Officer of collaboration. The Education
use of experiential learning and to discuss potential villages to be Department suggested meeting up
service learning. involved in the Service Learning with the State Technology Education
Programme. The Kuching District Bureau in Kota Samarahan. After
SL is a “form of experiential learning Officer and the Kota Samarahan getting approval from the Education
which occurs through a cycle of District Officer proposed ten villages Department and State Technology
action and reflection as students under their jurisdiction respectively. Education Bureau, meetings were
apply what they are learning to After getting approval from the held a few times between Faculty
address real community needs” District Offices, meetings between Service Learning Committee and
(Malaysia Education Blueprint local leaders (Headma) and Faculty School Principals/Headmasters.
2015-2025, pg. 1-9). In line with Service Learning Committee were Both parties discussed their
the aspiration of the Ministry organised at the District Offices in potential projects and reached an
of Higher Education, Faculty of Kuching and Kota Samarahan, see explicit agreement and expectations
Computer Science and Information Figure 1. in terms of deliverables by students
Technology, Universiti Malaysia to the community. Pre-visits to
Sarawak (UNIMAS) has taken the As the nature of Service Learning schools were conducted before the
initiative to integrate SL components is a win-win situation, the Faculty semester started.
into one faculty core course namely Service Learning Committee
Technopreneurship and Product conducted a need analysis during
Development (TMC3034). The the engagement period with the
course is suitable and relevant local leaders. Both groups, the

Conclusion
Seeking approval and support from the top management is an important aspect in the pre-engagement process
before cascading down to the community level. Integrating service learning components into existing Faculty
Programme is a way to achieve the objectives of the Ministry of Education in developing holistic, entrepreneurial
and balanced graduates.

178 Reference
Malaysia, M. o. (2015). Malaysia Education

Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher
Education). Putrajaya Malaysia:
Ministry of Education Malaysia.

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

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EngagSeixmCoSetnmetmpiPsunrntaooitjSySeeucFrcavtcciceueslstLyfeualrning

Service Learning Supervisors for Villages
in Kuching and Kota Samarahan

Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim [email protected], Johari Abdullah [email protected],
Nadianatra Musa [email protected], Abdul Rahman Mat [email protected],

Mohd Johan Ahmad Khiri [email protected], Suhaila Saee [email protected],
Fatihah Ramli [email protected]

Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Introduction steps for successful community- the community needs in their daily
faculty engagement. activities. During the engagement,
Service learning is a teaching both parties (community and
and learning strategy that Six Steps to Successful Community university) must understand and
Engagement mutually agree on the service
integrates meaningful learning benefits for each party.
For the university, the integration of
community service with instruction service learning in undergraduate
programme enhances students’
and reflection to enrich the Community engagement is course content understanding,
develops civic responsibility and
learning experience, teach civic essential to ensure successful increases practical experiences
(Bringle & Hatcher, 2009; Stoecker,
responsibility and bring benefits and meaningful partnerships 2014). As for the community, service
learning provides opportunities for
to the communities. For Semester between community and university. the communityto access to faculty
experts and also contributes to the
1 in 2016/2017, the Faculty of Eckerler Curwood, Munger, visibility of the community.

Computer Science and Information Mitchell, Mackeigan and Farrar In order to ensure effective
community engagement, the
Technology (FCSIT) has taken (2011) has proposed a practical SL team has designed and
implemented the following six
a bold step to integrate service framework for considering service steps of Community-Faculty
engagement, as listed in Figure 1.
learning into the teaching and learning readiness in community-

learning in Technopreneurship university partnerships. They

and Product Development course. argue that a university cannot be

As this was the first time that we assumed to be ready and able to

embedded service learning in a engage in meaningful community

course, there were many questions partnership. Therefore, a well-

raised on the aspect of Community planned community engagement

Engagement, such as “How do we is essential to ensure that all

start?”, “How should we engage partners are not only willing to

a community?”, “How can we participate but also able to engage

get communities to participate?” in effective community-university

and more. This article shares our collaborations. Furthermore,

270 experiences in practising the six attention must be given to address

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Figure 1: Six steps of Community-Faculty
Engagement

Firstly, we sought approval from benefits both parties, the IT projects I, September 2016. There were
the District offices in Kuching and that we can help in the community, 3 visits by the students and the
Kota Samarahan. Once we got the their preferences of projects that service learning supervisors to
approval, we had discussions with were related to their village and the communities. This involved
the District Officers who gave advice, surroundings and more. understanding the communities’
recommendations of villages for needs, delivering the outcomes and
service learning projects as well as Then, within two months after the handing over the project deliverables.
concerns and issues in the villages. preliminary meetings, we had a Finally, the service learning team
pre-visit to the villages to see the reported to all stakeholders on the
Next, we held preliminary meetings distance and re-confirm the IT service learning achievements and
with the Head of the selected projects of their choices. deliverables.
villages. During our meetings, we
explained what service learning is, The service learning programme
how service learning programme was fully implemented in Semester

In conclusion, the six (6) steps in the procedure involving all parties at >the implementation, and successful
engagement process ensure that stake especially the communities
the service learning programme is affected. This is important to delivery of the programme.
implemented through a systematic ensure minimal problems during

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INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Positive Reflections from the Village Communities

After we have completed our first round of service learning in Semester 1, 2016/2017, we received great compliments
from the village heads. The following are some of the positive reflections extracted from their interviews.

“Congratulations! This SL project academically and personally from societal issues and problems for the
is good and we are very happy the SL programme. Some of their benefit of the community.
and looking forward to have more reflection remarks are as follows:
projects in future with UNIMAS/ Acknowledgements
Faculty. SL project should be taken “SL Project has helped me to
as a good example not only to local become a better citizen” We would like to thank the District
universities but private universities Offices in Kuching and Kota
should incorporate this as well in “This SL exposure has sharpen my Samarahan for their valuable
their studies” (Head of Village’s skills in database and web based assistance during the service
reflection, 2016) development projects” learning project implementation.

“We are very impressed with Conclusion
the students’ achievements in
developing the required system. Our first attempt in Service
On top of that, the students could Learning programme has benefited
understand the problem faced by all key entities involved. There
the community and proposed a include students, the faculty
system by applying their knowledge and the community. We have
and gave a full commitment to the implemented the six steps of Village
community.These students gave a Community-FCSIT engagement.
big contribution to the community” We found that these steps have
(Head of Village’s reflection, 2016) led to greater involvement, closer
relationship and greater satisfaction
SL programme does not only between the community and the
benefit the community but students faculty. FCSIT will continue to
also gained by learning through real serve the community through
experiences with the community. Service Learning programme in
A quick look from the students’ Computer Science and Information
reflection forms, has revealed Technology domain to address key
that students have benefited

References:

Bringle, R.G. & Hatcher, J.A. (2009). Innovative practices in service-learning and curricular engagement. New Direction in Higher
Education,37–46. doi:10.1002/he.356

Eckerle Curwood, S., Munger, F., Mitchell, T., Mackeigan, M., & Farrar, A. (2011). Building effective community-university
partnerships: Are universities truly ready? Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 17(2), 15-26.

Stoecker, R. (2014). Extension and Higher Education Service-Learning: Toward a Community Development Service-
LearningModel. Journal of Higher Education Outreach Engagement. 18, 15–42.

272

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

LSeuacrnciensgs SPtCrooorgmiremsaumonmfiteFiCewsSiItThSVeirlvliacgee

Suhaila Saee [email protected], Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim [email protected],
Abdul Rahman Mat [email protected], Johari Abdullah [email protected],

Nadianatra Musa [email protected], Mohd Johan Ahmad Khiri [email protected],
Fatihah Ramli [email protected]

Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Our First Implementation For the implementation in village Table 1 shows the list of selected
communities, the students were villages for the service learning
Service learning programme assigned into 21 groups with 10 programme implementation. The
was implemented for the students each. The rest of the selection of villages was based on
first time at the Faculty of students were assigned to school recommendations from the District
Computer Science and Information communities. The 21 groups were Offices at Kota Samarahan and
Technology (FCSIT) from September assigned to 21 villages in both Kota Kuching, respectively.
until November 2016, during the Samarahan and Kuching areas. In
Semester 1, 2016/2017 academic terms of project implementation,
session. The first implementation each village catered for one
involved 378 students from all project implementation by the
programmes offered at FCSIT. group assigned to that village.

Service Learning Projects were 21 focused projects based on Voter Tracking System
the community’s requirements. In
With the wide usage of ICT the subsequent sessions, only five Voter Tracking System (VTS) is a
technology around us and to expose main projects will be highlighted web-based system to assist users
our students to ICT technology and discussed. at the polling station during the
implementation in the real world, election day. The VTS was proposed
the service learning committee by a community representative of
agreed to cater for two types of Kampung Sungai Bedil Besar based
projects based on ICT field to the on their challenges during election
community. The types of project day. The most common challenges
are: (1) system development and
(2) ICT training. Therefore, there >faced by the polling committee in

the community

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is inefficiency of a manual electoral as well as reduce the workload edit, delete and update functions),
process to manage vote attendance of the polling agents and workers the VTS is also be able to provide
and potential occurence of human (perayu undi) by transforming visualisation of percentages of
error when manually calculating the conventional workflow into a voter’s attendance, gender, age and
the percentage of vote attendance. computerised system. VTS users their allocated zones in graphical
Thus, the main objective in include workers (perayu undi), and tabulated forms. See Figure 1.
developing the VTS is to monitor polling agents, admin and super
and keep track of vote attendance admin. Besides managing the
in an efficient and effective way vote attendance and details (with

Figure 1: Reporting in VTS
The VTS was officially handed over to the Headman by the Vice-Chancellor of UNIMAS (see Figure2).

Figure 2 : Hand-over of VTS to Penghulu Haji Ghani Abone, Headman of Kampung Sungai Bedil Besar by
Professor Dato’ Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, Vice Chancellor of UNIMAS, witnessed by YB Hajah Sharifah
Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, Assistant Minister of Early Childhood Education and Family Development

24

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Village Map Location Database -view Kampung Goebilt’s map and In line with that, Kampung
System display the household information Rampangi Phase I and II have
with the mouse over function started their community profiling
In line with the current technology a few years ago by using the
of Google maps, the community of The map location database system, conventional approach, which is
Kampung Goebilt had requested a thus, provides an overall view of the paper-based. Drawbacks of the
system that is able to display house location of each house in Kampung approach include paper wastage,
owner’s information as well as the Goebilt. Indirectly, the system will the population continue to increase
occupants when the selected house assist and ease the community over the years, difficulty to update
in the map is clicked on the system. especially the headman and village new information in the paper-
The idea was proposed due to the committee in making systematic based records and improper data
difficulty in finding the location decisions based on the provided
based on the house owner’s information. >management when manually
information with the conventional
process. The conventional process Community Profiling Database search for an individual villager.
poses challenge to the headman as System
it requires him to mentally visualise
the location of each house in the A community profile provides an
village. overview of the community needs,
for instance, political and economic
Hence, a village map location structures, basic household and
database system was proposed to community facilities, and social
fulfil the community requirements. organisation (Whitehead, 2005).
The developed system is able to: From the profile, a headman and
district council can understand the
-create house and household context of a community so that
information of Kampung Goebilt specific areas, issues, and linkages
-manage the household can be further identified and
information by allowing the user to analysed. Hence, there is a need
edit and update the information to have a community profiling for
-search for the household each village in a database system.
information

Figure 3: The main page of Kampung Rampangi Phase I & II web portal

Due to this, the community proposed to transform the current community profiling approach into a computerised
database system. The developed system is able to manage community information by allowing the user to insert a
new record; update, delete and search current record(s); and generate a report according to the selected record(s).
See Figure 3.

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The system benefits in term of the same goal which is to share of Sarawak Chief Minister, YB Datuk
providing up-to-date information for information over the Internet. With Amar Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari
making evidence-based decisions these two different definitions, two Tun Abang Haji Openg. The web
by the headman and District success stories from Kampung portal provides information relating
Office in rendering their services No 3, Kuching and Kampung to these villages; Kampung Masjid
for the community. For instance, Pinggan Jaya, Kota Samarahan (Seguling), Kampung Bintangor
the profiling data may give a basic will be shared in the following sub- Kechil, Kampung Bintangor Besar,
understanding of the community sections. Kampung Bandarsah, Kampung
as a whole and information on No.3 & No.4, Kampung No.5 &
particular areas of interest. Based on user requirements Kampung No.6, Kampung Temedak
from the community of the two (Muhibah), Kampung Muda Hashim,
Web Portal and Interactive Website villages; the service learning groups Kampung Kudei Lama, Kampung
developed a web portal of Dewan Kudei Baru Melayu, Kampung Kudei
The terms, website and web portal, Undangan Negeri (DUN) N8 Satok Baru Iban, Kampung Sungai Maong
refer to two different entities. for Kampung No 3 and an interactive and Kampung Segedup. Figure 4
According to Sukta (2015), a website for Kampung Pinggan Jaya. shows the main page of the web
website is a unique location on portal for DUN N8 Satok.
the Internet and accessible via i) Web Portal of Dewan
a web browser using a specific Undangan Negeri (DUN) N8 Satok
web address. A web portal is also
accessed via a web browser and An objective of the web portal of
specific web address, however, its DUN N8 Satok is to profile all data
content is login protected and user- relevant to the 13 villages within
specific. Nevertheless, both have DUN Satok under the administration

Figure 4 : The main page of the DUN N8 Satok web portal

The portal shares with the public the information relating to the history, demographic, facilities, activities,
achievements, local leaders and organisational chart of Jawatankuasa Kemajuan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK)
as well as contact details for each village under N8 Satok. Besides, the web portal allows only authenticate JKKK
of each village to manage their profiling data: insert a new record, update and delete the current record, and search
for any information in the portal. Significantly, profiling the history serves to preserve the culture and heritage of
the villages in DUN N8 Satok.

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ii) Interactive Website of Manila is now engaged in producing demand from the local industries,
Kampung Pinggan Jaya a natural sweetener from nipah the community starts to participate
palms, as there is as increasing actively in producing gula apong.
Gula apong (nipah palm sugar) is demand for organic products and However, the lack of IT literacy
granulated sugar made from the healthy ingredients (Venzon, 2016). has limited them to market their
sap of nipah palms. It has a unique products online.
aroma lasting for a long period of In fact, gula apong production is
time. Gula apong can be a source also a main economic activity in
of alternative sweetener (Radam et Kampung Pinggan Jaya. Various
al., 2014). Due to this, there is a high local products made from gula
demand of gula apong from global apong are manufactured by the
industries nowadays. Moreover, a community such as nipah vinegar
group of enterprising farmers in and traditional snacks. With the high

Figure 5: Main Page of Kampung Pinggan Jaya Website

The service learning group, Ultimately, it is hoped that the area requested for IT trainings. For
therefore, has designed and website will benefit the community that reason, SL groups provided
developed an interactive website to in promoting and marketing their various types of IT trainings based
assist the community in promoting gula apong globally via online. on the community requirements. In
and marketing their local products this section, a training conducted
and specialties via online. Figure Basic Information Technology at Kampung Sungai Mata on the
5 depicts the main page of the Training fundamental of Microsoft Word will
interactive website. One of the be shared.
main features of the website is As the third year students are
a video showing the gula apong equipped with computer science
manufacturing process in order to knowledge and skills, the community,
share the information worldwide. which mostly from Kota Samarahan

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A challenge faced by the perspective by enabling the for other villages at N7 Semariang in
community was that they had no visualisation of voting results in the next election. Furthermore, the
experience in using computer. graphical and table forms. The web portal of DUN N8 Satok will be
They felt afraid even to touch the visualisation provides crucial launched by Sarawak Chief Minister
computer. For instance, to prepare information of the election results soon in appreciation of this project.
any official documents relevant to that can be further analysed. From
the community, a secretary of the the socio-economics perspective, References
village committee will manually information provided by the
write the document before he/she interactive map database system Foreign markets eyed for nipa palm
gets assistance from a staff at can assist the community to plan sugar. Retrieved from:
Pusat Internet 1Malaysia(PI1M) to future changes on how the village http://northboundasia.
turn the document into Microsoft landscape is used. Moreover, the com/2016/10/27/
Word. Consequently, the community system will ease the headman foreign-markets-eyed-
was unable to produce their to obtain household information nipa-palm-sugar/#.
own document effectively, time- from the interactive map. Likewise, WIrrZLZ96Rs
consuming whereas they have to the community profiling database
wait for few days for the document system provides a socio-economic Radam, R. R., Sari, H. N. M., &
to be completed, and their official analysis of residents in the area Lusyani, H. L. (2016).
tasks might be affected due to this and empower the decision making Chemical Compounds of
inefficient process. and utilisation of local resources by Granulated Palm Sugar
the district office management and Made From Sap of Nipa
The main goal of the hands-on village commitee. As for the web Palm (Nypa Fruticans
training is to improve IT literacy of the portal, the community can benefit Wurmb) Growing In
community. The two hours training in term of cultural heritage as there Three Different Places.
session was fully conducted by the is a need to preserve the history of Journal of Wetlands
service learning students. During 13 villages in N8 Satok, specifically. Environmental
the session, the training module The interactive website can also Management, 2(1).
was distributed to each participant. create an impact on the socio-
In order to assist the community economic of Kampung Pinggan Sarah Sukita (2015). Website
in understanding the training Jaya by promoting gula apong vs. Portal - the
effectively and efficiently, each of products to the global market. Differences
them was assigned a facilitator Finally, the IT training could impact between the Two.
to monitor and provide necessary the community by improving Retrieved from:
support to the assigned participant. their IT literacy level, creating job
After completing the session, opportunities for the community http://info.eunify.net/
feedback forms were distributed to and linking the community to blog/website-vs.-
the community to gauge the quality the information highway, thus, portal-the-differences-
of the training. As a result of the contribute to the information between-the-two
training, the community is now able society.
to apply the skills gained from the Whitehead, T. L. (2005). Social/
training in their daily life activities. Conclusion
Community Profile
Impact to the Community In sum, the service learning projects
contribute to diverse community Indicators.
The service learning project needs. Besides, they also lead to long
contributions can be seen from run benefits to the community from
many perspectives. For example, many perspectives. For example,
the VTS contributes to the political VTS is potentially to be replicated

278

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

SeCrhvaiclleeLnegaersniinng

Fatihah Ramli [email protected], Abdul Rahman Mat [email protected],
Suhaila Saee [email protected], Nadianatra Musa [email protected],

Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim [email protected], Mohd Johan Ahmad Khiri [email protected],
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

This article presents challenges of implementing service learning in villages. We interviewed and observed
378 students, 21 villages and one faculty to gain their perspectives regarding challenges that they faced in
the service learning implementation. This article provides a compilaton of their challenges that are useful to
improve the implementation of service learning for villages in the future.

INTRODUCTION activities in academic study. STUDENT ASPECT

In the past few years, service Service learning is defined as a Lack of time given to deal with
learning activities received great form of experiential learning which community
attention from U.S schools and occurs through a cycle of action
colleges. According to Skinner and and reflection as students apply Our service learning activities
Chapman (1999), a study by the what they are learning to address included three visits. Students were
Department of Education revealed real community needs (Ministry of instructed to conduct three visits
that 32% of all U.S public schools Higher Education, 2013). In line with for data collection, implementation
and one-half of high schools include the Malaysia Education Blueprint and evaluate the service learning
service learning in the curricula. The 2013-2025, all public universities activities. However, most of the
main reason given for implementing include service learning in the students did more than three
service learning activities is to curricula. In order to implement visits as they faced problems in
increase the understanding and service learning activities, there are the initial stage, particularly in
knowledge of students about the many initial challenges.
community and to make them >identifying the community’s need
active members of the community In this study, we wanted to find out
(Anderson & Pickeral, 1998). what experienced service learning and requirements.
students, faculty and community
Service learning can be referred view as the primary challenges to
to as a pedagogy that integrates effective service learning in villages.
community service with academic The findings of this study produce
study, reflection and analysis to important information for public
enrich the learning experience, universities towards achieving
teach civic responsibility and the goals of service earning. All
strengthen communities (Pacho, the challenges will be explained in
2015). The basic theory of service- detail in the next section.
learning is Dewey’s Theory (Pacho,
2015). This theory explains that the CHALLENGES
interaction of knowledge and skills
with experience is key to learning. The challenges can be classified
into four different aspects: student,
In the year 2015, Malaysia decided faculty, community and technology.
to implement service learning

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more than three visits as they Faculty was tasked to explore community is quite difficult to
faced problems in the initial the community needs and course sustain.
stage, particularly in identifying contents requirements before the
the community’s need and final course outline was sent to Lack of local champions
requirements. the Senate for approval.
Some villagers do not have a
Fear of working with unfamiliar Funding community representative to
community handle outside activities and have
The faculty does not have any lack of interest in our service
Service learning activities give an funding to implement these learning activities. This is because
opportunity and experience for activities. The Faculty has they do not have a local champion
students to work with a community. appointed the Service Learning who understands the advantages
However, this first experience has Committee to look for sponsorship of participating in these activities.
given rise to nervousness among from various organisations Moreover, the villagers are mostly
the students. They are concerned including government agencies, IT illiterate.
about the community acceptance private agencies and individuals.
of their capabilities. Seeking funding requires
substantial amount of work and
Language issue time including preparing proposal,
contacting potential sponsors,
The language issue is a challenge presentation and discussion.
that needs to be emphasised. This
isbecause thevillagecommunityis COMMUNITY
more comfortable communicating
in their own dialect. Students who Sustaining the relationship with
do not speak in this dialect faced community
some challenges in terms of
interpretation of the words used Our service learning activities
by the community. were only carried out once in a
semester. Due to the limited time
FACULTY ASPECT given, students cannot learn the
culture of the community more
Time constraints for Service closely. In addition, only a few of
Learning course the communities benefited from
the service learning activities. For
Embedding service learning example, in the training activities,
components within an existing we could only accommodate
course is time consuming because 20 participants at one time. The
it requires good coordination of training activities only took 2 to 3
students and communities. The hours. Therefore, the relationship
between the students and

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TECHNOLOGY to use a meeting room to conduct community did not have a laptop
Basic IT training. with the minimal requirement that
Lack of suitable room or facilities can support their application. In
Low speed internet connection addition, the students also faced
Most of the villages do not have a problem when the community did
conducive place to conduct service Another challenge is the low not have funding source to pay for
learning activities. There is also a speed internet connection which permanent hosting of their web
lack of equipment to support the caused problems to some groups based application.
implementation of these activities. of students who were developing
For example, some of the students the web-based application. They
who conducted the training needed a good Internet connection
activities had to bring equipment to install the application during the
from the faculty to run their event. product release stage. Besides that,
Figure 1 shows the facilities at they also faced problems during
Kampung Muara Tuang. They had installation process when the

Figure 1: Basic IT training at
Kampung Muara Tuang

Conclusion References (www. moe. gov. my).

This article identifies all important Anderson, J. B., & Pickeral, T. Pacho, T. O. (2015). Unpacking John
challenges that are related to (1998). Challenges and Dewey’s Connection
service learning activities for strategies for success to Service-Learning,
villages. In the future, this study with service-learning Journal of Education &
will include strategies to overcome in preservice teacher Social Policy Vol. 2, No.
the challenges. This compilation education. 3.
of challenges faced by students,
faculty and community provides Malaysia, K. P. (2013). Pelan Skinner, R., & Chapman, C. (1999).
insights into ways to improve the Service-Learning and
implementation of service learning pembangunan Community Service in
activities in the future. K-12 Public Schools.
pendidikan Malaysia Statistics in Brief.

2013-2025. Online

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SeSrOovRFifecLqVeAuopLitrepeaerrmroTnearnicanthcgs:kAPAinrnCoagaljsSyeeyscsiStsttueuinmsdiyng

Abdul Rahman Mat [email protected], Suhaila Saee [email protected],
Nadianatra Musa [email protected], Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim [email protected],

Fatihah Ramli [email protected], Mohd Johan Ahmad Khiri [email protected]
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Introduction major functions, necessary data they are in the voting area. The poll
resources, and constraints (e.g. workers will be notified hourly and
Software design is a critical safety, security, policy). The second asked to look for the voters based
step in the development step is to transform the informal on the home addresses given by
process of software systems. specification to a semi-formal the ‘polling agents’. In order to
Failure to produce the correct specification which is more precise reduce the physical workload of the
design specification will result in than the informal specification workers, the VTS allows them to
the production of an unsatisfactory and organises them in a modular view the latest voter attendance by
system. This failure is not format. In this article, we present using their smart phone devices.
because of the chosen method a case study of applying SOFL to
applied during the development construct an abstract requirement To capture an abstract requirement
process but the system analysts specification for Voter Tracking specification such of VTS firstly,
who fail to understand how to System (VTS). This article focuses we need to explain the mechanism
achieve the precise requirements on the description of how to write of the system used in our case
during the requirement analysis an informal specification and how study by analysing its functional
process. Compared to well-known to transform it into a semi-formal behaviours and constraints.
methodologies for requirements specification. The case study
analysis, such as Waterfall model tries to demonstrate how SOFL System Mechanism
(Yourdon, 1989), and iterative is suited to be applied for system
model (Larman, 2001) for traditional development and provides us with The VTS has four types of users:
methods and VDM (Jones, 1990), an insight into the knowledge of super-admin, admin, polling agent,
B method (Bicarregui, 1997) and how the SOFL abstract requirement and workers. In general, super-
Larch (Guttag & Horning, 1993) specification approach can be admin and admin have similar tasks,
for formal methods, Structured effectively supported. including to manage or to edit the
Object-Oriented Formal Language details of workers, polling agents
(SOFL) (Liu, 2004) which is a formal About the Voter Tracking System and voters, voter attendance, and
engineering method, provides a to generate the reports. However,
comprehensible language and Voter Tracking System (VTS) the super-admin has an extra
methods for both requirements and is a system for tracking voter function, which is to manage the
design specifications to develop attendance during election day. This admins’ details.The polling agent
software systems. In this article, system will summarise the number can verify the voter attendance
we focus on the approach for of voters who have or have not done and to view the voter attendance
capturing an abstract requirement their polling. The real-time polling list. In addition, they can search for
specification. percentage result will be displayed the voter’s information based on
and give more time to poll workers the voter’s identity card number.
According to the progressive to look for the villagers (or voters) As for the workers, they can only
process, the abstract requirement who have not voted and persuade view the voter attendance. All users
specification in SOFL can be them to do so before the end of the can automatically view the total
achieved in two steps (Liu, 2004). voting period. The ‘polling agent’, percentage of voter attendance at
The first step is to build an informal who is a village representative will the end of the voting session.
specification, documenting the update the voter attendance when

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Overview of SOFL Approach with the client. During this step, an types, and (3) defining all pre- and
informal specification is written, post-conditions for each of the
SOFL is a formal engineering aiming to reflect the result of an processes. All transformations
method that offers a systematic informal requirements analysis are represented in appropriate
way to develop software systems on the domain knowledge and expressions in the SOFL
using an intuitive but formal available materials. Such a specification language, except that
notation. The notation results from specification consists of three all logical expressions, such as
an effective integration of VDM-SL parts: (1) a functional description, type invariants and pre-and post-
(Dawes, 1991), Petri nets (Brauer, which describes the high-level conditions for processes, are kept
Rozenberg, & Salomaa, 1985) and operations needed for the system, informal.
Data Flow Diagrams (Yourdon, (2) data resources, which indicate
1989). To facilitate the process data items necessary for fulfilling Figure 1: SOFL-based Requirement
of achieving such a requirement the functions provided in (1), and Specification Approach
specification, SOFL offers a two- (3) constraints on both operations
step specification approach, which and data resources. At this stage,
consists of informal specification the descriptions of the operations,
and semi-formal specification (as data resources, and constraints are
in Figure 1). written in a natural language. The
goal for semi-formal specification
Each stage of the specification is to achieve accuracy in the
has its own goal and task. The description of the requirements.
goal for informal specification is During this step, the entire informal
to enable the developer to fully specification is transformed into
understand and produce complete a semi-formal specification by (1)
requirements of the domain grouping functions, data resources,
problem through communication and constraints, (2) declaring data

Case Study
In this section, we discuss how the SOFL approach is applied to capture abstract requirements of VTS.

A. Informal Specification workers information), sub-
function 1.2.4 (To update
The process for developing voters information), sub-
function 1.2.5 (To update
an informal specification channel information), and
sub-function 1.2.6 (To
requires continuous update zone information).

communication and In the data resources
part, there are seven
interaction between the data items and each
item is connected to the
client and the software specific potential required
function. For example,
developer for better data item 2.1 (Admin’s
data) is required in sub-
understanding of the function 1.2.1 (To update
admin information). In
domain and requirements the constraints part, there
are three constraints that
analysis. describe the constraints
for data resource 2.4
As a result, we completed (Voter’s data), the required
the informal specification, function 1.1.1 (Register
as shown in Figure 2. There new user), and the detail of
are five major functions constraint for item 3.2.
in which three of them
are devided into lower-
level functions including
function 1.2 (Update
information), function 1.3
(Search information), and
function 1.5 (Generate
report).

Figure 2: Sample of complete informal specification

As for example, the 833
function 1.2 (Update
information) is divided
into six lower level-level
including: sub-function
1.2.1 (To update admins
information), sub-function
1.2.2 (To update polling
agents information), sub-
function 1.2.3 (To update

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

B. Semi-formal Specification specification that can be Since Login is a function, then it
demonstrated to achieve the is transformed in a process called
Developing a semi-formal accuracy. Detail descriptions of process Login (as shown in Figure
specification is aimed at achieving these activities are as follows: 3), and requires input variables,
accuracy of the requirements. To state variables, state changes and
achieve this goal, three activities Group function, data resources, output variables need to be defined
are involved. and constraints by the user. This pattern would
then be a basis for the next activity
Let us take the Login function The Login function is analyzed if of declaring necessary data types.
(function 1.1 in Figure 2) as an it requires decomposition or has
example to illustrate how to a relationship with data resources
produce SOFL-based requirement and in what kind of constraint.

Figure 3: Pattern for the process Login

Declare data type type) and variable passUser (string of User. User is a composite type
type) are declared. This type is used and each of it has a value of four
During this activity, the declaration in process Login and will be verified fields: the information about user’s
on the variables of process Login is by reading from data store kept in name, identity card number, phone
required. We can apply a bottom- admin_data, polling_agent_data, number, and password.
up approach to data declaration, in and worker_data, respectively. As
which typeLoginUser is composed shown in Figure 4, we define Admin,
into two variables: username(string PollingAgent, and Worker as a set

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Figure 4: Sample for declaring data type to process Login

Define all pre- and post-conditions can be expressed in natural ended, it is highly recommended
language. As shown in Figure 5, to explain what the purpose of this
In this stage, the pre- and post- with the pre-condition that the user process is all about. The sample
conditions for process Login is was registered into the system of the pre- and post-condition for
described. Based on the SOFL by super-admin, the process of process Login is shown in Figure 5.
approach, during the semi-formal Login will verify the data store of
specification construction, the pre- admin_data, polling_agent_data,
and post-condition of a process and worker_data. In conjunction to
that, before the process of Login is

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Figure 5: Sample for a pre- and post-condition in the process Login

Discussion SOFL approach is also suitable formal specifications, we used
to be used as a preparation for Microsoft Word editor for writing
Our experience in this case study formalisation process. During the the specification. This proved to
has convinced us that using the process of writing the semi-formal be feasible, but we encountered
SOFL approach for capturing specification, we have to properly difficulties in specification
requirements specification was define the input, output and other modification, verification, and
easier than using other approaches, state variables required for each validation. Therefore, we plan to
such as UML and Z. This is process. develop an effective support tool for
because both informal and semi- abstract requirement specification
formal specifications are simple However, we have found as our major task in our future work.
and straightforward and lead us some deficiency in the SOFL
to produce a precise specification tool technology. During the
for the later stage. In addition, development of informal and semi-

Conclusion and Future Work References

In this paper, we have presented Bicarregui, J. (1997). Formal Methods into Practice: Case Studies in
a case study of applying the the Application of the B Method Vol. 144(2).
SOFL approach to capture a
requirement specifications. The Brauer, J., Rozenberg, G., & Salomaa, A. (1985). Petri Nets - An
process involves the two-step Introduction. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
approach, consisting of informal
and semi-formal specifications. Our Dawes, J. (1991). The VDM-SL Reference Guide. Pitman.
experience suggests that SOFL is
straightforward, easy to follow, and Guttag, J., & Horning, J. (1993). Larch: Languages and Tools for
provides simple formal notation for Formal Specification.
developing specifications.
Jones, C. (1990). Systematic Software Development Using VDM
At the moment, the process (Second ed.). Prentice Hall.
of capturing a requirement
specifications using SOFL was done Larman, C. (2001). Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction
manually. Therefore, for future work, to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative
we will concentrate on the research Development. Prentice Hall.
and development of a tool to assist
system analysts to produce a Liu, S. (2004). Formal Engineering for Industrial Software
specification. We will focus on the Development Using the SOFL Method. Springer-Verlag.
design of a domain and its related
knowledge and a technique for Yourdon, E. (1989). Modern Structured Analysis. Prentice Hall.
providing guidance.

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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the group of students involved in gathering the requirements and developing the Voter Tracking
System as partial requirement in fulfilling their Service Learning project task of TMC3034 Technopreneurship
and Product Development course, Semester 1, 2016/2017 at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information
Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. We would also like to thank Kampung Sungai Bedil Besar committee
for the valuable discussion regarding this work. Finally, we would like to thank Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for
supporting this work.

837

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

SeTreLcvePihvcrneeoroLjaleeogacigrntyngiinng

Dayang Hanani Abang Ibrahim [email protected], Nadianatra Musa [email protected],
Suhaila Saee [email protected], Abdul Rahman Mat [email protected],

Mohd Johan Ahmad Khiri [email protected], Fatihah Ramli [email protected]
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Introduction system powered by Moodle, reflection forms and finance of
namely Morpheus, was used SL implementation. As shown
Technology has enriched our to facilitate the sharing of in Figure 1, this web-based
livesandisusefulinteaching information and SL materials system was designed to help SL
and learning, including with students and course coordinators to save and retrieve
supporting Service Learning (SL) instructors. Morpheus provided SL records and update any
activities and management of SL opportunities for activities changes easily. In this system,
record. This article describes the such as forum, assignment there are three user roles: Admin
role of technology in a FCSIT SL submission and various other (SL coordinators), SL Supervisor
Project among students, course types of collaborative learning. and Student.
instructors, SL supervisors and The interaction via Morpheus
community supervisors. Based was between course instructors
on our previous experiences in and students. In future, such
conducting SL programme in collaborative interactions will be
FCSIT, technology has been used extended to SL supervisors.
1) to manage course content
management, 2) to manage Technology to Manage SL
SL records, 3) to support direct Records between Faculty Admin,
communication and 4) as a SL Supervisors and Students
component of SL project itself.
Apart from the course content
Technology to Manage Course management, we have
Content Management between developed Service Learning
Students and Course Instructors Record Management System
(SLS) to manage all SL records
In Technopreneurship and such as details on supervisors,
Product Development course, locations, project titles and
a learning management descriptions, students, log notes,

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Figure 1: Service Learning Record Management System

Technology to Support Direct communication between SL contact with the community
Communication between supervisors and community partners, ask follow-up questions
Students, SL Supervisors and supervisors; SL supervisors as well as conduct informal
Community Supervisors and students; and Community and formal discussions. Thus,
supervisors and students. For technology had been widely
Technology was also used to example, students used e-mails, used in the SL implementation
support and maintain direct whatsapp groups, phone calls to help overcome the obstacles
communication with community and instant messaging (see of time and distance.
partners. This includes Figure 2) to initiate and maintain

Figure 2: Technology used for direct communication

Technology as a Component of Kota Samarahan such as systems as well as producing
SL Project presenting IT and Internet IT modules, google documents
Training to the community and many more. Therefore,
FCSIT students had engaged (See Figure 3), producing information technology serves
in technology-related service Web portals for community as a crucial medium for carrying
learning projects with village organisations (See Figure 4), out SL projects.
communities in Kuching and developing database profile

839

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Figure 3: IT Training for the Community

Figure 4: Web Portal Website for DUN N8: Profiling History, Activities, Achievement, Organisational
Chart and Progress of 13 Villages in DUN N8 Satok

Conclusion of appropriate technologies in SL to the SL programme by develop-
implementation as a medium of ing the Service Learning Record
Technology has indeed played an discussion and reflection via a Management System (SLS) dur-
integral role in implementing the customised platform. This work ing her Industrial Training place-
SL project. At the moment, we is currently undertaken by a post- ment at FCSIT. Also, to Maimoona
have used technology to manage graduate student in FCSIT. Salam, a PhD student at FCSIT
course content management, to who is currently working on the
manage SL records, to support Acknowledgements integration of technologies in SL.
direct communication and as a
component of SL project itself. We would like to express our ap-
As for future SL implementation, preciation to Saliza Mohd Salleh,
we are exploring the integration FCSIT student for her contribution

40

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Sketching Engagement
ESnKgEaTIgOeNm, eaEnxTtpoaeornlidefnRocerfeClseo:cmtmiounnsitiyn

Service Learning

Dr Tariq Zaman [email protected], Rosita Mohamed Othman, [email protected],
Emmy Dahliana Hossain, [email protected], Fatihah Ramli, [email protected],

Jennifer Fiona Wilfred [email protected]
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

The Malaysia Education promoted; yet in practice model and experiential learning
Blueprint 2015-2025 community members are often theory (Kolb, 1981), students
reduced to informants only. This in the first stage learned about
emphasises Holistic, results in strained relationships possible engagement scenarios
between community members and critical incidences and
Entrepreneurial and Balanced and academic researchers and the course emphasis was on
students of service learning. the theories and practices of
Graduates and highlights In a recently published book community based interaction
Liberating Service Learning processes. In the second stage,
that “there is a mismatch in and the Rest of Higher students were part of the first
Education Civic Engagement visit to partner communities
the supply and demand of (Temple University Press), and exposed to the community
Randy Stoecker argues that engagement process and
graduates, with employers institutionalised service learning challenges of inter-cultural
focuses more on “learning” communication. In the third
reporting that graduates lack the than “service”; that it prioritises stage, the students were given
students - and what they learn an assignment to reflect on
requisite knowledge, skills and - over the communities they are their experiences, develop the
trying to help (Stoecker, 2016). sketches of their observations
attitudes” (Malaysia. Ministry and describe their own set
Considering this debate, of behavioural expectations
of Higher Education, 2015). we in the TMC3034 (see Figure 2). In the fourth
Technopreneurship and Product stage of learning, the students
This makes the university’s role Development course added a planned for upcoming visits to
learning unit of community- the communities and actively
more important in producing based research approaches in experimented their learning.
which the students were trained At the end of the course, the
graduates to fulfill the market on the different approaches students were asked to submit
of community based research
needs, with the focus not only on (CBR) methods and tools. >their written reflections as part
Part of the course was the
academic achievement, but also tool SKETION (SKEtching of their project report.
InteracTION) (see Figure 1)
on generic skills or “soft skills” that has been developed in
UNICOR Service Learning
required for them to compete in project (Zaman, Winschiers-
Theophilus, George, Wee, Falak,
the global market. & Goagoses, 2016). Based on
David Kolb’s learning styles
Service learning is a form of
experiential education that
produces the best outcomes
through combining structured
opportunities for learning
academic skills with meaningful
service activities which address
community needs or assists
individuals, families, and
communities (Bringle & Hatcher,
1996). Engagement is the core
of a service learning course
but community engagement
poses several challenges.
In community development
discourse, “engagement and
active participation” of the
community has always been

41

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Figure 1: Critical Scenarios from SKETION

From a quick look of the students’ “We have improved our “The course also helps us to
reflections, we have found that communication skills as we improve our presentation skills and
SKETION helped in improving required communicating with to explain difficult things in simple
communication between students the representative of the school terms.” (Students’ report)
and community members while frequently.” (Students’ report)
improving the productivity of the
course:-

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

Figure 2: Sketches from Students’ Assignment

References
Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (1996). Implementing service learning in higher education. The Journal of Higher

Education, 67(2), 221-239.
Kolb, D. A. (1981). Learning styles and disciplinary differences. The Modern American College, 1, 232-255.
Malaysia. Ministry of Higher Education. (2015). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education).

Retrieved from https://www.mohe.gov.my/ms/muat-turun/awam/penerbitan-dan-jurnal/pppm-
2015-2025-pt/6-executive-summary-pppm-2015-2025/file
Stoecker, R. (2016). Liberating Service Learning and the Rest of Higher Education Civic Engagement. Temple
University Press.
Zaman, T., Winschiers-Theophilus, H., George, F., Wee, A. Y., Falak, H., & Goagoses, N. (2016, August). Using
sketches to communicate interaction protocols of an indigenous community. In Proceedings of the
14th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Interactive Exhibitions, Workshops-Volume 2 (pp.
13-16). ACM.

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SchoSSoetElruxsCvdpoaieecnnmredtmiLsetuenahancnerietdInmyaittnphagect to
Dr Kartinah Zen [email protected], Dr Tariq Zaman [email protected],
Dr Sarah Flora Juan [email protected], Seleviawati Tarmizi [email protected]
Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Service Learning (SL) is a Demak Baru, Kolej Dato Patinggi by a student and generate results
method to improve students’ Abang Haji Abdillah and SMK for each student. The system is
understanding in learning Seri Setia. Involving in SL gave us also able to analyse, sort and filter
by combining the classroom the opportunity to discuss and the grades automatically. It also
environment with community communicate with the teachers facilitates in printing the student
engagement. It is one of the and the school principals. We pre-transcripts.
requirements in Malaysia Education realise that the benefits are not
Blueprint (MEB) 2015-2015 (MOHE, only to the school community or Another interesting project
2015). The relevance of the course the students as managing SL also developed by the SL group is
content becomes more readily increases our skills in negotiation, the school corporate video. This
evident by integrating classroom explanation and management. project is requested by Kolej
material and service activities in SL opened a new path for us to DPAHA Abdillah and SMK Demak
the community (Shapiro, 2002). analyse and observe the scenario Baru. For this project, it is not really
Students going for service-learning at schools. related to what our student had
are better in intellectual-growth, learned, because as Computer
personal development and social SL PROJECTS AT SCHOOLS Science students the focus is more
commitment (Astin et al., 2000). on developing their programming
As SL supervisors, we claim that One of the interesting projects skills and not on producing videos.
the students show improvement which the SL group developed was This was a challenge to the
in critical thinking, leadership the Excel Grading System for Form students because they had to learn
and self-confidence after they 1-3. This system was developed how to produce a good corporate
participated in SL. for SMK Seri Setia. Before this, video. They had to learn on their
the school only had a simple own about video making and video
Having the chance to be involved Excel sheet to keep all the marks editing. The effort that our students
in SL is an interesting experience especially for PT3 trial examination. had put in really impressed the
for us. Dr Kartinah Zen coordinated There was no system for them to superviors. They did their best
the SL at schools and was also keep and analyse the marks or print to find the best camera and they
one of the SL supervisors. There the pre-transcript for each student. even used a drone in some events.
were 20 schools involved and she The students only knew their marks With little knowledge at the start,
supervised five of these schools. based on the examination papers however, with the willingness to
As SL supervisors, our tasks were given back to them. The students learn and explore, they managed
to guide the students on what they had difficulty in requesting the pre- to produce an amazing school
should do, monitor their progress transcript when the official pre- corporate video!
with the community, monitor the transcript of PT3 trial examination
visits, be the point-of-contact is needed for them to apply to the The other two schools, SK Dato’
(POC) between the community and vocational school in Form 4. With Mohd Musa and SMK Muara
the students and collect data from the system developed by the SL Tuang, had requested our students
the students. group, it provides a template for to organise MS Word and MS Excel
teachers to record the marks based training for their teachers and
The schools under Dr Kartinah’s on each subject and the system is students. The training for teachers
supervision were SK Dato’ Mohd able to integrate all subjects taken was specifically on how to easily
Musa, SMK Muara Tuang, SMK develop attractive teaching and

474

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

examination materials using MS
Words. Our students not only delivered
the training but also spent time writing
the manuals for them.

IMPACT TO STUDENTS

The students increased their
knowledge and skills, applied what
they have learned and what they can
learn by themselves before sharing
the knowledge with others. Among
the knowledge that they learned
include how to make corporate video,
extensive knowledge in MS Word
and MS Excel, and how to develop a
system in MS Excel. The students
learnt more effectively as they were
working on real projects, Even though
not all projects were related to system
development, they were still related
to IT and on how to disseminate IT
knowledge to others. The students
appreciate the knowledge that they
had gained through the course, which
helped them in giving the best service
to the community.

All SL groups enjoyed the SL

programme with schools, even though

they had to spend more time, give full

commitment and effort. Working with

teachers and students made them

realise that their knowledge in IT and
>Computer Science is important to help
“I just realise
others. that IT has a lot

“The due date to offer to the
roefmthinedesnmd eprtooduct community”
hdcationiamsmvdceeiwppetloloefifrntimkeceihatemhanneryatdslgwyeet”oolfmrky. I “This is a “By having
real project with a chance to
“Learning and community. involve in this
applying are two There is no activity, I also
different sides of excuse. We have learned that as a
to get the job citizen, I need to
done or not at think about the
all” others and the
needs to help
the community.”

the same coin. As what the students expressed,
However, SL is The value of SL in enhancing our students’ soft skills is justified
able to provide empirically. We obtained their reflection via a structured
that to us”
questionnaire that focused on their experience and what
they felt after the programme ended. From our students’

perspective, most of them agreed that after going through

the SL programme, they had improved their soft skills in:

845

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

Figure 1: Our students explaining the system
to teachers at SMK Seri Setia

Figure 2: Our students interviewing the teachers
at SMK Demak


Communication Skills – They had to

communicate with Principals, teachers
and students of the school in order to
identify the task requirements, either in
making the corporate video, system or IT
training.
Creative and Analytical Thinking – They
had to think how to solve the problem,
fulfill the requirements from the schools
with limited time and tools.
Community Etiquette – They learned how
to behave well when interacting with the
school community.
Time Management – They learned how to
complete the task within the given time as
they dealed with real projects.
Leadership – A student was appointed as
the leader of each group and he/she had
lead, plan and manage other members in
order to accomplish their project.
Teamwork – All of them had to work
together and helped each other in the
project.
Self confidence –Increased their self
confidence with the opportunities to
give ideas to others, speak in public and
discuss with others.
Responsibility – They were more
responsible for deadlines as they worked
on real projects that involved outsiders.
Adaptability – Our students learned how
to adapt in the school environment, they
learned and responded to the problems
well.

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

IMPACT TO SCHOOL COMMUNITY
The benefits of service-learning are not only to the students but also to the faculty,
university, and school community (Prentice & Robinson, 2010). The benefits of SL
to schools are identified by interviewing the teachers involved in SL at the end of the
programme. As for benefits to the community, teachers and principals agreed that:



• This programme is very useful and beneficial to the school
community; it improves the teachers’ IT skills, lessens the burden
from manual grading to Excel system grading and the corporate
video assists in promoting the schools to outsiders.

• Increase the school students’ motivation to do well in their
academics and they become more ambitious

• School students increase their soft skill as well, such as
communication and self-confidence when interacting with the
university students

• SL reduces the communication gap between the school
community and the university

During the handover of the projects, all principals and teachers appreciated the
chances to work together with the university students. They look forward to the same
opportunity in the future. They hope that our students will pay more visits to schools
to develop better social impact.

Figure 3: Our students conducted an Excel
workshop to students in SMK Muara Tuang

Figure 4: The discussion between our students
with the students at Kolej DPAHA Abdillah

847

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

ISSUES
There are a few issues to overcome in our next SL programme:


Time is a critical problem because of the tight schedule for teachers, SL supervisor

and also our students.
Our SL programme starts from September to the end of November, where during

this time, the school often organises many year-end activities and the school
holiday is approaching, this adds to the issue of time.
Some computers at schools are outdated, thus in some cases these computers
cannot support all sub functions in MS Word or MS Excel introduced by our
students.
Our students need to be alerted on the needs to provide explanation using terms
that are understandable by teachers and school students who have limited IT
knowledge.

Conclusion
Service learning is proven as an effective method to improve students’ soft skills and to help them
improve their knowledge in their course. The impact from SL is not only on the students, but also on
the lecturers, university and the communities.

References:
Astin, A.W., Vogelgestang, L.J. Ikeda, E.K, & Yee, J. A. (2000). Executive Summary. How Service Learning Affects Stu-

dents. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute.
Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) 2015-2015 (MOHE, 2015)
Prentice, M. & Robinson,G. (2010). Improving Student Learning Outcomes with Service Learning, American Associa-

tion of Community Colleges (AACC).
Shapiro, A. (2002). A service-learning approach to teaching gerontology: A case study of a first-year undergraduate

seminar. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 23(2), 25-36.

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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK

FCSIT First Effort on
Engaging

Service Learning in
SchoolS

Dr Kartinah Zen [email protected], Dr Tariq Zaman [email protected],
Dr Sarah Flora Juan [email protected], Seleviawati Tarmizi [email protected]

Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology

Service or Community Based effort made by the faculty members We discussed with Prof Alvin, Prof
Learning (SBL) is one of the to carry out SL at schools. After a Roger, Prof Nara from ISITI and
requirements for Higher Edu- thorough discussion at the FCSIT Amy and Shona from Cornell Uni-
cation Provider as outlined in Ma- Academic Committee, the Facul- versity who are experts in SL imple-
laysia Education Blueprint (MEB), ty has decided to embed SL in one mentation. There were a few issues
launched on 7th April 2015, by of our third year courses, which at the beginning:
the Ministry of Higher Education is TMC3034 Technopreneurship
(MOHE). The objective of imple- and Product Development. The i. What services can be of-
menting SBL or Service Learning course was offered in Semester 1 fered to the school community?
(SL) is to produce holistic, entre- 2016/2017, with 378 students tak- ii. Which schools to select?
preneurial and balanced graduates. ing the course. Half of the students
Therefore, SL becomes one of the el- were given the task to provide ser- >Do we need to go to every school in
ements in High-Impact Educational vices to the school communities
Practices (HIEPs). Other elements in and the other half, to the villagers. Kuching and Kota Samarahan?
HIEPs are First year Seminar (FYS),
Intensive Academic Writing (IAW), The first step was to form a service 49
Diversity/Global Learning (DGL), learning committee at the faculty.
Collaborative Assignment and Pro- Ten lecturers were appointed by the
ject (CAS), Capstone Project (CAP), Dean as SL Committee members.
Empirical Research (ER), Internship Six of the members supervised in
(IN) and Interdisciplinary Approach the villages, while another four su-
to Assessment (ID). pervised at schools. Dr Tariq, Dr
Sarah, Seleviawati and Dr Kartinah
In the Faculty of Computer Science supervised SL at schools.
and Information Technology (FC-
SIT), SL is decided to be carried out Our SL school committees started
in two communities, villages and by listing down the services to be
schools. This article is to explain the offered to the school community.

INSIGHT // Teaching & Learning Bulletin

How FCSIT Addressed the Problems in Approaching Schools for Service Learning
We discussed the services we could offer to the school communities. The services are:

The SL School Committee agreed in selecting schools, together with 8. Receive list of
that in order to complete this big En Ismail bin Wasli. They invited the schools from
task, we needed support from school representatives to attend a BTPN
the Sarawak Education Depart- briefing on SL at the faculty.
ment. Therefore, we contacted the 9. BTPN invite the
Sarawak Education Department The summary of steps taken: schools to par-
(Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Sar- ticipate
awak) and requested for permission 1. Form SL group
to implement SL at schools. We pre- 10. Brief all repre-
pared the official request letter and 2. Seek guidance sentatives of
brought along the SL brochure and and advice from the selected
the list of IT services that we would the experts schools
like to offer to schools. We met Cik-
570 gu Graman Ringi, the officer at the 3. List the services
School Management Sector, Sar- to be offered to
awak Education Department and the schools
explained to him about our SL pro-
gramme. 4. Contact Sar-
awak Education
After we received the permission Department
letter from him, we still had no clue
on which school to select. He led us 5. Write a letter to
to one of the officers in the ICT Sec- the School Man-
tor, Pn Haniza binti Amit. Then, she agement Sector,
referred us to Chief Assistant Di- Sarawak Educa-
rector, Puan Hajah Shirini binti Mo- tion Department
hamed Zulkifli of Unit Pembestarian
Sekolah, Biro Teknologi Pendidikan 6. Discuss with
Negeri (BTPN). Puan Hajah Shirini ICT Sector
was very supportive of the idea to
implement SL at schools and she 7. Discuss with
immediately offered to help us. The Biro Teknolo-
Head of Unit Pembestarian, Cikgu gi Pendidikan
Jamel Ambya also helped us a lot Negeri (BTPN)