Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) academic Dr Lam Siew Yong and her co-researchers won Best Paper Award at the virtual International Innovation in Teaching and Learning 2021 & Language Education Conference (i-InTeLEC 2021). Her co-researchers were FBF academic Seow Ai Na, FBF Deputy Dean Dr Alex Choong Yuen Onn, and UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong.

The virtual i-InTeLEC 2021 was co-organised by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Kedah Branch Academy of Language Studies and Universiti Brunei Darussalam Language Centre from 9 to 10 November 2021. The researchers walked away with a cash incentive of RM200 and a certificate of acknowledgement.

Their paper titled “The Effectiveness of Online Learning in Higher Education: A Case of Malaysian Top Private University” aimed to examine students’ perception of attitudes, self-efficacy and emotions associated with online learning behaviour and online learning effectiveness.

“We are very grateful to have our paper selected as one of the best papers presented at this conference. We are honoured and grateful to have been given this recognition. It is definitely a great motivation for us to further deliver our research works and explore this research area for more impactful and societal outcomes,” said Dr Lam.

When asked about what inspired them to take on the topic, Seow said, “Back in 2019, during the Covid-19 pandemic, online study application was still far from reaching its full potential, especially in the educational context. As educators, this circumstance inspired us to conduct a study to better understand students’ online learning behaviour which may subsequently affect their learning performance. Online learning offers safe and essential access for Malaysian university students to continue their learning. However, the virtual form of learning involves a physical separation between learners and educators. The majority of educators believed that it could never be as good as face-to-face learning. Thus, it is necessary for educators to have a distinct approach in the assessment of students’ learning process. More importantly, the institutions can keep track of students’ virtual learning journey with the purpose of supporting them to reach an effective academic achievement.”

According to Dr Alex Choong, the findings of this study have provided an insight in enhancing university students’ learning effectiveness by understanding their attitude, self-efficacy and emotions related to online learning behaviour. He highlighted, “It is our hope that the facilitators and instructors are able to deliver comprehensive online teaching strategies in motivating students and satisfying them within the online learning context. The implications derived from the research findings also serve as valuable information for the higher education institutions and the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia to help students equip with the skills of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity and sustainability.”

Prof Choong also encouraged young researchers to turn their research ideas into a concrete proposal. On behalf of the research team members, he expressed his thankfulness to UTAR and said, “We would like to acknowledge and take this opportunity to express our gratitude to UTAR for providing us with a research grant (IPSR/RMC/UTARRF/2020-C2/L01) to carry out this project. The UTARRF is one of the seed funds provided by the University for staff to research their areas of interest. Besides, this research project has also served as a platform to source student assistance for research work.  We are grateful that a research scholarship scheme (RSS) was awarded to one of our students to enhance her exposure and experience in research.”