Perceptions of Postgraduates Majoring in English Education on Speaking Assessment Module for Online Distance Learning (ODL)

—Assessment of speaking skills differs from other language skills. The methods of conducting speaking skills are included in the English Assessment Module developed by the researchers from the National University of Malaysia (UKM). The module is designed to cater postgraduates (adult learners) through Online Distance Learning (ODL) program. ODL has become essential in education setting for adult learners as they could manage their learning whilst juggling their career and personal commitments. The covid-19 pandemic has become the starting point for postgraduates to conduct the course remotely according to their preferences of learning. The revolution of education allows adult learners to pursue their Masters. The module includes various types of English language assessments in the context of speaking English as a Second Language (ESL). Hence, eight adult learners were interviewed to give their perceptions towards this newly designed module. This qualitative research method employed a set of semi-structured interview questions and open-ended questions via Google Meet. The findings showed that English Assessment Module;Speaking Assessment is well equipped with comprehensive information and guidelines on how the speaking assessments should be conducted in ESL context. Generally, the findings indicate that the English Assessment Module;Speaking Assessment is suitable for ODL postgraduates (adult learners). This paper also includes the participants' suggestions to further improve the module. The findings could benefit the online distance course designers in designing better module for adult learners and enable the learners to learn effectively at their own convenience. © 2023 ACADEMY PUBLICATION.

Architectural Engineering Students' Perception of Knowledge Acquisition in a Senior Project Course Delivered Synchronously Online Due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in spring 2020, led to the sudden termination of conventional learning systems. Since then, Synchronous Online Distance Learning (SODL) has been employed as an alternative teaching modality in engineering education. During this shift, educators were required to maintain successful Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). Therefore, a substantial question was raised about how we could ensure that the knowledge presented through SODL approaches is of sufficient quality? This study aims to develop a tool to evaluate the students' knowledge acquisition while utilizing SODL approaches in engineering education in order to define the ability of this approach to maintain educational continuity, when forced to transition to SODL. A Design-Based Research (DBR) methodology was adopted to link the qualitative research variables in this study;the variable of dimensional analysis is one substantial approach to identifying the aspects of SLOs in a SODL Architectural Engineering (AE) senior project while the collaborative component of this study has been integrated as in-depth structured interviews. Following our analysis, findings indicate that SODL does not necessarily compromise students' skills in acquiring knowledge;furthermore, it advances the AE senior projects curricular paradigm positively.