Academic Excursion 2023: A Day of Learning and Discovery
The School of Mathematical Sciences at Sunway University had its annual half-day academic excursion in February, where the School's education agenda was at the forefront.
Our Associate Dean (Education), Dr Jane Teh Kimm Lii, carried out a briefing on the 2023 Curriculum Framework that took effect recently for our new intake of BSc Actuarial Studies and BSc Industrial Statistics students, showing us the subject outline over the 3-year program and highlighting the impact of the changes. Dr Jane also refreshed her colleagues on some teaching and learning guidelines, including the need for continuous improvement in our teaching craft. In tandem with this, Dr Jane, on behalf of the School, applauded Dr Lai Kee Huong and Ms Chan Lay Guat for their top awards in the ASEAN Quality Assurance Conference 2022 and Teaching & Learning Poster Competition 2022 at Sunway University.
Colleagues were also invited to share some of their best practices. For example, Ms Low Ann Ann shared her experience with project-based learning in her subject and the subsequent recognition at the Society of Actuaries (SOA) Asia-Pacific Actuarial Teaching Conference (ATC) in Dec 2022. Dr Lai Kee Huong also showcased how he incorporated LinkedIn learning modules as teaching materials on eLearn, curating a playlist of videos for students to watch and learn from.
The School then discussed academic integrity issues, where the rise of AI (i.e., ChatGPT) took centre stage. Assoc Prof. Dr Jason Ng gave a live demo on what ChatGPT could do, and many were awed (and shocked) by its improved capabilities. A robust discussion proceeded on how assessments would need to be refined to preserve academic integrity. It is a time of disruption where we need to rethink and reimagine how assessments can be done. It's challenging but fun!
The second half of the excursion saw colleagues from the Academic Enhancement Division conduct a refresher and training crash course on integrating a blended approach in a flipped classroom model. There was also a brief showcase to staff on how H5P (HTML-5 Package) can be used to develop interactive learning materials. Indeed, today's education sector is a fast-paced environment where academic staff must keep up with learning technologies to deliver industry-relevant curriculum.
We concluded the day with a group photo and smiles and left with plenty of educational nuggets to digest.
Associate Professor Dr Jason Ng
School: School of Mathematical Sciences
Email: @email
