Intellect Newsletter APRIL - JUNE 2015

ART THERAPYProf. Hildren Rolff 20th & 21st May 2015

Art Therapy encourages social group activity to promote the respect of an individual’s expression before adding one’s own opinion. This two-day Art Therapy workshop, conducted by Prof. Hildrun Rolff, a licensed art therapist with 30 years of experience from Germany, exposed participants to two ways of socializing when working in a group. The firstis the thinking and planning that goes into the flw of working as a group, and the second involves group synchronicity, a socialisation method that helps members work with the flw of others in constant movement. Likened to volunteers in an emergency, a group synchronicity emerges to arrive at a solution. There is no master or leader directing the operation. Everyone contributes their abilities without needing applause or recognition. Therefore, participants could reflecton their own function or role in such group work to discover their typical be-haviours and their ability level to work with others.Prof. Hildrun also used colours in this “special ther-apy” session to help all 28 participants uncover their conscious and unconscious moods and thinking. At the end of the workshop, despite getting their hands dirty with water colours and crayons, participants went home equipped with knowledge they could use not only in their teach-ing, but also in their personal lives. TED looks for-ward to organising similar activities in the future due to high demand.

TES 3600

The Teaching Engagement Scale (TES) System Taylor’s University is committed to the continual improvement of the quality of teaching of all educators at the university. To support this commitment, Taylor’s University has developed a teaching and learning evaluation system called the Teaching Engagement Scale (TES). The TES is a 360° evaluation system that collates teaching and learning feedback from 4 key stakeholders: the self, peer, superior and students.

This method of 360° evaluation feedback allows lecturers to receive more than one viewpoint on their teaching:

Self : Their own views of their teaching Peer(s) & Superior : People who know something about them and their work Students : People who participate in their teaching

It will then generate reports on the feedback provided, including a report called the TES Scorecard. The TES Scorecard will indicate their teaching engagement level, and identify strengths, as well as growth areas, that can be further supported by further training and development. These reports provide an opportunity for educators to reflect, adjust behaviors and develop skills that will assist them in excelling at their teaching. The TES is an integral part of Taylor’s University’s efforts to ensure that the teaching quality is what our students deserve, what is expected of academics, and what Taylor’s academic staff should exemplify. Roadshows have been conducted across all schools and will be followed up with further training on how to use the system. The TES is scheduled for roll-out across the university (except for School of Medicine andTaylor’s Graduate School) from September 2015.

FUTURE LEARNING FORUM 2015

Emerging Trends, opportunities and Challenges 08 May 2015

In the quest to answer the big question of “What is Future Learning?”, e-Learning Academy (eLA) @ Intellect has successfully organized “Future of Learning: Emerging Trends, Opportunities and Challenges” on 8 May 2015 (9.00am-4.30pm). This one-day forum aims to be a platform for educators, researchers, practitioners and e-Learning policy makers to get an insight on what constitutes the future learning. It brings together representatives from the leading industry players and universities to share their views on the future learning trends.

The forum was indeed a success and we would like to thank everyone of you who had come and support this forum. A total of 150+ participants from Taylor’s University, Taylor’s College, 6 local universities, 3 e-Learning organisations and 2 media attended this forum. This forum is part of e-Learning Academy’s effort to strength-en Taylor’s University standing as a leading institution in the country when it comes to e-Learning initiatives. We hope that the information you got through this forum will help you to become a “Future-Proof” academic.

73 critical and provocative questions were asked throughout the forum and you may view the interaction among the participants via https://todaysmeet.com/future2015, an interactive audience response tool we used during the forum. We would like conversation to go on even after the forum, so please feel free to con-tact us for a chat or discussion

Taylor’s University’s SPARK Award

is now open for nominations!

The SPARK AWARD provides recognition for academics staff who uses module sites creatively and meaning-fully in order to spark the learner’s enthusiasm for learning. It honours academic that successfully increases levels of student’s engagement or retention through blended learning mode and lead to improved student achievement in their studies. Submissions should focus on how student success is fostered through effective use of module sites and provide evidence of that success.

PurposeSPARK Award honours academic staff who uses module sites creatively and meaningfully in their teaching, learning and assessment, which result in significant improvements in students’ learning outcomes. It also rec-ognizes academics who develop exciting and innovative module sites that represent the very best of technol-ogy and learning. Module sites are evaluated in four areas; Engaging Content, Interaction & Collaboration, Assessment and Active Usage.

EligibilityAll TIMeS users at Taylor’s University are invited to submit their module sites or nominate other module sites for SPARK Award nomination.

SPARK Award Presentation

Module site that promotes concrete evidence for the overall four main criteria will be announced as the winner for SPARK Award. This award will open for application twice a year, in June (cycle 1) and Dec (cycle 2). Three (3) prices will be awarded to the winning module sites in each cycle as follows:

First Price: Cash Reward of RM1,500 + Certificate of AchievementSecond Price: Cash Reward of RM1,000 + Certificate of AchievementThird Price: Cash Reward of RM500 + Certificate of Achievement

Award winners will also be invited to the SPARK Award Presentation ceremony. Recipient may also be featured in a publication and have their profile published internally or externally. The recipient may also be requested to share his/her experience during the Teaching and Learning Conference or Festival.

Student LeaderTraining

04 APRIL 2015

32 student leaders attended the training whereby only 25 new recruit and the rest are the senior.SBS applied mentorship programme for PALS. Thus, senior will observe the sessions and they will givefeedback on how the junior can improve their teaching / facilitation style.

SBS have come out with the new framework whereby they form a committee lead by the senior to dothe observation, attendance checking, and mentorship team. SSC PALS team will take this frameworkas a pilot programme to see how it impacts the student learning.

Accelerated Orientation22 & 23 April 2015

Accelerated Orientation is for the International students who were the latecomers to join the undergraduate programme. It been held from 5 – 9 pm at Temptations and it involve academic and non-academics briefing on their services.

Student Success WorkshopsAPRIL - JUNE 2015

From April to June 2015, Student Success Centre (SSC) has successfully organised 28 Student Success Workshops (SSW) supported by Taylor’s Centre for Languages, e-Learning Academy, Taylor’s Design School, Hotel,Tourism and Culinary Arts and Teaching and Education Development. We covered various topics such asPowerPoint Skills, Discover Your Learning Styles, Time Management, College Note Taking, English WorkshopSeries (Grammar, Reading & Writing), Blended Learning (TIMeS & ReWIND), Reflective Writing, Understanding the Secret of Your Birth Date (numerology), Personal Financial Management and more. Our focus is mainly to assist Taylor’s University students to maximize their learning strategies and study skills in university. In total, 171 students from different programmes and schools participated in our workshops

‘I have learnt various note taking techniques that can be used before, during and after lecturesespecially 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 manag-ing 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)

iLEAD Conference20 June 2015

The 1st iLEAD Conference organised by the Life Skills Development (LSD) and supported by the SHINE Award Centre (SAC) was nothing short of inspiring, as Taylor’s University students ranging from the SHINE Award Programme, various Student Organisations and schools devoted their time to gaining invaluable leadership lessons from key industry speakers at the 1st iLEAD Conference.

Themed, ‘Initiating Future Leaders’, the 1st iLEADConference was launched by Professor Dato Dr.Hassan Said, Vice-Chancellor and President ofTaylor’s University and witnessed by by Professor Dr. Pradeep Nair, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Taylor’s University, Dr Tang Siew Fun, Director of INTELLECT, Mr. Lim Chee Leong, Associate Director, E-Learning Academy, Mr Gobindran Raj, Head, Student Success Centre, Ms Cheah Su Ming, Head, Systems & Administrations, SHINE Award Centre & Mr Janaronson Nagarajah, Manager, Life Skills

The launch gimmick, a drawing on canvas represents the 4 learning outcome of the conference; PersonalLeadership, Leading Others, Servant Leadership & Inspiring Action. A Paper plane was pinned to the startingpoint of the canvas, a metaphorical representation of our Students’ journey as Future Leaders of the World.The artwork was drawn by Aishath Moosa Didi, a Bachelor of Business (Hons) Human Resource Management student from Maldives. Aishath is also a SHINE Award Programme student.

The iLEAD Conference kick-started with a KeynoteAddress by by Professor Dr. PradeepNair, Deputy Vice- Chancellor of Taylor’s University who spoke about Leadership at the Peak: Lessons I’ve Learnt. He shared 40 rules best practiced by highly successful Leaders.

Aireen Omar, CEO of AirAsia Berhad inspired thestudents with a talk titled,“Personal Leadership: Discovering the Leader Within You” where she sharedher incredible journey of challenging herself thatopened doors towards greater opportunities

Mallory Loone, Lead Trainer & Director of ThrivingTalents delivered a talk titled ‘Influential Leaders:The Art of Leading Others’ where she reinforced the importance of developing character, action andresults towards effective Leadership.

Steve McCoy, Founder & Principal of Counterpointdelivered an inspiring speech titled ‘Globepreneurship:Inspiring Action through Sustainability’. Studentswere able to see how their every action affected theenvironment and make conscious efforts to practicemoderation.Note: Globepreneurship comprises of the word Global& Entrepreneurship

Kal Joffres, Co-Founder & CEO of Tandemic is nostranger to social responsibility. Delivering his talktitled, ‘The Heart to Volunteerism: Developing a “MAD”Attitude, Kal stressed the importance of finding solutionsto help causes and uplift communitiesNote: MAD is an acronym for ‘Making A Difference’

The Closing Address was delivered by Dr Tang Siew Fun who reiterated the purpose of the conference andthe key take away from each session.

Catering to people with food allergies, JTTM is amobile application that allows users to choose theirown food ingredients in a meal.

Upcycling Spaces aims to generate interactivecommunities by building better shared spaces thatare self-sustainable and maintained by thecommunity

FeedOn! is an initiative by four Foundation inComputing students who wants to design a socialcommunity app with a goal to End World Hungerand Reduce Food Waste

ONs, which stands for “Outing, Now simplified”aspires to make outings, gatherings or a social eventconvenient by reaching out to the rest using a simpleapp instead of various other mediums or channels.

AGENT OF TECH CLUB BRINGS GOOGLEEXTENDED I/O TO TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY

28 MAY 2015

Fans, developers and tech fans were able to witness a remarkable moment as Agent of Tech Club conducteda live steaming of the Google Extended I/O held annually and internationally at Taylor’s University.

Attended by 74 students, the event that took place on the 28th of May 2015 encouraged students to keep abreast on the latest technologies, tools and trends and provided a platform for companies and developersto share their knowledge and experience as well as job opportunities to students. The event created a learning environment that promoted computer knowledge not just within The School of Computing &Information Technology students but also students from various other disciplines. In addition, students were also exposed to networking opportunities throughout the event. Other than the live streaming, students benefited from development experience sharing and technical tutorials to expand their knowledge in the area of technology.

ETC. MAGAZINE

JUNE 2015

ETC. MAGAZINE CLUB TAKES OFF WITH THEIR 1ST PRINT MAGAZINEAfter numerous months of hard work, the ETC. Magazine Club launched their 1st print magazine recently. Themed, ‘The Power of the Individual’, the message was clear – be yourself, love yourself and empower yourself. The 23-page magazine is filled with thought provoking articles written by the students themselves,fun-facts about Taylor’s University and even a segment called ‘Tales of Taylori-ans’ inspired by the popular‘ Humans of New York’. Throughout the month of June, the ETC. Magazine Club has been circulating thecampus, dressed in their mascot, a Pacman Ghost distributing their 1st print magazine to all Taylorians. Watch out for them!

TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY DEBATERS COMPETEIN WORLD AND LAW DEBATING

CHAMPIONSHIP

JUNE 2015The Taylor’s University Debaters driven in passion and dedication translates into zest to compete in manytournaments throughout the year in the styles of Asian Parliamentary and British Parliamentary.

The British Parliamentary debate format differs from many other formats because it involves four teams rather than two. Two teams, called the “First Proposi-tion” and the “Second Proposition” teams are charged with the responsibility of supporting the propositionwhile two other teams “First Opposition” and “Sec-ond Opposition” are charged with opposing it. Two speakers represent each of the four teams and each speaker gives a speech of seven minutes. Recently, The Taylor’s University Debaters sent six members (3 teams) from their club to represent Taylor’s Universi-ty at the World and Law Debating Championship as their first coming out tournament in the British Parlia-mentary season. The tournament was held in Taylor’s College Subang Campus and in attendance were a hundred other experienced and seasoned teams from various universities across Malaysia and Singapore.

Taylor’s University Debaters did not make it into the finals however this tournament has only fuelled the fire within these individuals to train harder and go further in other future tournaments. Felice Wong and Elisha Hui (pic below), despite the odds stacked against them made it into the Top 30 Best Debaters (Individual category) for this tournament. The Taylor’s University Debaters meet every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening for trainings un-der a professional coach Mr. Don Siron Pereira.

MAD.TU CONNECTS STRANGERS THROUGH‘TAKE A SEAT, MAKE A FRIEND’ INITIATIVE

JUNE 2015

Taylor’s University MAD.TU Club, recently organized event, Take A Seat, Make A Friend was aimed at creating a friendlier environment and to strengthen integration among fellow Taylorians. A total of 182 students participated in this event. The ‘Wall of Positivity’ was a big hit among students and staff too. A lot of positive messages were written and shared which made the success of this event even sweeter.

Take A Seat, Make A Friend, is an initiative whereby two strangers get into the ball pit, pick a question cube and start the conservation ball rolling. The outcome voila, a new friend is made. This creative event has helped students overcome their fear of meeting new people and encouraged them to take a progressive step towards creating a more open and friendlier culture. This event was a good debut event for the club, MAD.TU.

PODz TASTE SESSIONS SEES SUCCESS

JUNE 2015

The PODz Taste Session held from June 2014 till June 2015 saw an encouraging total of 188 students whoattended the sessions. 113 students have been incorporated into their own PODz and 95 students have beenplaced in a PODz with a SIM (Staff Interim Moderators) as of date.

PODz was established to create a safe space for peer accountability and emotional support. The benefits ofPODz includes empowering students to see the bigger picture and providing students with a safe place to talkabout personal and academic issues, among others.

There were a total of 5 PODz Taste throughout the year with 11 PODz Launches till date, which is a remarkable feat. 18 Staff Interim Moderators (SIMs) were given training to moderate newly launched PODz.

The potential for PODz is immense in Taylor’s University as the benefits to students is abundant. The future islooking good for the expansion of PODz in Taylor’s University with an estimated 40 more new PODz Launches by the year 2016.

Indonesian HTCA SHINE Students impressIndonesian Principals

10 JUNE 2015

On 10 June 2015, as part of the FAM Tour to Malaysia organised by Taylor’s International Alliance Network,a group of 13 Indonesian schools' headmasters & teachers were in Taylor’s University for a visit. Thisgroup were from potential feeder private schools in various cities in Indonesia. The SHINE Award Centrewas invited by TIAN to present on the SHINE Award Programme and its impact on holistic development. The presen-tation was carried out in two parts. In the first part, the Head of Systems and Administration from the SHINE Award Centre shared on the Philosophy of the 2nd Transcript, the four learning packages and theoverall structure of the SHINE Award Programme. In the second part which was conducted in forum-style,Ms. Cheah was joined by 4 Indonesian students from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Artswho enrolled in the SHINE Award Programme this March 2015. Of the 4 student panellists for the forum,David Angjaya, Byansika Tjahjadi and Gavin Santoso were from the Future General Manager (GeM) Programme and Suriyanti was from the Student Employment (STEP) Programme respectively. The Student panellists shared on their SHINE experience by providing a positive account of their SHINE Discovery Experience where learning how to understand their own personalities and setting their mission and goals have proved to be a life-changing experience. The Students also shared on how they are able to leverage on the campus activities organised by their own school, the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts and other student support departments like Careers Services Centre. They stressed how important it is to take advantage of the many learning opportunities available on campus to improve their graduate capabilities like communication skills, leadership and ollaboration skills, etc and be a part of events and activities that can impact a diverse range of students as well. Some of the examples cited were the BH PDP Ambassador and Career Ambassador Programmes.

Gavin Santoso and Suriyanti with Mr Suwarsito, theVice-Principal from their high school , Yos Sudarso, Batam.

At the end of the forum, the Indonesian teachers enthusiastically asked many questions about the student ex-perience especially how well the university supported transition of international students as well as howIndonesian students coped with the demands of academic life. The Indonesian contingent was also veryinterested to hear the opinions of how our Indonesian students regarded their Taylor’s campus experience sofar and why they would recommend this university above and beyond all others.

Some thoughts from the Indonesian students on the event:Byansika Tjahjadi says: Speaking in front of the Indonesian headmasters was very nerve wrecking initiallyas I knew that I had to show that Shine is a very good program and to also show that I am developing in thisprogram. The major learning outcome from this opportunity was communication skills. This event served as a platform for me to develop my communication skills and also practice it. Gavin Santoso says: I feel that this experience was a privilege as we can meet the headmasters from Indonesia and shared our learning expe-rience at Taylor's. I also met my vice-principal at this event itself. I felt very happy because I made my school proud by being involved in programs that are beneficial for my future undertaking. From this experience, I enhanced my communication skills and public speaking skills. It also helped to build my confidence talking in front of people. Other than that, I can network with the headmasters and people who attended the event as they got to know us as Taylor's students.

Start Nominating your Events on theSHINE Portal

The SHINE Award Centre would like to work closely with you and your school to promote your schoolevents either to just your students ONLY or to the whole campus by promoting your events to our 1000+SHINE participants. As mentioned, publicising your event with SHINE ensures that your event is promotedon the following channels:

• EDM on Monthly event updates to our SHINE students • SHINE Portal promotion – on the SHINE landing page and on the SHINE events calendar • Facebook Promo on our official FB page • New* EDM on Monthly event updates to whole campus ( starting in August)

To start nominating your events onto theSHINE Portal, we have prepared the followinginfographic and an Events Points Guidelinesto guide you. Please find the attachedevent nomination guidelines (with updatedSHINE Points Bank) as requested in the link asfollows - https://goo.gl/rSrB6tAny SHINE Approved events and their collateralswould have to show eligibility for pointsespecially for events that are targetted at our own university students. Please feel free to disseminate the guide to your colleagues to start nominating events and putting SHINE points to them to attract SHINE students for your events.Please note that Events that contribute to theCGPA directly will not be entertained underthe 2nd transcript. In the event you wouldlike a briefing or require help/clarification,please feel free to emailsac@taylors.edu.my

The SHINE Award Centre invites the wholecampus to start nominating their events onthe SHINE Portal with the infographic below.

INTELLECT TEAMBUILDING2015

28 - 30 MAY 2015

28 – 30 May 2015 was the much anticipated INTELLECT teambuilding outing! The five divisions of INTELLECT namely, Teaching and Educational Development, e-Learning Academy, Student Success Centre, SHINE Award Centre and Life Skills Development came together as one UNITED team at the Avillion PortDickson with the sole MISSION to become a high performing team.

A 2 days & 1 night is really not enough for our big INTELLECT family! As such a special starter session kick started our annual teambuilding at Taylor’s Lakeside Cam-pus on the 28 May 2015. The starter session was a fruitful one as the learning outcomes was achieved and the objectives were met at the end of Day 1. Everyone was equipped with the knowledge to understand the importance of brand consistency and its contribution to a business. Furthermore we learned to be consistently motivated, strive to achieve higher productivity and race together towards a common goal. The most interesting and rather intriguing part was the personality / social style session where we learn about our diversified team members with different personalities, approaches and how to work together despite the contrasting nature of each member.

The highlight of the teambuilding activities this year is the Tough Nation at the Avillion Admiral Cove on Day 2 with the tagline are you tough enough to take the challenge? Tough Nation is an outdoor extreme park offering a series of adrenaline - pumping challenges that is designed to build your strength, stamina, mental grit, and competencies. It is a unique experiential learning opportunity rather than just another classroom teaching session. The metaphor behind this string of challenging activities is taking head on the obstacles in our lives and salivating the enormous sense of accomplishment when we overcome them.

Armed with strong determination and high morale, 26 INTELLECT staff came together to conquer the Tough Nation. We were divided into 4 teams to conquer 7 obstacle courses namely Spider Web, Bermuda Triangle, Mosquito Track, The Step, Swinging Bridge and the final 2 challenging activities, High Rope and Flying Fox. Yes, we made it, yes we conquered all!

It has been an enriching experience and the teams demonstrated cohesiveness amongst group members with greater understanding of each other’s personality and styles. Team spirit and camaraderie was deeply felt and embraced.

On the last day, we left with heavy hearts but intense hunger for more! More we will definitely have during next year’s retreat with greater sense of togetherness, synergy and bonding among our INTELLECT family!

Below are some of the comments from our INTELLECT family:

“Excellent training, excellent trainer, wonderfully organised and coordinated. I like how every single activity – indoor or outdoor - has explicit connection to learning, makes everything relatable and useful.”

“Good. Understand the kind of personality everyone has, how to communicate and cooperate together.”

“Bonding opportunity to chill out with colleagues.”