“ICT-in-Education on 21 Century Learning Design” -
by Mr Chong Chee Keong and Ms Winnie Er Pek Hoon, Centre for Learning and Teaching

In January 2014, the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) and its parent faculty, the Centre for Extension Education (CEE), held two Faculty Development Talks, titled �"ICT-in-Education on 21 Century Learning Design" (at UTAR Kampar campus) and �"Integrating ICT and 21 CLD Into Education through UNESCO Resources" (at Setapak campus).

The speakers were two senior CLT members, Mr Chong Chee Keong, an academic from UTAR�es Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF), and Ms Winnie Er Pek Hoon, an academic from the Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM).

The first speaker, Mr Chong, started the talk by introducing the UNESCO Bangkok Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education and the Microsoft Teacher Education Initiative (TEI) programme. CLT had been invited by UNESCO Bangkok to attend the UNESCO-USM Regional Seminar on ICT Integration in Teaching & Learning at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang from 9th . 11th October 2013, and to attend the Microsoft Faculty Development Workshop: Technology Enriched Instruction at Universitas Siswa Bangsa Internasional, Jakarta, Indonesia on 19th November 2013. At both functions, CLT was introduced to the Microsoft TEI programme which supports the 21 CLD professional development programme.

The participants were then shown several videos introducing the 21CLD (21st Century Learning Design) and Microsoft TEI. Fundamentally, the 21st Century Learning Design program provides a 21st Century skills framework to guide a new model of educator professional learning. The program is based on Innovative Teaching and Learning (ITL) Research's 21st Century skill rubrics and research on the most effective models of professional development.

The participants were introduced to the six learning activity rubrics of 21 CLD - Collaboration, Knowledge construction, Self-regulation, Real-world problem-solving and innovation, the use of ICT for learning and Skilled communication. Some sample class activities or work assignments were put up. The audience, who were mainly academic staff from UTAR Kampar faculties, were guided on whether these activities/assignments fulfilled the requirements for a particular skill, using the 21 CLD Learning Activity Rubrics.

The speakers inducted the participants on the T-PACK model. In order for educators to hone 21st century skills in students, it is no longer sufficient to have �"Content Knowledge" (CK) and �"Pedagogical Knowledge" only. Educators are now encouraged to equip themselves with �"Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge" (T-PACK). For the last part of the talk, the second speaker, Ms Winnie Er, introduced the audience to the various free educational resources tools distributed by UNESCO Bangkok. There are seven (7) types of CDs distributed by UNESCO: E-Learning series on ICT in Education, Free software for educators, Multimedia resources, Web tools for educators, Directory of ICT resources for teaching and learning of science, mathematics and language, Collection of E-learning tools-recommended for learners age 3-13, Collection of E-learning tools-recommended for advanced learners

“Dada and Symbolic Interactionism” -
by Dr Nicholas Osborne Pagan, Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya

On 20th of January 2014, the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FAS), held a talk titled �\Dada and Symbolic Interactionism. at Block P, UTAR Kampar campus.

The speaker, Dr Nicholas Osborne Pagan, is an international scholar and a senior research fellow attached to Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya.

The objectives of the talks were:

1. To generate networking opportunities for the university, faculty members and students
2. To provide staff and students with positive exposure to a more established and distinguished individual in the following fields of study: linguistics, literature, cultural studies, performance theory and sociological theory

The lecture draws upon the strand of sociological theory known as symbolic interactionism to shed light on dada. After brief consideration of the nature of symbolic interactionsim in contradistinction to other sociological theories and after expressing the need to move beyond approaches to dada that treat the Dadaists�e corpus as works of literature, the presentation focuses on dada in relation to two main situations: the relationship between individual and group (which incorporates George Herbert Mead�es notion of �"generalized other" and his distinction between the �"I" and the �"me") and the relation between performer and audience. Dada texts are regarded as events, as performances involving actual people and as therefore crying out to be understood from a sociological perspective. Texts treated in some detail include Picabia�es Manifeste cannibal dada and Tzara�es Coeur a Gaz. Symbolic interactionism�e emphasis on labels and the idea of self-definition makes clear that the Dadaists were as involved in redefining themselves as they were in redefining their society

“Applying for the Sumitomo Foundation (Japan) International Grant: A Grant Holder’s Experience” and “Publishing Effectively: What Matters most”
- by Mr Garry Tan Wei Han, Chairperson, Centre for Business and Management, Faculty of Business and Finance, UTAR

On Friday, 28th February, 2014, the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) and its parent faculty, the Centre for Extension Education (CEE held two Faculty Development Talks, titled �"Applying for the Sumitomo Foundation (Japan) International Grant: A Grant Holder�fs Experience" (from 10am to 11am) and "Publishing Effectively: What Matters most" (from 11am to 1pm) at KAG01, UTAR Bandar Sungai Long campus.

The speaker, Mr Garry Tan Wei Han, is an avid researcher and academic from UTAR‘s Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF). He is also the Chairperson of the Centre for Business and Management.

For the first talk titled �"Applying for the Sumitomo Foundation (Japan) International Grant: A Grant Holder�fs Experience", Mr Garry enlightened the audience that the end objective of Sumitomo grant is to solve humanity problems and issues. Hence, research proposals should be on humanities issues, something from which Japan can learn. Mr Garry also showed some examples of successful grants�e topics. Fundamentally, a research should be worked around a novel theory, and could be the source of new ideas. Aspiring researchers should illustrate clearly the contribution of their project to humanities.

Tips were given on how to work on the application form, e.g. on providing accurate key words, use of simple, easy-to-understand language. Participants also needed not fear about being first-time researchers. Mr Garry shared that when he first applied for the Sumitomo Grant, he was a very new academic who had no research experience. Hence, his message to new researchers is, �"Be bold", �"Be brave".

For the second talk titled "Publishing Effectively: What Matters most", Mr Garry Tan enlightened the audience as to the different �"classification" of journals to which academics may submit their papers. Top of the �"pyramid" are those journals that are indexed in the ISI Web of Science, followed by SCOPUS. Thereafter, there are international journals (e.g. those listed in CIRRUS or CABELL) and non-international journals.

Mr Garry also provided hints on writing title for a paper. Titles should be short, concise, accurate and informative. He pointed out that papers that are most downloaded are usually those with generic terms, for e.g. �"Mobile payment". The audience were guided on how to write good abstracts and good introduction. Mr Garry advised researchers to learn from papers published in top-tiered journals, learn their styles and format. Meanwhile, for literature review, researchers should always have a �"model", in order to show originality. The literature may also be enhanced with citations from ISI-indexed journals.

In relation to research methodology, Mr Garry updated the audience that most top-tiered journals now do not prefer �"convenience sampling". Also, for researchers who intend to use questionnaire with 5 Likert Scale, they must be aware that these journals now prefer 7-scales. Researchers also should avoid using students as their samples. In writing the final paper, Asian writers should pay more attention to �"discussion" and �"implications", as those are the areas that would show originality in a paper.

Mr Garry next showed some of the established databases and journals. He cautioned the audience as to the existence of fake websites and journals that have been black-listed by MOHE (Ministry of Higher Education), for example Common Ground Publishing, Academic Journals, Eurojournal Inc and African World Press. Hence, the audience were advised to always go for proper publishers like Elsevier, Taylor-Francis and Emerald. To be safe, they should double-check with the ERA list.

For the next part of the talk, Mr Garry dealt with the editorial review process and resubmission. He pointed out that there is a need to comply fully with the requirements that have been stipulated by a particular editor or journal. It is also common to receive a first-time feedback of �"Major Revision required" instead of �"Accepted".

For the final part of the talk, Mr Garry dealt with another participant�es query on what are meant by �"impact factor" and �"H-index". Mr Garry enlightened the audience that a journal�es impact factor usually fluctuates; hence, they should not overly rely on it. Impact factor usually takes into account the past 2 years�e citations on a journal, hence if there are incidents of writers trying to �"over-cite" too many papers in a journal, this might cause a journal�es impact factor to be suspended. �"Over-citing" referred to an act of citing about six different papers published in a particular journal over the last 2 years.

“Selmes Learning Inventory: Identifying Students’ Learning Styles for a Better Academic Achievement”
- by Ms Wei Chooi Yi, Centre for Learning and Teaching.

On Wednesday, 19th March, 2014, the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLT) and its parent faculty, the Centre for Extension Education (CEE held a talk by by Ms Wei Chooi Yi, an academic from UTAR‘s Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) and a senior CLT member. The talk was held at LDK2, Block L, Kampar campus, from 2pm to 3.30pm

The talk, titled �"Selmes Learning Inventory: Identifying Students' Learning Styles for a Better Academic Achievement", aimed to develop students' critical awareness of how they study so that they are able to monitor their own learning activities and enable educators to match their teaching strategic with students�e learning styles in order to enhance the effectiveness of the learning and teaching process in order to improve academic achievement in tertiary education.

Objectives of the talk:

• To create awarness among students of their learning styles, in order to help them monitor their own learning activities.
• To enable educators to match their teaching strategic with students‘ learning styles in order to enhance the effectiveness of the learning and teaching process.

Academic achievement is closely linked to students‘ learning styles. Selmes Learning Inventory consist of five (5) types of learning styles namely deep approach, surface approach, motivational approach, organized approach and hard work approach.

CLT participation in the UNESCO Regional Seminar of the Resource Distribution and Training Centres (RDTC)

The UNESCO Regional Seminar of the Resource Distribution and Training Centres was held, from 10-12 November 2014 in Chiang Mai University, Thailand. The Regional Seminar was co-organized by UNESCO, Chiang Mai University and Microsoft in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Chiang Mai University on 10 – 12 November 2014 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This year‘s Regional Seminar brought together 62 participants including 35 teacher educators from 12 countries. The event was made possible by the generous support from Korean Funds-in-Trust and Microsoft. CLT was represented by two of its academic staff members, Ms Winnie Er Pek Hoon (CLT Chairperson) and Mr Chong Chee Keong (CLT Secretary).

In recognition of the importance of building a culture of reflective professional learning, this year‘s UNESCO Resource Distribution and Training Centres (RDTC) Regional Seminar aimed to provide the Members with a venue to actively exchange different views, strategies and institutional experiences in reflective teaching. The Seminar intended to help the RDTC members strengthen their capacity in cultivating a culture of reflective practices, promote teachers‘ lifelong professional learning and eventually serve as frontier in advocating the reflective teaching practices for the effective ICT-pedagogy integration in the region.

Objectives
The purposes of the Regional Seminar were the following:

• Strengthen participants‘ capacity for promoting reflective teaching practices among teacher educators and pre-service teachers
• Learn from exemplary cases of classroom research methods, such as action research, teaching journals as well as collaborative tactics and tools such as lesson study, mentoring/peer-coaching, e-portfolio and so on.
• Update each other on the RDTC activities of the past year, such as results from UNESCO-supported research projects and national conferences and discuss work plans, themes and other issues crucial for the successful implementation of the RDTC network in 2015

During the sessions of the Regional Seminar, cases and tools for reflective teaching practices in ICT-pedagogy integration were presented. Invited experts and RDTC members shared relevant cases of classroom research, collaborative professional learning, and institutional strategies to promote reflective teaching practices and ways to implement them in the training of pre-service teachers. Promising international and regional cases were presented by invited experts to share the actual practices, concrete tactics and tools, and impacts of diverse reflective practices on teaching and learning. In addition, RDTC members reported on their past activities, including research outcomes and the proceedings of the national conferences supported by UNESCO Bangkok.

In the afternoon session of Day 2, the RDTC representatives had the opportunity to present various accomplishments since last year�es Regional Seminar, including research outcomes of projects selected and supported by UNESCO Bangkok. CLT presented its findings of the research project titled �"Achieving ICT Competency Standards for Teachers through 21st Century Learning Design".

The presentation was about a study to evaluate the use of 21st Century Learning Design (21CLD) in three primary schools. It began with an outline of the current situation for ICT education in Malaysia, including statistics for 2014. The research examined the competency of teachers in comparison with UNESCO-ICT-CFT standards, in particular in relation to possible differences between urban and rural schools. 130 teachers at 2 urban and 1 rural school participated in the study, which was based on a questionnaire and focus group interviews. Special attention was given on the attitude of urban and older teachers, and male teachers towards technology. The research considered the teachers‘ ICT competence level, their contribution to implementing or modifying ICT policy and teachers as model learners. The overall conclusion was that ICT has brought about changes in classroom practice which is now student-centred. Teachers need training and professional development to adapt, manage and evaluate different teaching approaches.