Life Skills Development (LSD) is now a part of Intellect. Together with the SHINE Award Centre, the two Life Skills Development departments will support our SHINE students on their SHINE learning journey!

Intellect Newsletter January - March 2015

our team is growing!

Mad About MOOCs in March

Event 1 (For MOOC Beginners)‘Into the Future with MOOCs’, a MOOC in OpenLearning

Event 2 (For Everyone)‘Let’s Mad About MOOCs’, a festive sharing session with MOOC Champions

Event 3: A Talk by Richard Buckland on MOOC‘Buckland Revisited’.

Event 4 (For Future MOOC Champions)‘MOOC Me’ Workshop.

In the efforts to further strengthen Taylor’s University’s position

as the MOOC leader in the country, eLA @ Intellect has organized

a MOOC Campaign throughout the month of March to “explore

and recruit” more MOOC champions across all the schools.

‘Into the Future with MOOCs’, a MOOC in OpenLearning

‘Into the Future with MOOCs’, a MOOC in Open Learning

What better way to start off a full-proof MOOC Campaign by starting a

course on MOOCs? The course ‘Into the Future with MOOCs’ ran through-

out March and April for 30 days, and equivalent to 8 credit hours, facilitat-

ed by Ms. Enna Ayub, the Lead e-Content Development Specialist in the

e-Learning Academy. This MOOC targets beginner to the MOOC concept

and learners have the chance to ‘catch up’ as the course contains all of

the necessary resources pertaining to MOOC. This MOOC is offered again

in May so as those who are interested to jump in on the MOOC wagon

may register in HRSS. Check in HRSS for the availability of this course.

You may join the course at: https://www.open-

l e a r n i n g . c o m / c o u r s e s / i n t o t h e f u t u r e w i t h m o o c s

Let’s Mad About MOOCs’, a fes-tive sharing session with MOOC

ChampionsThis event was held on 24th,

25th & 26th March from 2pm - 4pm

Where? Library Event Hall 2

Through this valuable sharing session from past MOOC Champions, eLA cre-

ated a campus wide awareness on MOOC. The intention is to keep up the

MOOC momentum high and promote understanding of MOOC among faculty

members. The focus of this event is also to discuss and explore the potential

of MOOC in your teaching career as well as the insights of learning technol-

ogies and best practices in MOOC via Openlearning.com (our official MOOC

Platform). Participants had the chance to have a cuppa with our Vice Chan-

cellor Prof Dato’ Dr Hassan Said and Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Pradeep Nair,

along with the folks from OpenLearning, Adam Brimo, Associate Professor

Richard Buckland and Brooke Hahn. Participants made new friends and they

reported of feeling motivated and inspired after the event, some even came

for all of the 3 days sharing session! Throughout the festival, more than 121

academics came to the event. Thanks for believing in MOOC as one of the

methods to transform the teaching and learning practices at this University.

Here are some fun facts we got to know through the “Mad About MOOCs in March” festival:

Awesome facts isn’t it?

A Talk by Richard Buckland on MOOC

Buck and Revisited

Due to the overwhelming response to Richard Buckland’s

talk during the Let’s Mad About MOOCs event, we invited him

over to give yet another talk on MOOC, the following Tuesday

after the Mad About MOOCs Sharing Festival ended. The au-

dience felt that the 30 mins sharing session was not enough

so we had to bring him back. In case you missed the boat,

who is Richard Buckland? Richard is the co-founder of Open-

Learning.com, the official site of Taylor’s University MOOCs.

Missed the lecture? you may catch it here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Td-MiVyPtk

Event 4 ( For Future MOOC Champions

“MOOC ME” Workshop

MEET OUR TEAM!

This workshop was specially designed for academics who

are interested to run a MOOC to meet with content devel-

opment team to kick-start the planning, designing and

creating e-activities. To make our workshop more fun, we

invited Brooke Hahn who is the lead instructional design-

er from OpenLearning to conduct the course. This MOOC

Me Workshop is intended to influence the way educators

plan, design and teach in a fully online environment, and

thus generate a positive impact on the learner experience.

Event 4 (For Future MOOC Champions)

‘MOOC Me’ Workshop.

Event 1iTunes U Course Manager

Event 2Using Social Media in the Classroom

Event 3Managing Stress!

Ted has organized a series on the elements of Neuro Linguistic programming. The first series cover communication models and

presupposition. The essential of the first series to give the general idea on how does human communication takes place. Be-

sides that, there are a lot of items that has been revealed by the trainer on how to utilise the presupposition to be more positive.

The second series was focusing precisely on the eye assessing ques and system representational. In this series, the academics

were exposed to predicates, rapport building and various types of activities which let them practices the eye assessing. The

third series was all about state management and Meta modals. In this level, academics were thought on how to derive to a re-

sponse just by asking suitable questions. Sometimes it’s all about clearing the filters of your student. There were many demon-

strations carried out on anchoring as well as reframing. This series was also supported by videos to spice up the session. This

series was engaged by ted trainer Loshini Logonnathan who has been certified NLP practitioner with the hallmark of Richard

Bandler ® the founder of NLP. Prior to the certification, she also attended relatively some training on NLP and she is also a cer-

tified communication expert. These series of workshop were held starting from 26th March till 28th April. Ted is looking for-

ward to organize this series again soon. Keep posted by our calendar as well as email blast from Ted.intellect@taylors.edu.my

Communicat ion Exper t Ser ies

iTunes U Course Manager

iTunes U Course Manager

Conducted by : John Hii Ing Kieng

Date: 26th – 27th February 2015

This highly interactive training conducted by John Hii Ing Kieng was aimed at building fun-

damental skills in creating and sharing dynamic courses with the iTunes U Course Manager.

Using iPads and other devices, John both demonstrated as well as facilitated the creation

of iTunes U courses for participants. Participants learned how to curate content, organize

and publish course media and integrate multimedia into their teaching via iTunes Courses.

In addition, they were able to explore how this method enabled interactivity to expand and

enhance learning opportunities with students, not only in their classrooms, but worldwide.

Using Social Media in the Classroom Using Social Media in the Classroom

Conducted by : Gee Gee Liew

Date: 24th March 2015

Social media, when used in the right areas, can be a useful learning

tool rather than a distraction. In this interactive workshop, Gee Gee

explored ways social media can be used in different discussion cir-

cumstances with the participants. The trainer used a role play con-

cept, where the participants were asked to be the students. By im-

plementing different social media activities with them, participants

were able to experience both situations where social media was

useful in learning interactions, as well as how to troubleshoot pos-

sible difficulties they may encounter in their classrooms through

careful question selection and preparation of additional materials.

Managing Stress

The workshop was attended by 30 academics. This workshop took place in C6.04. The academics were exposed on the real defini-

tion of stress. Most of them were surprised to find out the multidimensional nature of the stress. Prof Xavier patiently revealed the

psychological processes which results numerous expressions in the face of our academics. Prof Xavier is not alien to Taylor’s Uni-

versity as a medical doctor, psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He is attached to the Taylor’s University School of Medicine as an as-

sociate professor. He is also co-founder, director and director of Mental Health Services of the community based NGO Health Equity

Initiatives which serves asylum seekers and refugees in the Klang Valley. He is a certified Interpersonal Psychotherapist and is also

certified to train and supervise trainees in Interpersonal Psychotherapy. He practices clinically in a few public and private hospitals in

the Klang Valley. The engaging group of lecturers wasn’t tired performing few routines to manage stress such as simple exercises as

well as breathing techniques. Ted is looking forward to organize a similar topic soon maybe more in-depth in the area of depression.

The experience of stress is becoming a major health

issue among human beings today. The experience

of stress is multidimensional and affects cognition

(thinking), emotions and behavior. Stress can also

manifest as physical symptoms and result in physical

ill health. The effects of unmanaged stress can also

have detrimental effects on our relational and occu-

pational (work) functioning. The good news is that

stress can be managed. Understanding stress helps us

manage stress. In regards of this alarming issue, ted

has organized a three hours workshop on Understand-

ing and Managing Stress on the 13th February 2015.

SHINE Core Empowerment Workshops

INSPIRING YOUNG MINDS @ SHINE by Antonio Meloto

INSPIRING YOUNG MINDS @ SHINE

by AntonioMeloto

As a follow-up to Mr. Antonio’s Talk on “Youth Social Entrepreneurship:

Building a Sustainable Community”, 43 SHINE Students were privi-

leged to meet up with Mr. Tony and connect with him on a personal lev-

el in the SHINE-organised “UP CLOSE and PERSONAL: a 30-Minute Chat

with Antonio Meloto, the Builder of Dreams.” The Shine students in at-

tendance were fortunate to be able to ask further questions about To-

ny’s personal motivations in starting and growing GAWAD KALINGA.

“I needed to understand why a country such a Philippines with so much

of natural abundance had to be poor. I could not understand why we had

to import 99% of our dairy and 88% of our chocolate from countries who

did not have cows nor produce cocoa. What pushed me to transform the

slums was to ensure that my children grew up in a safe environment. I had

to transform the potential kidnappers, rapists and thieves to ensure that

my children were safe. The motivation was personal,” inspired Mr Meloto.

Tony also shared his personal stories on his path to success and stressed

how important it was to connect to people on a personal and sincere lev-

el. No matter who the people are – rich or poor, in order to reach out to

them either to help or to ask for help. It is necessary to connect to people

to arrive at the heart of the problem in order to derive a sustainable and

impactful solution. Indeed, Tony’s social entrepreneurship cause has had

a reverberating impact not just in the Philippines but across the world.

“Gawad Kalinga, which means ‘to give’, became my dream. I decided to go

to the heart of the problem- to the most dislocated and troubled men from

the slums. I started treating the poor as family and I chose not to aban-

don them. I wanted to invest in them and bring out the potential in them,”

Malvinder Singh Gill a/l Harcharan Singh, a student

from School of Engineering and SHINE Participant

said, “I learnt a lot from Mr. Antonio Meloto. First,

he really inspired me to look into social entrepre-

neurship. He shared with us that the more he didn’t

want money and wealth; all the more wealth came

to him because of the effort that he put into the

social enterprises under his care. He also stressed

that while money is important but the more import-

ant thing is the effort we put in to help the people

around us. The most important is to sustain the

things that we have done for the people around

us so that we not only give help to the needy but

also impart the skills and knowledge to them.

LP1 : Personal Development

LP1: Personal Development

In this package, SHINE students will have

the opportunities to build self-management

skills that will help them to discover and clar-

ify their values, strengths, weaknesses, goals

in life and develop the emotional intelligence.

Without knowing and understanding yourself,

you can’t possibly be successful in life. SHINE

Award Centre provides six (6) exciting and inter-

active workshops that help SHINE Students to

build their self-management skills. These work-

shops are compulsory for SHINE students to at-

tend to help our students to discover and build

up their emotional and social intelligence as well

as intrapersonal skills and use this knowledge

to survive and thrive in university and beyond.

Six (6) workshops provided are:

1. Emotional Intelligence

2. Get Into the Rhythm of Change

3. Motivating Yourself

4. Let’s Manage Stress Together

5. Envisioning Success

6. Switching Up Your Creativity

Number of workshops done from January – April 2015

SHINE Info Kit is available for download!

A Collaboration of Music

Agent of Tech: Bringing Technology to your Fingertips

Empowerment Series Workshop: Equipping Student Leaders

A Cause for Mother Earth

Chinese Cultural Connection

Clubs and Societies Day: A Colourful Campus Experience

Upholding Tradition

Agent of Tech:Bringing Technology

to your Fingertips

The newest edition to the range of clubs under the purview of Life Skills Development, Taylor’s University’s

Agent of Tech (AOT) has already been making waves by bringing technology to your fingertips. Equipped with

the purpose of educating users across the board, AOT recently organised a workshop titled, ‘Cloud Printing with

Chrome’ with the objective of teaching users how to utilise Google Chrome Applications and Extensions. At-

tended by 25 students, Norman Low, Google Ambassador and Vice-President of AOT facilitated the session and

provided a platform for students to learn and enhance their skills, contributing to their productivity and knowledge.

A Collaboration of Music

Encouraging a collaboration of ideas and initiatives, Taylor’s University’s ETC.

Magazine Club, Dance Club and Music Club combined expertise and talent by

organising a flash mob at the Uni Square, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus

recently

Encouraging a collaboration of ideas and initiatives, Taylor’s University’s ETC. Magazine Club, Dance Club and Music Club com-

bined expertise and talent by organising a flash mob at the Uni Square, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus recently. ETC.

Magazine Club, in conjunction with the launch of their print magazine collaborated with Music Club and Dance Club to cre-

ate this flash mob, to generate more buzz and awareness on their club initiatives and celebrate the ‘individuality’ that exists

within all three clubs. ‘Individuality’ is also the theme of their first print magazine that was launched in May 2015. Through-

out the flash mob, spectators witnessed the collaboration of talent and were entertained to their rendition of Uptown Funk.

A Cause for Mother Earth

A new student organisation, spurring on the

mission of creating more awareness on the

environment has sprouted recently. Taylor’s

University’s Nature Club (TUNC) has already

organised two initiatives since their estab-

lishment early this year. TUNC began the year

with an event titled ‘My Garden BirdWatch’

where, Mr Mark Ng, Group Co-Ordinator from

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) presented a talk on bird watching and how they contribute towards the health of an envi-

ronment. The event was also aimed on encouraging students to develop an appreciation for nature and the conserva-

tion of wildlife. TUNC also conducted an environmental campaign through a film screening event in collaboration with

EcoKnights and Anugerah Hijau Screenings. The three films showcased, ‘Sunset over Selungo’, ‘On Borrowed Time’ and

‘Mantanani: The Struggle towards a Sustainable Livelihood’ highlighted various issues such as deforestation, poach-

ing and its consequences as well as the importance of environmental conservation. Mr Fadly Bakhtiary, Programme Di-

rector of EcoKnights attended the event and facilitated the sessions to further add value and knowledge to the session.

Empowerment Series Workshop: Equipping

Student Leaders

Life Skills Development organised an Empowerment Series

Workshop over the course of two weekends to equip all Stu-

dent Leaders from various Student Organisations to develop the

skills needed to become effective student leaders. Through the

2-day workshop, Student Leaders understood their roles and re-

sponsibilities more clearly through a specialised workshop cre-

ated for each position holder, where they learnt about the Student Organisation Manual and Policy and developed their knowl-

edge on event management. The workshop was also a good opportunity for Student Organisations to reflect on their mission

and vision as an organisation and plan their signature event for the year. The event was attended by 214 Student Leaders.

Clubs and Societies Day: A Colourful Campus

Experience

The Clubs and Societies Day, organised by the Life Skills Development

is held during the Integrated Orientation week to provide students

with the platform to meet the various club or society that is estab

lished within Taylor’s University. A total of 31 Student Organisations

under the purview of Life Skills Development, 12 Sports Club and 2 International Clubs participated in the event. 575 students signed

up for at least one club during the Clubs and Societies Day. Throughout the day, The Grand Hall was abuzz with clubs and societies pro-

moting their cause to appeal to the new students. Agent of Tech, AIESEC and K-Gen emerged winners of this Clubs and Societies Day.

Chinese Cultural Connection

Taylor’s University’s Chinese So-

ciety recently held the Asian Cul-

ture Street, an event aimed at

introducing the Taylor’s Universi-

ty community and the public to the

Chinese culture that exists across

countries such as Malaysia, Thai-

land, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea

and Taiwan. The event was attended

by 300 participants, both Taylorian

and non-Taylorian, and also 88 orga-

nizing committee and helpers. The

Chinese culture from the countries

above, were portrayed by the food

that was sold, costumes worn and

even decorations on display during the day. Chinese Society from other universities such as MMU, IUKL, UKM and UNIT-

EN also came to support the event. Apart from that, the Chinese Society also did a debate showcase during the end of

the night, where participants experienced how Chinese debates are done through experienced and professional debat-

ers. The showcase piqued the interest of potential debaters and served as a good exposure to all who attended the event.

Upholding Tradition

The Taylor’s Cultural Art Performers (TRADISI) conduct-

ed its first training session on Sunday the 17th of May

2015. The trainer, Mr Asrul Nai, a certified trainer from

Swatari, PakNgah Production conducted the practice

session for 9 members. The aim of the training was to

first introduce the members to the new trainer, who will

be coaching them in developing their traditional dance

skills and history behind it.

During the first session, they learnt basic zapin, a traditional folk dance presented during events and special occasions. The mem-

bers learn greatly about the steps and origin of zapin, which contributed greatly towards the appreciation of the culture.

Event 1 Student Success Workshops (SSW)

Event 2 Join our workshops and get REWARDED!

Event 3: SBS Student Leader training

Event 4 Accelerated Orientation

From January to March 2015, Student Success Centre (SSC) has suc-

cessfully organised 74 Student Success Workshops (SSW) supported by

Taylor’s Centre for Languages, e-Learning Academy, Career Services Cen-

tre and Teaching and Education Development. We covered various topics

such as Presentation Skills, Discover Your Learning Styles, Time Man-

agement, College Note Taking, English Workshop Series (Grammar, Read-

ing & Writing), Blended Learning (TIMeS & ReWIND), Interview Skills, Un-

derstanding the Secret of Your Birth Date (numerology) and more. Our

focus is mainly to assist Taylor’s University students to maximize their

learning strategies and study skills in university. In total, 1808 students

from different programmes and schools participated in our workshops.

Student Success Workshops

Join our workshops and get REWARDED!

When students participate in our SSW monthly cal-

endar workshops (open-to-all students), they can

claim exciting gifts through our REWARD CARD

system.

Feedback from students

‘I have learnt various note taking techniques that can be used before,

during and after lectures especially the Cornell Method. This knowledge

will be useful for my academic journey”

(College Note Taking Skills workshop, ADP, Sem. 1)

‘Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. This workshop helped me to identify

grammatical mistakes in my own writing especially the usage of proper

tenses. I hope my writing will get better after this.”

(English Workshop Series: Grammar, TBS, Sem. 4)

‘I have identified my own learning styles which is the multimodal learning

styles. Now I understand more how I can study better. I can apply some of

the suggested learning strategies to my current learning strategies.”

(Discover Your Learning Styles workshop, SOCIT, Sem. 1)

‘I have learnt the important of prioritizing in managing my assignments

and balance it with my social life. Focus on the big and important things

first to make rooms for less important things.”

(Time Management: Prioritizing workshop, TCHT, Sem. 2)