Aim/Purpose: Drawing on transactional distance theory (TDT) and collaborative learning, this research proposes a research model to examine the role of collaborative learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. It investigates the potential antecedents that influence students’ academic achievements, autonomy, and satisfaction with online learning platforms. Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic devastating the world has shaken the global educational system; such a transformation compelled all educational institutes to utilize online learning platforms. Malaysian higher educational institutions were greatly concerned by this disease and faced considerable transformations that affected higher education learners. Additionally, the campus closure and movement regulations impacted traditional education. Thus, the Malaysian Government ordered students at higher education institutions to return to their hometowns and continue their studies through online learning. Therefore, online learning was the most reasonable alternative to resume the learning process. Furthermore, in the educational world, collaborative learning is pivotal to forming students’ interpersonal skills. Collaborative learning practice is working in pairs or small groups to attain the learning objectives collaboratively. Collaborative learning refers to the process of acquiring knowledge in a collaborative setting as opposed to alone. Since the instructor and students are in separate locations, it is challenging for the teacher to facilitate collaborative learning. Methodology: This study utilized a quantitative method; purposive sampling was implemented, and the data were collected from 260 university students, both undergraduate and postgraduate, as long as they were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. The questionnaire for this research was designed to fit the research hypothesis. The items of the questionnaire have been adapted to certify the content’s validity. The collected data were analyzed using Smart PLS software, which has been utilized as an essential data analysis tool. Contribution: This research contributes to: (1) a better understanding of the importance of communication and connection among students-students and teachers in online learning environments, as the results suggest that the more communication between students, teachers, and the environment itself, the greater the academic achievements, learners’ autonomy, and satisfaction; and (2) the role of both collaborative learning and TDT on learners’ academic achievements, autonomy, and satisfaction. Findings: This study advances by incorporating TDT and collaborative learning theories. This research model illustrates six main factors in online learning platforms that enhance students’ academic achievements, autonomy, and satisfaction through collaborative learning. The results showed a strong association between TDT and collaborative learning regarding the online learning platforms’ utilization for improving academic achievements, learners’ autonomy, and satisfaction. Recommendations for Practitioners: This model provided exceptional support to students during this sudden switch to online alternatives and helped them cope with the considerable challenges they faced under the current circumstances. Moreover, this model provides a guideline for higher education teachers and administrators for coping with online learning platforms. Recommendation for Researchers: Drawing on the association between TDT and collaborative learning regarding the utilization of online learning platforms for improving academic achievements, learners’ autonomy, and learner satisfaction, the research result presents a road map for researchers in the field of online learning. Accordingly, researchers are encouraged to utilize these theories, as they can lead to improvements among online learners in higher education institutions. Impact on Society: This preliminary model, which was developed throughout this research, will be a great support to both researchers and instructors to be able to utilize and elaborate in accordance with the role of online platforms on students’ satisfaction, autonomy, and academic achievements. It is critical for higher education administrators to pay more attention to the nature of communication between students and student instructors, which has been shown to have a positive influence on their academic achievements, to implement online learning. Moreover, instructors and course developers must be trained and skilled to achieve online learning platform goals. Future Research: Future research could include more information about blended learning environments and their relationship to the technology acceptance model as an online learning model. Researchers may extend the model used in this study.

Examination plays a vital role in the present contemporary educational setting as well as serving as an indicator and yardstick to place students in relation to their examination scores after they undergo the examination. However, students at different educational levels experience examination anxiety, which can interfere with making right decisions either before or during examinations and is considered to be a phenomenon associated with low examination scores. Therefore, the present research study was aimed at determining the mediating effect of positive psychological strengths between study skills and examination anxiety among Nigerian college students. The study employed survey research on 315 Nigerian college students. The result of the path analysis shows that study skills (SSK) have a significant and direct relationship on examination anxiety. The mediation between positive psychological strength (PPS) and examination anxiety is identified as being effective and significant. Therefore, positive psychological strength (PPS) acts as an effective mediator towards examination anxiety.

Much research has been carried out to discover partnership critical success factors that influence public-private partnership success. Since most public-private partnership projects are long-term in nature and include contractual arrangements, there is still a lot to learn about contract governance’s role in public-private partnership performance. Therefore, this study examines the effect of contract governance on the relationship between partnership critical success factors and partnership performance in Malaysia. Stakeholder Theory serves as the underpinning theory for this study. This study employed a quantitative method based on the positivist paradigm to distribute questionnaires. The information was collected from 261 contracting parties’ officials in Malaysian public-private partnership projects regulated by the Malaysian Public-Private Partnership Unit, and a stratified random sampling method was employed. The structural equation model analysis found that eight out of ten hypotheses were supported. According to this study, it has been established that contract governance has a direct favorable influence on partnership performance. However, it is also found that contract governance does not moderate the relationship between partnership critical success factors and partnership performance. Due to time constraints and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study was from a cross-sectional viewpoint and adopted a quantitative methodology. The findings of this study are important in the contract governance and partnership performance literature, providing policymakers and concessionaires with new information on the impact of contract governance on public-private partnership project performance. Managers of public-private partnership projects should also be able to enhance their projects’ performance by understanding how contract governance influences the performance of their projects.

A teacher classroom assessment literacy (TeCAL) instrument was developed to measure the level of teacher classroom assessment literacy in schools. TeCAL contains 66 multiple choice items with four options based on four constructs namely purpose, measurement, evaluation and use. Thus, this study aims to identify the psychometric properties of TeCAL using Rasch measurement model (RMM) analysis through Winstep software version 3.72.3. The findings show that the compatibility values of mean square (MNSQ) infit and outfit items ranged from 0.64 to 1.46 and 0.40 to 2.23, respectively. The value of MNSQ outfit was outside the set range, but still met the other fit statistics indicator which has a positive point measure correlation (PTMEA) value. In addition, the findings show that the empirical raw variance explained by measures is 38.2%. It was very close to the modeled value of 38.4% with the empirical unexplained variance in 1st contrast being 7.5% less than the maximum controlled 15%. Largest standardized residual correlations identified 10 pairs of dependent items to be less than 0.7. The person and item reliability index values were 0.94 and 0.89 with separation index values of 2.90 and 3.80, respectively. Overall, this psychometric analysis is crucial to ensure that the TeCAL instrument has good quality and meaningful to use.

This study was conducted to identify constructs and subconstructs of teacher classroom assessment literacy instrument. Qualitative document analysis was conducted to identify the constructs and subconstructs used. This document covers previous research articles, modules, and standard documents used in conducting classroom assessments. The qualitative data are analyzed using the literature review system model with four thematic analysis phases. Four main themes or constructs of classroom assessment literacy are derived from the document analysis: Purpose, Measurement, Evaluation, and Use. These four themes are used as the basis for analyzing the Classroom Assessment Standard and Classroom Assessment Implementation Guide from the Ministry of Education Malaysia as the main reference of the study. Besides, four 21st-century assessment features, nine classroom assessment features, and five features of high-order thinking skills items are also included in the analysis as an added value in the constructs and subconstructs. Based on the analysis, three subconstructs for the purpose component, seven for the measurement component, four for the assessment component, and five for the usage component are identified. All these findings are incorporated into the teacher’s assessment literacy instrument.

Artikel ini menjelaskan interkorelasi konstruk bagi kemahiran literasi awal kanak-kanak berumur 3+ hingga 4+ tahun. Pengkaji menggunakan kaedah tinjauan yang melibatkan 222 orang sampel kajian yang terdiri daripada 119 orang kanak-kanak berumur 3+ tahun, dan 103 orang berumur 4+ tahun. Lokasi kajian melibatkan 12 buah taska atau tadika di sekitar Perak dan Selangor. Pencapaian kemahiran literasi awal kanak-kanak dinilai dengan menggunakan Indikator Kemahiran Literasi Awal (IKLA) yang merangkumi lima konstruk utama, iaitu bahasa dan komunikasi, kesedaran cetak, kesedaran fonologi, kefahaman naratif, dan tulisan awal. Pengkaji menggunakan analisis korelasi pekali Pearson untuk menentukan interkorelasi antara setiap konstruk kemahiran literasi awal dengan item-item. Dapatan analisis interkorelasi menunjukkan terdapat korelasi positif yang sangat kuat, kuat dan sederhana, dan signifikan antara setiap konstruk dengan item-item. Kajian ini dapat menjelaskan item-item atau kemahiran spesifik bagi setiap konstruk kemahiran literasi awal. Implikasinya, kajian ini dapat membantu ibu bapa dan pendidik untuk mendedahkan kemahiran literasi awal yang komprehensif kepada kanak-kanak berumur berumur 3+ hingga 4+ tahun.