Page 17 - Jurnal Kurikulum BPK 2018

The third theme is the forging of good rapport between lecturers and their students. The
male English lecturer did this through the use of the emoticons. He shared that he used emoticons
in his WhatsApp messages to the students. This was to soften the impact of his messages
especially when he was reminding them to finish their work or to see him. In his own words:
“Sometimes I can attach emoticons. These youngsters can understand this “emo” better than
the instruction. To soften down total impact and make it friendlier.” He continued by saying
“Yes and also to have good rapport with students to show them I am also like them, using
the latest trends, using the “emo”. Therefore, using WhatsApp enabled the lecturer to be on par
with the students and to be like them. He further added “I am going to use this one because it is
the simplest way of getting to my students. Of course for better interaction with students…”
The History lecturer stated “Amat berguna, memudahkan pelajar untuk bersoaljawab.”
Using WhatsApp enabled him to forge better rapport with his students as it facilitated the
communication process between him and his students. They were able to ask him questions that
were not possible during their face-to face interaction in class. Even the Head of the Language
Department, who was an academic lecturer, commented that “Messages can be transmitted
quickly. Change of lecture time and place can be notified easily. Recipient of messages also
responds promptly” By communicating with his students quickly using WhatsApp, this helped
to remove any misunderstanding, miscommunication or confusion on both sides especially when
unforeseen or sudden events cropped up and disrupted lecture times.
The female coordinator had this to say “So this WhatsApp group need to be made for
every subject we can ask the lecturer or even our friends about the assignment…” She also
concurred that by using WhatsApp they could forward any queries or problems they had regarding
their assignments thereby keeping the line of communication open and accessible even after
working hours enabling lecturers and students to forge a better rapport.
The fourth theme is it helps in the teaching and learning process. The History lecturer said:
“Ia amat berguna kerana memudahkan bertanya secara serius berkaitan pelajaran yang
diajar. Membolehkan pelajar bersoaljawab dalam talian- pelajar sesama pelajar, pelajar
dengan pensyarah dapat bersoaljawab terus tentang pengajaran dalam bilik kuliah dan
mengajukan soalan kuiz.” The WhatsApp messaging system facilitated the learning of his
subject because his students made use of this system to ask questions regarding the topics taught.
Sometimes the students would forward questions to him or he would pose the questions or even
quizzes to his students in the WhatsApp group and they had to respond within a certain time to
his questions. The male English lecturer also said it helped him in the teaching and learning
process. He said “Second thing is that, using WhatsApp I can attach things like pdf files.”
(The pdf files refer to the files containing the learning content of the subject taught).
The female student had this to say “So this WhatsApp group need to be made for every
subject we can ask the lecturer or even our friends about the assignment and I think it is
useful for us.” The student found WhatsApp to be useful even in learning how to go about doing
their assignments. Even the male student monitor concurred on this: “…I really need this method
to be continued next semester so that we can keep using this, and further more enhancing
our understanding in various subjects that the lecturers have taught us”. He was more
articulate stating that the use of the WhatsApp group helped them to enhance their understanding
and learning of various subjects.
From the discussion, it can be summarized that the WhatsApp messaging system was
effective as it provided fast, efficient and reliable communication. It was convenient to use.
Moreover it also helped in the forging of good rapport between lecturers and students, either

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