WOU, in its effort to share knowledge of student learning with like-minded institutions, recently organised training for four doctoral programme students from Silpakorn University, a national university in Thailand.
The Thai PhD students underwent a workshop at the WOU main campus in Penang from 23 to 27 April, 2018. The objective of the workshop was to offer opportunities and familiarise the students with communicating in the English Language within the context of Educational Technology.
(FROM LEFT): SATHAPORN, SUTIDA, SUCHITTRA AND NATTAWAN.
The four participants were Mr Sathaporn Janu, Ms Sutida Preechanonth and Ms Suchittra Chanloy, who all work at Muban Chombueng Rajabhat University (MCRU), and Ms Nattawan Chalermsuk attached to Burapha University. They are in the second year of their 5-year PhD programme at Silpakorn.
The workshop was organised by WOU’s Centre for Professional Development and Continuing Education (PACE) at the request of Silpakorn University. It was coordinated by Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic & Educational Technology), Prof Zoraini Wati Abas, who is also the Acting Vice Chancellor.
Prof Zoraini kicked off the first day of training with her presentation on Student Engagement followed by Educational Technology & Publishing (ETP) Director Grace Lau who elaborated on the WOU Care Initiative that can improve student engagement.
PROF ZORAINI WELCOMES THE PHD STUDENTS FROM THAILAND.
In her briefing, Prof Zoraini said that WOU is implementing measures to increase enrolment through student engagement. She mentioned her study which indicated that students fare better in studies and get better results with student engagement. “With good student engagement, there is student satisfaction, and in turn, student success is higher. Student engagement will reduce the percentage of student dropout.”
She added that student engagement is linked to undergraduate academic achievement, student contribution, student motivation and institutional success. She shared that WOU is focusing on WOU Care, Learning Assistant, Learning Environment, Tutor Management, Learning Support and Learning Design to improve Student Engagement for student success.
GRACE LAU READS SOME OF THE STUDENT QUERIES RECEIVED THROUGH MOODLE MOBILE APP.
Meanwhile Grace Lau spoke on ‘The WOU Care Initiative’ which was started in January 2018, and will end on May 19th, to foster a closer relationship between students and the University. “WOU Care is an online communication initiative that sends messages like motivation, tips and reminders to students via Moodle Mobile App 2-3 times a week during their semester at WOU,” she highlighted.
The other WOU facilitators of the workshop were Registrar cum QA Director Dr Andy Liew Teik Kooi; School of Education, Languages and Communications (SELC) Lecturer Dr Por Fei Ping; Head of Student Engagement Dr Gurdip Kaur; and Instructional Designer Ch’ng Lay Kee.
THE STUDENTS WITH THEIR CERTIFICATES AS THEY POSE WITH PROF ZORAINI AND GRACE LAU.
Dr Liew elaborated on Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) while Dr Por and Dr Gurdip presented reports of their PhD thesis in the field of learning. Ch’ng shared her research findings and spoke on “Mobile devices: Toys or learning tools for 21st century teenagers?”
At the end of the training, Prof Zoraini presented certificates of attendance to the four PhD students. The students will be attending 10 days of training in Japan starting May 5th as part of their PhD journey.
