HPEM7063

MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

APPENDIX II
FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
I: INTERVIEWER
R2: HEAD OF SCIENCE PANEL
R3: FACILITATOR OF I-THINK PROGRAMME
VENUE: STAFFROOM AT SCHOOL
TIME DURATION: 40 MINUTES.
DATE: MARCH 17, 2016.
INTRODUCTION: (O.C: The Head of Science Panel of the selected school was Mrs. Susila (not
real name) with the age of 42 and has 20 years of working experience and
also Mrs. Azniwathi (not real name) is 33 years old who is a facilitator of
the i-think programme in the school with 10 years of working experience
were agreed to let me interview them for my research purposes. The
purpose of the interview was clearly explained to them earlier. The
interview was held in schools staffroom as focus group interview.
Therefore, the following discussions are about the implementation,
effectiveness and sustainability of i-THINK Programme in the selected
school as well as its ethical considerations.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
I: Hi friends, are you free now?
R1: Yes. We are free for you now.
I: Okay. If you all dont mind I would ask some questions with both of you. Can both of you
answered my questions with spontaneously?
R1: Sure why not. But with one condition.
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I: What.
R2: You must treat us after this.
I: Okay sure.
PART B: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF I-THINK PROGRAMME IN SCHOOL
I: Actually what do you both know about this i-think programme?
R2: Mmm as I know mmm.. i-think programme is a joint venture between the Education
Ministry and the Malaysia Innovation Agency, and andactually what I think it is aimed at
instilling the capacity to think creatively and innovatively among students.

R3: Yeah that true. As I facilitator of this programme, what I know is, i-think programme is the
new programme introduced in schools and the objective is to create students with critical and
creative thinking. i-THINK is a realistic and practical approach to inculcating thinking processes
in teaching and learning methods at schools among teachers and students. And, asked about i-

think, I straight ways think about 8 i-think maps. Mmm like bubble map, tree map, circle
map and others.
I: So, how can you both get exposed to techniques to implementing i-think programme in teaching
and learning?
R3: First of all, our school has received a letter of attending courses i-think. So, my headmaster
asks me to attend the one week courses in PKG Mambau. After completed all the module ithink I have been selected as facilitator of i-think programme in my school. At first I quite blur
with the programme, but after went through some activities in the course, I felt that this
programme should implement among the teachers and practiced it to the students in the class.

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R2: Mmm.. Im not a facilitator. Therefore, I get exposure to this i-think programme, from the inhouse training conducted by our facilitator in school which takes two days. And mmm at
first I think that this programme is wasting of my time and increased my workload. But, after
get finished the in-house training, I felt this programme is the best learning tools for students to
generate their ideas and to solve problems.
R1: Do both of you are comfortable to practice this i-think programme in the class? Why?
R2: Ya.. ya.. For me it is a helpful programme and it is created student-centred learning in the
class. Teachers job is to introduce the 8 i-think maps to the students and get them practice
with the maps in teaching and learning process. At first I find difficult to make my student to
understand about the map, but after regularly implementing the i-think map, the students now
move one step forward to think out of box with creative and critical.
R3: Yeah thats true. I also comfortable with this programme because what I felt is, the 8
suggested thinking maps are ha something like visual teaching tools that foster and
encourage lifelong learning which helps teachers and students work smarter with enhanced
communication.

I: What are the other initiatives taken by both you in order to expose this i-think program to your
school teachers?
R2: First, Im as a Head of Science Panel, try to understand first what i-think is about? And then,
after I went through more in-house training run by our faci, I clear about the 8 thinking maps.
My role here is is to help or guidance my science panel of teachers to apply i-think maps
while teaching science subject for the pupils.
R3: I think my responsibility is much bigger. Im as a facilitator of this programme; I have to
conduct in-house training by planning i-think activities using 8 thinking maps to make my
teachers understand well about the programme. Not only that, I also assist my teachers by
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guiding them when needed. Rather than that, I also call an expert of i-think to run a workshop
or seminar in school for teachers. I believe that once my teachers get exposed to various
forms of activities they have understood the concept of i-think. I also has the role to provide
banners of i-think in my school corridors to review by teachers as well as students and
parents.
I: What are the other initiatives taken by both you in order to expose this i-think program to your
students?
R2: After we clear and confident with the use of i-think this, we practice the i-think the map in the
classroom with the students.
R3: First, students were introduced with the 8 types of maps and explain with its function clearly
by the subject teachers. Then, for level one kids, bubble map, circle maps, and double bubble
map are used in subject matters. And for level two kids. I mean standard 4 to 6 students, were
expose to use the 8 thinking maps.
I: What are the activities that you have done while receiving in-house training in the school?
R2: I would say more interesting games on i-think such as crossword puzzles, mapping games,
find solutions from text, and and questioning and answering, group presentations, and
individual test. Thats all I think. But, these activities make me and my working colleges
enjoyed learning i-think map easily.
I: Thats so interesting. How long have you both teachers received i-think in-service courses
regarding i-think programme?
R3: Oh I attended the courses for five days in PKG Mambau from morning 8.30 to evening
4.00 oclock where the selective group of professional developers, teachers, and/or curriculum
specialists from a school system or region learn how to conduct Thinking Maps trainings and
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systematically lead classroom follow-up activities in whole schools. Through this process of
training and feedback, participants are certified by Thinking Maps as facilitator to conduct
Thinking Maps Professional Development training in their schools. Facilitator must have
Thinking Maps experience and show proficiency in presenting workshops and facilitating adult
learning through modelling for and coaching of colleagues.
R2: We are only attended i-think in-house training for two days in the school which is from 8.00
am to 1.00 pm. Any how, we learn more on this two days course. All the teachers receive ongoing instructional training. And, we teachers are supervised by our facilitator and headmaster
to integrate thinking maps in teaching and learning in the classroom.
I: What is the planning process involves implementing i-think programme?
R2: All the i-think programmes that conducted in the school as planned in our school calendar
earlier.
R3: We follow our school takwim. And, all the panel such as Panitia tamil, Panitia English,
Panitia BM holds each week. And, of the weeks one of the i-think activities will be carried out
for teachers and students. It is more like quizzes.
R2: Ya.
I: Personally, do you both think the in-house i-think training program will fruitful? Why?
R2: Yeah. Confidently I would say yes because I have seen throughout my own experience
whereby those days I just ask my students to find out key point from the passage and ask them
to list down by putting one, two three numbers. But, now after get expose to the i-think map
my students even last class students also able to put in the important points or ideas using ithink maps and they are also able to communicate their ideas with their friends. What is known
is, when it comes to teaching and learning its really fruitful but when it is comes to
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examination, I dont know how effective it was? Because most of the formative test questions
are not modified and still using the old techniques. So here, students cant be able to show their
critical and creative thinking to solve problems.
R3: Yeah. Thats 100% correct. I felt this programme is such a great programme which can create
good teaching and learning environment and at the same time, most of the teachers has
reported to me that their students' ability to organize information more quickly and interesting
as i-THINK program offers eight different thoughts maps of thinking. This training and

development course also helps in improving upon the quality of work

and work-life of our teachers.
I: As a facilitator, what are the problems of your teachers when they are attend to training and
development session?
R3: So far the problem that I can see from my teachers is their willingness to accept this program
is too low. There are some teachers who just thought the i-think the use of maps in the
classroom to give excessive workload. Moreover work with the files. They are afraid of this
change. This may be because they fear that with the establishment of new programs such as ithink then there is a change in their teaching and learning strategies.
I: Do you both think that this i-think programme affects your teachers professionalism? How?
R2: Mmm yes why not. Actually, Im a graduates teachers and always looking for a best
method to teach my students to get them understand the lesson. So, I always prepare more
teaching aids. But, now I only get ready with i-think map as my teaching aids to generate
students ideas and thinking. Im studying Master programme in Asian University. So, I also
used this i-think maps when in order to remember the fact. So, it is easier for me to do revision
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R3:Yeah. Me too. Im also doing master programme in Asian University. I prefer i-think maps to
categorize my ideas. When I share my knowledge and skills of i-think, with my working
colleagues or other schools teachers, I gained a lot of information on this i-think programme.
I: So, how do you ensure or recognise that your teachers have basic knowledge or skills of using ithink map in teaching and learning?
R3: There are 53 teachers who working in our school and only 50 teachers are able to attend to
this course. So, I give a test for the teachers who attended two days in-house training and if
the teacher get 45 marks. I mean 90 marks out of 50 questions then only I will give them
certificate. This is school level evaluation. And, got one more test by KPM that is online ithink courses which requires all the teachers to read 32 modules from online and answered
each of the modules. So when the teachers get 60 marks and above, then they will get voucher
which can convert into certificate. And I also seen that every classrooms are occupied with ithink charts did by students and teachers.
R2: I have no comments on this question because I only can motivate my science panel of
teachers to use thinking maps in their teaching.
I: And as a teacher, how do you both encourage your students to use i-think maps in the
classroom?
R2: As a science teacher, my method of teaching different according to students level. For
excellent students, I always want them to come with suitable i-think map to solve given
problems. But, with the low achievers I normally provide the suitable i-think maps and ask
them to identify the key point from the topic and list into the map given.
R3: Yeah. In order to apply or practice the i-think maps we need to be more focused on students
ability of learning. Once a Thinking Map had been demonstrated to the class, the students
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worked cooperatively with me to develop a new thinking map. For that, I plan to do i-think
scrape book competition for this year. Maybe end of June. This competition may enhance
students to come up with more i-think maps as guided by the subject teachers. There will be
more prizes to be won according to categories.
I: Do you think, this i-think program will give benefit to your students academic achievement?
R2: This program gives more support to my students academic achievement. By coaching
students to correctly use the thinking maps in their daily lessons, students will have a greater
sense of control of the way they handle classroom materials. Even in my science class, I can
see my low achieving students able to draw circle and bubble i-think map when to generate
ideas. It is make me happy and motivated to teach them.
R3: After attending a professional development courses on thinking mapping, I decided to
introduce my classes to a note-taking concept called Thinking Maps, which allowed students
to summarize information using visual techniques. When asked to respond using a thinking
map, students were generally able to provide relevant details and address the questions being
asked. But its takes some times to see the improvement on students learning.
I: After implementing this i-think programme, what are the effectiveness of this programme that
you both have seen?
R2: Mmm i-think maps are tools that used to create interesting and achievable teaching and
learning process and foster and encourage lifelong learning. So, the strengths of i-think
programme are, it can serve as tools of formative and summative assessment gauging student
progress.
R3: It helps to develop students cognitive skills, drive learning, eliminate the confusion that can
come from static graphic organizers, link to unique, dynamic visual representations. And, it is
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provide a common language that all students and teachers understand easily. The beauty of ithink maps is, when a student used different i-think maps to go deeper and more complex on a
given topic/subject, their effectiveness is increased.
I: So far, what are the challenges that you or your teachers and also students have faced when
implementing this programme in school?
R3: Challenges ha.. ha.. yes. I think the only challenge is, our school environment setting
whereby our teacher are dedicated to implement the i-think program in the class but our
classroom space where the classrooms are small and have a large number of students in the
range of 32-35 teachers in each classroom. This cause is is we cannot ensure that the ithink practiced by all the students in short time. And the evaluation is also done randomly.
And.. as a facilitator of this program, teachers attendance to the in-house training is one the
problem that I faced. When a particular teacher doesnt attend the training then, it will be
difficult for them to implement the program in the class. There are too many doubt and
questions by teachers in order to apply the i-THINK map in the class especially when it
comes to particular subject like mathematics. Challenge for the students is, some students
sometimes confuse to use the appropriate i-think the appropriate for a topic being taught.
There were few students are only felt comfortable to use circle maps all the time especially
low achieving class students.
R2: Yes. Thats true. I think one more challenge is, we cannot expect the effectiveness of i-think
programme in short time period because it is involved with students understanding and their
critical and creative thinking. And, sometimes we receive called from PPD officer that they
wanna come for observe the school i-think programme. It makes us tension and do failing
works that not really authentic. But, what to do they wants to see the recordkeeping only not

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to test the students understanding towards to i-think programme. Students challenge is,
students find lists of ideas in the maps but not skilled in interpreting the map.
I : After seen these challenges, how would you manage these?
R3: We discussed about this matter in our school official meeting and our panel was decided to
give sufficient time the teachers and students to apply the i-think maps among students. And,
issues of number of students in the classroom, our headmaster asked our teachers to be patient
and once the new building is completed and the number of classrooms will increase and the
number of students will also be reduced. Until that the teachers were asked to practice i-think
the map in the classroom and establish a comfortable learning environment.
R2: For students, we try to help the students who not clear with the use of i-think maps in learning
process until they know. And then, the teachers also engaged the students to communicate or
discuss their ideas that listed in the maps in group.
R3: Yeah.
I: What is your suggestion to sustain this i-think program in the future?
R2: To keep this programs going forward year after year in schools or through a school
community partnership requires serious sustainability plans and thoughtful actions. We also
need training and development program on developing instrument for evaluate students ithink skills.
R3: What I feel is, supports from the parents are most important to sustain this programme. Then,
the programmes funding or finance aspects also seem to be important too because when we
have enough of resources or financial support from the school or department, then only we
have the confidence to run the programme at school level.

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I: What are the ethical considerations that you both concerned more on implementing this i-think
programme in school?
R2: Mmm we always ensure that the programme implemented in our school always influence
and favour of our school culture.
R3: Yes. And, we always ensure that No child left behind in applying this i-think maps.
I: I think we are at the end of our interview session now. So, thank you for cooperate with me to
answer all my questions. Should we go for a tea break?
R2: Okay lets go. Im free now
R3: Owh sorry. I have a class now. I will join u after half an hour. Is it okay?
I: Okay. No problem.

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