While 2020 was often known as the yr of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2023 may nicely be one that’s dominated by discussions of synthetic intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT. With AI and ChatGPT upending a lot of the way in which during which college students be taught, how will the character of upper training be impacted? Within this context, the Singapore Management University (SMU) hosted the ASEAN University Network Technology Enhanced Personalised Learning (AUN-TEPL) Workplan Seminar on 25 and 26 May 2023, for key opinion leaders to alternate insights, join with college change brokers and discover the implementation of collaborative tasks.

Themed “Charting New Frontiers: Empowering Learners through Technology Enhanced Personalised Learning”, the hybrid occasion organised by SMU Centre for Teaching Excellence came about at Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium on the SMU School of Accountancy constructing. Co-organised by Mahidol University (MU) and Universiti Malaya (UM), the occasion was attended by lecturers and business practitioners from universities within the ASEAN area,together with Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Singapore. This included 60 like-minded senior leaders and key personnel collaborating in individual and the remainder tuning in nearly to the various segments of the two-day occasion.

In his welcome remarks, Professor Venky Shankararaman, SMU Vice-Provost (Education) commented on the pleasure of having the ability to meet in individual for the primary time after three years of digital discussions. Highlighting the important thing focus of the partnership amongst ASEAN universities, he mentioned: “The AUN-TEPL network exists, because, we believe learning experiences customised to the individual needs, abilities and interests of students best support their success; we believe in doing so efficiently, effectively, and at scale, by leveraging the affordances of technology; and, above all, we believe that all this is best done collaboratively, by synergising and building up the collective wisdom and resources of member universities across our region.” 

According to Prof Shankararaman, the dimensions and progress of AUN-TEPL introduced strong alternatives for collaboration and the sharing of insights to profit college students. Commenting on the recommitment of community members with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) he mentioned, “On 1 May 2020, the AUN-TEPL thematic network was formalised with a 3-year MOU. Since then, our ASEAN+3 University Network universities has grown in many ways. And, as a testament to our growth, this morning, the renewed 3-year MOU will be presented to the lead and co-leading universities, including Universiti Brunei Darussalam, who are strengthening their involvement as our newest co-lead.”

“We believe that learning experiences customised to individual learning needs best support our students’ success. However, there is still an important need to ensure a level of standardisation and quality control. Leveraging technology to personalise learning experiences is thus one of the solutions we could harness. I believe collaboration among universities is another solution,” mentioned Prof Shankararaman.

Prof Shankararaman reiterated SMU’s dedication to continuous studying by retaining abreast of developments in technological enablers of personalised studying in larger training. This was consistent with SMU Vision 2025’s Strategic Priority of “Growth in Asia”, the place the University seeks to exhibit its thought management within the deep understanding of Asia’s financial system, polity and society.

The occasion was launched with a gap handle by AUN Executive Director, Dr. Choltis Dhirathiti. He shared that it’s essential for universities to nurture youths who’re ready for a risky, unsure and ambiguous world and there’s nonetheless a lot to do when it comes to creating blended instructing fashions, regardless of the nice begin that the Covid-19 pandemic had catalysed. 

The Seminar Workplan additionally featured esteemed keynote audio system on each days. On Day 1, Professor Professor Abelardo Pardo from the University of South Australia shared his experiences and insights on how studying analytics can improve the personalisation of upper training. On Day 2, Emeritus Professor and Executive Director of MERLOT & ExpertiseCommons, Dr Gerry Hanley, introduced his views on how the MERLOT platform might catalyse institutional collaborations by sharing open academic sources and practices. MERLOT is a digital repository of shared studying sources that member universities can entry to alternate academic instruments and content material, sharing greatest practices and sources for instructing and studying. 

The occasion introduced alternatives for members to share their concepts throughout a large spectrum of matters associated to personalised studying enhanced by expertise. This included themes round using AI and analytics to automate suggestions and foster scholar engagement, designing and implementing gamification and digital actuality for efficient and Immersive studying experiences and the forms of institutional management and defective growth help wanted to handle adjustments successfully.

AUN members, by way of their interactions and discussions over the Workplan Seminar, sought to realize insights to TEPL approaches adopted throughout the area and to develop synergistic alternatives throughout collaboration tasks to enhance college students’ success. Importantly, they mindfully invested efforts to maneuver conversations ahead with concrete motion to kickstart collaboration tasks.

Click here to view the picture montage of occasion highlights and here for extra particulars of the occasion.

Photos by SMU Centre for Teaching Excellence.