The document summarizes the findings of a study on e-learning policies in Malaysian higher education institutions. It found that only 38.5% of institutions have an e-learning policy, and the majority were developed without input from students or external stakeholders. Most policies are approved by the institution's Senate or top management and disseminated through training programs, websites, and circulars. While many institutions have implementation plans for their e-learning policies, success rates for implementation are low, between 0-50% for most. Support for e-learning from management and faculties is high but lower from lecturers.

1. e-Learning Policy in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions By: Prof. Dr. Mohamed AminEmbi

2. Key Findings on e-Learning Policies A total of 16 HEIs or 38.5% have e-Learning policies. This means that the majority (61.5%) or 16 HEIs do not have e-Learning policies yet. For the HEIs that have e-Learning policies, the parties involved in developing the policies are made up of the top management and representatives of faculties/centres/departments only. This shows that none of the HEIs involved the students and external stakeholders in the formulation of their respective e-Learning policies. The e-Learning policies are commonly approved by the Senate (60%) or the top management (40%) of the respective institutions.

3. According to the e-Learning administrators who formed the sample population in this study, the various approaches used to disseminate e-Learning policies to the campus communities include formal training programmes (80%), university web sites (70%), circulars (60%), pamphlets (60%), and induction programmes (40%). Most of the HEIs (90%) that have e-Learning policies also have their own implementation plans. Most of the HEIs (70%) that have e-Learning policies made the use of e-Learning (70%) compulsory for lecturers and students. Less than half of the HEIs surveyed (40%) have implemented their respective e-Learning policies for more than 3 years or for between 1–3 years, while only two HEIs (20%) have implemented their e-Learning policies for less than a year.

4. The components least detailed in e-Learning policies as compared to other components are the incentives, awards, and quality assurance components. For the majority (90%) of the HEIs, e-Learning policy is part of their respective strategic plans. For most of the HEIs (70%), e-Learning is part of their respective KPI. Out of the ten HEIs with e-Learning policies, four have no clear e-Learning implementation plans. According to e-Learning administrators, in terms of the level of awareness of the e-Learning policy among the academic staff of their respective institutions, six HEIs are at the level of 76–100%, one HEI is at 51–75%; three HEIs are at the level of 26–50% and four other HEIs are at the level of awareness between 0–25%.

5. For the majority of the HEIs (12 out of 20) to date, their respective e-Learning implementation plans have achieved a success rate of 0 to 50%, while only eight HEIs have achieved a success rate of between 51% to 100%. In general, support from management, faculty/school/department, and students are at the level of 76–100%, while support from the lecturers is at the level of 25–50%. This shows that the support from the lecturers is less than that of other stakeholders. 80% of the lecturer sample confirmed that there was an e-Learning policy at their respective institution. The majority (92.5%) of the lecturers are aware and know about the e-Learning policy in their respective HEIs.

6. According to them, information about the policy was obtained mainly from institutional websites (58%), circulars (57.4%), and formal training programmes conducted by their respective HEIs. Only 5% of the lecturers stated that they did not comply with the e-Learning policy in their respective HEIs. A total of 30.6% complied fully, and 58.7% complied with a part of the policy, while 5.7% are not sure whether they complied or not.

7. Lecturers’ response on the existing e-Learning policy

8. Awareness of e-Learning policy among lecturers

9. Compliance with e-Learning policy among academic staff

10. Number/Percentage of HEIs having e-Learning policies

11. The stakeholders involved in formulating e-Learning policies

12. Approving bodies of e-Learning policies

13. How e-Learning policy is disseminated and promoted

14. Number/Percentage of HEIs having e-Learning policy implementation plans

15. Number/Percentage of HEIs making e-Learning compulsory

16. Duration of e-Learning policy implementation

17. The components included in e-Learning policies

18. Number/Percentage of HEIs that make e-Learning policies a part of their institutional strategic plan

19. Number/Percentage of HEIs that make e-Learning policies a part of their institutional KPIs

20. Number/Percentage of HEIs with clear e-Learning policy implementation plan

21. Level of awareness of e-Learning policy among academic staff

22. Level of success in implementing e-Learning

23. Levels of stakeholder support/commitment