ICT2010 Singapore - 30 June - 2 July 2010

Introduction

ICT2010 Singapore is an educational technology conference for academics, researchers, instructors and practitioners for the purpose of exchanging information and facilitating discussions on adult learning. The conference to be held from 30 June to 2 July is hosted by SIM University as part of its fifth anniversary celebration. The conference theme - "Inspired Solutions, Empowering Learning: Using Technology to Collaborate, Adapt and Improve Adult Learning" - focuses on how to use technology to help adult learners or mature students learn more effectively and efficiently at their own pace, space and time.

This two-and-a-half day conference features four keynote speakers. They are prominent academics well versed in their fields of expertise related to educational technology, online learning strategies and the design and development of e-content. In keeping with the subject of information communication technology, the conference will have two of its keynotes deliver presentations online.

Day 1 is set aside for peer-reviewed presentations of full papers, whilst Day 2 will showcase brief papers and poster presentations. Day 3 will be a half-day of post-conference workshops and/or visits to educational institutions, such as "Future Schools", which have, or are supporting a high level of e-Learning activities. All presentations will be in English.

ICT2010 has the support of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), and the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). In fact, the conference has its roots in a series of international conferences on "ICT in Teaching and Learning", jointly organised by OUHK and the Hong Kong Web Symposium Consortium since 2006.

Presentation Contents

We invite submissions of full and brief papers and poster presentations on three key areas linked to the conference theme, "Inspired Solutions, Empowering Learning - using technology to collaborate, adapt and improve adult learning." The focus is on how to help adult learners or mature students learn more effectively and efficiently, at their own pace, space and time.

The three key areas are:

1. Engaging Learners

Using technology to engage learners involves adapting instructional strategies that activate prior knowledge, facilitate cognitive development and promote long-term retention and transfer of skills to the workplace. What have we learned from using technology to engage learners?. Does technology adapt to specific instructional technologies or vice-versa? Is there an "e-Pedagogy" that suits the "Net Generation" of learners?
Show topics

* Audio/video Casting
* Blogging/Micro-blogging
* Classroom Techniques
* Facilitating Learning
* Interactive Content
* Social Learning/Community of Learning

2. Empowering Teaching and Learning

The roles and expectations for teaching and learning are changing, especially in an environment where technology prevails. Does technology add to a larger divide between teaching and learning, or is it a bridge to bring teaching and learning, knowledge and experience closer together? In what ways does technology empower teachers to expand their teaching strategies/practices and learners to express themselves?
Show topics

* Blended Learning
* Collaborative Learning / wiki
* e-Mentorings
* Electronic Portfolios
* Educational Psychology
* ICT Educator's Development
* Life Long Learning
* Rapid e-learning
* Strategic Leadership
* Virtual Communities

3. Emerging Technologies

The proliferation of technology in education and training is relentless. With the increased adoption of technology, learning anywhere, anyplace and anytime is increasingly a reality which is especially welcomed by part-time adult learners who are busy professionals. But how do we choose the right technology which can give the best impact on learning? How do we avoid putting technology first before pedagogy in our need or desire to free-up teaching and learning from the constraints of the classroom? Are we creating opportunities to support technological innovations that enhance curricula development or just creating more bells and whistles?

Submission Details

Key dates at a glance

Abstract (Full/Brief Paper/Best Practice Presentation) submission deadline:

30 November 2009

Abstract acceptance notification:

31 December, 2009

Full/brief paper submission deadline:

28 February 2010

Review panel submission period:

1 March to 1 May 2010

Presentation-ready paper submission deadline:

31 May 2010

We invite submissions of Full and Brief papers, and Best Practice Presentations.

Full Paper:

1. Create a user account.
2. Submit an abstract of up to 1,000 words for review and acceptance.
3. Submit a full research report of between 8 to 10 pages and up to 5,000 words for review (12-point Times New Roman font is recommended)
4. Revise full research paper based upon reviewers' recommendations.
5. Submit final paper and register for conference.
6. Present paper at conference (25 minutes including Q & A session).

Brief Paper:

1. Create a user account.
2. Submit an abstract of up to 500 words for review and acceptance.
3. Submit a brief reflection report of between 4 to 6 pages and up to 2,500 words (12-point Times New Roman font is recommended).
4. Revise brief reflection report based upon reviewers' recommendations.
5. Submit final paper and register for conference.
6. Present paper at conference (15 minutes including Q & A session).

Best Practice Presentation:

1. Create a user account.
2. Submit a write-up of at least 1,000 words of a Best Practice Presentation for review and acceptance (12-point Times New Roman font is recommended).
3. Present paper at conference (15 minutes including Q & A session).

Format for Abstract, Full/Brief Paper and Best Practice Presentation:

* Refer to Author's Guidelines
* Refer to Review Criteria

Note:
Presenters must submit the final version of Full/Brief Papers and/or Best Practice Presentations and register for the conference by 31 May 2010 to have their work included in the Conference Proceedings CD-ROM.

Eligibility for Best Paper

All papers published in the conference proceedings shall be eligible for the Best Paper Award in each key area. The chosen paper must be original and has not been published elsewhere. Only authors who attend and present their respective papers at the conference are eligible to be considered for the award.

Authors of best papers will be recommended to submit their papers to the following journals:

* International Journal of Innovation and Learning
* Asean Journal of Open and Distance Learning
* Interactive Technology and Smart Education

Details at: http://www.unisim.edu.sg/uni/pub/ICT2010/index.html

Global Learn Asia Pacific 2010 - Global Conference on Learning and Technology

The mission of the Global Learn Asia Pacific conference, organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) is to further the advancement and innovation in learning and technology. As the educational world becomes increasingly global, new ways to explore, learn, and share knowledge are needed.

Global Learn serves as a means to connect and engage creative educators, researchers, consultants, training managers, policy makers, curriculum developers, entrepreneurs, and others in the topics and fields in which they are passionate. Many individuals are transforming learning environments in local as well as more global ways. Global Learn offers an opportunity to meet and discuss their ideas, findings, and next steps.

INVITATION

Global Learn Asia Pacific--Global Conference on Learning and Technology is an international conference, organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

This annual conference serves to further the advancement and innovation in learning and technology. As the educational world becomes increasingly global, new ways to explore, learn, and share knowledge are needed. Global Learn is a means to connect and engage creative educators, researchers, consultants, training managers, policy makers, curriculum developers, entrepreneurs, and others in the topics and fields in which they are passionate. Global Learn offers an opportunity to meet and discuss their ideas, findings, and next steps.

Global Learn, the premiere international conference in the field, spans all disciplines and levels of education and is expected to attracts many leaders in the field from around the world. For a list of countries represented at previous AACE conferences, see: Countries.

We invite you to attend Global Learn and submit proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, tutorials, workshops, posters/demonstrations, corporate showcases/demos, and SIG discussions. The Conference Review Policy requires that each proposal will be peer-reviewed by for inclusion in the conference program, proceedings book, and CD-ROM proceedings.

TOPICS

The scope of the conference includes, but is not limited to, the following major topics as they relate to Learning and Technology. Sub-topics listed here.

1. Advanced Technologies for Learning and Teaching
2. Assessment and Research
3. Educational Reform, Policy, and Innovation
4. Evaluation and Quality Improvement Advances
5. Global Networks, Partnerships, and Exchanges
6. Innovative Approaches to Learning and Learning Environments
7. Open Education
8. Technologies for Socially Responsive Learning
9. Virtual and Distance Education

PRESENTATION CATEGORIES

The Technical Program includes a wide range of interesting and useful activities designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information.

* Keynote Speakers
* Invited Panels/Speakers
* Papers
* Panels
* Posters/Demonstrations
* Corporate Showcases & Demonstrations
* Tutorials/Workshops
* Roundtables
* Symposia

For Presentation Category descriptions, and information about what to submit with your proposal, click here.

CORPORATE PARTICIPATION

A variety of opportunities are available to present research-oriented papers, or to showcase and market your products and services. For information about Corporate Showcases (30 minutes) and Corporate Demonstrations (2-hours, scheduled with the Poster/Demos), click here.

PROCEEDINGS

Accepted papers will be published in the Proceedings (book and CD-ROM formats) as well as in the AACE Digital Library. These proceedings serve as major sources in the multimedia/ hypermedia/telecommunications community, reflecting the current state of the art in the discipline.

In addition, the Proceedings also are internationally distributed through and archived in the EdITLib Digital Library.

Selected papers may be invited for publication in may be invited for publication in AACE's respected journals especially in the Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia (JEMH), International Journal on E-Learning (IJEL), or Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR). See: www.aace.org/pubs

PAPER AWARDS

Papers present reports of significant work or integrative reviews in research, development, and applications related to the educational multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications/ distance education. All presented papers will be considered by the Program Committee for Outstanding Paper Awards. There will also be an award for Outstanding Student Paper (therefore, please indicate with your submission if the primary author is a full-time student).

Award winning papers will be highlighted in the AACE online periodical the AACE Journal. See previous award papers featured in the EdITLib Digital Library.

Details: https://www.aace.org/conf/glearn/call.htm

One-Way ANOVA

By Susan Archambault (Psychology Department, Wellesley College)

What it does:

The One-Way ANOVA compares the mean of one or more groups based on one independent variable (or factor).

Where to find it:

Under the Analyze menu, choose Compare Means, then choose One-Way ANOVA. Move all dependent variables into the box labeled "Dependent List," and move the independent variable into the box labeled "Factor." Click on the button labeled "Options," and check off the boxes for Descriptives and Homogeneity of Variance. Click on the box marked "Post Hoc" and choose the appropriate post hoc comparison. Generally, for Psych 205 students, you can follow this rule: If there are equal numbers of cases in each group, choose Tukey. If there are not equal numbers of cases in each group, choose Bonferroni.

Assumptions:
-The dependent variable(s) is normally distributed. You can check for normal distribution with a Q-Q plot.
-The two groups have approximately equal variance on the dependent variable. You can check this by looking at the Levene's Test. See below.

Hypotheses:
Null: There are no significant differences between the groups' mean scores.
Alternate: There is a significant difference between the groups' mean scores.

SPSS Output

Following is a sample output of a One-Way ANOVA. We compared the mean level of prejudice of first-years, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Mean level of prejudice is our dependent variable, and year in college is our independent variable.

First, we see the descriptive statistics for each of the 4 years in college.



It looks like first-years have the highest mean level of prejudice, and seniors have the lowest mean level of prejudice.

Next we see the results of the Levene's Test of Homogeneity of Variance.



This tells us if we have met our second assumption (the groups have approximately equal variance on the dependent variable). If the Levene's Test is significant (the value under "Sig." is less than .05), the two variances are significantly different. If it is not significant (Sig. is greater than .05), the two variances are not significantly different; that is, the two variances are approximately equal. If the Levene's test is not significant, we have met our second assumption. Here, we see that the significance is .435, which is greater than .05. We can assume that the variances are approximately equal. We have met our second assumption.

Finally, we see the results of our One-Way ANOVA:



Our F value is 3.110.

Our significance value is .027.

There is a significant difference between the two groups (the significance is less than .05).

Therefore, we can say that there is a significant difference between first-years, sophomores, juniors, and seniors on their level of prejudice.

We can look at the results of the Post-Hoc Comparisons to see exactly which pairs of groups are significantly different.

SPSS notes a significant difference with an asterisk (*). We can see that first-years and sophomores are significantly different than seniors.

Source: http://www.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Psych205/anova.html

King Cautions Malaysians Over Cheap And Fake Degrees

SHAH ALAM, Oct 15 (Bernama) -- Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin today cautioned Malaysians against acquiring unrecognised cheap degrees secured illegally.

"Such a thing is morally wrong and, if left unchecked, will make us all members of a fake society without morals as well," he said at the first session of the 71st convocation of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), here. Also present was Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah.

As such, he proposed that UiTM and all other universities adopt appropriate measures to ensure quality, recognition and integrity of the degrees they awarded.

"We must undertake strict and close monitoring of any individual who comes bearing a degree to seek employment.

"We must make sure that the degree is genuine and is recognised ... we must ensure that the bearer is a capable individual whom we can trust to educate our children," he said.

Tuanku Mizan said the achievement of the graduates at the convocation was derived through hard work and wisdom, and that these graduates of quality and integrity would go on to mould a highly civilised society.

At the convocation, 21,128 graduates were awarded honours ranging from diplomas to PhD, taking the number of people graduating from UiTM this year to 35,009 and expanding the alumni of the university to more than 350,000 people.

The king advised the graduates and alumni to safeguard the good name of the university.

Also at the convocation, Tuanku Mizan presented an honorary doctorate in government and politics to former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam for his contribution and service to the government and party, enabling him to be recognised as a statesman and credible politician.

Tuanku Mizan presented doctorate degrees to 16 people and the Masters degree to 402 as well as the outstanding graduate awards to nine.

The Seri Paduka Baginda Tuanku Chancellor Award was presented to Nik Muammar Bahari, 24, of Kedah who secured an honorary Bachelor's degree in Art and Design.

Nik Muammar has been working as a project designer in Hong Kong since July and is engaged with the corporate branding of the Qatar National Master Plan project.

Mohd Rashid Azhari, 34, the eldest son of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, received his Masters in Forensic Accounting and Financial Criminology. Mohd Rashid is a manager with a consulting company.

More adult Malaysians turn to the Net for sex info - Star

Oct 13, 2009 By JOSHUA FOONG

PETALING JAYA: More adults are relying on the Internet to get information on sex, according to a Durex Sexual Wellbeing Survey.

As much as 75% of Malaysians gave credit to the Internet for teaching them the bedroom “how-tos”.

Men (75%) outnumber women (71%) in using the Internet to surf about sex.

Seventy-three per cent of the respondents also learn about sex through magazines.

Other sources include books (65%), friends and peers (56%) and partners (43%).

All these surpass sex education at school, which makes up only 36% of them.

The number of respondents was at 1,026 with an equal number of women and men aged 18 years and above.

Despite the figures, less than half of Malaysians — 45% of men and 39% of women — think there is enough advice and information available on the issue.

The survey stated that 73% of Malaysians who had formal sex education are satisfied with their sexual wellbeing while the global average of sexual satisfaction stands at 59%.

However, the survey also found that 51% of those who received sex education at school did not learn about conception while 71% were not taught about sexually transmitted diseases.

Less than half of Malaysians (48%) had wished their sex education had included love, respect and on giving pleasure to one’s partner.

It found that about 44% of those aged between 16 and 24 liked to have received more information on the subject in comparison to 62% among those aged between 35 and 44.

The survey is the fourth in a series of reports by Durex, with this one emphasising on knowledge and education.

Previous results of the three surveys titled “Satisfaction”, “In the Bedroom” and “The Big O” can be found on www.durex.com.

Public, Private Universities Receive RM25 Million Research Grants

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- The government has allocated RM25 million under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) to sponsor 602 projects undertaken by public and private universities this year.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said 20 researchers from public universities and three from private universities received the sponsorship this year.

He said public universities had been allocated with RM23.63 million to carry out 411 projects while private universities received RM1.41 million to bring 191 projects to fruition.

The grants were channelled through the Education Ministry, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, he told reporters at the International Exposition of Research and Invention of Institutions of Higher Learning 2009 (PECIPTA 2009) award presentation here on Friday.

He said the FRGS research focused on pure science, applied science, engineering and technology, medical science, social science and humanities, arts and professional arts and natural sciences, and national heritage.

Universiti Malaya was adjudged the winner of the Premier Research Award, having clinched four gold, 14 silver and 10 bronze medals in PECIPTA 2009.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) came in a close second with four gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze medals.

PECIPTA 2009 with the theme "Driving Research Innovation Towards Value Creation" scrutinised 465 research submitted by 22 public and private universities.

It was jointly held by Higher Education Ministry and Universiti Malaya to spur innovations by local universities.

-- BERNAMA

Survey finds firms now want accountants to go beyond crunching numbers - Malaysian Insider

SINGAPORE, Oct 10 — Post-crisis, accountants who believe their job is solely about counting beans and making sure the balance sheet balances will do so at their own peril.

As the operations and strategies of firms become inextricably linked with numbers and finance, accountants need be more than number crunchers, Tony Osude, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants' (ACCA) acting director of professional development, told an ACCA conference yesterday.

“In our interviews with chief financial officers, I am getting a sense of frustration from them that accountants are not stepping up to act as the companies' business partners,” said Osude.

As businesses become increasingly pressed for solutions in a credit-scarce environment, it has become crucial to bridge the gap between practical business knowhow and financial acumen.

Research done for the latest ACCA Accountants for Business report found that some business leaders are beginning to consider training business personnel in finance to bridge that gap, instead of turning to accountants for counsel.

“This has quite significant and severe implications for the accounting profession,” Osude warned yesterday.

In the survey, the finance director of a venture capital fund management firm had said: “A bad accountant will produce a set of numbers. A good accountant will say there is a set of numbers, use a bit of analysis and provide a description of what it means for the business.”

Even when accountants do offer analysis of the business, the bar has been raised. “Accountants are very good at cutting costs but very poor at driving profits,” Osude said.

“European companies, for example, have been doing a lot of cost-cutting and the figures look OK. But what will happen next year when there are no more costs to cut?”

As part of a seismic shift in accounting approaches caused by the downturn, if cash was king before, it is now supreme ruler. “The past few months have been about cash, cash, cash. All the accountants we interviewed said that in terms of strategy, they are not looking beyond the next month,” Osude revealed.

Across the landscape of accountants, some sand dunes dwarf others. The report found that 65 per cent of respondents placed the CFO within the top five finance roles that add the most value to organisations, compared with 22 per cent for financial accountants and 18 per cent for heads of risk management.

While all the implications of such numbers are not immediately clear — Osude conceded that respondents could merely have taken a hierarchical view to answering the question — one implication is certain.

“There is too much riding on the shoulders of the CFO — he is doing too much,” said Osude.

The survey also unearthed a growing need for effective finance information technology systems, so the accountant spends less time bound to his spreadsheet and more time analysing the final numbers.

A partner from one of the Big Four accounting firms is quoted in the report as saying: “What we've found is that they spend so much time producing the number . . . and reworking and re-crunching it. . . They collapse it into the meeting not even having thought what the number means.”

The survey was conducted online with 1,353 ACCA members from more than 170 countries. — Business Times Singapore