Five teams that consisted of academicians and students from the School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management, Taylor's University were awarded 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze awards at the Seminar Kebangsaan Majlis Dekan Pendidikan Universiti Awam Malaysia, which was held from 27th till 28th July 2023 at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya (UM).
This event involved three categories of competition which were 'Academic Paper Presentation', 'Innovative Teaching and Learning Products' and 'Education Video Creation'. The objectives of this seminar was to invite academics and researchers to exchange and share research findings, innovations and new ideas towards realizing the direction of future education. Taylor's School of Education's winning projects were under the category of 'Innovative Teaching and Learning Products'.
The Gold Award was presented to the Senior Lecturer Dr. P. Thivilojana who was assisted by two undergraduate students, Tow Wan Tian and Ishaanaah Ravi for the module known as 'New Pedagogies and Digital Tools' together with Dr. Tan Shin Yen, Senior Lecturer from School of Education and Mr. Faisal Athar Mohd Fadzil, XR Specialist from VORTEX, Taylor’s University for their project titled “Exploring Preservice Teachers Experience with Virtual Reality Role-Playing Micro-Teaching Activities using the EngageVR Platform”
On the other hand, a Silver Award was presented to the project titled “Learning Difficult Content Made Easy with Walter the AI Learning Buddy”. This innovation was coordinated by the Lecturer Dr. Vinothini Vasodavan and three postgraduate students, Yan Wenzhen, Zhan Yiyi and Zeng Hongmei, for the module known as 'Philosophy and Schooling'.
Another Silver Award was presented to Dr. Jasmine Jain, Programme Director who was assisted by two undergraduate and one postgraduate students, Jarell Liew Dae-Len, Danielle Chan Li-Min and Mok Shu Jin, for the module known as 'Nature of Science' with the project entitled “Master Content with Microlearning: A “Glide” of Bite-sized Study Modules”. The team also won the Best Poster Presentation Award for the same project.
In addition, two Bronze Awards were presented to “Project BacaBaca" and "Night School Project” which was led by Ms. Hema Letchamanan, Programme Director. These two projects were assisted by two postgraduate students, Tasnim Jannat Nijhu and Tharani Ramasamy for the module knowns as 'Teaching Primary School English Language'.
In a nutshell, the collaboration between academics and students are crucial for driving innovation in teaching and learning. Academics bring their expertise and knowledge to the table, while students offer fresh perspectives and unique insights. This collaboration allows for a rich exchange of ideas, leading to more innovative and well-rounded approaches to teaching and learning.