Seminar Pembangunan Kepimpinan Pembelajaran dan Pengajaran Pengajian Tinggi

MOHE had conducted a seminar on the leadership development in learning and teaching in higher institutions at AKEPT last week. The areas discussed were quite interesting. Among the presentations include Understanding Learning, Learner Diversity and Interactive Lecture. One remark that caught our attention was a study that highlighted the social sciences students to be deep learners as opposed to sciences students who were deemed to be more of surface learners. At night, discussions continued on the Student Centered Learning approaches including Problem-based Learning and Case Teaching. So far most studies only considered perspectives from the academics and students. In my opinion, the industry people should be engaged for feedbacks as well. Otherwise the danger is that we are going to create products that nobody will want to buy. Still.. this is a good start.

Workshop for Student Centered Learning (SCL) Techniques: Case Study

Universiti Putra Malaysia has created more opportunities to further enhance the faculty members' skills on student centered learning approaches for the year 2013. The workshop is meant for two days. One of the session includes case study technique. At the end of the day, the members are hoped to not only know how to use case studies, but also know the way to write case studies. The sessions on case study are conducted by Tn Hj Yaakob Ibrahim and me. Other techniques include problem based learning and modular approach.

The Razak Roundtable: Creating Brand Power for Countries and Companies

The Razak School of Government (RSOG) has managed to spark interesting and at one time emotional discussions around the subject of creating Malaysia as a brand. It was mentioned that this country said to already have a brand like 'Malaysia Truly Asia,' has done a pretty good job especially in the Tourism industry. But there is also the need to distinguish the brand created in Tourism and the brand of the country overall. A country brand is a message that the country believes in and is willing to deliver. Otherwise it can be merely a marketing gimmick that is difficult to sustain overtime. Further discussions also touched on issues of transformational leaders and brand communications. Among the speakers were Dr Andrew White, Associate Dean of Said Business School; Mr Kamran Khan, Program Director of the World Bank Group; Mr David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance Plc; and Mr Kam Raslan, Author, Columnist, and DJ of BFM Radio. The closing keynote speaker was our Deputy Prime Minister,Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Case Teaching and Research Seminar by Prof Dr Jeffrey Shay

From 11 to 13 December 2012, I have attended the Case Teaching and Research Seminar taught by Prof Dr Jeff Shay. It was interesting to be able to discover new ways of teaching and learning through a case study method and new venues for publications. Although I have been involved with the writing of case studies for quite some time, being able to sit in a room full of people with the same interest was just exciting. And the knowledge shared by Jeff gained mostly by his years and years of experiences had made this training valuable at least to me.

Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie shares the final lesson between a college professor, Morrie, and one of his students and the author of the book, Mitch Albom. Having been busy with the demands in life, the author somehow lost contact with Morrie who used to be his most favorite professor during his college days. However, the relationship was reconnected when he accidently saw Morrie in an interview on the show "Nightline." Watching Morrie stricken with ALS disease, the author was suddenly reminded of his promise made sixteen years ago to keep in touch with his professor. That was the start of his last lessons of 14 consecutive Tuesdays with Morrie. Why Tuesday, you might wonder. It is because Morrie's classes were always on Tuesdays. As you read the book, you will become emotionally attached to Morrie and his determination to not surrender to his disease and die in vain. His expertise is on Human Relations and until the day he died, he continued to share his knowledge and aspirations with people around him. If you have the time, read the book. It will be worth your while.

“As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed as ignorant as you were at twenty-two, you'd always be twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it. ” Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie