Deep' as a learning approach in inspiring creative and innovative minds among postgraduate students in research university

Abstract

This paper investigates the level of deep learning approach among research university (RU) postgraduate students in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). It is believed that deep approach may foster students to become competent, creative and versatile professionals in order to adapt with on-going challenge for a research university such as UTM. In specific, this paper aims to determine the level of deep learning approaches adopted by postgraduate students and to identify whether the approach is associated with demographic factors (age, gender, main streams, mode of study and working experience). Participants included 354 postgraduate students from different faculties in UTM whereas questionnaires were distributed via email and through designated contact person. The One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that there were significant differences on the usage of deep learning approach across age and years of working experience. Significance was not seen between deep learning on gender, main streams and mode of study. Our investigation suggests that deep approach to learning should be included in their academics, however the suggestion is tailored according on the tasks given to the students. Hence, we concluded that further investigation could be carried out on the effect of learning environment towards students dynamic in learning. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Asia Pacific Business Innovation and Technology Management Society