RECSAM News_May-Aug 2021

4 RECSAM News Vol. 52 - No. 2 Webinar on“Enhancing STEM Education through STEMMakerspace” Webinar on“Statistical Thinking Application in Education” RECSAM had successfully hosted a webinar entitled “Enhancing STEM Education through STEMMakerspace” on 5 May 2021. The two hours webinar started with a montage presentation to introduce the invited speakers with their keynote titles by its moderator, Dr. Loh Su Ling, Specialist from Training Programme Division. The webinar was then officiated by Dr. Shah Jahan Bin Assanarkutty, Centre Director of SEAMEO RECSAM with a welcoming address and followed by the sharing by three expert panels. Dr. Pornpun Waitayangkoon, Centre Director of SEAMEO STEM-ED, Thailand was the first panel speaker, started off with her sharing entitled “Policies in STEM Education” . The second expert panel, Associate Professor Dr. Susan Blackley, School of Education of Curtin University, Australia delivered her sharing entitled “STEM Makerspace in Schools” and Mr. Ramesh Pillai, Founder / Director STEM4ALL Makerspace, Malaysia, the third expert panel delivered his sharing on “STEM Makerspace in the Community“ . The session was then followed by a Q&A session on Webex and YouTube live that actively participated via both verbal and texting methods from teachers and teacher educators from the eleven SEAMEO member countries that joined the webinar. Shortly after the sharing session by both expert panels, there was a discussion and a wrap up session to conclude at the end of the webinar. The webinar addressed a range of topic which include RECSAM once again had successfully hosted another webinar series entitled “Statistical Thinking Application in Education” through its social media channels Facebook and YouTube on 25 June 2021. The two hours webinar was started with a montage presentation to introduce the invited speakers and their keynote titles, and then an opening remark by a moderator of the webinar, Ms. Sivaranjini Sinniah, Specialist from Research & Development Division. Ms. Sivaranjini briefed the participants with the programme background. The webinar was then officiated by Dr. Shah Jahan Bin Assanarkutty, Centre Director of SEAMEO RECSAM with a welcoming address and followed by the sharing by three expert panels. The expert panels were invited to do their sharing session on Statistical Thinking Application in Education in this webinar series. The programme had started with the sharing session entitled “Enhancing Statistical Thinking among Students: From Pre-School to Secondary School” by Expert Panel 1, Assistant Professor Dr. Nurliza Haslin Muslim from Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College and followed a sharing entitled “How to Gain Interest among Those Who Hate Statistics” by Expert Panel 2, Associate Professor Dr. Nor Idayu Mahat, Director of Centre of Testing, Measurement and Appraisal (CETMA), Universiti Utara Malaysia. The third panellist, Mr. Achmad Badrun Kurnia from the School of Teacher Training and Education, Teachers Association of the Republic of Indonesia, Indonesia shared about “Lessons from the Students Responses to Data-Based Items” . After the sharing sessions, the programme opened up the Q&A session to audiences. The Q&A session was actively participated via both verbal and text method from teachers and teacher educators across the 11 SEAMEO member countries. The Q&A session was conducted in forum style, where the expert panels were welcomed to response and share their view towards the questions asked by the participants. The webinar had 80 registered participants and received more than 537 views from RECSAM’s YouTube channel. Makerspace as an approach in integrated STEM education, STEM Education in Southeast Asia, STEM Makerspace in Schools and Community. The future and challenges of STEM education and using Makerspace as an approach in integrated STEM education had been discussed actively by the panels and participants. This webinar had accomplished the mission of organising the constructive discourse and comprehensive sharing sessions by expert panels at the international level on envisioning STEM education for Southeast Asian countries. The webinar had 93 registered participants and received more than 160 views from YouTube live. Certificate Presentation Ceremony of Regular Courses for F.Y. 2020/2021 (Batch 2) and F.Y. 2021/2022 (Batch 1) THE CERTIFICATE PRESENTATION CEREMONY of Regular Courses for F.Y. 2020/2021 (Batch 2) and F.Y. 2021/2022 (Batch 1) were held virtually on 9 July 2021 and 27 August 2021 respectively. The ceremony was graced by Dr. Shah Jahan Bin Assanarkutty, Centre Director of SEAMEO RECSAM. He congratulated all participants for the successful completion of these courses and thanked SEAMEO Secretariat, all SEAMEO Member Countries and the Ministries of Education and course supervisors for the support and successful conduct of these courses. He hoped that these courses have provided the participants with the opportunity to develop fundamental skills as they forge ahead in this 21 st Century. One for the album Dr. Susan shares her perspective Dr. Pornpun during the webinar session