Saedah Siraj is an honorary professor of curriculum development at the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. She has served as a lecturer for 37 years, been the Dean of the Faculty of Education since 2009–2014, and is the founding director of the University of Malaya Centre for Family Development, which was established in 2003. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990.
Her research interests include the design of future curricula, the development of new models and modules for mLearning curricula, the use of empirical methods in the study of the future, the quality of teaching and learning, literacy education, especially for indigenous groups, and education for older people. Saedah Siraj is the principal author of the books Kurikulum Masa Depan (Future Curriculum), Kajian Masa Depan dalam Perkembangan Kurikulum (Future Studies in Curriculum Development), Rekabentuk Kurikulum: Teori Praktis (Curriculum Design: Theory and Practice), Pendidikan Anak-anak (Children Education), Remaja dan Strategi Penyelesaian Masalah (Adolescent and Problem Solving Masalah (Ado), and Design and Developmental Research: Emergent Trends in Educational Research. Chief Editor of the book mLearning: A New Dimension of Curriculum Advancement and Cognition and Learning: Issues and Strategies. She has published more than 150 articles locally and internationally.
Professor Saedah Siraj is a pioneer in research studies and publications in mLearning in Asia, beginning with the hosting and chairing of the international conference on mLearning in 2002. She is also a pioneer in the application of futures studies in education. She has successfully secured approval to establish a HUB for experts in the Faculty of Education to facilitate research, development, and expert services for the country. She had successfully produced more than 38 Ph.D. graduate students and secured a number of research grants at both the university and national levels. She is now chairman of the Curriculum Association of Malaysia.
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Matt Bower is a professor in the School of Education at Macquarie University, who specialises in the innovative use of technology for learning purposes. He is particularly interested in how contemporary technologies such as augmented reality, web-based tools, virtual worlds, social networking, immersive virtual reality, 3D design & printing software and so on can be most effectively used to support cognitive development and collaborative learning. Matt has over 90 peer reviewed publications in the area of technology-enhanced learning design, teacher education, and computing education. He has led over thirty funded grant projects and participated in many other research initiatives (total funding exceeds $2.4M). Matt specialises in learning innovation research partnerships with industry enterprises and the education sector (e.g. schools, universities, training and education technology companies). He has delivered numerous keynote and invited speaker presentations on topics such as augmented reality, blended-synchronous learning and learning design.
Matt is a passionate educator who leads the “ICT and Education”, “Digital Technologies and Creativity” and “Technology-Enhanced Learning Design” subjects at Macquarie University. In 2021 he was one of four recipients of an Australian Award for University Teaching Excellence, as well as several other national and institutional teaching awards. His teaching strongly emphasises the importance of adopting a research-driven approach in education. He is the lead author of two A1 research books “Blended synchronous learning - A handbook for educators” and “Design of technology-enhanced learning - integrating research and practice” which won the 2018 Association for Educational Communications and Technology Design and Development Outstanding Book Award. Matt is also the Chair of the Australian Technologies Teacher Educators Network (ATTEN) and the Macquarie University Learning Technology Research Cluster (MQLTRC).
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Professor Feng’s major research interest is in the area of multilingualism and multilingual education related particularly to ethnic minority groups. As a key Founder and Vice President of the Chinese Society of Multilingualism and Multilingual Education (CSMME), he has devoted the last ten years to a nation-wide project on trilingualism and trilingual education which involves a national network of more than 50 researchers in 11 minority regions in China. This project was funded by various funding bodies including the Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund #840012 (HK$800,822) from 2012 to 2015 for extensive studies into models of trilingual education. It is now funded by the local or national funding bodies in most regions. So far, Prof Feng and his colleagues have organised nine international symposia on trilingualism and trilingual education in different minority dominated regions and published several books and numerous journal articles (the most representative is the edited book titled ‘trilingualism in education in China’ with Bob Adamson in 2015). Professor Feng welcomes queries from anyone who has genuine interest in this area of research.
The speaker will be a representative of the UNESCO Bangkok Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific. The presentation will focus on sustainable development, and the challenges and opportunities for future education in Asia and the Pacific.