ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE CURRICULUM AMONG ACADEMICS AT THE INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING (SEM) APPROACH

Abstract

Islamization of Knowledge (IOK) is documented in the vision and
mission of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
which impetuses its implementation in many aspects of the IIUM
academic and non academic programmes. The main objective of this
study is to examine the importance of the IOK particularly in
addressing the strategies and practices among the academics to
integrate the IOK in the curriculum. There are seven components of
the implementation of the IOK at the IIUM. The components include
Belief, Content, Teaching and Learning Process,
Evaluation/Assessment, Purpose, Product, and Student Improvement
(Value). This paper aims to further investigate or evaluate the
implementation of the IOK through identifying the relationships
among these components as perceived by IIUM academics. A 65-item
self-reported questionnaire was developed to collect the data on the
IOK from 306 academics. The Statistical Package for Social Science
(SPSS) Version 15 was used to compute the descriptive statistics.
Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) version 16.0 was used to
perform Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and full-fledged
Structural Equation Model (SEM). The hypothesized model of the
IOK among the academics was tested using Structural Equation
Modeling (SEM). The results have shown a good model fit
(RMSEA=0.058; cfi=.948; and tli=0.942). However, Belief in the
IOK as a component was not a significant predictor of two curriculum dimensions namely pedagogy and evaluation
(C.R.>1.96). This indicates that recognizing the importance of the
IOK is not sufficient in both adopting evaluation methods and
selecting appropriate pedagogical approaches among academics.
However, when the academics believed in the importance of the IOK,
they sought for further training and knowledge from the experts.
Thus, the relationship between Belief in the IOK and training and
knowledge collectively impact the academics’ evaluation in the
classroom. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship
between pedagogical approaches and selected products of the IOK.
There was an indication that lecturers who adopted the IOK in their
pedagogy approaches had the tendency to produce items of the IOK
such as articles, chapter of a book, a book, proceeding and thesis.
The study suggested that future study to emphasis on accomplishment
of the IOK.