(15-16 May 2014)
Instituting national benchmarks to measure lifelong learning outcomes is one of several key critical success factors in our attempt to enculture lifelong learning in the country, said WOU Vice Chancellor Prof Dato’ Dr Ho Sinn Chye.
Speaking during the panel session on ‘Lifelong Education in Knowledge Economy: No Longer An Option” at the 18th Malaysian Education Summit held in Sunway Medical Centre, he said it is important to enculture lifelong learning in all walks of Malaysian society.
PROF HO (LEFT) SPEAKS WHILE CO-PANELLIST PROF TENGKU AIZAN HAMID (RIGHT) OF UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA LISTENS.
The summit themed “Changing Priorities and Changing Trends: Transforming Malaysian Education” was organised by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI). The two-day event was officially opened by Second Education Minister Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh.
In his presentation entitled “Ensuring Continuous Employability of K-Workers through Lifelong Learning”, Prof Ho said rapid advances in technology are fuelling growth in the K-economy. He pointed out that behind every successful K-Economy lies a Learning Economy.
“Indeed technology is dramatically changing the way we work and study. The half-life of knowledge is shrinking faster today. New knowledge and technology make much of what we learn obsolete very soon,” he stated.
“Even in the private sector where we often talk about knowledge and talent powered organisations, for such organisations to survive and grow in the K-economy, their rate of learning has to be greater than the rate of change in
their environment. Hence as K-workers, we have to keep on learning throughout life, or become unemployable or non-relevant to our work environment,” added Prof Ho.
PROF HO RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS ON LIFELONG LEARNING.
He highlighted that current mobile technology advancement and market trends offer favourable conditions for both educators and learners to actively pursue learning ubiquitously, especially e-learning on a lifelong basis. “Ministries, schools and academic institutions should transform learning to meet learner’s lifelong needs. They should widen access and reduce the cost of the study or training,” said Prof Ho, when elaborating on factors that contribute to the success of lifelong learning.
He continued, “If lifelong learning is to play an important role in developing manpower, then government ministries must coordinate lifelong learning activities and promote it sustainably in close partnership with private sector companies. With increasing proliferation of open educational resources (OER) and rise of massive open online courses (MOOCs), there will eventually be a need for instituting proper procedures and academic benchmarks for quality assured certification, credentialling and accreditation.”
The slide presentation by Prof Ho can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mFNLoKCQSc&feature=youtu.be
