OUM Confers Honorary Doctorate To Dr Daisaku Ikeda - Bernama

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 24 (Bernama)

Open University Malaysia (OUM) today conferred the Honorary Doctor of Arts (Humanities) to President of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Dr Daisaku Ikeda in a special convocation held at the Soka International Friendship Hall, in Tokyo.

According to a statement released here, OUM Chancellor who is the Malaysian prime minister's wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah conferred the award to Dr Ikeda, who became the first international recipient of the university's honorary doctorate.

Speaking at the convocation, Jeanne said learning institutions shouldered the noble responsiblity of creating a society that valued education.

"OUM and SGI share the same sentiments in making education accessible to the masses to help develop human capital," she said.

OUM President and Vice-Chancellor Prof Tan Sri Anuwar Ali, in his speech, said that OUM was honoured to confer Dr Ikeda with the honorary doctorate.

"He is a visionary man who believes that education and world peace are closely linked. Likewise, at OUM, we believe that education spurs socio-economic development to elevate the living standard of people," he said.

The honorary doctorate was awarded in recognition of Dr Ikeda's outstanding work in promoting world peace and character development through education, OUM said.

Prior to this, OUM had conferred honorary doctorates to three individuals, who are OUM's founding members and former vice-chancellors of Malaysia's leading universities.

OUM and SGI have a long standing relation through collaborations aimed at providing learners from both institutions the exposure to the best learning experience.

In May last year, Jeanne was conferred the award of Highest Honor by Soka Women's College, Soka University, Japan.

Doctoral Research Methodology Workshop - Unitar

The doctoral research methodology workshop organized by University Tun Abdul Razak will be held from 16 March 2009 to 3 July 2009 in 4 modules as follows:

Module 1 : Methodology & Research Design

Module 2 : Organizing and Managing Research

Module 3 : Qualitative Research Methods

Module 4 : Quantitative Research Methods

The workshop will be conducted by Professor Jonathan Winterton.



For details: http://gs.unitar.edu.my/wshop/index.html

The Winning Team - AAOU 2008 Silver Medal Award

The Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) where OUM is a member, held an International conference in Tian Jin, China from 14 to 16 October. As usual, OUM have been actively participating in this conference having hosted the AAOU 2007 conference in Putrajaya.

OUM entourage to AAOU 2008 conference was led by Prof. Tan Sri Dr. Anuwar Ali (fifth from right)

OUM entourage was led by YBhg Prof Tan Sri Dato' Dr. Anuwar Ali, President/Vice Chancellor of OUM. OUM presented a number of papers in the conference, which was also attended by presenters from 22 countries.

Prof. Tan Sri Dr. Anuwar Ali was one of the key note speakers at the conference

Two papers from OUM have been shortlisted for the best paper award. And one of the two papers emerged as the winner for the Silver Medal award. The gold medal was won by host China. Credit goes to Prof. Dr. Mansor Fadzil, Senio VP of OUM, for his powerful presentation of behalf of the team, who are unable to attend the conference.


The winning presentation by Prof. Mansor Fadzil, Senior VP of OUM

The paper entitled: "E-Mathematics: Pre-instructional and Supplemental Instruction and their impact on student’s Online Participation and Final Exam Score" won the Silver Medal award. The research, which was led by Richard Ng, Director of OUM Perak, also include four other members; Prof. Latifah Abd Latif, Director of the Centre for Student Mangement, Prof. Ramli Bahroom, General Manager for Corporate Relations, Prof. Abtar Kaur and Siti Farina from the Faculty of Education and Language.

Puan Kamariah, Registrar of OUM, received the silver medal on behalf of OUM

The winning team members (from left): Richard Ng, Prof. Ramli, Siti Farina, Prof. Latifah and Prof. Abtar

The Silver Medal

The certificate awarded to team members

The abstract of the winning paper is as follows:

Open University Malaysia (OUM), Malaysia’s first open and distance learning university with over 67,000 students, offers more than 51 programs to-date. More than 90% of its students are working adults who are unable to leave their jobs or families behind to pursue their dream of getting a degree. The blended learning approach adopted by OUM provides the flexibility for working adults to obtain the required paper qualification and to upgrade their knowledge. One of the important elements of blended learning is the use of online discussion forum where learning takes place beyond classroom.

Mathematics, a traditionally difficult course, forms part of the pre-requisite for students to obtain a business degree at OUM. The adult learners at OUM generally have left school for at least five years and most of them have low grades in Mathematics at O’ Level. Thus it is a big challenge for these adult learners to undertake a Mathematics course via online with minimum Face-to-Face contact with their tutors.

This paper focuses on the implementation of pre-instruction workshop and supplemental instruction to find its impact on student’s online participation and exam results of 88 students. The contents of the online forum were also analyzed using a 34-item instrument derived from the Community of Inquiry model. Results obtained showed that there was a strong correlation between workshop participation and final exam score. Independent samples t-test conducted showed that there was a significant difference between the mean score of online discussion ratio and final examination between participants attached to a tutor conducting the workshop and extended coaching compared to participants attached to another tutor using the normal teaching guide. The mean COI score obtained for mathematics between the two tutors indicated that there is a difference in the teaching and cognitive presence but almost similar in the social presence.

This research is important especially in improving the learning of mathematics via blended learning approach. The management of OUM especially Prof. Mansor Fadzil, has been very supportive of this project and as a result, it was given a research grant to expand such learning pedagogy throughout OUM and include other technical courses, which have been regarded traditionally as difficult courses.

A new model known as the "OSI Model" has been developed to enhance learning with video support where learners can now download the video clips and view it as many times as they required at any time any place. As portable media players are available at affordable cost these days, more and more learners are expected to engage in mobile learning.

The OSI Model of learning Mathematics

Agong conferred honorary doctorate - Star

Feb 17, 2009

PUTRAJAYA: Yang diPertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin was conferred an honorary doctorate by Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, for his support of higher education and for Malaysia’s links with the university over the last 50 years.

Queen’s University President and Vice-Chancellor Prof Peter Gregson conferred the doctorate on Tuanku Mizan in a ceremony at Istana Melawati here on Tuesday.

It is the first time in its 160-year history that the university has conferred an honorary doctorate on a reigning monarch.

Present were Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Idris Haron and the university’s alumni including Pasir Salak Member of Parliament Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and ex-Gerakan president Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik.

Queen’s University is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of top 20 research-intensive universities in Britain.

Currently there are more than 120 Malaysian students studying at the university.

Prof Gregson said this was a truly momentous day for Queen’s University and one that reinforced the special relationship between Malaysia and Northern Ireland.

“Queen’s welcomes the support the Agong gives to this special relationship and we are keen to further develop this bond for the mutual benefit of both countries,” he said. -- Bernama

10 PhD scholarships from WOU on offer - Star

Feb 17, 2009

WAWASAN Open University (WOU), which is taking up four booths at the Star Education Fair 2009, is offering some 10 scholarships for those intending to pursue their doctorate.

Its vice chancellor and chief executive officer Tan Sri Prof Emeritus Gajaraj Dhanarajan (pic) said the programme would be supervised by academicians from several of its schools.

The schools are Business and Administration, Science and Technology, Foundation and Liberal Studies, and Education, Language and Communications.

Prof Gajaraj said the WOU would also be offering several new sub-degree, degree and postgraduate programmes for working professionals soon.

The programmes are graduate diplomas in Supply Chain Mana-gement, Business Accounting, Sales and Marketing, Corporate Gover-nance, Database Management and Electronics.

“Besides these sub-degree programmes, we will also offer a Mas-ters of Science in Financial Infor-mation Systems soon,” he said.

Prof Gajaraj said WOU was also developing the content for a Bachelor of Business in company secretaryship.

“Most company secretaries study for a professional certificate which is more skill-based,” he added.

According to him, WOU’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) was the biggest in the country in terms of enrolment.

“We currently have 323 students pursuing the Commonwealth Exe-cutive Masters programme and by the end of the year, we should have about 450 students — this is possibly the highest number of MBA students in the country,” he said.

To find out more about WOU’s programmes, visit the fair at the Penang International Sports Arena in Relau.

Visitors to WOU’s booths will be given goodie bags.

Those wishing to sign up at the fair should bring along RM50 (registration fees) and photocopies of their MyKad and related certificates.

A total of 112 exhibitors will take up 222 booths at the two-day fair.

Admission is free.

The 23rd AAOU annual Conference

Date: 3 – 5 November 2009 (Tuesday - Thursday)
Venue: Tehran, Iran

Organised by
AAOU and Payame Noor University, Iran

Theme: Evaluation of Open and Distance Learning Systems

Sub-Themes


Evaluating Socio-Economic Performance of Open and Distance Learning (ODL)

a) openness of ODL institutions
b) social credibility of ODL
c) economics of ODL
d) effects of ODL systems in socio-cultural development of deprived regions
e) role of ODL in sustainable development

Evaluating Academic Performance of ODL

a) courses and learning materials
b) open and distance learning versus conventional systems
c) criteria affecting success of ODL systems
d) efficient models of evaluation in ODL
e) learner self-evaluation

Evaluating the Impact of Modern Technologies on ODL Systems

a) emerging technologies and new learning materials
b) contemporary teaching-learning strategies
c) transition from traditional ODL to virtual education
d) new devices, new approaches

Evaluating Organizational and Staff Development in ODL

a) organizational development in ODL
b) the authors of learning materials
c) practitioners
d) managers
e) tutors

Evaluating Cooperation among ODL Systems

a) consultation and collaboration with domestic universities
b) consultation and collaboration with other ODL universities worldwide
c) ranking indicators in ODL universities
d) going beyond quality control towards excellence

Important Dates

April 4, 2009 Deadline for abstracts

June 1, 2009 Notification of acceptance of abstracts

July 1, 2009 Submission of full papers

September 1, 2009 Early-bird registration deadline

September 30, 2009 Deadline for registration


For further information, please contact

AAOU 2009 Secretariat

Payame Noor University
P.O. Box: 14335-333, Lashkarak Rd.
Tehran, Iran
Tel: +98 21 2244 2042
Fax: +98 21 2248 5157
Email: aaou2009@pnu.ac.ir
Website: http://www.aaou2009.pnu.ac.ir

iCEL 2009

Background

The Malaysian Public Universities e-Learning Council (MEIPTA) has been innitiated in 2007 by the meeting among heads of e-learning units from all public universities in UUM. As the council for promoting and sharing best practices in e-learning application, the council has proposed to host an international conference on e-learning. The 1st International Conference of e-Learning has been organized by the UiTM in December 2007, this 2nd edition will be hosted by UiTM with cooperation of MEIPTA and AKEPT as joint organizers. This 2nd conference will aim more on future scope of disscussion and sharing new solution towards mobile learning. We believe future learning should be more electronic, more mobile and more compatible to all mobile gadgets and devices. As the result of the conference, good papers will be published in the journal of e-learning, published by the UiTM University Press.

Objectives

1. As a sharing platform for e-learning and m-learning promotions among world�s scholars and professionals.

2. As a platform for research and development of e-learning and m-learning discussion.

3. As part of efforts to achieve high quality learning services as Malaysia�s aspiration to be a world�s leading educational hub.

4. As part of efforts to provide the best e-learning or m-learning solutions for all Malaysian universities.

Important Dates

Abstracts Submission Dateline - 30 April 2009
Notification of abstract acceptance - 31 May 2009
Abstracts Submission Dateline (Extended) - 31 May 2009
Notification of abstract acceptance (Extended) - 15 Jun 2009
Full paper for review - 31 July 2009
Camera ready paper due - 31 September 2009
Registration due - 15 November 2009

Main topics have been identified (see below). However, innovative contributions that don’t fit into these areas will also be considered since they might be of benefit to conference attendees. Acceptance will be based primarily on originality, significance and quality of contribution. Topics for this conference include, but are not limited to:

*Pedagogy
*Technogogy
*Quality Assurance
*Instructional Design
*Online Learning Emergence & Strategies
*Online Learning System Development
*Online Learning Material Development
*Online Learning Best Practices
*m-Learning Emergence & Strategies
*m-Learning System Development
*m-Learning Material Development
*m-Learning Best Practices
*Online Learning Institutional Management
*Values in Online and m-LearninG

More details at: http://i-learn.uitm.edu.my/icel2009/index.php