KUCHING – A presentation on the application of multimedia technology to enhance teaching and learning made a positive impact on more than 300 teachers and heads of school, recently.
The educators, from around the city and Samarahan Division, were participants of “Edu-Tech Talk” where the latest technology and apps to plan, organise, conduct and enhance lessons in schools were demonstrated by Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus lecturers.
Delivered via Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Motion sensor apps the demonstration included the recently released iOS 8, iCloud, iBooks, iTunes U and other creative learning and classroom management utilities for creating and customising interactive lesson content.
Among others, the technology allow teachers to control class activities, take attendance, record marks, student conduct or generate a class report with only a touch of a finger. They could also remotely retrieve and share files from a home computer, conduct video conferences and take notes, all via a mobile device.
“I’ve gained a lot of information about this technology from the presentation. It is a convenient and a fantastic tool to grab students’ attention and stimulate teaching and learning. It makes teaching and learning easy, effective, saves time in preparation and encourages self-learning,” said SMK Bandar Kuching No. 1 teacher Chung Siew Ling.
“It opened the eyes of traditional educators on technology development in education.”
Sii Ai Sian of SMK Pending concurs. “The introduction to the creative tools and interactive features were very informative. It’s an update for us teachers on hi-tech devices which could make teaching and learning more meaningful and interesting,” she said.
For Kolej Vokasional Kuching lecturer Abdul Karim Bin Azis, the presentation “opened a new landscape on technology towards modern education methodology”.
“Edu-Tech Tak”, jointly organised by Swinburne Sarawak and the Principal Council of Sarawak to introduce innovative and creative technologies in schools, was conducted by the university’s multimedia design lecturers John Hii and Wilson Suai from the Faculty of Business and Design.
Hii and Wilson are the only certified Apple Education Trainers in Sarawak. They are among five in Malaysia licensed by Apple to train educators on iPad and Mac computers.