The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the implementation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), especially in the educational system, in which online learning can also be used as online training among school students. Interestingly, prior studies have highlighted trainers’ role as the most important factor affecting online training. However, prior studies that reported the effectiveness of online training among school students and the right trainers’ characteristics to sustain its effectiveness have been very limited. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine online training effectiveness among 150 students in a Malaysian high school using pre-experimental research. Trainers’ characteristics perceived by participants were also determined and compared between classroom and online training. Findings indicated that online training was significantly effective regardless of gender and race differences; trainers’ characteristics explained 40.5% of variance in online training effectiveness. However, the school students preferred classroom training compared to online training; trainers’ characteristics were better in classroom training. Hence, it can be concluded that online training among school students can be effective; however, the characteristics of trainers can be improved to sustain the effectiveness of online training. These results have implications for the sustainability of effective 4IR in the educational system for the post-pandemic era.

The main purpose of this article is to present a systematic literature review of socioeconomic issues such as employee productivity, workplace absenteeism, workplace presenteeism, productivity loss, and indirect costs among employees with different impairments/disabilities. The related articles were obtained from the Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases. In general, 568 studies were found. A total of 141 articles were identified as open-access and non-duplicate articles in English in which disability-related issues among employees were raised. Ultimately, only 22 studies were selected for analysis since they were concerning socioeconomic issues associated with productivity and job performance among employees with various impairments. Based on the studies, workplace performance among employees with and without disabilities was almost equal. Workplace absenteeism and short-term disability costs were higher among employees with acromegaly, migraine, gout, depression, cardiovascular events and related clinical procedures, chronic diseases, and metastatic breast cancer. Mood disorders, heart diseases, and bowel disorders were the principal causes of absenteeism among employees with chronic conditions. Productivity loss was higher among employees with depression, psoriatic arthritis, multiple sclerosis, chronic migraine disease, and employees who received injectable multiple myeloma therapy. Worsening physical health, more functional disabilities, poorer relations with a supervisor, recurrent sick leave, back problems, mood disorders, migraine, and fatigue were the primary reasons for lost productivity.

Information on evaluating training effectiveness via a general instrument is limited despite its obvious need in human resource development (HRD) especially in the Malaysian context. To this end, the proposed General Training Effectiveness Scale (GTES) offers a useful measurement for HRD practitioners to evaluate the self-report of workplace learning at minimal cost, time, and energy. The GTES was developed using theories in HRD, and tested in four studies including jury validation, pilot study, survey study1, and extension study with the Malaysian sample. The first version of GTES comprises of 30 items; however, only 10 items left in the final version. The proposed GTES constitutes a general instrument to measure training effectiveness at various levels including learning performance, individual performance, and organizational performance using a self-report that can be used by researchers, practitioners, and public. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s1p47

Some researchers find that learning intervention can stimulate learning motivation and performance through classroom characteristic. Ironically, research assessing classroom characteristic that can be used as potential learning intervention have received little attention especially among Malaysian undergraduates. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine the mediation effect of motivation to learn on the relationship between classroom characteristic and students’ grade performance. A number of 173 undergraduate students in a large Malaysian’s public university were taken as sample; data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS. Findings indicated that teaching method, followed by lecturer quality, and classroom management were significantly correlated with students’ motivation to learn and performance; wherein, motivation to learn fully mediated the relationship between the classroom characteristics and students’ grade. This has verified that classroom characteristic truly stimulate learning motivation and performance; therefore, it can be used as potential learning intervention.

HRMARS is well established journal publisher based in Pakistan. It is publishing prominent journals in social sciences since 2011.

Training motivation is found to be the most influential factor affecting training effectiveness in most face-to-face training; in which, research related to demographic variables affecting training motivation are studied to increase training motivation by targeting specific group intervention. However, research related to demographic variables affecting online training motivation among university students is limited although the organization of online training among university students have increased. Therefore, the aim of this research was to determine the effect of demographic variables on online training motivation among university students using a pre-experimental research design. An online training related to undergraduate entrepreneurship was organized among university students in a Malaysian university. A total of 37 university students aged 18 to 25 years old were involved in this study; data were analyzed using SPSS software. Findings indicated that only experience attending online training was a significant demographic variable affecting online training motivation; however, other demographic variables including age, gender, race, religion, family income, and experience owning business were insignificant variables affecting training motivation. Research limitations, implications, and future research suggestions were further discussed.