Welcoming Address of President/Vice-Chancellor Open

Welcoming Address of President/Vice-Chancellor Open
University Malaysia, PROF TAN SRI ANUWAR ALI
at the Opening Ceremony of The 1 st asia Pacific Regional
Mobile Learning Conference on Wireless & Mobile
Technologies in Education and Edutainment Education
Beyond the Classroom - Mobile Learning the Future is Here !
on 7 August 2007 at 9.00am
at Ballroom, The Crown Plaza Hotel
Kuala Lumpur
• Yang Berhormat Dato’ S. Veerasingam
Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and
Consumer Affairs
• Puan Maimum Shamsuddin
Chairman LTT Global Communications Sdn Bhd
• Mr Wemel Cumavoo
CEO LTT Global Communications Sdn Bhd
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Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh dan a
very good morning to all of you.
1. First of all, I would like to thank Yang Berhormat
Dato’ Veerasingam, Deputy Minister of Domestic
Trade and Consumer Affairs, for taking time off
from his busy schedule to be with us this morning
to witness and officiate the 1 st
Asia Pacific
Regional Mobile Learning Conference on
Wireless & Mobile Technologies in Education and
Edutainment. I must also take this opportunity to
specially welcome our international delegates
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who have come from USA, India, Australia, Saudi
Arabia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran and
Bangladesh. Welcome to Malaysia.
2. “Without communication there is no
development”. This is the primary message of the
first World Congress on Communication for
Development that focused on demonstrating the
Communication for Development which has
become an essential tool to meet today’s most
pressing development challenges, and therefore
should be more fully integrated into development
policy and practices. Recognising the need to
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stay competitive in today’s knowledge based
global economy and also the rapid-paced age of
development in the field of information and
communication technology, I believe this
conference is held timely and appropriately. In
line with the second thrust of the 9 th Malaysian
Plan in realising the “first class mentality”, one of
the eminent measures is to continuously improve
and enhance the empowering processes of the
society to fully capitalise the use of relevant
communication strategies, i.e. ensuring a holistic
human capital development.
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3. Our Prime Minister has always emphasised the
importance of Malaysia becoming a knowledge
based economy and therefore the development
of human capital along with lifelong learning
opportunities must be given priority. In this
context of globalisation, high quality human
capital and education has become a necessity
and not merely a luxury. One of the major thrusts
of the current phase towards achieving Vision
2020 is to raise the country’s capacity for
knowledge, creativity and innovation and
nurturing a learned society. Malaysia’s future
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success will certainly depend on the quality of its
human capital.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
4. Allow me to share with you some interesting
highlights of OUM. As the first provider of open
and distance learning (ODL) in the country, OUM
has no doubt played an important role in making
possible for people from all walks of life to pursue
education to the highest level. We have amongst
our learner population teachers, policemen,
members of the armed forces, civil servants,
employees of private companies and many
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others. We believe the yearning to learn and
acquire knowledge while simultaneously
improving one’s career is always latent within our
society. What it needs is just the right and
relevant vehicle. In democratising higher
education, OUM therefore enriches the learning
experience within the community, thus positively
complementing the Government’s objective to
inculcate “lifelong learning” as a desirable aspect
of human capital development.
5. With the diligence and commitment to providing
quality education, OUM now stands tall as its
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learner enrolment now reaches over 63,000.
Indeed, this is an excellent achievement by any
standards. In terms of learner enrolment, OUM
has thus grown by leaps and bounds in
comparison to its first intake of 753 students in
August 2001. Reaching such as large number of
learner enrolment is not unusual for an ODL
institution. The experience of many ODL
institutions such as the Indra Ghandi National
Open University (India), Sokothai Thammasirat
Open University (Thailand), Korea National Open
University (South Korea) and Universitas Terbuka
Indonesia (with student enrolment of more than
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200,000 in many cases) indicates such a
possibility for OUM. Within the next decade, OUM
hopes to become a “mega university” during
which the number of learners will exceed
100,000. Looking at it from another angle, we can
anticipate a tremendous show of interest
amongst the Malaysia population, particularly
amongst the labour force to engage in higher
education. This is an awareness which must be
positively nurtured in our country.
6. OUM‘s strong relationship with the industries and
corporate sectors has further elevated us to
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greater heights in providing a strong academiaindustry
human development programmes. Our
main industry partners are Nestle Malaysia,
Dumex Malaysia, Cubic Electronics, AEON Jusco
and the Malaysian Arm Forces.
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
7. In the present rapid-paced age of development in
the field of education, information and
communication technology, it is important that we
take this opportunity to harness the value and
power of learning and education. Mobile
Learning, although in its infancy stage in
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Malaysia, but has generated much interest and
discussion among researchers. In particular,
financial, logistical or technical reasons, such as
the ever increasing availability of
wireless
portable devices, have provided a rich
environment for the proliferation of ‘mobile
learning applications’.
8. While there is an increasing number of mobile
applications and devices that offer substantial
potential to support and enable learning and
teaching processes, the danger of designing,
developing and implementing learning application
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for mobile devices that are not truly anchored in
sound principles of learning is something we
must be mindful of. Research and development in
the field of mobile learning have yielded
numerous experiences and tools that could be
broadly classified into administrative, referential,
interactive and data collection. The unique
attributes of wireless mobile devices creates new
learning opportunities which would not be
possible without mobile technology.
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Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
9. Against this background, OUM will continue to
work with LTT Global Innovations and MSC
Malaysia and take the lead in the developments
in the cutting edge mobile learning research and
technology. We are looking at handheld
computers, mobile phones and the possibilities of
1:1 ICT access where every learner, everywhere
would have an inexpensive device and the
opportunity to learn anytime at any place. This
conference is aimed as a catalyst for change and
new thinking.
Some of the key areas to be
focused will be in the areas of pedagogical
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approaches for mLearning; collaborative,
cooperative and contextual mLearning; Informal
and Lifelong mLearning; Creativity and
simulations in mLearning; as well as New tools,
technologies and platforms for mLearning.
10. The conference has brought together
researchers, academics and industry
practitioners who are involved in the design and
development of Wireless and Mobile Learning
Technologies to share and expand knowledge of
how the use of mobile and pervasive
technologies will lead to a positive,
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transformational change for teaching and learning
where the learner is placed at the centre and
where every learner matters. I hope the
deliberations over the next three days will help us
understand better the challenges faced in
providing technology tools to support the learning
process.
11. On behalf of the Organising Committee, I would
like to thank the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Innovation; Mobile Service Providers, Mobile
Device Manufacturers, Universities, Banks and
exhibitors in supporting the initiatives taken to
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successfully launch this conference in Mobile
Learning. Most importantly, I would like to thank
once again Yang Berhormat Dato’ S.
Veerasingam for gracing this occasion.
12. Wishing all the delegates a fruitful deliberations
and not forgetting our overseas participants,
Selamat Datang and do take time off to visit
some of our beautiful places of Kuala Lumpur
during this exciting year of Visit Malaysia 2007.
Thank you.
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