Events Calendar

Download as iCal file
SoTL fostering advancement and innovation in teaching and learning
Tuesday 15 August 2017, 08:00am - 05:00pm
Hits : 1386
 
by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SoTL1.png

 

stem2

KOTA SAMARAHAN, 15 August 2017 : Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) officially launched its first Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) symposium as a platform to disseminate knowledge on good teaching practices to cultivate excellence and innovation in university teaching through active research.

The event was officiated by UNIMAS Vice Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi at Centre For Academic Information Services (CAIS)  Auditorium, today.

In his speeches, Vice Chancellor said SoTL serves as a mean to disseminate contemporary research findings and provide access to practical applications of educational theories and practices on teaching and learning to those who are interested in improving education processes.

“In line with the strategic focus of UNIMAS to provide excellent education and training, the university through the Centre for Applied Learning and Multimedia (CALM) has officially started SoTL initiative by introducing UNIMAS SoTL grant in 2016.

“Embarking on SoTL provides evidence on the firm emphasis of the university on the importance of promoting and cultivating excellence and innovation in university teaching through active research.

“I trust the continuous enthusiasm on doing SoTL by all of you will encourage your colleagues to do SoTL as well and a collective effort by many will ultimately bring much enhancement to UNIMAS teaching practices and thereby, improve student learning outcomes,“ he said.

Vice Chancellor also urged SoTL researchers to consider crucial issues as to stay relevant in fourth industrial revolution that was driven by emerging advances in nanotechnology, materials science, energy storage, additive manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence, biology and the Internet.

He explained the crucial questions include the kind of education that will be needed to help humanity adapt to it and how the delivery of education need to be transformed in order for higher education to deliver future generations with the right set of skills and knowledge to meet the demand of this revolution.

“ The fourth Industrial Revolution is seen as a convergence of man and machine and thus, reduces the gap between disciplines such as humanities and social science as well as science and technology.

“Thus, our focus is not just on cultivating innovative scientists and technologists but they must be trained in an interdisciplinary environment where technologists should understand humanities and social science and vice versa,” he added.

Meanwhile, the SoTL integrates teaching, learning and research with the intent to improve teaching and learning in a variety of disciplines as well as to expand the body of knowledge about teaching and learning in higher education.

The UNIMAS SoTL Symposium includes a pre-symposium Workshop on the 14th August and keynote speech on the 15th August 2017 delivered by a special guest, Associate Professor Dr Peter Looker, the Head of Teaching, Learning and Pedagogy Division, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

To date, this grant has provided funding to 26 SoTL projects for lecturers from various faculties.

SoTL invites academics to examine their teaching practices, record their successes and failures, and share their experiences to enable others to reflect on their findings and enhance the teaching and learning processes.

Apart from that, the launching of UNIMAS SoTL Bulletin was another highlight of the event.

UNIMAS SoTL Bulletin is a compilation of findings in the form of infographics and articles from all UNIMAS SoTL research projects ranging from the humanities, science, technology and engineering disciplines delve into issues on innovative teaching and learning methods and tools.

The event also included the presentation of certificate of completion by UNIMAS Vice Chancellor to 14 academics who have successfully completed all 3 levels of AKEPT-UNIMAS Project-Oriented Problem Based Learning Module.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni), Professor Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International), Professor Dr Wan Hashim Wan Ibrahim, and Dean of CALM, Associate Professor Dr Chen Chwen Jen, other Directors and Deans of various faculties were present in the launching ceremony.

Article by : Sarena Haidir

Photo by : Azlandy M.A.T

 
Attachment(s):
 
 
Demo