OUM CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADERS
EDUCATION is being reshaped by artificial intelligence in ways that do not always affirm the human at the heart of teaching and learning.
In response, Open University Malaysia (OUM) offered a timely intervention through a public lecture series titled 'Visionary Leadership: Charting the Futures of Digital Education'.
The event, held on Aug 6 at the Seri Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, was officiated by Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, bringing together five OUM Global Fellows to reimagine digital education as a technology-mediated practice.
Prof Emeritus Paul Prinsloo opened with '(Re)discovering the Human in Algorithmic-Informed Open, Distance, and Digital Learning', urging educators to examine algorithmic threats to care and connection while reclaiming open education's core values of access and inclusion.
Prof Emeritus Junhong Xiao followed with 'Humanising Digital Education or Digitalising Human Education: That is the Question', cautioning against overvaluing automation over relational and instructional core.
In 'Rethinking Institutional Leadership Through the Lens of the University of the Future', Prof Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria reflected on how universities can remain adaptive and inclusive while grounded in their traditional roles, emphasising leadership capable of navigating volatility and disruption.
Prof Olaf Zawacki-Richter's lecture, 'What Can Open, Distance, and Digital Education (ODDE) Contribute to a Sustainable Future?' highlighted ODDE's potential to support environmental, social and financial sustainability while cautioning that unchecked technological growth threatens equity and the planet.
He called for the use of sustainable technology and 'digital sufficiency' to keep the human element at the centre of education.
The public lecture series concluded with Prof Insung Jung's 'Education for All or for the Few? The Promise and Perils of Going Digital', which addressed how unequal access and design bias can entrench disparities, calling for strategies to ensure that technology broadens opportunity rather than narrows it.
The closing roundtable affirmed that the future of digital education depends on leadership that is both institutional and radically distributed.
This requires university leaders, educators, academics, learners and communities to actively co-shape education, rather than wait for solutions to be handed down.
Such leadership must ensure that digital education remains anchored in its human core amid competing futures.
OUM president and vice-chancellor Prof Ahmad Izanee Awang described the public lecture series as a milestone, reinforcing OUM's leadership in open, distance and digital education.
He highlighted that the Centre for Digital Education Futures (CENDEF), OUM's newly established think tank, plays a key role in guiding the university into the future of digital education.
Since 2000, OUM has enrolled over 250,000 learners and produced more than 100,000 alumni.
Its innovations, including the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning, demonstrate its commitment to inclusion, flexibility and lifelong learning.
OUM's 25th anniversary event further affirms that digital education, when critically guided, can remain expansive, ethical and deeply human.
For more information, visit https://www.oum.edu.my or e-mail enquiries@oum.edu.my.
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The Star
12-08-2025
- The Star
OUM CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADERS
(Clockwise from left) Prof Emeritus Paul Prinsloo, Prof Olaf Zawacki-Richter, Prof Emeritus Junhong Xiao, Prof Insung Jung and Prof Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria were part of OUM's public lecture series on Aug 6. EDUCATION is being reshaped by artificial intelligence in ways that do not always affirm the human at the heart of teaching and learning. In response, Open University Malaysia (OUM) offered a timely intervention through a public lecture series titled 'Visionary Leadership: Charting the Futures of Digital Education'. The event, held on Aug 6 at the Seri Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, was officiated by Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, bringing together five OUM Global Fellows to reimagine digital education as a technology-mediated practice. Prof Emeritus Paul Prinsloo opened with '(Re)discovering the Human in Algorithmic-Informed Open, Distance, and Digital Learning', urging educators to examine algorithmic threats to care and connection while reclaiming open education's core values of access and inclusion. Prof Emeritus Junhong Xiao followed with 'Humanising Digital Education or Digitalising Human Education: That is the Question', cautioning against overvaluing automation over relational and instructional core. In 'Rethinking Institutional Leadership Through the Lens of the University of the Future', Prof Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria reflected on how universities can remain adaptive and inclusive while grounded in their traditional roles, emphasising leadership capable of navigating volatility and disruption. Prof Olaf Zawacki-Richter's lecture, 'What Can Open, Distance, and Digital Education (ODDE) Contribute to a Sustainable Future?' highlighted ODDE's potential to support environmental, social and financial sustainability while cautioning that unchecked technological growth threatens equity and the planet. He called for the use of sustainable technology and 'digital sufficiency' to keep the human element at the centre of education. The public lecture series concluded with Prof Insung Jung's 'Education for All or for the Few? The Promise and Perils of Going Digital', which addressed how unequal access and design bias can entrench disparities, calling for strategies to ensure that technology broadens opportunity rather than narrows it. The closing roundtable affirmed that the future of digital education depends on leadership that is both institutional and radically distributed. This requires university leaders, educators, academics, learners and communities to actively co-shape education, rather than wait for solutions to be handed down. Such leadership must ensure that digital education remains anchored in its human core amid competing futures. OUM president and vice-chancellor Prof Ahmad Izanee Awang described the public lecture series as a milestone, reinforcing OUM's leadership in open, distance and digital education. He highlighted that the Centre for Digital Education Futures (CENDEF), OUM's newly established think tank, plays a key role in guiding the university into the future of digital education. Since 2000, OUM has enrolled over 250,000 learners and produced more than 100,000 alumni. Its innovations, including the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning, demonstrate its commitment to inclusion, flexibility and lifelong learning. OUM's 25th anniversary event further affirms that digital education, when critically guided, can remain expansive, ethical and deeply human. For more information, visit or e-mail enquiries@
The Star
10-08-2025
- The Star
Exploring Hamburg's many repurposed World War II bunkers
You can easily overlook it, the entrance to the Tiefbunker (deep bunker) Steintorwall located right next to Hamburg's central train station in Germany. Guests at a Turkish snack shop must shuffle their chairs aside before Michael Richter, using a hydraulic lift, can raise the metal floor plate. Once removed, it reveals 35 steps leading down into the depths. 'You won't get down there only in flip-flops or high heels,' Michael's wife Sonja warns. 'The steps are shorter and steeper and don't meet German norms.' And it's advisable to take a jacket along, what with temperatures steady at 12°C. The Richters, one up front, the other at the back, lead their group through the gloomy labyrinth. In no other German city were so many bunkers built during World War II than in Hamburg. More than 1,000 are documented, with about half of them being smaller tubular or tube bunkers. After the war, many of the bunkers went unused. Rock bands found them useful as a place to practice. 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Each row of seats had a bar of soap, a plate, a cup and spoon for each person. 'But no knives or forks – nothing that could be used to injure someone else.' And who would have slept, and where, in the bunk beds dubbed 'sleeping beauty', Richter is asked. 'This is a topic that you shouldn't dwell on for too long, for it would then raise other questions,' he says. After 14 days at the latest the bunker keeper was to put on a protective suit and go out to look around. 'He had a short-wave radio and could listen to what was going on outside.' The toilet One tubular bunker that people can enter is in the district of Hamm, east of the downtown area of Hamburg which was destroyed to 96% by the 'Operation Gomorrha' Allied bombing raids of July 1943. It was one of four tubular bunkers hidden beneath the garden of a church. 'Almost nothing was left standing here after the air raids,' says Stephanie Kanne, a historian who heads the Hamm district archives. 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A St Pauli bunker has this view of the Millerntor stadium. The Energy Bunker In addition to the anti-aircraft bunker in St Pauli, there is another one in Hamburg, located on the Elbe River island district of Wilhelmsburg. As part of the International Building Exhibition, the war ruins were converted into an energy bunker in 2010. During a guided tour, you can get to know the heart of the facility, with a 20m heat storage tank in the middle holding two million litres of water and supplying all connected households in Wilhelmsburg with heat when needed. You can also visit the Cafe Vju in one of the four anti-aircraft towers without a guided tour. From 30m up, the distant view of the Hamburg skyline is in no way inferior to the panoramic view offered by the bunker in St. Pauli. – WOLFGANG STELLJES/dpa
Malaysian Reserve
11-05-2025
- Malaysian Reserve
Tremors from earthquake in Indonesia, felt in Penang
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