Proceeding of the International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19)

SA Conference Proceeding: Industrial Revolution 4.0 Vol.1, Issue 01 (2020) 133-140
International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
Copyright © 2020 Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) Kemaman

E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

Table 1: specific Power Transmission Device size

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existing
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Principle)

SA Conference Proceeding: Industrial Revolution 4.0 Vol.1, Issue 01 (2020) 133-140
International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
Copyright © 2020 Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) Kemaman
E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

Figure 2: Conceptual Design
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Motorcycle Transmission Attachment with Motorcycle Attachment with Motorcycle Side

Device Extension (Isometric View) View

Figure 3: Motorcycle Transmission

This project has its own reliability. In this particular project, it can engage and
disengaged the shaft and also can be disarmed the device from the motorcycles swing-
arm. So that the task are not quite easy to handle in one system of mechanism. There have

Aznizam, A. and Noorhelinahani, A.B.

need two different shaft that connect each other while operating. Because two of the shaft
are operating in a different ways, one of the shaft is receiving the power while the other
is transmit from the power to the machine.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, using a CAD software can improvised the design before going through
fabrication process. It can help to eliminate the problem faces when designing and obtain
the result. Reverse engineering process is a process by obtaining the real situation result
but it can resulting waste a lot of time and energy. Recommendation was always through
the CAD software before entering the next process flow. By the time, the Power
Transmission Device been through using Solidwork as the main CAD software design
and analysis.This project managed to create a new upgrading model power transmission
device from the previous design with modular techniques consist of two major part which
is connected between two different shafts. The main parameter in designing Power
Transmission device is to ensure the position that can fit to swing-arm motorcycles that
can hold a long time when operating work. Each side of the housing clamp the swing-arm
in 20 millimeter wide using 4 of bolt and nut. The design had been down to 5% from the
original design using 2 bolt and nut. Thus it make the device become longer that expected
to minimize the scale.

The new shaft allow some preventing injury to user when operating. It shown from the
previous design that had no stopper and may cause highly injuries 75% occur during
operate. Thus, the new design where allowable the user safer and easy to handle by reduce
45% injuries. This is the main reason why this kind of approach is made designing new
Power Transmission Device. However, the main goal to achieve better design of Power
Transmission Device was still a massive one solid structure that require more time to
improvise the design. Our part can be replaced and buy in hardware shop thus does not
have issues in replacing the parts. The only those that can most issues was the user using
different motorcycles when to work but most commonly user using Honda EX5 Dream
motorcycle as a work machine. Thus, this project actually have achieve this kind of the
situations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This sub-section is not compulsory but most research reports convey appreciation to
those who have been involved in the study. I would like to express my special thanks of
gratitude to my supervisor as well as our dean who gave me the golden opportunity to do
this wonderful project, which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to
know about so many new things. I am really thankful to them. Secondly I would also like
to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finishing this project within the
limited time. I am making this project not only for marks but also increase my knowledge.

139

Aznizam, A. and Noorhelinahani, A.B.

REFERENCES
[1] S. O. F. Nevada, “MOTORCYCLE OPERATOR,” no. March, 2018.
[2] S. N. Vasoya, P. L. Koradiya, and B. J. Patel, “Development of Sprocket to

Improvement the Torque for Off Road Bike,” vol. IV, no. I.
[3] A. S. Abdelfatah and O. C. Puan, “Evaluating the Sustainability of Traffic

Growth in Malaysia,” vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 6–11, 2015.
[4] “Vehicle registrations in Malaysia hit 28.2 million units.” [Online]. Available:

https://paultan.org/2017/10/03/vehicle-registrations-in-malaysia-hit-28-2-million-
units/. [Accessed: 01-Sep-2019].
[5] K. Dutta, B. Basu, and D. Sen, “IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION
OF STRESSORS AFFECTING INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of
RESEARCH,” vol. 2, 2014.
[6] B. Jose, A. B. Vasanth, R. Adityan, and B. G. Thomas, “Two Wheel Drive
Motorcycle,” vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 25–32, 2014.
[7] C. Delivery et al., “Systematic Motorcycle Management and Health,” vol. 106,
no. 1, pp. 87–94, 2016.
[8] R. Jaligot, A. Kemajou, and J. Chenal, “A new approach to spatial analysis of
motorcycle taxis activities – the case of Port-au-Prince , Haiti,” Urban, Plan.
Transp. Res., vol. 0020, p. 0, 2017.
[9] A. Y. Suatmadi, F. Creutzig, and I. M. Otto, “Case Studies on Transport Policy
On-demand motorcycle taxis improve mobility , not sustainability,” Case Stud.
Transp. Policy, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 218–229, 2019.
[10] G. E. Vallee and J. Eheander, “Development of a Motorcycle Food Delivery
System From an International Perspective,” in Proceedings of the ASME 2017
International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. Volume 5:
Education and Globalization.
[11] S. A. Zamri, “Dissertation Report of Slip-On Sprocket,” Universiti Teknologi
Petronas (UTP), 2014.
[12] Platform Ventures, “Slip-On Sprocket,” 2017. [Online]. Available:
http://www.platcomventures.com/upload/projectms/IBO267_SlipOnSprocket_U
TP.pdf. [Accessed: 30-Jul-2019].

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SA Conference Proceeding: Industrial Revolution 4.0 Vol.1, Issue 01 (2020) 141-149
International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
Copyright © 2020 Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) Kemaman
E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

Total Flavonoid Content, Total Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activities of
Ethanol Extract for Piper sarmentosum Leaf from Ten Different Locations

Fatin Fathiah Yusop1, Nur Farah Amalina Mughni2

1,2MARA Skills Training College, Mukim Durian Pipit, 33400 Lenggong, Perak,
Malaysia.

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to determine the influence of geographical origin on the total
flavonoid content (TFC), total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activities of
ethanol extract for Piper sarmentosum leaf from different origins. TFC and TPC assay
used Aluminum Trichloride and Folin-Ciocalteu method, respectively. The antioxidant
activity was measured using DPPH (1,1- diphenyl-2-picrylhidrazyl), β- carotene-
linoleate and xanthine oxidase inhibition assay. The leaf extracts exhibited significant
correlation between TPC and TFC with antioxidant activities. ANOVA analysis showed
significant differences (p<0.05) between all sample in the TFC, TPC and antioxidant
results. It suggests that different locations can influence the TFC, TPC and antioxidant
activities of the plant extracts.

Keywords: Piper sarmentosum; TFC: TPC: antioxidant

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study is to determine the influence of geographical origin on the total
flavonoid content (TFC), total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activities of
ethanol extract for Piper sarmentosum leaf from different origins. TFC and TPC assay
used Aluminum Trichloride and Folin-Ciocalteu method, respectively. The antioxidant
activity was measured using DPPH (1,1- diphenyl-2-picrylhidrazyl), β- carotene-
linoleate and xanthine oxidase inhibition assay. The leaf extracts exhibited significant
correlation between TPC and TFC with antioxidant activities. ANOVA analysis showed
significant differences (p<0.05) between all sample in the TFC, TPC and antioxidant
results. It suggests that different locations can influence the TFC, TPC and antioxidant
activities of the plant extracts. All natural products as well as plants go through natural
dissimilarity. Different growing environments based on the geographical origin can give
some variation in an abundance of chemical constituents (Easterling and Apps 2005).
Piper sarmentosum has been used in folk remedies due to its medicinal properties. In
Malaysia, P. sarmentosum leaf and roots are valuable to reduce headache, dysmenorrhea,
rheumatism, pleurisy, lumbago and urinary symptom (Subramaniam et al. 2003). A recent
study showed that ethanol extracts of leaf and fruit have good antioxidant activity
(Hussain 2009).

Yusof, F. F., and Mughni, N. F. A.

Oxygen is a very important component of living organisms to metabolize and process
the nutrients that have been taken in order to generate energy to survive. Chemical
oxygen processing can metabolize fats, proteins, and carbohydrates generate energy
(Blois, 1958). Despite all the living organisms are in need of oxygen but oxygen is a
molecule that can give a negative effect on the human body systems particularly because
it is a highly reactive molecule. Antioxidant molecules can prevent bad effect caused by
the oxidation process.

Reactivity of molecular oxygen can destroy cells in the human body but fortunately,
the human body has a complicated system of antioxidant metabolites and enzymes. These
two components can avoid oxidative damage to cellular components such as DNA,
proteins and lipids. However, the oxygen molecule has an edge to function as redox
signalling (Frei, 1999). Thus, the function of antioxidant systems is not eliminating
oxidants completely but rather to ensure them only at an optimal level. Complex systems
of antioxidant metabolites in the human body work by blocking the reactive species
produced from, or eliminate them before they can damage vital components (Mates,
2000). Antioxidants work by slowing or preventing the effects of free radicals. When
antioxidants interact with free radicals, it will cause the antioxidant molecules to be
oxidized (Bottino et al. 2004). Antioxidants produced from natural sources were more
preferred than synthetic sources. Polyphenolic compounds have an ability to act as
efficient radical scavengers, metal chelator and oxygen quenchers (Rice-Evans et al.
1997).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials

Samples P. sarmentosum leaf were collected from N.Sembilan (RBNS); Selangor
(SBHS); Melaka (PAGM); Johor (TTSJ); Pahang (SNJP); Perak (LWTP); Pulau Pinang
(BMPP); Terengganu (KBBT); Hulu Terengganu (BKHT); Kelantan (KJLK).The leaf
was collected in the month of August and September 2012. A specimen voucher (USM.
Herbarium 11378) has been deposited at the herbarium of School Biological Sciences,
University Sains Malaysia.

Total flavonoid content (TFC)
TFC of the ethanol extracts from all samples was measured at 415 nm using AlCl3
method as described by Gursoy et al. (2009). All readings were taken in triplicate.
Quercetin was used as standard. The results were expressed as quercetin equivalent (mg
of QE/g of extract) (Gursoy et al. 2009).

Total phenolic content (TPC)

TPC of the ethanol extracts from all samples was measured at 765 nm using Folin -
Ciocalteau spectrophotometric method as described by Schalbert and Williamson
(2000). All readings were taken in triplicate. Gallic acid was used as standard. The
results were expressed as gallic acid equivalent (mg of GA/g of extract) (Scalbert and
Williamson 2000).

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Yusof, F. F., and Mughni, N. F. A.

DPPH radical scavenging assay
Susceptibility of gram negative and gram positive bacteria to topical antimicrobial
agents was tested using Nathan’s agar well diffusion (NAWD) assay.

% inhibition activity = [(Ao - A1)/ Ao ] x 100
Ao : Absorbance of the control
A1: Absorbance of the test samples or standard

Antioxidant assay using a β-carotene-linoleate model system
The antioxidant assay using a β-carotene-linoleate model system of P. sarmentosum
determined by the method Kumaran and Karunakaran (2007). 2.0 mg of β-carotene was
dissolved in 10.0 mL of chloroform. 2.0 mL dissolved solution was pipette and the
chloroform was removed. Then 40.0 mg of purified linoleic acid, 400.0 mg of tween 40
emulsifier and 100 mL of aerated distilled water were added. 4.8 mL of the aliquots was
transferred into test tubes which contained different concentrations of 0.2 mL test
sample. The absorbance at zero time was measured at 470 nm. The tubes were then
placed in water bath at 50oC for 2 hours and the absorbance was measured again.
Quercetin was used as positive control in the test and the antioxidant activity was
calculated as below:
Antioxidant activity = [ 1/ ] × 100
Ao : Initial β – carotene content
A1: β–carotene content after 2 h

Xanthine oxidase inhibition
100 µL solution of xanthine in 0.1M phosphate buffer, pH 7.8 with 0.1 units/mL of
xanthine oxidase was incubated for 10 minutes at room temperature and absorbance was
read at 295 nm against a blank sample which did not contain the enzyme. Various
concentrations of tested samples and a chemical inhibitor allopurinol were added to the
samples before the enzyme had been instilled and their effect on the generation of uric
acid was calculated (Kong et al. 2000).

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Yusof, F. F., and Mughni, N. F. A.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Total flavonoid content (TFC)

The results of the TFC were illustrated in mean ± standard deviation milligram of
quercetin equivalent/ gram of extract (Table 1). PAGM showed the highest flavonoid
content at 49.83 ± 0.88 mg/g and LWTP showed the lowest at 15.76 ± 0.51 mg/g. TFC
of the ethanol extracts varied from 16.98±0.88 mg/g to 44.81 ± 1.53 mg/g. ANOVA
analysis showed significant differences (F(9,20) = 484.456, p <0.05) between TFCs of
the samples. The results suggest that the TFC varied significantly from one location to
another.

Total phenolic content (TPC)

The results of the TPC were illustrated in mean ± SD mg of gallic acid equivalent/ gram
of extract (Table 1). PAGM and BKHT showed the highest phenolic content at 104.89 ±
0.27mg/g and 100.00 ± 0.33mg/g, respectively. TPC of the ethanol extracts varied from
74.749 ± 0.98mg/g to 90.057 ± 0.29mg/g. ANOVA analysis showed significant
differences (F(9,20) = 272.3, p <0.05) between TPCs of the samples. The results suggest
that the TPC varied significantly from one location to another. The impact of geographical
location on the extraction of TPC is supported by the fact that variety of diverse
ontogenetic, ecotypic, genotypic and chemotypic factors may affect the production of
secondary metabolites in plants.

Scavenging effect on 1, 1 – diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)

The result of free radical scavenging activity of P. sarmentosum ethanol extract using
DPPH model system was shown in Figure 1A. BKHT and PAGM showed the highest
scavenging ability with 72.08 ± 0.04% and 71.12 ± 0.01% at the concentration of 100
μg/mL (mean ± SD). LWTP and BMPP showed the lowest scavenging ability with 50.71
± 0.18% and 51.22 ± 0.52% at concentration of 100 μg/mL.

Others showed percentage inhibition the range of 65.66 ± 0.08% to 66.62 ± 0.05%. IC50
values of the extracts decreased in the following order of BKHT > PAGM > TTSJ > SNJP
> KJLK > RBNS > KBBT > SBHS > BMPP > LWTP (Table 1). The extracts showed a
strong negative correlation between the DPPH free radical scavenging activity with TFC
and TPC (r = - 0.715, p <0.05 and r = - 0.801, p <0.05, repectively). All P. sarmentosum
extracts showed free radical scavenging activity comparable to standards (quercetin). The
radical scavenging activities of P. sarmentosum increased gradually as the concentration
increased. One Way ANOVA analysis showed significant differences (F(9,20) = 37.30,
p <0.05) between radical scavenging activities of the samples. The variations may due to
difference in TPC. Different in geographical locations may also influence the
measurement of antioxidant activities of the extracts.

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Yusof, F. F., and Mughni, N. F. A.

Table 1: Total flavonoid content and total phenolic content of P. sarmentosum
leaf from different geographical origin.

Samples Total flavonoid Total phenolic
content (mg of content (mg of
QE/g of extract) GA/g of extract)

RBNS 43.47 ± 0.67a 90.057 ± 0.29a
SBHS 36.76 ± 0.88b 94.425 ± 0.96b

PAGM 49.83 ± 0.88c 104.89 ± 0.27c

TTSJ 33.86 ± 0.69b 87.450 ± 0.45d

SNJP 25.36 ± 2.03e 88.441 ± 0.44d

LWTP 15.76 ± 0.51f 74.749 ± 0.98e
BMPP 16.98 ± 0.88g 77.135 ± 0.88f

KBBT 44.81 ± 1.53a 92.516 ± 0.33g
BKHT 48.05 ± 0.69c 100.00 ± 0.33h

KJLK 20.45 ± 0.19i 81.650 ± 0.11i

Means within column with different letter indicate significantly different values (Anova analysis,
p<0.05)

Antioxidant assay using a β-carotene-linoleate model system

Figure 1B shows that all plant extracts demonstrated concentration dependant in β-
carotene-linoleate model system compared to standard (quercetin). PAGM and BKHT
showed the highest antioxidant activity compared to other plant extracts with 79.5 ±
1.21% and 75.6 ± 0.33%, respectively at concentration 1000 μg/mL (mean ± SD). BMPP,
LWTP and RBNS showed the lowest antioxidant activity compared to other plant extracts
with 59.91 ± 3.21%, 61.84 ± 1.62% and 65.32 ± 3.87%, respectively at 1000 μg/mL
(mean ± SD). Other locations showed antioxidant activity ranged of 66.81 ± 0.07% to
74.01 ± 3.52%. Antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extracts exhibited strong positive
correlation to the TPCs (r = 0.792, p <0.05) and its showed no correlation with TFCs (r
= 0.624, p >0.05). ANOVA analysis also showed significant differences (F(9,20) = 20.65,
p <0.05) between antioxidant activity of the samples. Different in geographical origin
may be responsible for this variation.

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Yusof, F. F., and Mughni, N. F. A.

Xanthine oxidase inhibition
Xanthine oxidase is an enzyme that catalyses the oxidation of hypoxanthine and xanthine
to form uric acid (So and Thorens 2010). At 1000 μg/mL, PAGM and BKHT showed the
highest percentage in inhibition of superoxide formation with 91.19 ± 0.03% and 90.50
± 0.17%, respectively (mean ± SD) (Figure 1C). LWTP and BMPP showed the lowest
percentage in inhibition with 69.38 ± 0.18% and 70.52 ± 0.15%, respectively. Other
locations showed percentage inhibition ranged of 80.81 ± 0.09% to 85.38 ± 0.10%. IC50
values of the extracts decreased in the following order of BKHT > PAGM>TTSJ > SNJP
> KJLK > RBNS > KBBT > SBHS>BMPP > LWTP (Table 1). The extracts showed a
strong negative correlation between percentage in inhibition with TFCs and TPCs (r = -
0.796, p <0.05 and r = - 0.869, p <0.05, respectively). Its explained the variation in
percentage of inhibition showed by the ethanol extracts of P. sarmentosum from ten
different locations. ANOVA analysis also showed significant differences (F(9,20) =
4047.9, p <0.05) between percentage inhibition of the samples from different locations.

Table 2: Antioxidant activity of P. sarmentosum leaf from different geographical
origin.

Means within column with different letter indicate significantly different values (Anova analysis,
p<0.05)

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Yusof, F. F., and Mughni, N. F. A.

Figure 1: Antioxidant activity of P. sarmentosum leaf from different geographical
origin.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Financial support from the ‘Majlis Amanah Rakyat’ (MARA) through IRPA No.
308/ALFARMASI/4154043 for this research is acknowledged. The author also thanks
the assistance of Pn. Jamidah Salleh and Mohammad Yusop Abu during the collection of
samples from ten different origins. Author expresses special thanks to Universiti Sains
Malaysia, especially School of Pharmaceutical Science, USM.

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sarmentosum Roxb. extracts and selected studies of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth.
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SA Conference Proceeding: Industrial Revolution 4.0 Vol.1, Issue 01 (2020) 150-155
International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
Copyright © 2020 Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) Kemaman
E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

Exoskeleton for Damaging Legs: Study, Development and the Future

Aiman M. S.1,a,*, M. Akif Adam1,b , Nazrul H. Adnan1,c and N. Shahri1,d

1Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) Ledang, Serom 4 & 5, Jalan Serom Bukit
Gambir, 84410 Sungai Mati, Ledang, Johor Darul Takzim

E-mail:a,*[email protected],[email protected],
[email protected],[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Exoskeleton normally known as a mobile machine integrated with human movements
used for many applications such as disorder caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, or other
related diseases where it is difficult for humans to handle. This machine or device is
capable to assist them to regain the ability to walk and improve the quality of life. In this
review paper we touch upon the history of exoskeletons, their design and development,
the future of exoskeletons and how they can become a part of humans’ day to day life.
This paper also provides human-centered approach and addressing the problems of
physical human–exoskeleton interactions and dealing with everyday scenarios.

Keywords:Bionic;Exoskeletons; Gait; Mobile Machine; Nanotechnology; Rehabilitation;
Robotics

INTRODUCTION

Inspired by new research of an effective exoskeleton which can be used as assistance
for a stroke patient, so that in this paper we discuss about the history and development of
exoskeletons. Exoskeleton is a mobile machine integrated with human movements used
for applications where it is difficult for humans to handle. Exoskeletons alongside humans
breach the revolutionary gap boundary between human and machine [1]. Exoskeletons
are also applied in other various fields. They can draw a lot of interests from many
robotics researchers who want to imitate the perfectly designed and sophisticated
biomechanics of human anthropometries, for examples HAL [2] and BLEEX [3] which
were developed for power enhancing and military missions respectively. Other
applications of exoskeletons were designed for carrying heavy loads in difficult terrains
[4] and RoboKnee for Enhancing Strength and Endurance During Walking [5]. However,
the most difficulty and challenging problems in the leg exoskeletons is balancing control
and the solution was the humanoid robot balance that capable to control and to maintain
the exoskeletons balancing [6].

This paper is structured as follows: Section II addresses the history and development
and related researches to the approaches, applications and problems of exoskeleton as
mobile machine. Section III describes the future of exoskeletons. Section IV describes
the benefits and limitations from the design prospective and the article is concluded with
the summary in section V.

Aiman, M.S., et al.,

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

In the late 1960s, General Electric Research (Schenectady, NY), with Cornell
University and financial support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, constructed a
full body powered exoskeleton prototype [7,8]. Figure 1 shown spring operating parallel
to the legs and was intended to augment running and jumping, each leg spring was
engaged during the foot contact to effectively transfer the body’s weight to the ground
and to reduce the forces borne by the stance leg. During the aerial phase, the parallel leg
spring was designed to disengage in order to allow the biological leg to freely flex and to
enable the foot to clear the ground.

(a) (b) (c)

FIGURE 1: (a) Spring operating parallel to the legs, (b) foot contact to effectively
transfer the body’s weight to the ground and (c) the aerial phase.

Exoskeletons also have emerged as an advantageous rehabilitation tool for disabled
individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) [9]. However, evidence to support its clinical
application is still lacking considering their prohibitive cost. There is a pressing need for
this population to improve their levels of physical activity. This feature may encourage
continuous usage of exoskeletons in conjunction with wheelchairs [10]. It is highly
recommended to encourage exoskeleton power wheelchair soccer or other activities. This
is likely to provide competitions among the available product and increase their
popularity in recreational settings. In this work, the lower limb is presented as an
exoskeleton, conceived as a system of compensation and evaluation of the pathological
gait, for applications under real conditions as a methodology of assistance and joint
assessment of the problems affecting mobility in individuals with neuromotor disorders.
Figure 2 shown the sample of basic design of an exoskeleton (without mounted
compensating actuators) where we can observe the joint originally proposed which use a
unilateral exoskeleton, whose supports are rigid to stabilization in the sagittal plane. The
main movement of the knee joint is flexion and extension occur in the sagittal plane; this
is not a simple rotational movement, because if so, by rotating the femur over the tibia to

151

Aiman, M.S., et al.,

the knee would end dislocated [11]. The knee joint performs its natural movement using
a complex structure of muscles, tendons and ligaments.

MECHANICAL DESCRIPTION
Mild steel is the most commonly used steel. It is used in the industries as well in the
different everyday objects we use. The main target of this article is to discuss about
different mild steel properties. Almost 90% steel products of the world are made up of
mild steel because it is the cheapest form of steel. Mild steel is not readily tempered or
hardened but possesses enough strength. According to the World Health Organization,
physical activity is defined as the bodily movement resulting from muscle actions that
increases energy expenditure. Exoskeletons provide bodily passive movement of the
lower extremity without muscle contraction.

Figure 2: Complete assembly of the exoskeleton, which shows the knee joint that was
changed [11]

152

Aiman, M.S., et al.,

Figure 3: Complete knee joint [11]
FUTURE OF EXOSKELETONS
Exoskeletons play a major role in the rehabilitation of patients affected by spinal cord
injury, or brain injury who have lost motor functions of the lower limb. Patients who have
been wheel-chaired face a lot of problems about their movement and deal with many
psychological issues. Also, the human body is physiologically designed in a way such
that it can stand, walk and move around, but a wheelchair user loses this ability and leads
to having a negative impact on the body. Figure 4 shows the sample of future application
using exoskeleton as rehabilitation process for lower limb injuries.

Figure 4. Exoskeleton rehabilitation process [12]
153

Aiman, M.S., et al.,

BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS

Exoskeletons are yet to meet high efficiency, intelligent power management, lighter
weight and improved mechanical design such that they can be incorporated as clothing.
Table 1 below shows the advantages and disadvantages in terms of strength and stamina
for the user.

TABLE 1: Advantages and disadvantages of Exoskeletons [13]

Advantages Disadvantages
Can take weight of the user, enabling the
user to carry load. Heavy and looks users into particular joint
movement, used a lot of power and
Lightweight, energy enough and easy to exhausting to wear and has not shown to
wear. May boost the performance of the boost performance.
user. Doesn’t take weight off the user, limiting
extra load.

CONCLUSIONS

Exoskeleton model is demonstrated as a human centered approach involving human
joint motions. All models consider the human muscle reactions for careful alignment of
the lower arm of the human body. Exoskeletons play a major role in rehabilitation and
enable a wheelchair-user to be independent of wheelchairs, enabling patients to walk
around. However, exoskeletons balancing while the model standing must be solve by
mechanical structure of a unilateral frame such as knee and ankle. The observed results
indicate the enormous potential and importance of implementation of this exoskeleton
into practice in various fields. Because of the device’s direct interaction with the human
operator, many factors are taken into consideration and the design of the model has been
done to avoid placing stress on the human body.

REFERENCES

1. Panich, S, Kinematic analysis of exoskeleton suit for human arm. (Journal of
Computer Science, 2010)
6(11), 1272.

2. Kawamoto, H. & Sankai, Y., Comfortable Power Assist Control Method for
Walking Aid by HAL-3 (Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on
System, Man, and Cybernetics, 2002).

3. Chu, A.; Kazerooni, H. & Zoss, A., On the Biomimetic Design of the Berkeley
Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX), (Proceeding of the IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2005) pp. 4345-4352, Barcelona, Spain.

4. Kazerooni, H.; Racine, J. L,; Huang, L. & Steger, R., On the Control of the
Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton (BLEEX), (Proceeding of the IEEE

154

Aiman, M.S., et al.,

International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2005) pp. 4353-4360,
ISBN 0-7803-8914-X, Barcelona, Spain.
5. Pratt, J., Krupp, B., Morse, C., and Collins, S., The RoboKnee: An Exoskeleton for
Enhancing Strength and Endurance During Walking, (IEEE Conference on
Robotics, 2004).
6. Hyon, S. H. & Cheng, G., Disturbance Rejection for Biped Humanoids, (IEEE
International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2007) pp. 2668-2675,
ISBN 1-4244-0602-1, Roma, Italy.
7. K. E. Gilbert and P. C. Callan, Hardiman I prototype, (General Electric Company,
Schenectady, NY, 1968), GE Tech. Rep. S-68-1081.
8. B. R. Fick and J. B. Makinson, Hardiman I prototype for machine augmentation
of human strength and endurance: Final report, (General Electric Company,
Schenectady, NY, 1971) GE Tech. Rep. S-71-1056.
9. Gorgey A, Sumrell R, Goetz L. Exoskeletal assisted rehabilitation after spinal
cord injury. (Atlas of Orthoses and Assistive Devices. 5th ed. Canada: Elsevier,
2018) 440-447.
10. Miller LE, Zimmermann AK, Herbert WG., Clinical effectiveness and safety of
powered exoskeleton-assisted walking in patients with spinal cord injury,
(systematic review with meta-analysis. Med Devices (Auckl) 2016) 9: 455-466
[PMID: 27042146 DOI: 10.2147/ MDER.S103102]
11. Walsh C, Endo K and Herr H 2007, A quasi-passive leg exoskeleton for load
carrying augmentation, (International Journal of Humanoid Robotics) Vol. 4, pp.
487-506
12. Referring to https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16726004/verge-next-level-
season-two-industrial-exoskeletons-ford-ekso-suitx
13. Referring to https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/feature-can-we-build-
iron-man-suit-gives-soldiers-robotic-boost

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A Gallery Walk to Remember
Juhari Sham bin Jusoh 1, a) Rosmawati binti Mohd Daud 2, b)

1,2 Kolej Profesional MARA Indera Mahkota, 25200 Kuantan, Pahang, MALAYSIA

a) [email protected] b)[email protected]

ABSTARCT

Gallery Walk is a favourite kinaesthetic learning activity. Many students get
bored with the traditional teaching of grammar and they do not want to use traditional
course books which are not related with the context and their aims. The present paper aims
to investigate the effectiveness of using a Gallery Walk in the teaching of Parts of Speech.
By using Gallery Walk as a grammar learning activity for Parts of Speech, this kinaesthetic
activity gives teachers opportunities to extend the concepts and at the same time it includes
students in the lesson as peer’s partners. Students become more active and independence
participants in their learning. Result of the assessment also showed the positive impact of
this teaching and learning activity.

Keywords: Gallery Walk; Motivation; Parts of Speech; Grammar

INTRODUCTION

The past two centuries have shown that the teaching of grammar had been the
content for language teaching and the organising principal for curriculum or materials
development. In fact, as Rutherford (1987) pointed out, it had often been tantamount to
foreign language teaching. Based on pedagogical approaches, the structural syllabus was
the only way of organising a language course. The idea of second or foreign language
instruction was to enable the learner to be able to use the forms of the target language
correctly.

Traditional grammars include only morphology and syntax. Prabhu (1972) (cited
by Beretta & Davies, 1985) adds that English grammar is the study of rules governing the
use of the English language. Grammars of English can be either prescriptive or descriptive.
Traditional grammar, which is the collection of ideas about grammar, that Western
societies have received from Greek and Roman sources lead to prescriptive grammar.
Prescriptive grammars are usually based on the prestige dialects of a speech community,
and often specifically ignore certain constructions which are common normally among
lower socioeconomic groups, such as the use of "wanna" and double negatives in English.

Though prescriptive grammars remain quite common in pedagogy and foreign
language instruction, they have fallen out of favor in modern academic linguistics, as they
represent only a limited subset of how people actually acquire a language. (Prabhu, 1972:
88)

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[RQ1] The paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of using a Gallery Walk in
the teaching of Parts of Speech. It is believed that Gallery Walk as a kinaesthetic grammar
learning activity for Parts of Speech, gives teachers opportunities to extend the concepts.
This activity also includes students in the lesson as peer’s partners. [RQ2] To what extend
this activity gives positive impact to the students’ achievement in the lesson?

LITERATURE REVIEW

Delgado (2015) has extracted from the book of 60 Strategies for Improving
Reading Comprehension in Grades K-8 by Jonson (2006) that A Gallery Walk is an
activity that allows participants/students to discuss and display their final work around a
room much like artists would display their artistic pieces in an “exhibit.” It is a way that
participants/students can share their group work projects or individual literary responses to
a text in a non-threatening way with the assurance of getting some feedback from their
learning community.

Hogan and Cernusca (2011) indicated that students perceived Gallery Walks as
significantly more involving than the lecture of the class. While Mulyani (2014) has
mentioned in her study in term of students’ achievement, that there was a significant
difference between students who were taught by using Gallery Walk and students who
were taught by using conventional method.

Ajayakumar (2015) added in his study that Gallery Walk provides an opportunity to
gauge prior knowledge, skills, and misconceptions. The existing conceptual framework of
students can be challenged and, if faulty, corrected during the "report out" phase of the
Gallery Walk. This statement supported by Stephanie (2015) who defined that Gallery
walk is an active teaching strategy that gets students out of their seats and moving around
the classroom to different learning stations that display artifacts related to the class
activities. A gallery walk is a good way to assess what students have learned about the
content being taught.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this study, thirty students (30) were chosen as the sample for the research. The
selection of these students was based on the convenient sampling as they were chosen
based on the fact that they are studying in the researcher’s workplace that is Kolej
Profesional MARA, where the study was conducted. They were distributed to several
groups according to the different Parts of Speech. Each group is responsible to prepare the
poster that contains all the required information and knowledge according to their
respective topic namely nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, preposition, article, adverb,
conjunction and interjection.

The instructor prepares several discussion questions. Student teams in a Gallery
Walk typically number three to five. However, since the lesson is for Parts of Speech, it is
an advantage to form many groups or station according to Parts of Speech in English

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grammar lesson. Hence, for a class of thirty students write four to five questions. The
questions can be repeated the same set of four to five questions, posting the same question
set in different sections of the class. Questions can gauge knowledge and comprehension or
can tap higher order thinking skills involving analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Figure 1: The Diagram of Gallery Walk Rotation Technique for Parts of Speech
Questions are posted on different stations on classroom walls, placed on pieces of

paper on desks in different locations around class. The information about the topics also
was was presented using the poster created by each respective group. Plan on sufficient
space for groups to congregate and discuss questions. At each posted question a student
team reviews what previous groups have written and adds new content. After a short
period of time, say three to five minutes but the exact time will depend upon the nature of
the question, say rotate.

The group then rotates, clockwise, to the next station. The rotation continues until
all posted questions are addressed. As students discuss questions, the instructor can
circulate around the classroom, clarifying questions, gauging student understanding, and
addressing misconceptions. Write down any misconceptions or lapses in student
understanding and address these problems before the end of the activity.

In such a way, Gallery Walk becomes a valuable tool for informal assessment.
Here, the instructor or teacher can be functioned as a monitor and also a facilitator for each
station built by students. When the group returns to the station where it started, the group
synthesizes comments and makes an oral report, the reports out phase of Gallery Walk, to
the class. This stage of the Gallery Walk is a great chance for involving the entire class in
discussion and to address misconceptions.

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Figure 2. Conceptual Framework of the Study

Figure 2 shows the conceptual framework of the study with the concept that is based
on Francek (2016) which the rotation diagram in Figure 1 is extended to what activities can
be immersed and embedded. The impact of the lesson activity can be described at the end.
Students’ involvement and engagement of the use of this activity in ESL classroom can be
determined. This conceptual framework also explains the feature of the activity that
contribute to the positive impact and other positive traits of students throughout the activity
take part. This study is an attempt to investigate effectiveness of using a Gallery Walk in
the teaching of Parts of Speech, and to what extend this activity gives positive impact to
the students’ achievement in the lesson?

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1: Individual Students’ Assessment of Parts of Speech

Students Nouns and Verb and AdjectivesPrepositionConjunction Article and Total %
Pronouns Adverb Interjection
Student 1 (15) (15) (10) (10) (10) (10) (70) 81
Student 2 81
Student 3 13 11 8 9 7 10 58 79
Student 4 84
Student 5 12 12 8 8 8 10 58 84

13 11 6 8 7 10 55

13 12 8 8 8 10 59

15 10 7 8 9 10 59

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Student 6 14 13 7 9 9 10 62 89

Student 7 12 12 8 9 9 10 60 86

Student 8 14 12 6 7 9 10 58 81

Student 9 14 11 8 8 9 10 60 86

Student 10 13 13 8 7 9 10 60 86

Student 11 13 12 8 8 9 10 60 86

Student 12 13 12 7 7 9 10 58 81

Student 13 13 11 6 7 9 10 56 80

Student 14 13 12 7 6 9 10 57 81

Student 15 13 12 8 7 9 10 59 84

Student 16 14 11 7 8 10 10 60 86

Student 17 11 12 8 7 8 10 56 80

Student 18 12 11 8 8 8 10 57 81

Student 19 11 12 7 7 7 10 54 77

Student 20 12 11 8 8 8 10 57 81

Student 21 12 13 8 9 7 10 59 84

Student 22 13 12 7 8 8 10 58 81

Student 23 14 12 8 8 10 10 62 89

Student 24 14 11 8 7 8 10 58 81

Student 25 14 12 7 8 8 10 59 84

Student 26 14 12 8 7 8 10 59 84

Student 27 15 12 8 8 10 10 63 90

Student 28 12 11 9 7 7 10 56 80

Student 29 13 14 9 7 8 10 61 87

Student 30 11 13 9 9 7 10 59 84

[RQ1] Table 1 shows the results of the individual scores for the assessment at the

end of all Gallery Walk activities were taken. From the data obtained majority of the
students or 93.33% showed the total percentage of the score more than 80%. All students
recorded the highest score that they did all the correct answers for one of the sub-topic of
the assessment namely article and interjection. Based on the observation probably, this is
the activity that can be manipulated easily to the simplest and easiest parts of speech,
which many students gained to score. This finding proved that Gallery Walk activities used
in teaching and learning of grammar specifically Parts of Speech with the all tasks in the
particular activity to answer the Parts of Speech assessments did bring positive effect to
students’ achievement.

With regards to the margin of score among students, the lowest score was 77% that
student 19 did answer only 54 out of 70 correct answers. Generally, it can be said that
students’ involvement and engagement in all sub-activities in the gallery Walk technique,
they can improve and retain their grammar performance specifically Parts of Speech. The
purpose of this study is to investigate how gallery walk can be used as a teaching and
learning technique for lesson of Parts of speech. The result of Parts of Speech assessment
after the end of the gallery walk activity showed and proved this technique gave positive
impact to the students in terms of their score in the assessment given. This study reinforces
previous study by Perez (2014), that the Gallery Walk is an activity that allows the students
to actively generate and display their ideas around the classroom in an interactive way.

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International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
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Taylor. P (2011) also added this alternative approach to problems, because students are
exposed to a variety of perspectives posted at different discussion "stations".

[RQ2] What are other traits and positive impact that can be obtained from the
teaching of Parts of Speech by using this Gallery Walk technique? To answer this question,
the result of the students’ reflection on their learning experiences, what impacts they
gained during the Gallery walk implementation and positive attitude towards the activity.
students were asked to indicate either “yes” or “no” for their answer. The researcher used
the close-ended type of questions because it is easy for low proficiency students to
understand them. There is a total of 10 questions in this section and all are related to the
students’ perception and what are their perceptions and reflection towards Gallery Walk.
The analysis was done using quantitative method. Percentages and means were used to
analyse the data and identify students’ perception and reflection towards Gallery Walk
activity for teaching Parts of Speech.

Table 2: Students’ General Perceptions and Reflections of Gallery Walk

No. Items Yes (%) No (%)

Knowledge/Attitude/General Perception 0 100
90 10
1. Have you involved any Gallery Walk activity before this? 97 3
2. Was Gallery Walk interesting? 90 10
3. Does Gallery Walk help you to understand Parts of Speech? 97 0
4. Would you recommend Gallery Walk for other grammar lessons? 93 7
5. Does Gallery Walk motivate you to learn English? 97 0
6. Gallery Walk motivates me very much because it involves movement
7. Gallery Walk motivates me very much because I can work in team 87
8. I feel positive with Gallery Walk 3
9. I feel neutral with Gallery Walk 0
10. I feel negative with Gallery Walk

Figure 3: Individual Students’ Assessment of Parts of Speech

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Table 2 and Figure 3 showed the results for the students’ general perceptions and
reflection of using Gallery Walk as kinesthetic grammar learning activity. It was
interesting to know that to what extent, the students were familiar with this activity so that
the items revealed the score 100% of students have never involved in this activity before.
As to trigger the opinion of students’ feedback on Gallery Walk, there are also all students
said yes that Gallery Walk is interesting while only small score said no for that. While the
vast majority also as previous item of the questionnaire that agreed this activity contributed
to the knowledge of the lesson which can be said that there is something to learn in the
activity. It showed that, majority students said yes that they learnt Parts of Speech from
this activity. 90% of them recommended Gallery Walk as one of many ways of interesting
learning technique.

The researcher also indicated certain questions in the items to find out their intrinsic
motivation and attitude towards the activity in their ESL classroom. Almost all students
agreed that Gallery Walk motivated them to learn English through this activity. To clarify
and to figure out to what extent that these students feel motivated by using this technique
of teaching and a way of learning, the researcher decided to test that component of the item
with knowledge, attitude and their general perception.

The findings were reversed in the case of students’ knowledge. More than half of
the students were very interested in developing competence. This indicated that Gallery
Walk helped them understanding more about the lesson. Meanwhile, teamwork looked also
the higher score which is 97% of them. This might have related to the kinesthetic learning
activity that embedded in this teaching and learning. They prefer a movement rather than
just stay on their chair and listen to the lecture. The majority of those who evaluate this
activity responded with the positive feeling that is 87% of students. What a more, is no one
of the students felt negative towards this activity. However, there is a tiny proportion
which 3% felt that Gallery Walk was neutral. The very significant finding from this
research was the case of their knowledge. It showed the effectiveness of using Gallery
Walk technique as one of the teaching and learning methods. This explained also that the
way may be a bit time-consumed and spacious though, but the students seemed to
cooperate and work in team to learn through Gallery Walk in their way of learning parts of
speech. A common chalk and talk traditional grammar teaching can be replaced with this
student-centered activity.

A common view by Hogan and Cernusca (2011) indicated that

“…students perceived Gallery Walks as significantly more involving than the

lecture of the class…” can be a conclusion of this study.

In conversation or informal interview with students as participants, it was
discovered that students feel more comfortable in this activity since there was more peers
partner involvement and teamwork which make more confident and uphold their
willingness to participate in any questions and answered in the activity.

SA Conference Proceeding: Industrial Revolution 4.0 Vol.1, Issue 01 (2020) 156-163
International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
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CONCLUSION

Gallery Walk is a common activity that does not need more modern equipment. It is
only an integrated activity among students for a lesson that promotes the use of
higher‐order thinking skills like analysis, evaluation, and synthesis when they are assigned
to be responsible with the topic given in their station. Students are approached to group
interaction movement from station to station and exposed to a variety of perspectives
posted at different discussion stations. Team building, fosters persuasive argument, and
encourages consensus as students work together to accurately represent group members’
ideas at different junctures are parts of advantages of the Gallery Walk.

REFERENCES

1. Ain Ratna Mulyani (2014) Teaching Written Announcement through Gallery Walk
Journal of English Language Teaching.

2. Ajyakumar (2015) Identification of the Hard Spots in learning organic chemistry at
Higher Secondary level and developing select strategies for its remediation
retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10603/184565

3. Delgado (2015) extracted from 60 Strategies for Improving Reading
Comprehension in Grades K-8 by Jonson (2006)

4. Francek, Mark (2016) Promoting Discussion in the Science Classroom Using
Gallery Walks. Journal of College Science Teaching retrieved from
http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=52391.

5. Gonchar, Michael. (2014) 50 Ways to Teach with Current Events. The New York
Times. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/50 waystoteachcurrentevents/

6. Hogan, John Patrcik and Cernisca, Dan. (2011) Integrating Gallery Walks and
Wikis in a Synergic Instructional Activity: An Exploratory Study of Students’
Perception. American Society for Engineering Education

7. Palmer, C. Barbara, Mary L. Hafner, and Marylin F. Sharp. (1994) Developing
Cultural Literacy through the Writing Process. Massachusetts.

8. Prabhu, N.S. (1987). Second Language Pedagogy. Oxford: OUP.
Retrived from http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/what.html

9. Rutherford, William E. (1999) English in Biological Science: English in Focus
Series.

10. Stephanie (2015) Pedagogical Practices—Gallery Walk
retrieved from scholarsphere.psu.edu

11. Palupi, Fiqih Nindya. (2011) Classroom Magazine as a Project Work to Motivate
Students to Improve Their Writing Skill. FBS Unnes.

12. Saleh, M. (2011) Linguistics and Educational Research. Semarang State
University.

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Post-internship Skills Gap Identification among Malaysian Engineering Students

Noor Azwani Zakaria1,a,*), Seriaznita Mat Said1,b) and Sarimah Shamsudin1,c)

1Faculty of Social Sciences
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur

E-mail:
a,*)[email protected],b),[email protected]),[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Internship is one of the linkages programmes between higher learning institutions and the
industries where it has become a common practice for students to undergo work-based
trainings prior graduation to hone their skills and to experience real workplace trainings.
Apart from providing on-job trainings, such practice has helped students to develop range
of skills needed to perform in real workplaces. Numbers of studies have been conducted
to identify the skills that are needed by the employers as means to inform and improvise
higher learning institutions’ academic practice however the perspectives of students are
often overlooked. Furthermore, surveys conducted to represent general characteristics of
a population, which might lack in-depth explanation that helps frame further actionable
plans. Hence, this study seeks to identify the post-internship skills gap from the
perspectives of Malaysian engineering students through qualitative approach. Thematic
analysis of final internship reports has been conducted to identify the skills gap which
encompass the in-depth discussion on the skills that are needed by the employers or to
perform tasks effectively, and the skills deemed to be useful for future professional
development. Through students’ reflective writing analysis, the findings indicate that
internship fostered numbers of skills which are perceived crucial for Malaysian
engineering students’ professional development. As a conclusion, the identification of
skills gap through the lens of students’ perspective as means to improvise current practice
of internship in the higher learning institution is put forth and highlighted through
qualitative analysis.

Keywords: Internship; Engineering students; Professional skills reflection; Reflective
writing

INTRODUCTION

Internship is a programme where higher education institutions’ (HEI) students undergo
work-based training for a certain time prior graduation in effort to prepare them for
professional world (Salleh et al., 2019). Not only it is beneficial for the students, HEIs
also benefit from the programme too as feedback from the industries provide beneficial
input or data that could be used to understand the strengths and weaknesses or their
current curriculum structure (Rajadurai et al., 2018). For industries, the training provides
a venue to screen future work candidates who have required knowledge and various skills
which are important to function in workplace settings.

Zakaria, N. A., et al.,

In engineering field, Liu et al. (2018) pointed out that internship helps develop
students’ learning experience and professional growth in two main areas; knowledge and
skills development which are mainly facilitated by authentic workplace experiences. In
recent years, many studies have emphasized the importance of development of soft skills
both from academic and industries' perspectives (Berglund and Heintz, 2014) which
include communication skills, teamwork and lifelong learning, which further increase
employability among engineering graduates (Pereira et al., 2016, Rajadurai et al., 2018,
Ramadi et al., 2015).

In Malaysian context, apart from having good technical knowledge and skills, an
example of the skill that is deemed important for engineering graduates to secure jobs is
communication skills (Singh et al., 2014). As Berglund & Heintz (2014) pointed out,
communication involves verbal and non-verbal speech which map across four skills of
language such as reading, listening, speaking and writing. Malaysian Productivity
Corporation’s 2017 report highlighted the needs to address the competency gaps
especially in regards to improving English proficiency level and soft skills issues
especially among engineering graduates (Salleh et al., 2019).

Numerous studies and mass-scale surveys have been conducted in higher education
fields to identify graduates’ job readiness, abilities and general employability
characteristics and great emphasis is put in equipping graduates for professional work
opportunities (Moore and Morton (2017). Through surveys, high number of respondents
provides big volume of data which helps researchers make better generalisation of a
population, but such practice does not provide in depth explanation of certain
phenomenon. Understanding the problem is undeniably important but for actions to be
taken, educators need to know what are the real problems that are faced by Malaysian
students as different fields of studies require different set of skills. In this study,
qualitative analysis of engineering students’ internship reports is conducted to identify
the skills gap. Attention is given to understand development of technical skills as well as
soft skills by analysing reports which represent students’ voices. This study is set to seek
answers for the following questions:

1. What are the skills gaps that could be identified from Malaysian engineering students’
internship report?

2. How does internship enhance professional skills development among Malaysian
engineering students?

LITERATURE REVIEW

The importance of enhancing various skills development among graduates has made
internship programme as the learning platform for higher learning institutions (Mahfud
et al., 2017). Internship has played a vital role in many engineering programmes where it
is often made as one of graduating requirements however not much work has been done
on understanding how such practice has influenced and gives impact on the overall
students’ learning experience and professional development (Liu et al., 2018). In many
instances, internships across different field of study aim to equip students with skills set
that are demanded by the employers while enhancing strategic partnership between HEI

165

Zakaria, N. A., et al.,

and local industries (Liu et al., 2018, Rajadurai et al., 2018). By gathering information
from the professional environment, students would be able to identify the needed skills
to complete tasks and responsibilities, which could expose the specific skills gap between
what they have learned in classrooms to what they need to have to perform professionally
(Mello et al., 2017).

As the nature of engineering field has evolved to be more collaborative and to
respond to the rise of interdisciplinary needs, soft skills have become one of necessary
skills to master. However, Berglund and Heintz (2014) stated many engineering
educations had failed in providing soft skills training. This view is supported by Deveci
and Nunn (2018) who claimed that professional engineers need range of soft skills to
succeed as life-long learners however little attention has been given to enhance
communication skills in engineering curricular.

In similar stance, a study by Salleh et al. (2019) reported that Malaysian graduates
generally still lack in technical knowledge and skills, personal characteristics and
attributes that include communication skills, critical thinking and problem solving
abilities. Mahfud et al.'s (2017) study suggested that the soft skills learning and
acquisition during internship has not been widely acknowledged although the significance
and benefits have widely been recognised. It is thus imperative for engineering educators
to see this as an opportunity to better equip future engineering graduates with necessary
soft skills that could help them perform in professional context.

METHODOLOGY

Institutional background and participants of study

This study was conducted in a Malaysian higher technical learning institution which
specialises in electronics engineering field. Students from this institute are required to
undergo internship programme during the final semester of their study and it is one of
graduating requirements. The duration of the internship is twenty weeks and at the end of
the programme, they need to submit final internship report following the provided
guidelines and prompt questions. Samples from eighteen final internship reports for the
year 2018 were obtained with permission, reports were randomly selected and analysed
pertaining to the objectives and questions of the study.

Samples and data analysis procedure
Thematic analysis was conducted on students’ reflective writing samples. Braun and
Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis framework was used to identify the themes of skills that
are perceived important by the students to perform in workplaces and how internship
serves as platform for professional development. As reflective writing is a product of
experiential learning (Berglund and Heintz, 2014), it could be taken as authentic evidence
of students’ personal experiences. Rajadurai et al. (2018) stated by reflecting upon
experiences, students could learn whether their actions and thoughts have met the
expectations and the norms of real workplaces.

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Reports were read several times to identify the emerging themes from the reports.

Themes are divided into two main categories: technical skills and soft skills, as Berglund
& Heintz (2014, p.4) puts it, “the engineering profession requires soft skills” justifies the

study to explore the reports from this perspective. Quotes collected are discussed to shed
light in understanding Malaysian engineering students’ voices pertaining to skills gap and

professional development during internship training. Pseudo names were used to

represent the different identities of student authors which reports were used for this study.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1. Skills Gap Identification from Malaysian Engineering Students’ Internship

Report

Internship experience allows integration of knowledge and real-job tasks which helps
forming pre-professional identity and personal judgement that marks positive
professional development among students (Mello et al., 2017, Pereira et al., 2016). This
study intends to understand the difference of the students’ skills expectation and the real
workplace skills demand during the training. As pointed out by Ramadi et al. (2015,
p.12), “a larger skill gap represented greater room for improvement in a skill area”, the
gap could be seen as an opportunity to understand the strengths, as well as the weaknesses
of HEIs engineering programmes.

In reference to Table 1, a student’s knowledge in programming and robotics which
had been learned in the institution had prepared them for the real work’s tasks and
employers’ expectation. This might suggest that engineering students obtain enough
training in programming thus lessening the gap between students’ and employers’ skills

expectation during internship. However, another example shows a skills gap when there
is difference between students’ knowledge and workplace demands which could be an

indicator that what the industry needs could be different from what is provided by HEIs

curriculum thus suggesting HEIs to keep abreast with technological advancements and

industrial demands.

Table 1: Technical skills needed in engineering workplace.

Skill Quote

1. Programming “C++ is not that much difference from C, so I do not have any difficulties in learning

skills it. I was provided with a file and notes about C++ language programming” – Sarah

2. Installation “This thing (Fiber to the Home (FTTH) installation) challenges me because they (the
skills
company) have changed the standard of installation and material used which is
different from the (learned) syllabus” – Tiqa

3. Robotic skills “The task (robot’s electronic assembly) is very suitable and fit with my course which
most of the things I learnt in the class need to be applied when carrying out the task”
– Puteri

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Table 2 describes soft skills that are needed in workplace during the internship
programme. However, the discussion is limited to only the discussion of English
communication skills as other skills mentioned across the reports were mainly non-
explicitly taught in the institution and they are rather embedded in the teaching and
activities such as discipline, teamwork and punctuality.

Table 2: Soft skills needed in engineering workplace.

Skill Quote

English "…now I admit English language is important. Everything need to be in English, I
communication implemented it 100%. …manual, booklet, tender, poster, slide, application that I need

skills to edit, and use are all in English. Even in my monthly report and communication for
formal also need to talk in English especially with foreign staff" – Tiqa

"I use (English) when I make presentation, and (when) I have interview with other
company. I also communicate with customers using English" – Aqilah

“Lecturers need to encourage students to master English because it is important to
communicate with senior officers or engineers as well as systems that use English as
they are brought in from abroad” – Kimi

The analysis found that all students’ reports samples reported the importance of English
communication skills in workplaces as they were required to use them in professional
engineering context. Numerous studies have highlighted the importance of mastering
English oral communication skill as it is demanded by employers and it helps individuals
to perform better in workplaces (Mohamed and Asmawi, 2018). On the same stance,
Berglund and Heintz (2014) had suggested that presentation skills as central to
engineering profession thus it is important for students to learn how to convey information
clearly and effectively. As argued by Mahfud et al. (2017), the real work field demand is
the factor that helps facilitate the learning and acquisition of soft skills among students
during internship programmes. From this understanding, it is imperative for engineering
programmes to highly consider effective teaching and learning practice in English as it is
evident that mastering the language skills is important to perform in engineering
professional workplaces.

2. Professional Skills Development Among Malaysian Engineering Students

" …I should be fluent in English. This is because of industrial and academic client might have
problems understanding Malay. Therefore, I need to communicate with them in English
comprehensively"- Aimi

In the above excerpt, the professional needs to communicate with clients in English
and the use of the language to solve arising problems have led the student to believe that
he needs to be a fluent user of the language in order to perform tasks effectively. This

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finding supports a study by Singh et al. (2014) revealed that Malaysian instructors and
employers regard communication skills as the most important employability skill. As
pointed out by Mohamed and Asmawi (2018), English communication skills is one of
crucial factors that could determine marketability and employability among Malaysian
graduates thus highlights the importance of mastering the skills especially among
Malaysian engineering students. Not only the mastery of technical skill, possessing
necessary soft skills is crucial for engineering profession thus a good balance of both
skills are crucial (Berglund and Heintz, 2014, Ramadi et al., 2015)

"It will be a waste if student do not choose a company that are suitable for them which means the
characteristic of the company are not related to students’ interest or learned (in the institution)" –
Azam.

A student also noted the importance of deciding the right placement for internship
that could help enhance engineering knowledge and skills. This is an important personal
post-internship realisation that shows the importance of professional identity
development and a sign of professional awareness that such awareness could lessen the
skills gap and mismatch among graduates upon graduation. As pointed out by Ahmad et
al. (2018), internship enables students to acquire knowledge and professional skills which
empower themselves to be competitive in the real job market.

In all examples put forth in the discussion, given the opportunity to reflect on their
past actions during internship, Malaysian engineering students were able to evaluate the
needs and demands of professional engineering workplace and chart necessary actions
for further improvements. This concurs with a general definition of reflection proposed
by Mackenzie (2019, p.2) that states the practice as “deliberate thinking about action with
a view to its improvement”. Mello et al. (2017) stated that students’ responses when
evaluating their internship experiences should be taken as signals that HEIs could take on
improving their current practices especially in addressing the needs to equip students with
necessary employment skills, especially the acquisition of soft skills that are frequently
highlighted in numbers of studies pertaining to engineering education and employability.

By recognising the importance of mastering certain knowledge or skills, student
could take appropriate action to prepare themselves for future employment opportunities.
Such information will benefit the HEIs by allowing allocations of resources, time and
efforts to enhance skills needed by the job market thus making sound decisions to improve
their curriculum structure and offering relevant courses that could produce more
marketable graduates. However, Mello et al. (2017) pointed out that the compact and
intensive nature of engineering curriculum structure in many HEIs poses great challenge
for engineering instructors and students to learn or acquire non-technical skills especially
the second language learning context. This could be one of the issues that should be
weighed in when trying to find practical solutions for this issue.

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CONCLUSION

Internship programme provides learning opportunities in both cognitive and affective
domains which are important for a holistic learning experience (Liu et al., 2018).
Mohamed & Asmawi (2018) suggested that voices from multiple stakeholders which
include learning institutions, industries, students and societies are needed in reforming
engineering education, especially in effort to develop dynamic and responsive curriculum
structure. In engineering context, Rajadurai et al. (2018) believed that students’ smooth
transition from classroom to workplaces could be facilitated by equipping future
graduates with relevant TVET skillsets that are carefully and strategically planned in
engineering programmes. By understanding the students’ perspectives pertaining their
work-based learning experience, much information could be gathered to help HEIs make
informed decisions to improve future practice. Effective communication between all
stakeholders is important to address this issue (Mello et al., 2017, Salleh et al., 2019) and
efforts to improve the situation need to be put in proper actions.

REFERENCES

Ahmad, M. F., Hisyam, M., Ali, M., & Sulaiman, Z. (2018). Employability Skills
Through Industrial Training : Employers’ perspective. Journal of Social Science
and Humanities, 1(5), 1–5.

Berglund, A., & Heintz, F. (2014). Integrating Soft Skills into Engineering Education
for Increased Student Throughput and more Professional Engineers, (december).
Retrieved from https://www.ida.liu.se/divisions/aiics/publications/PIK-2014-
Integrating-Soft-Skills.pdf

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative
Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

Deveci, T., & Nunn, R. (2018). Intrapersonal Communication As a Lifelong Learning.
Journal of Higher Education, 8(1), 68–77.

Liu, Q., Kovalchuk, S., Rottman, C., & Reeve, D. (2018). Engineering Co-op and
Intenrship Experiences and Outcomes: The Roles of Workplaces, Academic
Institutions and Students. In Proc. 2018 Canadian Engineering Education
Association (CEEA-ACEG18) Conf. ENGINEERING (pp. 1–11).

Mackenzie, L. (2019). Investigating reflection in written assignments on CELTA
courses. ELT Journal, 73(1), 11–20.

Mahfud, T., Jati, B. K., & Mulyani, Y. (2017). Soft Skill Competency Map for the
Apprenticeship Programme in the Indonesian Balikpapan Hospitality. Journal of
Technical Education and Training, 9(2), 16–34.

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Mello, A. J. R., Mello, J. A. V. B., Quirino Da Silva Souza, K., De Souza, A. L. L.,
Alegre Da Gama Afonso, H. C., Luiz Da Cruz Barbosa De Souza, B., & Peixoto,
A. (2017). University-enterprise cooperation for talent development: The case of
supervised internship in a Brazilian engineering university. IEEE Global
Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON, (April), 969–976.

Mohamed, A., & Asmawi, A. (2018). Understanding Engineering Undergraduates ’
Technical Oral Presentation : Challenges and Perspectives. International Journal
of Language Education and Applied Linguistics (IJLEAL), 08(1), 41–53.

Moore, T., & Morton, J. (2017). myth of job readiness ? Written communication ,
employability , Studies in Higher Education The and the ‘ skills gap ’ in higher
education. Studies in Higher Education, 42(3), 591–609.

Pereira, I. M. B., Silva, P., Esteves, M. T. S., Ribeiro, M. M., Guedes, A., Leão, C. P.,
& Soares, F. (2016). Students’ expectations analysis before and after a curricular
internship. In Fourth International Conference on Technmological Ecosystems for
Enhancing Multiculturality. (pp. 113–119).

Rajadurai, J., Sapuan, N. M., Daud, S., & Abidin, N. (2018). The Marketability of
Technical Graduates from Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) Offering
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET): A Case from Malaysia.
Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 27(2), 137–144.

Ramadi, E., Ramadi, S., & Nasr, K. (2015). Engineering graduates’ skill sets in the
MENA region: a gap analysis of industry expectations and satisfaction. European
Journal of Engineering Education, 41(1), 34–52.

Salleh, N. M., Mapjabil, J., & Legino, R. (2019). The Transition from Graduation to
Work. Springer Singapore.

Singh, P., Thambusamy, R. X., & Ramly, M. A. (2014). Fit or Unfit? Perspectives of
Employers and University Instructors of Graduates’ Generic Skills. Procedia - Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 123, 315–324.

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SA Conference Proceeding: Industrial Revolution 4.0 Vol.1, Issue 01 (2020) 172-180
International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
Copyright © 2020 Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) Kemaman
E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

School-Based Substance use Prevention Programs, Formulated Education
Modules

Nor Shadira Binti Jamaluddin

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Objective: To survey the need analysis for developed the substance abuse prevention
element for an educational module. The aims were to determine what elements are needed
to include on prevention module. Methods: The questionnaire was given to 120
counselors to answer the need analysis survey, and the results were interpreted using
SPSS. The literature from a few years ago researches also were reviewed. This study
evaluated a school-based intervention in reducing substance use among adolescents. A
few elements in school-based prevention program discussed. Data were collected from
the literature review and need analysis. Result: From the data achieved the needs for
education modules formulated and discussed. An element in Life Skill Training dan
resilience intervention is the best element in the substances abuse module. The result in
the literature review shows that Life skill training gave a high impact on the intervention
program. Conclusion: Counsellor needs to developed effective early and indicated
intervention for youth to developed their life skill and resilience. Practice
implementation: From the need analysis showed that the prevention dan education
module for substance abuse need to developed for adolescent and youth prevention and
education nowadays.

1. INTRODUCTION

Teenagers are the generation that will be our future leader. Various hopes rest on their
shoulders so that they can contribute to the well-being of the nation as a whole. However,
the fact is that in recent times, various parties have begun to worry about various social
symptoms that have plagued adolescents and ended up destroying the morals and beliefs
of teenagers today. Most prevalent problem and common issues among youth and
adolescence is substance abuse. It includes drug abuse, alcohol, tobacco, and other
substance abuse. Substance abuse has a significant impact on society, such as families,
the school community, and the individual itself. (Sussman, Skara, & Ames, 2008). Its
effects a cumulative, as it contributes to mental health problems, physical effect, and
costly social.

Drugs can be defined as a type of chemical, whether natural or artificial, when injected
into the body, inhaled, smoked, or consumed can alter a person's body or organism
physically or mentally (Noor, 2015). There has been a concerted effort over 20 decades
for implementation in school an effective drug abuse prevention approached (Botvin,
2000). Studies on social behavior among young people are needed to help countries to

Jamaluddin, N. S.

provide better social development behavior for future youth life. (Ibrahim, Rosmidah
Jaafar, Tsuey Chong, & Koh Choon Lian, 2017). Adolescents are a national asset, and if
they do not behave well, they need to be intervened to behave responsibly. School
environment and setting are very well suited to implement the prevention program
because the school has access to large numbers of youth during the years that many began
to experiment with substance abuse (Botvin, 2000). For example, Substance Abuse
programs (SAP) programs in AI/AN communities vary widely in their use of theory,
implementation strategies, view, and definition of cultural constructs, overall evaluation
rigor, and reporting methods.

The domain of social, environmental factors is important in understanding adolescents'
involvement in substance abuse and should be given attention in designing and
developing prevention programs. The implications of the study about prevention suggest
that any policy or the development of substance abuse prevention modules among
adolescents should focus on aspects of reducing risk in social, environmental factors such
as school conditions and non-conducive community factors. (Rozmi, Nor Azri, Fauziah,
& Salina, 2017). Prevention programs consist of a variety of approaches and methods
such as psychoeducation, life skill training, counseling session, cases study, role model,
and visiting program.

2. METHODOLOGY

2.1 Participants

The survey conducted among 120 counselors around the country. The survey distributed
through google form to the closed group of the counselor.

2.2 Educational Intervention and Prevention in Substance Abuse

According to the Dictionary of the Council (2010), prevention has a meaning (medical
and otherwise) prevent, enforce, reject, control (supervision). According to the Dictionary
of Psychology (2009), prevention means to keep something from happening. Preventive
and developmental early intervention can help identify the characteristics of at-risk
adolescents and subsequently undertake preventative efforts to help the adolescent avoid
engaging in problematic behaviors such as sexual abuse, school drop-out, drug abuse and
involved in a group of delinquent peers (Lau, 2013).

Substance Abuse Prevention and education is about the information and the development
of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable young people to make effective choices
which will help them to live happy, healthy, successful lives, now and in the future. Drug
education considers all drugs, including medicines, volatile substances, alcohol, and
tobacco (Hargreaves, 2016).

Substance abuse—concept and process—as opposed to misuse involves an accumulation
of negative consequences. Substance abuse, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) is a maladaptive
pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress as
manifested in 12 months by at least one of four criteria. (1) Recurrent substance use

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resulting in failure to fulfill major obligations at work, school, or home (e.g., poor
performance at school or work, neglect of children or younger siblings); (2) recurrent
substance use in hazardous situations (e.g., driving while intoxicated); (3) recurrent
substance-related legal problems (e.g., DUIs); and (4) continued substance use despite
having recurrent interpersonal problems related to substance use (e.g., arguments with
family members about consequences of intoxication). These criteria primarily
conceptualized for application to an adult population. (Sussman et al., 2008).

2.2.1 Component of the intervention

From the Literature Review, there are so many approached are used widely regarding
prevention for substance abuse. Understanding the social influence, developing
interpersonal skill and life skill include a component of normative education, such as
correcting misperception how acceptable substance abuse misuse is common among the
young people’s peer group.

The approaches which appear to be most effective are those based on understanding social
influences and developing life skills. These include a normative education component:
correcting misperceptions about how common and acceptable substance misuse is among
the young people’s peer group. They also teach interpersonal skills to help handle
situations where alcohol or drugs are available. Examples with a strong evidence base
include the Life Skills Training program, developed in the United States and Unplugged,
which tested in a large-scale evaluation across several European countries. (Claire, 2013).
From this study, several suggested for prevention module discussed. From the finding
the key element to generate a prevention module achieved. Regarding (Dusenbury,
Brannigan, Falco, & Hansen, 2003), the key to understanding how successful research
translated into successful practice lies in understanding how programs and policies can
implement so that quality is maintained and the programmatic objectives intended by
program developer achieved.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The finding discussed regarding the survey result. Percentage
Table 3.1: Substance Abuse Prevention Module 18.9%
81.1%
Prevention Module
Setting with module
Setting without module

From table 3.1, only 18.9% setting has a prevention module. It shows that only a few
counselors are ready with substance abuse prevention module.81.1% counselor not have
a prevention module in their setting.

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Table 3.2: Substance Abuse Issues Jamaluddin, N. S.
Substance Abuse Issues
Percentage
Setting with Issues 72.6%
Setting without Issues 27.4%

For the Substance abuse issues, 72.6% work environment setting has an issue with
substance abuse. Its showed how important the prevention module need to develop in
every setting.

Table 3.3: Type of Substance Abuse

Type Percentage

Morphine 9%

Alcohol 5.1%

Cannabis 53.8%

Tobacco 80.8%

Methoxetamine 7.7%

From the table above, show that tobacco is the most higher type of usage among
teenagers. This use of tobacco should be avoided early on as it can lead to more serious
use of other substances abuse. Cannabis use also results in significantly higher than other
substance abuse. Perceptions of peer cannabis use, attitudes, and associated experiences
appear to be important influences in predicting personal cannabis use and attitudes
(Dempsey et al., 2016)

Legalization presents a new challenge, as marijuana gradually becomes a normal part of
the adult world, akin to alcohol. The movement toward legalization for adults provides
an opportunity to re-think our approach to teen drug education/prevention. This
legalization is the moment to examine current approaches and devise innovative,
pragmatic strategies for dealing with teens and marijuana (and other drug use)
(Rosenbaum, 2016).

Table 3.4: Counselor action agains substance abuse client

Action Percentage

Seek advisory service and cooperate with the 75%
authorities

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Resolve through a counseling session 18.5%
Surrender for the full authority 6.5%
Doing nothing
-

From the study show that 75% counselor seek advisory service and cooperation with the
authorities. The collaboration among school and the authorities is most expected.

Table 3.5: A key factor in client involvement in substance abuse

Factor Involvement Percentage

Client themselves 39.4%

Peers 29.8%

Family 6.3%

Mass media -

School environment 24.5%

The development of substance abuse disorder has generic and environmental factor
contributed A result from the above table showed that a key factor of substance abuse
among youth is the teenagers themselves. Peers also give high impact for the substance
abuse factor. Regarding (Pek, Low, Chueen, Low, & Yeong, 2005), there are several
reasons students smoke, such as displaying great images and maturity, adapted from
parenting behavior and also peer influence. School environment contributed 24.5% as a
key factor of teenagers involved in substance abuse. Family in which one has raised
influences both of these, it is important to explore the impact of substance abuse disorder
on the family. (Lander, Howsare, & Byrne, 2014).

Table 3.6: Intervention Approach

Approach Percentage

Psychoeducation 83.2%

Skill training 83.2%

Individual counseling, family counseling 83.2%

Cases study 58.9%

Role model 58.9%

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Consultation 44.2%
A visit to the rehabilitation center 45.3%

From the intervention, approach survey shows that the psychoeducation, skill training,
and counseling session are the highest approach that suitable for prevention module.
Revitalize education values by raising awareness on the importance of school culture
development. Followed by a case study and role model approached. The consultation and
visiting approach also can be implemented in the prevention module. The implementation
of a range of innovative learning strategies and methods requires counselors to
substantially adjust their way of thinking and taking actions, respond to the complexity
of problems the students face, and adapt to the development of ideas to improve the school
character education. (Elok, Rasmani, Widodo, & Wibowo, 2017). The main thrust of the
prevention curriculum is to facilitate the development of basic life skills and the
improvement of personal competence, with particular emphasis placed on coping with
social influences to engage in substance use. (Botvin, Baker, Filazzola, & Botvin, 1990).
The basic skill of life training and skill should be the best method in prevention and
education module of substance abuse and other discipline problem.

Table 3.7: Prevention Element of Skill Training

The element of Skill Training Percentage

Interpersonal 84.2%

Decision making 85.3%

Risk management 88.4%

Self-awareness 89.5%

Value Analysis and Verification 71.6%

From the analysis for prevention element of skill training, its showed that self-awareness
is a most important element that teenagers need to develop — followed by risk
management skill, decision making, interpersonal skill, and value analysis and
verification skill. Life skill training is another variant of comprehensive universal
programming. This type of programming adds material to comprehensive social
influences programming, such as coping skills and effective communication skills in
different situations (e.g., in relationship development) (Sussman et al., 2004). From the
(Brunelle, Stevent, & Fornest, 2012) study suggest that although life skills programs have
the potential to increase adolescent effectively- cents’ awareness of prosocial values and
begin the process of developing these attitudes, the enduring nature of this learning
depends on having the opportunity to put them into practice.

Self-awareness is most important component. National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) has
introduced several activities in their effort to help inculcate awareness, knowledge, and

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concern to Malaysian citizen about the hazardous sides of drugs (Ahmad et al., 2011).
One of the contributing factors towards relapse cases in drug addiction by National Anti
Drug Agency report is lack of social support from the society when they re-enter the
community (Mohamad Noor & Kumar, 2017). Teenagers nowadays need to prepare
themselves with high self-esteem to overcome the problem of less support than others.
The life skill is important for them in preparing themselves for the substance abuse threat.
Results indicated that the Life Skills program had a significant positive impact on
adolescents’prosocial values and that the community service experience positively
impacted the adolescents’levels of empathic concern and social responsibility. (Brunelle
et al., 2012)

4. CONCLUSION

4.1 Conclusion
Programs based on a combination of social competence and social influence approaches
seemed to have better results than the other categories, with effective results in preventing
marijuana use at longer follow-up, and in preventing any drug use. Knowledge-based
interventions showed no differences apart from knowledge (Faggiano, Minozzi, Versino,
& Buscemi, 2014). Although all interventions were school-based and universal, it should
be noted that the interventions also had community-based elements (Ritter, Ben, Sklad,
& Gravesteijn, 2012). The prevention and educational module of substance abuse need to
include the community-based element, also beside the few element of approached that
discussed earlier.

4.2 Practise Implication

From the need analysis showed that the prevention dan education module for substance
abuse need to developed for adolescent and youth prevention and education nowadays.

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Gamification in Learning Programming Language

Azlinda Shafie1, a) Zaleha Abdullah2, b)

1,2 School of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

a)[email protected]
b)[email protected]

ABSTRACT

In this study we present an approach for using gamification elements to increase students’ engagement and
motivation in learning Programming Language. Programming Language is one of the toughest subjects for Computer
Science students with large number of students who drop out of the course, hence finding new ways is very significant in
order to get them engage and motivate. Gamification has been recently implemented in many areas from business to
education. Gamification is defined as the use of game elements in a non-game context in increasing students’ engagement
and motivation particularly in learning Programming language. In this paper, we focus on investigation suitable game
elements to be implemented in this learning by referring to previous studies. The finding of this study propose the use of
game elements and feedback characteristic that will increase students engagement and motivation in learning
Programming Language the will be further apply in providing gamification framework in future study.

Keywords: Gamification; Game elements; Feedback; Programming language, Engagement, Motivation

INTRODUCTION

Technology is rapidly evolving and changing the way things get done across industries. 21st century has been
tremendously impact the educational industry at a global level (Costley, 2014). The fast development in technology has
led to diminishing of importance of geographical areas, culture, economics, politics and education barriers. In
education, knowledge that has been greatly imparted by educators towards learners by using various technologies has
shown a significance success (Rincon-flores, Gallardo, María, & Fuente, 2018). This suggest that educators have to
continuously innovate their teaching strategies by creatively integrate various teaching tools to enable more dynamic
classroom (Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE), 2015). This has taken shape in experiments with namely flipped
classrooms, simulation, mobile learning and gamification as well as a heavy focus on collaboration. Technology will
also promote different ways of learning by making learning more fun and enjoyable (Khalid & Wong, 2017). This
enables educators to integrate many IT tools in teaching same things but in new ways. Millennia students are the
generations that come with skills and are more attractive to technology (Sebastian Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke,
2011b). Majority of students are too dependent to their teachers in receiving information. Such dependence suppresses
students’ creativity hence many of them never get to know their ability. In serious cases, students are not allowed to
interrupt until teacher finish delivering lecture. This will hinder students interest and motivation in learning, at the
same time students might be forgotten what to be asked. Moreover, Traditional classroom encourage rote learning by
forcing students to memorize repeatedly and ignoring the importance element of learning which is stimulating senses
or mind (Li, Qi, Wang, & Wang, 2014). The most important is, when technology is changing rapidly, same goes to
education too, this indicate that the process of teaching and learning is dynamically change parallel with the technology
too (Calvo, 2015).

One example of teaching tools is digital game. Games comprise of serious games, Game Based Learning and
gamification. The popularity of digital games has been increased over the last few years (Mekler, Brühlmann, Tuch, &
Opwis, 2017). One of them is gamification has been recognized as one of the most significant ideas in teaching and
learning strategy. It had been said that gamification has long been practiced in business industry for promoting their
product by giving loyalty points and rewards. Recently, gamification has been significant in education (Khaleel,

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International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019

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E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

Ashaari, Siti, Tengku, & Ismail, 2016) and has been widely used in many areas such as health, business and social
networks (Seaborn & Fels, 2015). There are many definitions in the literature. Gamification is defined as a process of
applying game mechanics to different context of situation (Graft, 2011). A popular and common definition of
gamification is "the use of game design elements in non-game contexts" (S Deterding et al., 2011). Gamification is
implementing by adding the elements of games such as points, leader board and achievement. These elements is
inserting into tasks or activities that are usually difficult and boring and thereby make them more engaging and
compelling. Other researcher defined gamification as the process of making activities in non-game environment to
become more game-like by infusing game design elements (Sailer, Hense, Mayr, & Mandl, 2017). The purpose of
gamification is to engage and motivate students in performing tasks given by their instructors. According to
Topîrceanu (2017) gamification increases engagement, students are able to receive immediate feedback from the
application itself. Moreover, gamification increase learning retention, they are more loyal and spending more time in
learning because it is enjoyable, thus increasing their productivity. Topîrceanu (2017) in his research stated that
approximately 80% of students agree that they would be efficient if their institution implement game-like activities in
their learning. This is evident that millennia students are tend to use game-like tool in their learning as they has been
exposed to this scenario at young age, thus, proven that integrating learning with game-like pedagogy is very
significant. Hence, this paper suggests the appropriate game elements that are suitable in gamification of learning
programming language. The suitability is based on literature review from previous research and the results are the
game elements that have been group into categories. The paper is arranged in the following way. The first part
explained the difficulties and challenges in learning programming that is gathered from prior research. Second part
explaining concept related gamification and various types of game elements. Finally, the suitable game elements for
learning Programming Learning are described.

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE AND THE CHALLENGES

Computer Programming is one of the core courses offered for Computer Science major in foundation program
or bachelor degree program. This course act as a core course that give exposure of programming skills to first year
students in degree program or students in foundation year. It is one of the courses that posses with high level of
difficulties and challenges faced by majority of the students, especially in understanding the basic concept of the course
(Ding, 2019). Understanding logic of the coding and syntax is very crucial. Failure to understand logic will slow down
student’s progress in writing coding when developing project. Furthermore, students have to be creative in solving the
problems that require problem solving skill and higher order thinking skills. Writing computer programs is a basic
piece of software engineering educational modules, yet usually problematic. The high drop out and disappointment
rates in basic programming courses are all inclusive issue that roused numerous researchers to propose systems and
tools to encourage students. Albeit a portion of these tools have been accounted for to have a beneficial outcome in
students learning, the issue still remains for the most part unsolved. There are a few reasons for this learning issue.
Possibly the most critical is the absence of critical thinking that many students show. They do not know how to
program, since they do not know how to make algorithm, for the most part because of their absence of general critical
thinking capacities (Gomes & Mendes, 2014). Furthermore, classroom methodologies are still focusing on theory of
language syntax that do not magnify programming skill (Ding, 2019). Other factor that contribute to difficulty in
learning programming is lack of engagement in learning. Students have to engage and participate either in class or
online. Students refuse to participate because of low motivation. The frustration of not being able to master the syllabus
will definitely leads to low engagement participation, and fears that other programming courses will be affected
(Rahmat et al., 2012; Jenkins, 2002). Students should have high motivation in order to engage in learning. Instructor
has to be creative and dynamic in pedagogy when teaching programming language. Teaching programming language is
hard and demanding due to the nature of the course that is abstract and complex that involves concept and logic that
require strong mathematical capability (Olsson, Mozelius, & Collin, 2015; Lahtinen & Ala-mutka, 2005). Furthermore,
despite many solutions have been suggested in previous years, certainly this issue is still prevalent among students who
take programming language in first year (Astin, 1984). Alhammad & Moreno (2018) conducted research on
gamification in software engineering found that by infusing gamification in programming language is mostly
significance in improving student engagement, however only smaller extend when it comes to improving knowledge.
In another research by Azmi, Ahmad, Iahad, & Yusof (2017), reported that implementation of gamification have
positive impact in the context of developing required skills for the course. Five lecturers from Malaysia’s public
university has been interviewed in their qualitative studies. However, it has been claimed in the research that
integrating gamification programming learning is rather new and they suggested a proper design required to fulfil the
programming concept and theory (Azmi et al., 2017). Despite all the weaknesses, gamification can still be infused in
programming courses as a potential technique that could be able to increase student engagement and motivation.

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i. Low Motivation

The previous study found out that many students have a very low of motivation to study programming.
Heckhausen (1977) in his research elaborated the meaning of achievement motivation. According to him achievement
motivation is the propensity of a person to boost proficiency in the domain of quality standards as a guideline, the
standard is (1) task related standard of excellence, able to perform tasks excellently, (2) self-related standard of
excellence, differentiate of self-achievement, (3) other related standard of excellence, comparing with the achievement
of others (Weiner, Heckhausen, & Meyer, 1972). Overall, achievement motivation allow user to make comparison of
self-achievement with others. Other previous research has also indicated that students are lack of motivation. They lack
of motivation because there is a bad association connected with programming that spread among students (Gomes &
Mendes, 2007). Furthermore, programming course has been labelled as extremely difficult course. Students perceive
the course as a very hard and aspiring to this reputation, it is less likely for them to being motivated to learn the course.
Students with low intrinsic motivation is likely to fail in this course (Ng & Bereiter, 2011). According to Gomes
students’ motivation is low because teaching is not personalized. It is attractive to have a teacher constantly accessible
to permit more customized student supervision. Quick input amid critical thinking and point by point clarification of
less comprehended perspectives could most likely help numerous students. In any case, as a general rule it is difficult
to give this kind of help because of time limitations and common course sizes (Gomes & Mendes, 2007)

ii. Lack of Engagement

In Malaysia, teacher still practising traditional method in teaching, which is teacher-centered, no freedom in
teaching and learning and also exam oriented (Chuzairy, 2013). Furthermore, lecturers were found to be using an
unattractive and mundane approach. Extensive use of slides with one way communication lessons has added more
student tiredness. As a result student feel neglected to participate in class. Participation and engagement in class is very
important, student who does not participate and engage in class will somehow drag the attention from the learning.
Hence, engagement in class will stimulate thinking. Previous study reported that teachers’ strategies on teaching
programming do not cater for all students’ learning style. The environment of learning does not adapt to specific
scenario of learning based on student preferential learning style. Many teaching materials and strategies come with the
same format to all activities and do not consider students’ characteristics. As a result, students are reluctant to
participate and interact in the lesson activity, this will dysfunction the process of learning (Sleeman, 1986). To increase
student engagement, new teaching method must be introduced by teacher. Based on previous research, gamification
has been integrated into teacher’s teaching method. However some of the previous researchers have questioned on the
effectiveness of the gamification in increasing student’s engagement that will somehow increase their achievement.
The investment of students amid the educating and learning process in a PC helped synergistic learning condition can
likewise be a standard for the level of cooperation and association of students amid the learning procedure (Fischer &
Dillenbourg, 2007).

iii. Achievement

Several studies investigating gamification have been carried out on achievement that has positives
implication. Hew, Huang, Chu, & Chiu, (2016) conducted a research of the implication of game mechanics on student
cognitive and behavioural engagements in an Asian university by implementing two experiments studies. Hew et al.,
(2016) found that the implementation of game mechanics has contribute positive impact towards students in motivating
them in completing difficult task. However, there are no significance difference has been reported on memorizing
factual knowledge (Hew et al., 2016). Similarly, Kyewski & Krämer (2017) found that badges (one of the elements in
gamification) did not contribute impact on grades or quiz results. This view is also supported by Attali & Arieli-Attali,
(2015) who write that no effect found of the point manipulation towards correctness of the responses. However,
gamification does increase the speed of responses. This study has been conducted to examine the effects of points (one
of the elements in gamification) on performance in mathematics concepts. This can be concluded that the use of
gamification produce various results with different context of application.

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International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019

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E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

BASIC CONCEPT AND GAME ELEMENTS IN GAMIFICATION

Gamification is the process of applying gaming dynamics, mechanics and framework into non-game
environment. This statement implies that application is designed by adapting game-like components, however the
application itself has a functional non-game purpose (Kasurinen & Knutas, 2018). This is meant that normal activities
will be injected with game elements to make learning more fun and enjoyable. In conclusion, gamification is defined as
“the use of design (rather than game-based technology or other game-related practices) elements (rather than fully
developed games) characteristic for games (rather than play or playfulness) in non-game contexts (regardless of
specific usage intentions, contexts, or implementation media)” (Sebastian Deterding et al., 2011a, p.5). Gamification in
education is not entirely new. In the 1980s, Malone (1980; 1981; 1982) has investigated on what makes the game fun
and how these factors can be used in learning. Gamification allows user to score and record of achievements, be
rewarded and get medals based on the points system (Gomes, 2016). In the context of education, gamification allows
students to receive immediate feedback and acknowledgment on their performance and completion at anywhere and
anytime (Karl, 2012). Moreover, gamification offer greater improvement in student engagement and level of
motivation (Simões, Redondo, & Vilas, 2013a). The integration of Gamification inside and outside the classroom can
assists student in learning programming. Computer programming is one of the toughest courses offered in foundation
program in Higher Learning Institution in Malaysia. Students from different programs such as those who are majoring
in Engineering or Computer Science have to enroll in this course as the compulsory course regardless of their
experience and background. Many students feel that traditional approaches of learning computer programming are dull
and mundane (Fisher & Margolis, 2002; Ashcraft, Mclain, & Eger, 2016). To teach this course for those with limited
knowledge and exposure in computer programming can be a challenging task. For young generation particularly those
in Z generation, game is not strange to them and they are actively engaged in digital game environment (Van Eck,
2006), hence this gamification offers a potentially remarkable approach in increasing student interest, motivation and
engagement in learning computer programming.

Points, level and leaderboards are the example of game elements that commonly related to gamification
(Seaborn & Fels, 2015). There are many games element besides the above mentioned which includes badges and
avatar. The elements differentiate gamification from serious games (Sebastian Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke,
2011c). Gamification refers to the use of definite game elements embedded in real situation. On the other hand, serious
games is a game design used for purposes other than mere entertainment (Sebastian Deterding et al., 2011). According
to Sebastian Deterding et al., (2011) game design elements can be defined as the games features or characteristic of
games that normally exist in many games and this definition is relevant to the definition of the game. On the aspect of
design it contrast game design elements with game-based technologies. The fundamental technologies of the game
include technological characteristic such as game engines, whereas the gamification’s definition refers specified to a
design process (Sebastian Deterding et al., 2011). While the term non-game context is very general, no specific areas of
gamification application, and thus leaves the definition open for potential utilization circumstances (Sebastian
Deterding et al., 2011). There are many elements in gamification. Some of the most common elements are points,
levels and leaderboards, when recognized as informational, it may offer feelings of mastery and thus increasing
motivation and promote performance gains (Mekler et al., 2017). Nevertheless, participants performance did not reflect
their intrinsic motivation, this findings suggest that this game elements effectively only from performing performance
quantity. (Mekler et al., 2017). Gamification can be a strong learning tool to address motivational problems; however,
this gamification tool must be well designed addressing subject syllabus and are develop upon well-established
implementation model. In other words, the overall process of performing gamification plays a significant role. Because
points, level and leaderboards have close connection with digital games, they are now become the popular elements of
gamifications (Hamari, Koivisto, & Sarsa, 2014). Futhermore, these game elements are readily significant to various
non-game contexts. These three elements work as informational performance feedback and hence play an important
part of digital games’ motivational aspect (Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan, 2010). This agreed by Przybylski, Rigby and
Ryan, (2010) that points, level and leaderboard are among the popular games elements that are integrated with
performance feedback (Przybylski et al., 2010). They form a clear relationship between user actions and their
achievement (Carl Gutwin, Jared Cechanowicz, Brianna Brownwell, & Larry Goodfellow, 2013), (Wang, Li, Feng,
Jiang, & Liu, 2012) Furthermore levels and leaderboard have clear performance goals for users to aspire to, which has
been related to further achievement attains (Jung, Schneider, & Valacich, 2010) . Among scholars, there is a general
consensus on the most basic and concrete elements include bagdes, points and leaderboard which can be used to trigger
particulars behaviour among users and respond to their psychological needs (e.g., Werbach & Hunter, 2012). (Huang &
Hew, 2018). In research performed by Sailer et al (2017) indicate that several games elements that graphs positively
affect competence need satisfaction are leaderboards, badges and performance. Meanwhile game elements of
teammates, avatars and meaningful stories affect social experience relatedness. Simões, Redondos and Villa ( 2013) in

SA Conference Proceeding: Industrial Revolution 4.0 Vol.1, Issue 01 (2020) 181-187
International Innovation Technology Exhibition & Conferences 2019 (Itec’19), September 24th - 25th 2019
Copyright © 2020 Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA (KKTM) Kemaman
E-ISBN: 978-967-17985-0-8

their research described gamification as the application of game elements known as game mechanics and game-
thinking to be used in non-game scenarios. When game mechanics and game thinking is adapted into teaching and
learning, only suitable game elements are extracted, hence learning will be more fun and enjoyable. Students will be
more motivated and engaged into learning because they learn while playing, thus increasing their interest in the course.
It is necessary here to clarify exactly what is meant by game mechanics, in the literature the term tends to be used to
refer to mechanism to gamify activities (Simões, Redondo, & Vilas, 2013). Mechanism is referring to procedures and
incentives. As game mechanics are the procedures and rewards of the game, intended to stimulate player’s emotions,
game elements are the inspirations prompting those feelings (Simões et al., 2013)

CONCLUSION

Based on the findings from the literature, it can be concluded that games elements that are significant and commonly
use are points, badges and leaderboard. These elements will be integrated in teaching programming language using
gamification to increase students’ motivation, engagement and has potential in increasing academic achievement.
Identifying suitable elements is very important in designing the tools of gamification so that students will be able to
follow the lesson. A proper design is needed to ensure the effectiveness of gamification in elevate student’s
engagement in learning programming language. In the future, researchers will conducted pre-test and post-test in
accessing its viability, inspiration with the ease of use of learning application by infusing those elements.

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