Effects of outdoor education program on life effectiveness skills between MARA University of Technology and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

Research has proven that students produced by the institute of higher education were lack of soft skills, leadership skills, social skills, intellectual level, confident level which is required by the industry. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of outdoor education programs towards students’ life effectiveness skills among Sultan Idris Education University and MARA University of Technology. This study also investigates the socio demographic variables differences of life effectiveness skills and identifies outdoor education activity that preferred by the sport science and physical education students who participated in outdoor education program. This study utilized pre-test and post-test quasi experimental design. Life Effectiveness Questionnaire (LEQ- H) was administrated among 256 participants who were chosen as a sample by using purposive sampling. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis, paired sample t- test and MANOVA analysis. The primary findings of this study showed that the outdoor education program contributed significantly influenced the improvement of UiTM and UPSI participants’ life effectiveness skills that immerse in camping activity. The result from this study showed that socio demographic variables of experience for UiTM participants had significant effects on achievement motivation. The result also showed that there was a statistically significant difference for overall psychological factor of life effectiveness on length of program for both UiTM and UPSI outdoor education program. The result also showed kayaking activity was the most preferred activity by both of UiTM and UPSI outdoor education participants. The implication of the findings provides evidence on the effectiveness of outdoor education program in improving students’ life effectiveness. This study provides useful inputs for Ministry of Higher Education, universities and outdoor education practitioners. This study also provides an empirical data for future study in this field.