There
was a wide range of speakers from Malaysia, Indonesia and the United Kingdom. The
keynote speaker was Assistant Professor Dr Henry Koge. Dr Koge is an Assistant
Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Nottingham UK, where
he teaches the MA ELM and PGCEi programmes. He holds a PhD from the University
of Warwick (UK) in Leadership and Management and is a member of the British
Educational Administration Leadership and Management Society (BELMAS).
Prior
to joining the university, he served as an Assistant Professor at the
University of Nottingham Malaysia where he was involved in research and
practical work in the establishment and development of professional learning
communities (PLCs) and supporting school-based change initiatives in Malaysia.
He also served as a Consultant and a Leadership Assessor for RITE Education’s
Genesis Programme with the Malaysian Innovation Agency.
He
is interested in a range of issues of relevance to educational leadership and
practitioners' work including, but not limited to, job satisfaction,
professional learning communities, work engagement and collaboration,
educational change, practitioner and institutional development, and educational
leadership. He also serves as a reviewer for the British-based journal in
Educational Management Administration and Leadership (EMAL).
We also had a few plenary speakers. The first speaker of the event was Associate Professor Dr Ramesh Nair. Dr Nair teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Academy of Language Studies, Universiti Teknologi MARA, and he is also a research fellow at the university’s Accounting Research Institute, a Higher Institution Centre of Excellence. His research work focuses primarily on professional communication, with a particular interest in reputational risk, impression management and transparent reporting practices. Over the years, Dr Nair has been involved in several key initiatives related to the Ministry of Education’s reform agenda for English-language education in Malaysia, and he continues to publish in the areas of the professional development of teachers and language policy. Dr Nair is a member of the English Language Standards and Quality Council in the Ministry of Education Malaysia, and President of the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association.
In
his presentation, Dr Nair drew attention to some significant reforms which have
been implemented in Malaysian schools with the introduction of the new primary
and secondary school curricula. He discussed the implications this has for
higher-learning institutions that receive students and equip them with the
English language skills needed for the real world. Concerning this, he drew on
his experience of teaching English and offered ideas on how we can improve the
delivery of English-language education in higher-learning institutions to meet
national aspirations.
We also had the opportunity to be delighted with the
presence of Mr David Booth, the Director of Test Development, English
Assessment, Pearson UK. He is responsible for the development of test
specifications and materials for a wide range of English language proficiency
tests. Mr Booth’s main expertise is in the development and revision of tests,
and he has given presentations at major conferences on this theme.
In his talk, Mr Booth looked at why we must replace
outdated paper-based approaches to language testing and how our current
technology is suited to addressing the difficulties a global pandemic or a
similar crisis brings. The global impact of COVID-19 has highlighted
limitations in traditional methods of language assessment. Large-scale testing
in school halls and other similar venues are being replaced by smaller
computer-based testing centres and remote proctoring solutions. Computer-based
testing is the key to enabling these changes. Computer-based testing brings
significant advantages in automating the test experience and back-end systems
such as marking. It allows testing outcomes to become part of the learning
process in the classroom.
The discussion among the panel speakers went on for forty-five
minutes before we concluded the conference. The conference was also graced with
participants who presented their research papers throughout. The event ended at
about 5.35pm.
Much
gratitude and appreciation to everyone involved, especially the whole team of
Mi-CELL.