Mendeley vs EndNote

aku dah biasa pakai EndNote...

agak powerful la EndNote nie...

tp sejak ada member suggest guna Mendeley...mulanya buat derkkkk jer...

tp tertengok time member nie dok read pasal research dier..n dier bleh buat annotations skali masa reading the articles..buat notes n komen kat ctu..terus tertarik...cos kalo EndNote, not sure bleh buat ke x...tapi sepanjang aku guna, aku xpenah buat lar...its means aku x explore mendalam lagi la EndNote tue...

tp since kena read alot, so aku lebih prefer guna mendeley...baru dok blaja guna mendeley nie...member tunjukkan sket2 cara nak guna...then aku xplore sendiri...pastu surf2 la blog DR Ot...blog Dr OT kan padat ngan semua mende pasal research nie...hehe...

bahan kat bawah amik dari blog Dr OT...senang nak refer nti...credit to Dr OT yer...nie link Dr OT pada kawan2 yang nak bukak blognyer...http://drotspss.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20-%20Tajuk%20326%3A%20Mendeley%20berdesup..


Aku terangkan sikit bahawa Mendeley kuar sekitar 2008. Ia perisian free bagi menyusun dan berkongsi artikel dan penulisan citation / bibliography. Mendeley bagi free 1 GB storage, dah memadailah utk ko simpan artikel dalam storage Mendeley, bukan computer ko. Kalau ko hilang komputer tak per.... ada simpanan on the cloud dalam Mendeley...


Apa aku kena buat bro?


Mula2 ko kena download ler, namanya Mendeley desktop:


http://www.mendeley.com/download-mendeley-desktop/


Then ko buka dan inilah Mendeley yang tiada apa2 rujukan lagi...(Pic 1)
Katakan ko ada satu folder dengan ratusan pdf file atrikel ko… ko drag folder bodoh2 gitu jer dalam Mendeley, terus kuar dan tersenarai semua fail tersebut dgn citation yang dah siap. Bagi tujuan demo, aku gunakan folder aku yang ada 2 fail pdf jer… iaitu folder my-pdf (ko lihat Pic 1 di bawah ada folder tu ada atas Mendeley). 

Bila aku drag folder my-pdf tu dalam Mendeley.. terus kuar senarai kesemua artikel pdf aku dalam sekelip mata dan sehembusan nafas sahaja…spt Pic 2 berikut:

Pic 1

Pic 2

Katalah aku nak gunakan ke dua2 citation iaitu Thsibalo dan Zamzuri dalam teks di bawah (warna oren), aku perlu jadikan Mendeley sebagai plugin pada MS Word dahulu dgn klik pada Mendeley:

Tool - Install MS Word Plugin..... baru Mendeley akan muncul pada Ribbon MS Word aku.


Then aku letakkan cursor di hujung text document aku (MS Word 2007 /2010) spt berikut dan klik Insert Citation (Pic 3) then open Mendeley then klik Send Citation to Word Processor (Pic 4).

Pic 3

Pic 4

Selepas selesai akan masuklah citation tersebut dalam text berikut:


Mendeley Web is a free research network which lets you manage research papers online, discover research trends and connect to like-minded academics(Tshibalo, 2005). Mendeley has won “European Start-up of the Year” Award 2009 and TechCrunch Europas “Best Social Innovation Which Benefits Society” Award 2009 (Zamzuri & Ali, 2009)


Perhatikan, kedua-dua citation Thsibalo dan Zamzuri dah pun masuk dalam text di atas.


Langkah seterusnya adalah membuat bibliography. Dalam file document ko, References - Bibliography – Insert Bibliography spt Pic 5 berikut dah akan kuarlah senarai citation tadi TANPA perlu anda menaip walaupun sepatah huruf….SELAMAT MENCUBA !!

Pic 5

Jeng..jeng..jeng inilah hasilnyer.....ikut format APA !!


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Tshibalo, A. E. (2005). Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Assessment.


Zamzuri, A., & Ali, M. (2009). EFFECTS OF SEGMENTATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL ANIMATION IN FACILITATING LEARNING. Education And Training, 2(2), 15-29.
Fulamak bro.... dunia makin mudah !!


Cuma satu nasihat aku. Oleh kerana terdapat beberapa reference manager spt endnote, refwork, mendeley dll, maka ko perlu mahirkan diri dalam mana2 satu, tak perlulah nak tahu semua. Setiap satu ada pro and con... macam Endnote kena ada licence, kena beli tapi Mendeley free. Endnote lebih powerful tapi kurang skit user-friendly bagi yang baru nak guna...


Credit to DR OT....

Teach....Learn.....Motivate.....

ngaja KP1 this semester..together with Research Foundation...

xkhatam lagi...

phewww...

untuk KP1..

ada 10 chapters...

basically will cover the quantitative matter...

Section 1: Introduction for the Educational Research

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Research Cycle

Chapter 3: Quantitative Research

Chapter 4: Development of Instrument and Questionnaires

Section 2: SPSS in the Educational Research

Chapter 5: Introduction to the SPSS (PASW)

Chapter 6: SPSS operations and procedure

Chapter 7: Normality Testing

Chapter 8: Descriptive Statistics

Chapter 9: Inferential Statistics - Parametric

Chapter 10: Inferential Statistics - Non-Parametric

Basically, for the Research Foundation, will use the same materials.

but will refer to their own proforma.

Hope will teach the students well for this semester.

At the same time, will update/revise/add-in/on on my research proposal also.

study the theory behind it/what is the problem/why do you want to do the research/will settle about the sample/population of your study before fly to UK...

if there is a will, there must be a way...

InsyaAllah, God-Willing...

Mas, do ur very BEST...

Remember; the sun will always rises in the east, and sets in the west (matahari terbit di timur dan tenggelam di sebelah barat).

" When u struggle to reach for something u don't know (indeed in your case, u know that u want to get the phd certificate so that u can teach; also u want to improve ur skills abilitiy, ur language skills and etc...so much more that u want to do and improve for the betterness), that's where the most interesting stuff is "

"We must become the CHANGE we wish to see"

- Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist and spiritual leader

Indeed, dlm Quran juga disebut beberapa kali dimana Allah tdk akan mengubah nasib sesuatu kaum itu kecuali mereka mengubahnya sendiri dgn usaha, amal dan istiqamah. 

JIKA ANDA

Teringin melihat adik / insan tercinta/ anak anda BERJAYA, anda harus tunjuk dan buktikan kpd mereka y anda tlebih dahulu mampu berjaya

Mahu melihat insan2 di sekeliling anda lebih PEKA DAN PRIHATIN terhadap alam sekitar, anda harus ubah persepsi, mentaliti dan gaya hidup anda tlbih dahulu agar selari dgn hasrat anda

Mahu rakan2 anda lebih bijak menjaga SANTUN DAN AKHLAK, anda harus pamerkan keperibadian anda y ikhlas bukan menunjuk2 agar dpt dijadikn model teladan y baik

Mahu HASIL KERJA KUMPULAN anda cemerlang, anda harus tunjukkan y anda mampu 'perform more than what is expected'

Mahu insan lain syg dan CINTA kan anda seadanya, anda harus tlebih dahulu muhasabah diri disusuli penambahbaikn kendiri supaya anda hargai nikmat diri y dikurniakn Ilahi, kenali diri dan syg pd diri sdiri

So Mas,

Do make sure;

See your goals;

Understand the obstacles;

Create a positive mental pictures;

Clear your mind of self doubt;

Embrace the challenge;

Stay on track;

Show the world you can do it......

 it is the SUCCESS

adiiioooooooossss!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Regards

TMTS03

Varsities should not be mainstream but at the margins

By Datuk Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid 

02 March 2012| last updated at 01:36AM

ALMOST everywhere, universities are in the race for numbers and quality. There are many institutions called or given the status of universities which are really not universities in substance, spirit or tradition. To be truly a university requires more than official recognition and compliance to regulatory requirements.

A university is an idea, a state of mind, a supreme intellectual existence, a capacity to understand, a consuming passion for some calling, some mission for humanity.

A university does not happily imitate mainstream policies and practices, oblivious of the realities at the margins. A true university has the mission of the abolition of ignorance and the assumption of knowledge, the creation of luminosity of knowledge, the ascendance of the civilised.

Universities are about intellectual character, caring, compassion and enduring imagination. Universities are not just about conformance and mainstreaming.

Universities are really about being at the margins. The margins, metaphorically, are the frontiers, the zones of overlaps between the rivers and seas, the deserts and the verdant lands, the horizons when the lands and seas seem to meet the skies.

Universities are not about comfort and complacency but are about the challenge, the untried and unknown, the unfamiliar and the not understood.

But how do Malaysian public and private university communities see themselves? Universities are institutions where professors and students, learners all, have the passion for truth, knowledge seeking, justice and to educate learners and improve society.

In universities, there is the collective sense of awareness and consciousness of Eric Hoffer's insight that in times of drastic changes, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world which no longer exists.

Do universities recognise that these are times of drastic changes? Are passions for creative, constructive imagination unleashed and is there preparedness for drastic changes in the future or is academic complacency the cultural norm?

Excellence and continuous betterment are not just about imitating the so called "best practices" but are about balancing the best of mature knowledge considered correct, and the excitement of learning from errors, and charting out new territories -- terra incognito -- the unknown territories of mind, matter and energy.

Great universities with great teachers and knowledge leaders do the following:

THEY are on the eternal quest for truth.

THEY go beyond teaching for survival to teaching for wisdom and balance, dialogically and dialectically.

THEY reflect the genuine passions of scholars and are not about pretensions of scholarship.

THEY serve humanity beyond their parochial existence.

THEY teach and conduct research at and across the margins.

THEY foster understanding of teaching for happiness as wealth.

THEY cultivate multiple intelligences, not just disciplinary modes of thinking, teaching and learning.

THEY grow paradigm pioneers.

THEY create life-changing learning and living experiences for students and staff.

THEY are the guardians of high culture and celebrate exquisiteness of life's/human refinements.

THEY foster the development of imagination to confront the challenges of the times.

THEIR knowledge becomes the basis and principles of moral authority of their society, the conscience of their civilisation and of mankind.

The easy part of managing and leading a university is about numbers and material indicators. The climate, ethos, conscience and moral authority and character of a university would be the harder challenges of the meaning-making of universities.

The excellence and real impact of any university is really what they do at the margins, at the leading edge. When universities become all too familiar and alike, teaching more of the same that schools teach, then these institutions are extensions of high schools.

When universities are institutions of indoctrination demanding conformity from all, staff and students and administrators, then these are group-think training camps and not universities.

When universities merely respond to the needs and demands of employers for robotic beings, then the institutions are not universities but are production plants.

When universities merely deliver the knowledge defined as final by professional bodies, professional inertia and academic malaise set in. A university inherits the received wisdom of the past but must in turn create its own definitions of the present, contribute to and map out its own new terrains and universes.

In the context of the rapid expansion of different models of universities and the policies of democratisation of higher education, are Malaysian universities developing cultures of mainstream compliance or meeting challenges at the verdant margins?

Read more: Varsities should not be mainstream but at the margins - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/varsities-should-not-be-mainstream-but-at-the-margins-1.54287#ixzz2M3KIRVUy

http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/varsities-should-not-be-mainstream-but-at-the-margins-1.54287

ielts...

syukur alhamdulillah…

done with the language…

got the uo already..

right now waiting for kpt result..

can or cannot proceed…monetary matter ma with the kpt..

hehe…

Though questions do matter

By Prof Datuk Dr Ibrahim Bajunid | iabaiw@yahoo.com [30 March 2012| last updated at 12:58AM]

Read more: Tough questions do matter - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/tough-questions-do-matter-1.68164#ixzz2Kk3s1JQs

Getting to the root: If we do not find solutions, problems will not go away

IF a child asks, "Is there God? or "Where is God?", do we prevent the child from asking further or even punish the child?

    Some strict parents and families would not allow "taboo questions" while  others encourage  these  questions. Other families engage in   confronting and resolving issues based on trust and parental insights.
       

Nations are a grouping of families. Malaysian society has  more than  five million families or households averaging    five members in each nuclear family.

      As families grow, they have to confront and resolve many  issues and ensure strong bonding, unconditional love and support and prevent family members from being in harm's way.

 So it is with the nation -- the family of families. There is the tender unconditional love for the family and for the nation.

Responsible members of the family cannot allow the family to be dysfunctional because of, or in spite of, family feuds. Responsible members of the nation cannot allow a nation or society to be a failed society. Sometimes there is civil war, literally and metaphorically in order to keep a nation together. There is an important way of thinking about families and the nation. One important metaphor is to think of the nation as a family.

Evidence worldwide reflects how fragile social and political order would be if tough questions are not asked and solutions not found to address root problems.

Dr Chandra Muzaffar, the late Tan Sri Dr Noordin Sopiee and other scholars asked some tough questions.

Yet, in the present time, the question is provocatively raised by Kishore Mahbubani  in his book, Can Asians Think?,  regarding the condescending attitudes of the West.

     In the political arena, as in all other domains of life, good people ask tough questions, with love not with hate. Others may ask tough questions with hate in their minds or souls. Tough questions range from the trivia to the fundamental, the symptoms of problems to root sources of discontentment.

The concerns of tough questions go beyond the specific issues which may influence voter behaviour in  elections.

Tough questions are about tough decisions. Tough questions are about dilemmas. When tough questions are clarified, they must be clarified based on permanent purpose, universal and eternal values.



Tough questions can be asked tenderly or in firm and tough ways. To ask tough questions is to love the nation in patriotic ways. Not to ask tough questions and to allow the nation and society to be misguided is irresponsible.

     There were some tough questions asked and decisions made regarding the existence of Malaysia, for instance, regarding the secession of Singapore from the Malaysian Federation, race relations which led to the formulation of Rukunegara, relations with Communist China and building the Multimedia Super Corridor and the digital age.

Many tough questions about the nation are asked in homes regarding family decisions, or they are asked in classrooms or  among  citizens or students.

    Some of the tough questions are --     where does evil reside, in the minds of man or in political parties, in cover operations or in interest groups?  Where does good reside, in rhetoric or in deeds?

Have we really addressed the nine challenges of Vision 2020?

Is Malaysia a democracy? If so, what type of democracy?

  Can Singapore be readmitted into Malaysia?

Are there corrupt and evil people who go unpunished and will corruption be a way of life?

Can the capital of Malaysia move to Kuching or Kota Kinabalu?

    Are Malaysians racists? Do we discriminate against each other and against Africans?

    Is education a subversive activity and  involves indoctrination?

 Are people allowed to think the tough questions? Do we sweep everything under the carpet?

Do we really care about the environment? 

Who are the hidden shapers of society? People should ask  tough questions before they die.

Are we really on the kaizen (continuous improvement) journey? Will we be able to maintain the culture of excellence?

Although mankind has made advances in material being and have established all kinds of learning centres and produced millions of graduates, the primordial mind, the clannish, the inner circles and the cronies continue to exist not just for self-preservation and survival, but for  aggrandisement.

Human passions of love and hate, violence and manipulation, and coveting what others have, continue to thrive.

Power-seeking men and women have continued to thrive  since the Stone Age, the ages of ignorance and oppression.

 There may, however, be novel and sophisticated actions, going around the laws of contemporary society, to control or suppress others but the insanity of the species -- the selfish gene -- still remains.

 If we do not ask tough questions, we do not progress; if we do not find solutions, problems do not go away. The lay person and the worldly critique have to develop the art of asking  tough questions for the culture of "killing the messenger who brings the bad news" still prevails.

Think of our nation as a family.

Read more: Tough questions do matter - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/tough-questions-do-matter-1.68164#ixzz2Kk49XWYt

A heritage across time, empire and nations

By Prof Datuk Dr Ibrahim Bajunid | iabaiw@yahoo.com  [04 May 2012| last updated at 07:30PM]

Read more: A heritage across time, empire and nations - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/a-heritage-across-time-empire-and-nations-1.80583#ixzz2Kk0YpWsy

KIRKBYITES' PASSION: Setting up of Kirkby International College in Cyberjaya is representative of the generation of teacher-patriots

GREAT leaders in institutions conduct their core business and inspire those in their spheres and beyond, not through control but through vision and inspiration.

These are the people who understand Fyodor Dostoyevsky's observation that "Neither man, nor nation can exist without a sublime idea". O. T. Dussek, the principal of Malacca, and then, Sultan Idris Teacher's College had in 1935 urged his students to develop themselves by creating awareness of their historic roles.

The two great institutions established in Britain to train Malaysian teachers before and in the early years of Merdeka were the Kirkby Teachers' College in Liverpool for primary school teachers and the Brinsford Teachers College for secondary school teachers.

The unifying cry of nationalists is that "language is the soul of the nation". The cry of another group of patriots is that "knowledge is the soul of the nation".

Scholar-teachers are patriots who uphold the wisdom that "language and knowledge are the souls of the nation" and create knowledge leaders for all fields of enterprise.

Like O. T. Dussek in Malaya, in Britain, many of the teachers from Kirkby and Brinsford inspired Malaysians to master knowledge and be as good as any thought leaders and professionals in the world. A roll of honour of educational leaders emerged from Kirkby and Brinsford.

These early educators were bilinguals, strong in English and Malay. They were multicultural, multidisciplinary and well prepared for the future. They were also global in their thinking and local and national in their mission.

Most of the early pioneer scholar-teacher patriots have contributed enormously towards the development of Malaysia through educational institutions and the education system. They have been awarded recognition of excellence of various kinds, including the highest awards of Tokoh Guru and Tokoh Kepimpinan Pendidikan.

From Brinsford were people like former director-general of education Tan Sri Wan Zahid Noordin, Professor Datuk Hussein Ahmad (an academic, educational planner, as well as Tokoh Guru), Jumaat Mohd Noor (an exemplary leader) and a host of others.

From Kirkby were teachers such as Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Hajah Haminah, Raja Permaisuri Perak Tuanku Bainun, now chancellor of the Sultan Idris Education University and Tan Sri Yahaya Ibrahim and Aziz Sultan of teacher education fame, prolific writer and novelist Dr Shaari Isa, Leela Unithan, Othman Dahlan and Baharuddin Marji.

Tan Sri Yahaya Ibrahim is representative of the generation of teacher patriots who contributed from pre-Merdeka days until today. He inspires the younger generation by the force of his ideas, his stamina, will and determination, wit and humour. He upholds the principle not just of lifelong learning but of lifelong contribution.

Most of the Kirkbyites (and Brinsfordians) are in their late 70s and 80s. This is a piece of a significant historical heritage which has to be preserved and the best examples from the past brought to the future.

It is to the credit of the passion of these teachers that they garnered support from political, professional, educational and civil service leaders to found the Kirkby International College (KIC) in Cyberjaya, launched by the deputy prime minister, who is also education minister.

They also compiled a book Kirkby College: A heritage. The Kirkbyites established a public library at KIC and alumni donated their personal collections of books. It is expected that the Brinsford College Alumni will also make similar strategic decisions and initiatives.

Educational institutions, an educational system or the education profession is not a stand-alone phenomenon but exists in the sweep of national and world history. Kirkby and Brinsford are our links with Britain and the Greco-Roman Christian civilisation, just as Al-Azhar is our link with the Islamic-Arab tradition and Chinese schools are our links with Chinese civilisation and diaspora.

Malaysian teachers need to understand such links as origins of the educational system, and pondok schools are our links with indigenous education. It has been said that "Those who do not know their past are not worthy of their future".

Teachers and college students must understand all these various links, and intellectually be proud that they belong to a long, rich tradition, which is at once universal and indigenous.

It is necessary that the curriculum of teacher education and the general history curriculum include the history of these institutions and its various leaders as exemplars of those who continue to be selfless, open, caring and significantly contributive even into their later years.

Read more: A heritage across time, empire and nations - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/a-heritage-across-time-empire-and-nations-1.80583#ixzz2Kk0iTJ1g

The good that we do lives on after us

http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-good-that-we-do-lives-on-after-us-1.78125

DEATH, DYING AND TEACHERS: The work of inspiring educators is remembered

PAUPER or rich, peasant or aristocrat, intellectual or lay person, all cannot escape death.  Before death, all cannot escape the experience of loss and parting. All are accountable for every good deed or evil action.

Medical sciences provide analytic explanations regarding ailments of all kinds and temporary healing and causes of death.

Religion provides guidance on how to live and hope for the hereafter. Philosophy provides the substance of thought to make sense of the inevitable.

While the young are always in fear of losing their parents, parents express fear that their children may go before them.

Beyond expressions of condolences and the rites and prayers, every individual would be left on his own to deal with the loss.

Dying and death are not subjects taught in schools or universities but are difficult subjects that must be dealt with by all in some stages of life.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' book, On Death and Dying, was a seminal work, particularly on the care of terminally-ill patients. Her conceptualisation of the stages of dying, grief and loss has helped many to cope with the phenomenon.

One of the most important universal contributions from the Arab-Muslim world on how to cope with the trials and tribulations of loss is the book by Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni, entitled Don't be Sad.

No being can escape the experience of parting, loss, death of those dear and near. The experience of death and dying has been studied intensively and extensively.

The contemporary rebellions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere provide examples that evil politicians are haunted and hunted even after their deaths and many have no peace after leaving the reins of power for all their transgresses.

Those who transgress and make the innocent or ordinary people unhappy by their power lust or supremacy ideals or misguided righteousness, must one day reckon with death.

The Arab Spring is an example of the rise and fall of tyrants and dictators.

When politicians die, they have to account for their deeds or misdeeds towards a large number of people. When business people die, they have to account for their business dealings which are above board or of questionable means.

All are answerable for the lives led. There are those who lead the simple life and those whose lives are more complex. There are those who try to do no harm to others and those who want to harm others.

During different times and in different regions and through different means and in different contexts, there are people considered evil.

Ramses, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic and those who committed crimes against humanity are considered negatively in history, particularly by enemies.

On the other hand, teachers and scholars in all societies are those who lead relatively simple, straightforward lives, and are respected throughout the ages.

While people may be jubilant at the deaths of those considered to have caused harm to individuals, families and communities, people are always sad at the demise of teachers who have nurtured the growth and development of their students.

Contrast the demise of political might with the lasting contributions, for example, of linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, whose ideas made linguistics the central science for our understanding of human intelligence, the product of collective human interaction.

His most influential work, A Course in General Linguistics, was not written by him but was posthumously compiled and published in 1916 by his students from notes taken from his lectures in Geneva, three years after his death.

Jesse Stuart, a humble teacher in a noble profession, wrote a little book which has been in publication for over 50 years, The Thread That Runs So True (1949).

He asserts: "I am firm in my belief that a teacher lives on and on through his students. Good teaching is forever and the teacher is immortal."

When Professor Emeritus Hyacinth Marie Gaudart died last week, relatives returned from abroad, childhood friends came over from her home state and generations of students, some of whom are leading figures from various fields, turned up to pay their respects.

Teachers and all good people live on through their students and the people they serve as they journey through live.

All religions echo the idea that good people are rewarded for doing their best to bring up good children, through their charity and through the sharing of their knowledge.

This article is dedicated to Gaudart, an inspiring teacher who dedicated her life to the growth and betterment of students.

Professor Emeritus Hyacinth Marie Gaudart was an inspiring teacher who dedicated her life to the betterment of students

Read more: The good that we do lives on after us - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-good-that-we-do-lives-on-after-us-1.78125#ixzz2KjxXiK8Y

Rasch-Made-Easy Program: Starting from the Basics of Measurement to Advance Issues in Rasch Measurement

SESSION SINOPSIS

Day 1 (15.2.13) sessions are about the fundamentals of measurement focusing on Human Sciences because much is to be gained by learning how to work incrementally to achieve high standard of measurement. Shortcomings of classical theories will be discussed and important principles of measurement will be introduced followed by the Basic Principles of Rasch Model.

Day 2 (18.2.13) will introduce the simplest model in Rasch measurement, the dichotomous model in order to explain how to build a set of items for measurement.  The idea of measuring one single construct at a time will be raised. The next session  will discuss about Invariance, a crucial property of scientific measurement.

Day 3 (19.2.13) will extend principles introduced in the previous session to polytomous data.  The session will elaborate on the use of Likert scales, one form of polytomous data that has been around for a long time to collect attitude data.  The Partial Credit Model which incorporates the possibility of having differing number of response opportunities for different items on the same test will next be introduced

Day 4 (20.2.13) will first discuss about rating scale design because as it  is commonly regards, the way each rating scale is constructed has a great influence on the quality of data obtained from the scale.  Next, the most contentious issue in Rasch measurement circles  that is the Fit analysis followed by the concept of unidimensionality which reflects the Rasch model’s focus on the process of fundamental measurement will be discussed.

Day 5 (21.2.13) will focus on reporting Rasch analysis for journal and post-graduate thesis.

Day 6 (22.2.13) will focus on Advance problems and issues in Rasch measurement in practice.

https://www.facebook.com/Raschmadeeasy/events

An Ugly matter of disrespect.

http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/an-ugly-matter-of-disrespect-1.44434

By Datuk Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid
iabaiw@yahoo.com 

MALAYSIANS have come a long way  in becoming more sensitive to stereotyping and profiling. At one point, stereotyping was the  source of humour among friends and even in Malaysian movies, especially P. Ramlee's movies. Somehow, because there was no ill will, movie stereotyping then was not in bad taste, perhaps because of the self-mockery element.

However, over the years, understandably, political and ethnic sensitivities have made racial slurs and other culturally sensitive matters taboo in the  public domain.

In schools and universities, there have been cases of vicious and humiliating racial, religious and cultural denigration.

Stereotyping has now been recognised as an ugly matter of disrespect and discrimination against others who are not like us, towards the young, the elderly, the handicapped, women, and the minorities.

We do not even tolerate the once popular song, Anneke Gronloh's Burung Kakak Tua, because we do not want children to make fun of or disrespect the elderly through the  lyrics of the song which say "elders who have only two teeth left (giginya tinggal dua)".

We criticise the Americans, in particular, for stereotyping and profiling Muslims and those from Muslim countries.

Yet, in the media, if not in the official domain, we are beginning to do    just like or more than the Americans (because so far, no foreigner has taken legal action).

Recently,  there has been a spate of stereotyping and profiling of foreigners, in particular students, in Malaysia by the media. Students from a particular country are stereotyped as drug traffickers, from another country as prostitutes and  from  other countries  as drunkards, molesters, conmen and frauds.

True, there are  cases  reported in the media of such individuals  taken to  court.  But transgressions by these individuals do not equate to transgressions by a race, religion or nation.

Recruitment agents and officials have travelled the world  to get these students into our institutions of higher learning. Typically,  some  of the media groups, in search of audiences,  sensationalise their stories.

Typically, academia in search of truth is cautious. Typically, lay people respond candidly regarding their fear of foreigners and crimes by foreign students when given cue questions by those who look for "scoops".

Foreign students are neither tourists nor immigrant labour. They are long-term guests  here. Officials, the  authorities and the responsible citizenry must not play to the gallery and reaffirm media sensationalism.

      If we continue to do so,  we will develop  xenophobia. We should get our act together instead of creating a cultural and intellectual distance and a subculture of fear of foreign students.

    When we send our students abroad, we say that they are the ambassadors of our country. Likewise, the parents of students and the nations which send their students here regard them as ambassadors of their countries.

We say that our students will be leaders of tomorrow. Foreign students, too, will be leaders of tomorrow for their societies, nationally and globally.

They will be politicians, businessmen and businesswomen, civil servants and all kinds of professionals. Foreign students are our relational assets, our alumni in global networking and our ties with the outside world.

We should put our act together and develop enlightened policies and develop our own cultural refinements.

Most of the 100,000 foreign students are willing learners who invest in their learning here and are very good in focusing on their studies. Our educational institutions have  created opportunities for every one of them.

    We should not allow a situation  where a sector of government or society makes progress in international relations and another undoes whatever good that is being done.

There may be foreign students who stay here for five years and yet do not have the opportunity to interact with  Malaysians and experience Malaysian hospitality. A few institutions and organisations have made foreign students welcome but such initiatives are not enough.

    As we prepare to welcome more foreign students, we have to get our act together in the public and private domains.

 Business associations, civic associations and individual institutions can begin programmes to foster opportunities for foreign students to stay with families during their studies here.

In the long run, such  hospitality may be more memorable for the students than the impersonal messages and lessons in lecture halls.

  We can do more as an enlightened and caring society. We donate to other countries and get publicity and media coverage but we do not address the opportunity at our doorstep to add value to the experience of foreign students in our midst.

When we send our children abroad, we  want our children to have the opportunity of knowing other families in the host country. The British Council and  other organisations have organised homestays for foreign students.

    Beyond the rhetoric of our global leadership, there are rich intercultural and multinational experiences which we are not leveraging on.

To be real global leaders, our people must build bridges with authentic care with the students we have invited as our intellectual guests.

Besides learning from us, thousands of foreign students are engaged in knowledge generation at masters and doctoral levels and in other types of knowledge production though collaborative research.

South African students at a Chinese New Year open house. Such scholars are their countries’ ambassadors here.

Read more:An ugly matter of disrespect - Columnist - New Straits Timeshttp://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/an-ugly-matter-of-disrespect-1.44434#ixzz2JKesWO9U