Exploring the needs of Malay manuscript studies community for an e-learning platform

Abstract: Philology studies are often associated with traditional methods of teaching and learning. This study explores the possibility of e-learning adoption amongst Malay manuscripts learning community. The Soft System Methodology (SSM) is used to guide the investigation. SSM emphasises on understanding the problem situations faced by Malay manuscript learning community and expresses the situations in rich pictures. The manuscript learning community comprises lecturers, students and researchers in the field of philology. Data were gathered from interviews, focus group discussions and observations. Academy of Malay Studies, University of Malaya is the case study setting, focusing on lecturers who teach and students who enrol in a philology course as well as doctoral students researching on manuscript studies. The findings highlight problems faced by the various stakeholders and propose solutions in the form of a conceptual model for a collaborative electronic platform to improve teaching and learning as well as utilizing digitized manuscript surrogates held in a digital library of Malay manuscripts.