Asia-Europe Meeting on Mobility (2)

 It's me again to share what I learned from the second day of the ASEM Youth Learners' Mobility Workshop ka.

Because of the time difference, we only had our sessions in the afternoon for 2-3 hours  and the second afternoon was on design thinking exercises for us adults to design types of programs that would be best for our younger generation.

We, adult participants, were divided into 4 groups, each had representatives of both Europe and Asia ka.

The main organizers (SEAMEO RIHED and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) asked Khun May and her team from LUKKID to lead and facilitate the design thinking process ka.

Each of the 4 groups had to interview one young participant who may or may not have had exchange experience before.....heard that one didn't like the idea of mobility at all even. 

My group welcomed a young Cambodian girl who was passionate about exchanges mak ka. She shared her exciting opportunities, power of networking, and how she witnessed global problems that struck her ka. In fact, she's a real global citizen laew la ka.

We then had to identify what we heard to craft into questions and then brainstorm freely to come up with key issues/needs we should focus on before designing a poster we should launch to meet the interviewee's empathy for presentation to the four young representatives for their feedback ka.

When looking back, this was a productive exercise for adults to take kids' needs and experiences as priorities, not what adults think and are used to doing....their ways. It'd be great to see the opposite end having kids interview adults and let them identify what they learn too ka. I'm curious what they'll find.....could be both surprising and shocking mai ka?

The workshop left a very positive impression on me loei ka.

Asia-Europe Meeting on Mobility (1)

 Happy Monday to all ka.

I shared my perspective on 'Learning Mobility in the Agile World' the past Thursday in an ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Workshop on Youth Learners’ Mobility in an Agile World:an SDG 14 “Life Below Water” Learning Programme as Case Study via videoconference ka.

Let me talk about a few points ka:

1. Limited time to talk about such a big issue -- within the 70 minutes and 6 speakers plus moderator, each of us had 7 minutes to talk on my topic ka. I used pix a lot and my ppt was awesome (with help from Director Lakhana from MHESI). Yes, I improved my ppt and practiced my presentation quite a bit loei ka.I managed to speak for 6.28 minutes ka.

2. The focus on internationalization (IZN) and Internationalization at Home (IaH) will enhance life-long learners to have skills and experiences to learn how to learn and learn how to live together.....stressing more of the human side like empathy and balancing with how to maximize AI capabilities while caring more collectively about climate change issues.

3. For the How, I emphasized on the following: See the big picture together, Engage cross generations on cross-cutting issues across regions for heightened cross-cultural understanding too, Be systematic yet agile, and Have shared goals with purpose and SDGs.

4. Since covid has led us to think more of virtual mobility, my point was to experiment different ways and platforms like startups. I used, 'Life is a  LAB -- L-Learn, A-Act, B-Broaden for all to dare to try, retry, fail and try again ka.

Others on the panel focused more on experiences and lessons learned from the projects and activities plus the availability of technologies available which made the whole session a complete picture to get ready to move forward into the future ka.

Will share more tomorrow na ka.

Light Friday with a series and a question

 It's Friday again and even for a retiree like me, weekend seems to give me a different feeling still ka.

Let me share 2 things that aren't linked to each other ka:

I just finished watching a series, 'Downton Abbey' which went back to 2015 and so some of you may have watched it ka.

Love it maaaaak unbelievably and thought it could be because it was about cultural dimensions....more too ka. It was about the life of an Earl and his family in 1920s ka. 

Some of the lessons I learned are: how normal to see people resist change, how women were excited to be gradually empowered, why butlers have been regarded highly, why 'classes' stay on/ disappear in our world, etc. I do love how the Earl showed kindness and generosity to people who did farming on his estate, and how loyal the butler, footmen, and maids were to their bosses (and yes, it had to be two-way ka.) I can go on and on kaa.

The other is sort of a question too ka. We're working on some statements of Thai senior leaders that could become inspiring or wise quotes. 

What social media outlets do you think will be the best to reach the mass in our higher education community ka? Hope to get some responses on this issue na ka.

Happy weekend ka.

Qualtiy speaking skills

 Happy Friday ka! Each week just flies by and I recall my friend's father who said those who think time goes by fast tend to be the elderly....errrrrrr!

Let me share with you several key points I learned from my podcast on speaking series this month ka. Khun Anothai Udomsilp, former Director of  Academic Institute of Public Media, Thai PBS is one speaker I've admired since I knew him 3 decades ago. Little did I know that he worked real hard behind the scenes to make sure the presentations would be most updated and could send his messages across ka. I'd like to point out 2 tips I got na ka:

1. Self assessment is crucial when deciding which events/ activities we can serve as speakers/moderators/MCs, etc.  said he was most comfortable to work in a more formal setting because of his deep-voice quality , personality, and past performances. He practiced a lot and as a news anchor before, he watched his own recorded sessions to lessen his weak areas of delivery ka.

2.  After a few years of retirement, he thinks of stopping being a lecturer or speaker, reasoning that only around half of what he's known is applicable, which means he has to search for the other half of the knowledge. It led me to think of the younger generation who may find our generation's knowledge and experiences not as useful na ka. I also thought of a Time magazine article in which a 30+ year-old executive said there was no need for him to seek advice from more seniors as he could just try out himself! The world has turned into this picture laew na ka.

Khun Pirada Techavijit is another guest speaker on this series ka. Currently, she works as Policy Analyst, MHESI. Her huge challenge is how to communicate to policy makers for them to buy-in the initiatives for funding and try-out ka.

Her keyword is to 'crystalize the ideas' through practices on topics of interest. She's been fortunate to get some diverse exposure in unique ways from her passion in space missions to internship in India and master's in France.

She said it's tough to communicate on policy issues as it means confidence not only in presenting the ideas but in making the audience feel confident that the proposed project would work. This, to me, needs an advanced level of speaking skill na ka.

Any comments mai ka?