Participation from OUM at the Global Learn 2010 Conference

Being one of the hosts of Global Learn 2010 Conference held from May 17 to May 20 at the Park Royal Hotel and Holiday Inn Resorts in Penang, Open University Malaysia (OUM) has assisted in planning and organizing the conference and also provided the support required in terms of paper presenters, secretariat and technical support. Close to 500 people from 48 countries attended the conference.



Tan Sri Dr. Anuwar Ali delivering his keynote address

Heading the list of presenters from OUM was Prof. Emeritus Tan Sri Dr. Anwar Ali, President/Vice Chancellor of OUM who delivered a keynote address entitled: "Teaching Learning Framework through the power of Innovation. In his speech, Tan Sri Anuwar proposed the use of Howard Gardner's 5 Minds of Technological Innovations to spearhead education innovation.

Asha Kanwar of Commonwealth of Learning meeting Tan Sri Dr. Anuwar Ali after his keynote address

Among the staff of OUM who were present during the keynote address

Group photo with Tan Sri Dr. Anuwar Ali after the keynote address

Other presenters from OUM include; Prof. Dr. Zoraini Wati Abas, Assoc. Prof Dr. Lim Tick Ming, Dr. Janet Woo Tai Kwan, Dr. Rosmah Mohamad, Nantha Kumar, Richard Ng, Teo Hui Thian, Chiam Choi Chea and Sharifah Rosfashidah. Also present at the conference was Prof. Dr. Abtar Kaur.

Nantha Kumar and Richard Ng taking a picture at the entrance of the Conference Hall

Other staff present to provide assistance include Norziati who has acted as OUM secretariat, technical staff from OUM, which include Mazlan and 2 technical staff from OUM Perak; Ahmad Fahmi and Sharizal.

The team arrived on Sunday May 16, 2010 separately, some by car and some by air. They were checked into the Holiday Inn Resorts which is just opposite the conference venue.

The registration of participants started at 9.00am on May 17, 2010. In the morning, workshops and tutorials were held, which only involved our technical staff to provide technical support.

At 2.00pm, all participants assembled at the Andaman Ballroom of Park Royal Hotel for the opening ceremony by YB Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, deputy Minister of Higher Education of Malaysia. It was followed by the opening keynote address by James Taylor from University of Southern Queensland, Australia.

Richard Ng, presenting his paper




Sharifah presenting her paper

Paper presentation started at 3.30pm until 5.30pm. Presenters were divided into 10 groups presenting their papers through the parallel sessions. 5 rooms were allocated at the Park Royal Hotel and another 5 rooms at Holiday Inn Resorts which is just next to Park Royal.

Prof. Abtar Kaur, Prof. Zoraini and Richard Ng at one of the parallel sessions

Associate Prof. Dr. Lim Tick Meng was the first speaker from OUM presenting his paper at 4.45pm. He presented the full paper based on the topic, "An Innovative Approach Towards Learners' Assessment of Instructional Process (LAIP) in an ODL Environment. Later in the evening, all participants were invited to attend the Welcome Reception held by the beach of Park Royal Hotel.

Nantha Kumar presenting his paper


Day 2 (May 18, 2010) began with a keynote address by Asha Kanwar of Commonwealth of Learning. Her topic was "Towards Sustainable OERs: A Perspective from the Global South." This was followed by the parallel session which witnessed another 100 breif and full papers presented from 10.00am to 5.30pm.

There were 3 presenters from OUM presenting their papers among the 100 presenters. Richard Ng presented a full paper at 10.00am based on the topic "Online Community and It's Impact on E-Learner's Commitment to stay in their programs." It was followed by Sharifah Rosfashidah who presented her brief paper at 11.45am. The topic of her paper was "Teaching and Learning of Technical Subjects in an ODL Environment. In the evening session, Nantha Kumar presented his full paper at 3.35pm entitled "Design of an Expert System to Enhance Learners' Critical Thinking in a Task-based Online Discussion.

Dr. Rosmah presenting her paper

Day 3 of conference (May 19, 2010) began with the keynote address by Elliot Soloway from University of Michigan USA and Cathleen Norris from University of North Texas USA. They presented a very engaging paper entitled "Educating the Mobile Generation: It is inevitable that Cellphone Computers will be used in Education."

Dr. Janet Woo presenting her paper

Parallel session began at 10.00am until 5.30pm with another 100 papers. Among the presenters, there was only one presenter from OUM. Dr. Rosmah Mohamad presented her full paper at 10.00am based on the title "Mobile Learning: Enhancing Company Law Learners' Participation in the myLMS forum."

The last day of conference on May 20, 2010, Tan Sri Dr. Anwar Ali was the keynote speaker. His presentation was then followed by another 100 papers presented through 10 parallel sessions. There were 4 presenters from OUM; Dr. Janet Woo, Teo, Chiam and Nantha.

Dr. Janet Woo presented her full paper at 10.30am based on the title "New Challenges in Online and Distance Learning: Making the jump from Printed Module to Hyperlinked-Integrated Module."

At 2.30pm, it was Teo Hui Thian's turn to present his paper. The title of his full paper was "Revisiting Retro Technology to Extend Educational Opportunity to Teachers in Remote Schools."

Chiam also presented her full paper at 2.30pm at a different room. The title of her presentation was "E-conomics Supplements: Supporting the Teaching and Learning of Economics through Open and Distance Learning.

Nantha Kumar presented his best practice paper at 3.15pm based on the title "Enriching Blended Pedagogy Through Piagetian Learning Model: A Case Study."

The last day of the conference saw almost half of the participants disappeared from the conerence. Nevertheless, due the enthusiasm of the presenters, most of them presented their papers diligently.

Having our dinner at Gurney Drive. From left: Richard Ng, Nantha, Dr. Janet Woo and Chiam

Generally, the conference has given us lots of benefits in terms of exposure to new technology and meeting up with people from different countries to learn, network and exchange ideas. We made many friends and some have even plan to hold joint research in future.

But for a small group of us, we enjoy shopping and eating. What more when we are at one of the country's most famous tourist destination, Batu Feringghi in Penang. Not only it has beautiful beaches but also good food and souvenirs.

After almost every night, a small group of us ventured out of Batu Feringghi to look for good food. Day 1, we traveled to the famous Gurney drive at 7.30pm and had our Laksa, Mo Mo Cha Cha, Prawn Mee, Cha Koay Teow and Grill Fish. The ladies (Chiam and Dr. Janet Woo) went shopping at the nearby Gurney Plaza after that and the men (Dr. Lim, Nantha and Richard) were doing brisk walking in the Plaza. At about 9.30pm we proceed back to Batu Feringghi. We stopped at the Tanjung Tokong Food Court and has our extended dinner again!

Enjoying our dinner at the Pearl Restaurant at Tanjong Tokong. From left: Dr. Lim, Agnes, Chiam, Dr. Janet Woo and Nantha

The night of Day 2, we went to explore another place at Teluk Bahang, a restaurant called the "End of The World". There we have our seafood. Good crab and fish had curry. Of course we paid tourist price! Not satisfied, we went for another round of seafood at the Tajong Tokong Pearl Restaurant. There we had Roe crab, prawns and noodles. This time we are quite satisfied.

We were told that the other participants went shopping at the Batu Feringghi night market. Some went to Hard Rock Cafe to get some souvenirs. Others had their dinner at the nearby Tarbush Restaurant and even The Ship restaurant and paid a tourist price. But it was once a life time affair.

So it's a fruitful conference for all of us. We really enjoyed the conference and the wonderful paper, place and food. Some have even planned to go to the next Global Learn conference. For some it was full of sweet memories.