UMS lecturers awarded technology enabled tools
KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) highlights its commitment in promoting and establishing Technology Enabled Learning (TEL) by awarding the selected e-learning champions with the appropriate tools to facilitate TEL towards UMS Smart EcoCampus.
Its Vice Chancellor, Profesor Datuk Dr. D Kamarudin D Mudin said the current generation of educators and learners must adapt to emerging trends in technology in order to remain ahead of the learning curve.
“The Malaysian Education Blueprint for Higher Education (2015-2025) highlights the need for globalized online learning among one of the key strategic shifts which need to be adopted in order to transform Malaysian Higher Education into a model that is truly global, relevant and contemporary.
“To this effect, UMS has adopted this philosophy as part of our strategic plan, wherein Key Result Area (KRA) 1 emphasizes the need for inclusive and quality education while KRA 8 stresses on enhancing holistic student experience,” he said during his address at the ceremony held to present special hardware and software to lecturers who are involved in supporting the TEL initiative at UMS.
Besides, he said a truly holistic learning experience can be achieved by empowering both lectures and students with appropriate interactive learning technologies. This is in line with UMS effort to fully operate as Smart Eco-Campus.
“This will facilitate greater communication between lectures and students and prepare them for the technology enabled world which constitutes the basis for Industrial Revolution 4.0.
UMS has allocated a special grant to provide you with the hardware and software which will enable you to develop your learning content for development through the UMS Learning Management System SMART2UMS and the UMS OER Repository,” he added.
Meanwhile, the director of Centre for E-Learning, Professor Dr. Fong Soon Fook said it is important to understand and address the current learning needs for the digital natives as it is one of the key priorities of UMS.
“Advancements in digital technology have enabled lecturers to develop online content which can then be delivered via the internet using online learning platforms thus enabling students to access lecturers when they are off campus. In addition to this, students can now deliver their assignment and project reports to their respective lecturers via the learning management system.
“TEL is the way forward which will drive UMS into the next decade, in which advancements in the delivery of knowledge will be leveraged to meet the learning needs of students. In fact, the strategy is already generating a significant amount of positive feedback as evidenced by the surveys of students conducted on campus which highlighted the advantages of TEL such as ease of accessibility and improved communication with the lecturers and among their peers,” he added.
The Vice Chancellor distributed specialized tools to lecturers to develop learning content, which included high resolution webcameras for recording lectures, wireless audio recording devices, electronic tablets for delivering and annotating lecture notes in a classroom setting and software for recording and editing lectures.
Also present at the ceremony were Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and International), Professor Dr Rasid Mail; Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Associate Professor Ts Dr Ramzah Dambul; and registrar Vina Zahriani Yusof.