On 28 September 2022, UNESCO-ICHEI and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) co-organized the official launch event of the IIOE pilot project Digital Educator Micro-credential in Malaysia. The event was witnessed by representatives from UNESCO, the Southeast Asian Minister Organization Secretariat (SEAMEO Secretariat), the Malaysian Qualification Agency under the Ministry of Higher Education (MQA), UPM, and other Malaysian universities, as well as international experts and scholars.
The Opening Session was chaired by Ms. LI Fan, Assistant Director and Chief of Asia-Pacific Programme Office, UNESCO-ICHEI. Dr. Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, Prof. Abdul Karim Alias, Director of the Centre for Development of Academic Excellence, Professor of School of Industrial Technology at Universiti Sains Malaysia, and YBhg. Dato' Prof. Dr. Mohd Roslan Sulaiman, Vice Chancellor of UPM delivered opening remarks respectively. Dr. Ethel spoke highly of the design of the pilot project, and hoped that its outputs could provide reference to the practice of educators' professional development supported by micro-credential in Southeast Asian countries. In the future, she hopes to see more inter-national and inter-institutional strategic cooperations like this. Prof. Karim reaffirmed the important value and practical significance of educators' professional development supported by micro-credential. In particular, he pointed out that the pilot project had taken into full consideration of the specific needs in Malaysia and was truly a collective effort from international experts. The launch of this project would undoubtedly accelerate the digital transformation of higher education in Malaysia so as to meet the evolving social responsibilities and expectations brought about by Industrial Revolution 4.0. Prof. Sulaiman reviewed the series of cooperation between the two organizations, and pledged to cooperate more closely with UNESCO-ICHEI and share its resources within the global network of IIOE.
Introducing the IIOE Pilot Project Session
Next, Prof. LIM Cher Ping, Chief Expert of IIOE, UNESCO-ICHEI Associate Dean (International Engagement), Faculty of Education and Human Development, Education University of Hong Kong, China, chaired the session “Introducing the IIOE Pilot Project”, where Dr. FENG Siyuan, Chief of Knowledge Production and Communications Centre, UNESCO-ICHEI, and Mr. LYU Feng, Assistant Director Chief of IIOE Management Centre, UNESCO-ICHEI, gave a presentation on the rationale and framework of the IIOE Pilot Project respectively.
From Plans to Actions Session
Prof. Soaib Bin Asimiran, Dean of the Faculty of Educational Studies at UPM presided over the "Plan and Action" section. Prof. Habibah Ab Jalil, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Educational Studies and Director of IIOE Malaysia National Centre, Malaysia and the project team introduced the project. Focusing on educators' digital competencies, this project served as a response to the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education's MYDigital Educator programme, as well as an exploration to integrate micro-credential into educators' professional development. Prof. Habibah shared the 2022-2025 workplan focus and development plan of IIOE National Centre, Malaysia. Then, Dr. Nurul Afiqah Zulkifly mapped the digital competencies covered by the pilot project with the overall competency framework for educators' professional development in Malaysia. She also presented a detailed training plan. Next, Prof. Nurfadhlina Mohd Sharef, Deputy Director of Innovation in Teaching and Learning at the Centre for Academic Development (CADe) and Prof. Muhd Khaizer Omar, Head of Department Science and Technical Education, Faculty of Educational Studies elaborated the two themes identified for the project respectively. Prof. Nurfadhlina showcases the outline of Artificial Intelligence enabled teaching assistant micro-certificate training, while Prof. Khaizer introduced their plan to deploy Smart Classroom supported by HyFlex Learning.
In addition, the project was peer-reviewed by international experts. Prof. WANG Libing, Senior Programme Specialist in Higher Education and Chief of Section for Educational Innovation and Skills Development, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Prof. Paulina Pannen, Chairperson of Cyber Education Institute (ICE), Universitas Terbuka; Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Indonesia; Coordinator of IIOE National Centre, Indonesia, expressed the interest of IIOE National Centre, Indonesia, in launching a similar pilot project in Indonesia, and Mr. ZHANG Yue, Director, Higher Vocational Education Products, seewo, China all praised the content and design of the pilot project. Prof. WANG noted that the integration of short-term training into the ecosystem of learning in the form of micro-credential is an important way to share quality resources across international platforms. Prof. Pannen stated that IIOE National Centre, Indonesia is currently actively preparing for its pilot project as well. Lastly. Mr. ZHANG, as an expert from EdTech industry, expressed his dedication to exploring Smart Classroom in support of HyFlex Learning.
Concluding Session
In the following session, Prof. Dr. Khairul Salleh Mohd Sahari, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Qualification Agency joined Prof. HAN Wei, Executive Deputy Director of UNESCO-ICHEI in announcing the official launch of the pilot project under the witness of YBhg. Prof. Dr. Ismi Arif Ismail, Professor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International) of UPM.
In closing remarks, Prof. LI Ming particularly acknowledged the attention and contribution of all parties to the pilot project in Malaysia. He pointed out that UPM has been a pioneer in higher education's digital transformation. The adoption of micro-credential is "very innovative" and "serves as an example for other HEIs of IIOE network ".
For more details on the project, click here.
On-site venues On 28 September 2022, UNESCO-ICHEI and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) co-organized the official launch event of the IIOE pilot project Digital Educator Micro-credential in Malaysia. The event was witnessed by representatives from UNESCO, the Southeast Asian Minister Organization Secretariat (SEAMEO Secretariat), the Malaysian Qualification Agency under the Ministry of Higher Ed
