This paper reports the findings of the perceptions and attitudes towards sustainable development among Malaysian undergraduates. The study was carried out involving 154 undergraduates from five universities in Malaysia. This research was conducted based on a survey whereby the respondents were given a questionnaire to gauge their perception and attitude towards sustainable development. The output of the analyses showed that the respondents have positive perceptions and attitudes towards all sustainability dimensions—environmental, economic, and social—except for economic and social bound issues. These findings suggest that the educators who are involved in sustainable development education need to focus on economic and social bound aspects. Overall, the findings showed that the sustainable development education in higher education institutions has cultivated an appropriate sense of responsibility towards sustainability among their undergraduate students. As such, this investigation serves as a cornerstone to which the current paradigm of sustainable development education can be examined for further improvement by related stakeholders.
Over the years, rapid development in computer technology has engendered simulation-based laboratory (lab) in addition to the traditional hands-on (physical) lab. Many higher education institutions adopt simulation lab, replacing some existing physical lab experiments. The creation of new systems for conducting engineering lab activities has raised concerns among educators on the merits and shortcomings of both physical and simulation labs; at the same time, many arguments have been raised on the differences of both labs. Investigating the effectiveness of both labs is complicated, as there are multiple factors that should be considered. In view of this challenge, a study on students’ perspectives on their experience related to key aspects on engineering laboratory exercise was conducted. In this study, the Visual Auditory Read and Kinetic model was utilised to measure the students’ cognitive styles. The investigation was done through a survey among participants from Multimedia University, Malaysia. The findings revealed that there are significant differences for most of the aspects in physical and simulation labs.
28 February 2018 in Computer Applications in Engineering Education