Web Service 101 for Muggles
Into The SCRUM
243 Hari Bersama SCRUM
A Project Management Tool for the Developer.
A Beginners Guide to Web Service
Menerokai Penggunaan SCRUM di UNIMAS
Tait
ISSUE 8 | 2016UNIMAS ICT MAGAZINE
g
2
EDITORIAL BOARDPatron
YBhg Professor Dato’ Dr Mohamad Kadim Bin Suaidi
Advisor
Harun Maksom
Chief Editor
Maclean Patrick Sibat
Proofreaders
Margaret Simeng
Marketing & Advertising
Nur Sherina James Abdullah
Photography & Graphic
Khairilzamrie Rosle
Ling Sze Ting
View it online
CEntrE for ICt SErvICESUniversiti Malaysia Sarawak94300 Kota SamarahanSarawak, Malaysia
Tel +60 (82) 581000
Fax +60 (82) 665147
Ext 3903 / 3953
Web http://www.cicts.unimas.my
DARIMEJAPENGARAH
Harun Maksom
Assalamualaikum… Salam Hormat dan Salam UNIMASku Sayang.
Bertemu kembali dalam Tag-it edisi 2016.
Transformasi Digital atau Digital Transformation (DX) sedang hangat diperkatakan dan menjadi fokus dalam lanskap sosial kehidupan sosial dan transaksi masa kini. Keperluan kritikal kepada apa yang disebut sebagai 4th Platform Computing (Social, Mobility, Cloud and Big Data Analytics) ini, menjadi desakan untuk kita berubah, berinovasi dan berfikir secara lebih kreatif.
CICTS sebagai penyedia perkhidmatan ICT, responsif dengan situasi ini dan memberi fokus kepada aspek pengalaman pengguna (UX – User Experiences) semasa mengguna pakai perkhidmatan yang disediakan. Penambahbaikan berterusan khidmat ICT melalui usaha inovasi dilonjakkan lagi bagi memastikan ianya menepati ekspektasi dan kehendak pengguna yang dinamik. Interaksi terus kepada pengguna dalaman dan pelanggan luaran juga dipertingkatkan.
Pelan Strategik ICT 2016-2020 yang sedang disiapkan juga memeta kepada Pelan Strategik UNIMAS 2016-2020 sebagai satu komitmen bersama dalam usaha merealisasikan aspirasi universiti.
‘…Komitmen kita bersama adalah faktor penyumbang
utama kepada tercapainya aspirasi dan hasrat
UNIMAS…” - YBhg Prof Dato’ Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi
(AMANAT NAIB CANSELOR 2016)
Akhir sekali, selamat membaca dan semoga mendapat manfaat.
Wassalam
Into The SCRUM
243 Hari Bersama SCRUM
Web Service 101 for Muggles
INFOGRAPHIC
Blending it Right UNIMAS Blended Learning Goals
What is Office 365 Education?
Jalinan Kerjasama Untuk Masa Hadapan
Our Agile SCRUM Process
A project management tool for the developer
Menerokai penggunaan SCRUM di UNIMAS
A beginners guide to Web Service
Sokongan Teknikal ICT UNIMAS
BPA Online is Now Live
eBooking Coming Online
UNIMAS Convo App is now available
ISO/IEC 27001 RecertificationSingle ID
Implemented in UNIMAS
eCLIPs - Award Winning Clinic Panel System
UNIMAS Now New Features
ON THe MOve
INFOGRAPHIC
4
57
14
16
12
18
FeATuRed ARTICle
dROPBOX
CONTENTS
Developing systems for the stakeholders in a public institution of higher learning is never an easy task. It is a balancing act between the expressed needs of the stakeholder versus the development’s team capabilities to deliver.
Tight dead-lines or no dead-lines, ambiguity, uncertainty and low motivation are just a few issues that can drive both stakeholder and development team into the ground.
For this issue of Tag-it, we will take you through the journey that the development team for the Center for ICT Services (CICTS) UNIMAS took when adopting the use of Agile SCRUM methodology.
Included will be references to what is Agile SCRUM, first hand experience from the team members who are applying the method to their development projects and also a look at the pros and cons to Agile SCRUM itself.
In taking the step to apply the use of this methodology to our development process and sharing our experiences, we hope that other developers in the various local universities through-out Malaysia may gain insight and knowledge for when they choose to adopt a new development methodology.
“There are two methods in software
design. One is to make the program so
simple, there are obviously no errors.
The other is to make it so complicated,
there are no obvious errors.”
- Tony Hoare
Maclean Patrick
FROMTHEEDITOR
ISO/IEC 27001 Recertification
BPA Online is Now Live eBooking Coming Online UNIMAS Convo App is now available
Single ID Implemented in UNIMAS
eCLIPs - Award Winning Clinic Panel System
UNIMAS Now New Features
ON THE
UNIMAS has been recertified ISO/IEC 27001:2013 (ISMS) on the 21st September 2016 for its Student Management System. This is the fourth year running that UNIMAS has maintained its ISMS status since first getting it in 2012.
BPA Online, which main functions are for Homeland Passage Application and Welfare Fund Application, is now available from the 5th of October 2016. BPA Online is available at the following URL :
The eBooking system will be online on the 5th of November 2016 and will have functions for Transport reservation, Guest House reservations and Room Reservation for DeTAR and PITAS. eBooking is available online at the following URL :
The UNIMAS Convo app is now available for download on Google Play and the Apple App Store. This app allows students to check their graduation status, check important dates for the convocation and to get the latest announcements.
http://eoffice .unimas.my/bpaonline
http://eoffice .unimas.my/ebooking
CICTS has successfully implemented its Single ID initiative with the use of Active Directory for the new September 2016 student intake. Single ID would allow users to login once and use all the different online systems on campus without having to login again.
The Electronic Clinic Panel for Staff (eClips) has been steadily gaining recognition starting with the Anugerah Inovasi ICT Pengurusan UNIMAS on the 11th March 2016 and also winning a gold medal for KIK at the public universiti level. It is now a system which CICTS will actively market as a solution to handle staff visits to panel clinics.
UNIMAS Now released new features on the 17 May 2016. The new features allow students to view their course credit hours and also to check on their payments and tuition fee status. UNIMAS Now is available for download from the Google Play store and Apple App Store.
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ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
Scrum has been around for 22 years and has proven itself as being
a versatile and flexible development methodology. Scrum is an
Agile development method. It has been designed for management
of software development projects but can be used as a general
project management approach.
Scrum is referred to as the leading Agile development methodology
as it is used all over the world. Yet although popular, one should
take an objective approach in deciding if scrum is clearly the best
development methodology for their project. The context of any
development project should be the basis in choosing the best
methodology to invest time and effort in, since it is better to begin
a project on the right footing early on then to come to a realisation
late in the development phase that the method was wrong from the
start.
SCRUMinto the
A project management tool for the developerby Maclean Patrick
6
The dreaded ‘scope creep’
In the absence of a clear and definitive end date, the customer may keep on demanding new functionalities, keeping the scrum team in a perpectual cycle of development that has no end in sight.
Poor quality deliverables
Scrum is broken down into small steps called ‘sprints’. The very nature of ‘sprints’ pushes the scrum team to complete their tasks in a specific time frame. The need to comply to the time limit pushes the need for quality to the side. Getting it done as quickly as possible takes priority over getting it done well and right.
Limitations on the scrum team
The scrum team cannot be too large, often times it is an outfit of 6 people. The larger the team, the harder it will be to manage everyone. Additionally, the experience of the individual team members plays a part. The more experience the team member is, the faster the task will be completed. Novices take time to play catch up and time is not a luxury for a scrum team. A team member leaving a scrum team would have a huge impact on the ability of the team to deliver on time the project deliverables.
flexibleBecause scrum meetings are held on a
regular basis, the ability to adapt to last minutes changes, whether because a
problem was found or changes made by the customer, is clearly inherent. A scrum
team will adapt quickly and efficiently to changes, often times able to change
the direction of the project when the opportunity arises.
Problem solvingScrum meetings are when the team
members discuss problems, solutions, obstacles and walk-arounds that are
needed in order to give what the customer wants. And because the project is constantly being talked about and kept
in focus, the team is flexible enough to recognise when problems need to be fix.
There are no surprises in a scrum team.
transparencyScrum promotes transparency within the
project development team. Each team member knows exactly what needs to be done and at exactly what the customers
needs. This clarity in purpose reduces any chance for confusion and warp
expectations within the development cycle.
P r o sC o n s
Secara ringkasnya SCRUM adalah sebuah kerangka yang digunakan untuk menyelesaikan masalah yang kompleks dengan memecahkannya kepada bahagian-bahagian fungsi yang kecil dan dapat berfungsi terus setelah selesai. Dengan pendekatan ini, dalam skop pembangunan sistem, fungsi sistem yang telah siap akan dapat diuji tanpa menunggu sistem siap secara keseluruhannya. Kaedah ini menjadikan hasil kerja lebih produktif dan dapat memendekkan tempoh pembangunan.
Ting!Penstrukturan semula bahagian dan unit di CICTS telah menjadi titik tolak kepada lahirnya idea untuk menggunakan SCRUM Methodology di BPSI. Merasakan perbezaan tahap kemahiran staf dan bebanan tugas antara projek di samping desakan untuk menyiapkan projek dalam masa yang singkat, Ketua Bahagian telah mencadangkan supaya BPSI (Bahagian Pengurusan Strategik & Inovasi) mengkaji kesesuaian penggunaan SCRUM Methodology.
SCRUM! Bukanlah perkataan
yang sering kita dengar. Sejujurnya,
pertama kali mendengar dan
mengetahui mengenai SCRUM
adalah semasa mendapat arahan
emel daripada Ketua Bahagian
untuk melakukan pembacaan dan
sedikit kajian mengenai SCRUM.
Ole
h M
ahan
i bt H
uja
Hus
in
ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
8
Sebelum memutuskan penggunaan SCRUM, ahli pasukan BPSI telah mengadakan beberapa siri perbincangan bagi memastikan semua pihak bersetuju dan bersedia untuk menukar cara kerja lama yang menggunakan kaedah SDLC.
Melalui perbincangan pertama, semua ahli pasukan berkongsi kefahaman mengenai SCRUM. Sebarang persoalan, kebimbangan, pendapat dan pendapat masing-masing mengenai SCRUM dibahaskan secara langsung. Di penghujung sesi, kesemua ahli bersepakat untuk mencuba menggunakan SCRUM mengikut kesesuaian amalan di BPSI. Selain itu, perubahan struktur
Oleh kerana penggunaan SCRUM masih di peringkat percubaan, backlog telah diagihkan kepada empat fasa iaitu:
Proses PembelajaranProjek Berimpak Tinggi
Projek Tambahan
30 hari sebelum SCrUMorganisasi perlu dilakukan bagi membolehkan SCRUM diadaptasi di dalam pengurusan projek BPSI.
Setelah itu, perbincangan susulan dilakukan untuk merangka kaedah pelaksanaan dan penetapan jadual. Perbincangan tersebut berfungsi untuk menyenaraikan kesemua backlog yang ada iaitu backlog sedia ada di BPSI dan juga backlog dari pasukan yang baru diserap ke BPSI. Setelah kesemua backlog disenaraikan, kesemua backlog disusun mengikut keutamaan berdasarkan tempoh permohonan, keperluan serta impaknya.
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4
3
Fokus diberikan kepada backlog projek yang belum selesai pembangunan dari tahun sebelumnya dan projek mudah kerana selain dari perlu membiasakan diri dengan kaedah SCRUM ahli-ahli juga perlu membiasakan diri dengan penggunaan Development Tools yang baru iaitu Java Spring Boot Framework, Bootstrap, Angular dan CICTS UX.
Untuk Fasa II dan Fasa III, fokus telah diberikan kepada projek yang berimpak tinggi dan lebih sukar.
Oleh kerana pendekatan yang digunakan masih baru, Fasa IV sebenarnya bertindak sebagai buffer bagi Fasa II dan Fasa III. Walau bagaimanapun, sekiranya Fasa II dan Fasa III dapat disiapkan mengikut jadual, masa yang ada akan digunakan untuk menyelesaikan backlog yang terdapat di dalam senarai.
ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
Hebahan
Bagi tujuan memaklumkan pengguna utama mengenai perubahan struktur, satu mesyuarat bersama pengguna utama telah diadakan. Mesyuarat ini sekaligus menyenaraikan komitment BPSI untuk tahun 2016 di samping mendapatkan maklumbalas daripada pengguna mengenai keperluan tambahan mereka. Pengguna utama juga memahami bahawa sebarang urusan penyelenggaraan sistem hendaklah dimajukan kepada pasukan penyelenggaraan dan bukannya terus kepada pembangun sistem seperti amalan sedia ada. Dengan persetujuan yang telah diberikan oleh pengguna utama, cadangan untuk menggunakan SCRUM dapat dilaksanakan mengikut perancangan.
Setelah backlog dimasukkan ke dalam jadual, SCRUM Masters dan SCRUM Members diagihkan untuk projek Fasa I sahaja. Persetujuan diambil bahawa SCRUM Masters dan SCRUM Members akan diagihkan sebelum setiap SCRUM bermula.
Dengan perubahan struktur organisasi, pengguna juga perlu dimaklumkan mengenai pendekatan baru yang akan digunakan oleh BPSI. Perkara ini adalah penting kerana jika pengguna tidak dimaklumkan, gangguan untuk mendapatkan bantuan teknikal dari pengguna akan mengganggu objektif untuk mempercepatkan pembangunan sistem.
Penggunaan SCRUM bermula pada awal Februari dengan empat SCRUM iaitu eTrain & ePinjaman, Mobile Apps (Daftar Kursus & Semakan Keputusan), eBooking dan ePAK. Bagi memudahkan pemahaman untuk mengendalikan SCRUM, salah seorang dari ahli BPSI turut menyediakan sistem pemantauan SCRUM iaitu TAIGA Software.
SCRUM Masters diberi kebebasan untuk mengendalikan SCRUM masing-masing dan dengan tempoh yang sangat singkat, semestinya semua perkara perlu dilakukan dengan pantas.
Hari Pertama
10
Hari Ke-30Bekerja di dalam SCRUM sebenarnya memerlukan kita untuk sangat mematuhi masa dan aktiviti yang terdapat di dalam SCRUM juga sebenarnya amat membantu supaya projek tersebut dapat berjalan dan disiapkan mengikut masa yang telah ditetapkan. Setelah sebulan di dalam SCRUM, berikut merupakan perkara yang perlu diambil berat di dalam mengadaptasikan SCRUM;
Sprint Planning Meeting perlu dilakukan dengan terperinci bagi memastikan anggaran tempoh pembangunan yang diberikan adalah tepat dan mengelakkan terdapat keciciran dari segi fungsi yang penting. Selain itu, ianya juga dapat membantu dari segi persediaan SCRUM Members.
Daily SCRUM Meeting hendaklah dilakukan bagi memastikan kesemua SCRUM Members melakukan tugasan masing-masing serta berada di landasan yang betul. Selain dari itu, sekiranya terdapat sebarang masalah, ianya dapat diselesaikan lebih awal.
Oleh kerana kekangan sumber, SCRUM Masters turut terlibat untuk menjadi pembangun dan sekaligus menjadi Product Owner.
Komunikasi adalah sangat penting di dalam pelaksanaan SCRUM kerana sekiranya berlaku masalah di dalam komunikasi, kebarangkalian untuk sesuatu SCRUM itu gagal adalah sangat tinggi.
Pengujian sistem pula hendaklah dilakukan terus setelah setiap sprint berakhir dan bukannya setelah SCRUM berakhir. Ini adalah kerana, pada Fasa I, semua SCRUM meletakkan pegujian sistem pada penghujung SCRUM dan SCRUM perlu diaktifkan semula untuk melakukan nyahralat pada sistem.
Pada peringkat ini, SCRUM yang dijadualkan siap semuanya memerlukan masa tambahan kerana proses pembelajaran dan adaptasi tidak semudah yang difikirkan di peringkat awal.
Setelah 60 hari, hanya dua SCRUM yang telah melepasi pengujian keseluruhan tetapi belum lagi dibuka untuk penggunaan. Dua lagi SCRUM masih di dalam proses pengujian dan nyahralat. Pada pandangan saya, selain dari pertukaran kaedah pengurusan projek, pengenalan Development Tools baharu juga amat mempengaruhi perancangan untuk Fasa I iaitu fasa pembelajaran.
Secara keseluruhannya, penerapan SCRUM untuk Fasa I telah berjaya dan pembudayaan itu telah dapat dilihat sedikit demi sedikit walaupun terdapat cabaran di peringkat awal.
Hari Ke-60
Fasa II bermula! SCRUM pertama adalah Naiktaraf ePrestasi dan ePangkat Akademik. Adalah dipersetujui bahawa pembangunan sistem ini masih mengekalkan penggunaan development tools yang asal bagi memendekkan tempoh pembangunan yang melibatkan fokus utama iaitu integrasi di antara sistem.
Post It Note digunakan bagi menyenaraikan Task dan satu papan utama yang membahagikan sprint untuk penyediaan sprint juga disediakan. Selain itu, mata untuk setiap task turut diberikan bagi melihat tahap kesukaran sesuatu tugasan. Semasa mesyuarat juga kita dapat menganggarkan bahawa tempoh pembangunan perlu dipanjangkan berdasarkan jumlah mata keseluruhan yang telah disenaraikan.
Untuk SCRUM ini, Jawatankuasa telah dipilih sebagai Product Owner dan sebarang keperluan akan diperoleh dari Jawatankuasa.
SCRUM seterusnya adalah Penambahbaikan Sistem Penyampaian UNIMAS dan ianya perlu disediakan melalui web serta mobile. Oleh kerana keperluan pengguna belum dikenalpasti, proses URS perlu dilakukan sebelum SCRUM dimulakan.
Hari Ke-61
ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
SCRUM merupakan kaedah yang masih baru. Ianya dapat membantu mempercepatkan pembangunan sistem kerana ianya memecahkecilkan tugasan supaya lebih mudah diselesaikan. Walau bagaimanapun, pengenalan development tools yang baru amat mengganggu proses pengadaptasian SCRUM.Kaedah yang terbaik adalah, pelajari dan familiarize dahulu dengan tools, kemudian baru guna scrum.Fasa II sedang dilalui dan sekiranya semua berjalan lancar, fasa III akan dapat dijayakan dengan sebaiknya.Setiap orang perlu bekerjasama dan memahami.
Setelah 8 bulan bertatih bersama SCRUM, terdapat beberapa perkara yang tidak dapat dilaksanakan seperti dirancang kerana budaya kerja yang masih menekankan arahan dari semasa ke semasa dan pembahagian tugas yang multitasking menyebabkan objektif awal SCRUM sedikit lari dari sasaran. Sistem yang sepatutnya dipecahkan kepada fungsi-fungsi kecil dan diuji secara berasingan hanya akan melalui sesi pengujian di peringkat akhir pembangunan. Pendek kata masih jauh lagi langkah ke arah mengadaptasikan SCRUM secara sepenuhnya di UNIMAS. Sehinggalah pembahagian tugas dapat ditetapkan dan dikhususkan dan juga tahap kemahiran staf berada pada paras yang tertinggi. Oleh kerana SCRUM dimulakan serentak dengan pengenalan development tools baharu, sedikit sebanyak, ianya telah mempengaruhi keseluruhan pengadaptasian SCRUM di BPSI.
Hari Ke-76
Hari Ke-234
Scrum introduce me a new way of thinking, trust and segregate responsibilities. ;)
Scrum is a new approach that is catchy as it sounds; I learn the fresh, fun & interesting way to develop an application :)
Scrum ok... perbaiki komunikasi antara ahli...tools baru jadi bos kena paham ada learning curve d sia... pembangunan lebih terator.
- Latifah Loh Abdullah
- Nurul Izzah
- Jai
Nota Kaki:
Menang anugerah Inovasi PKTMK siri 1 dengan tema resource
optimization…
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ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
14
Keeping track. User stories are prioritised within the prod-uct backlog and you can add or remove these at any time.
Organisation is key. Your project is organised into a series of sprints. User stories for each sprint are managed within the sprint backlog.
It’s all in the detail. We break down each user story into smaller, more manageable blocks of work.
Planning the sprint. We work with you to plan each sprint. Higher priority user stories are typically addressed first as these deliver the biggest bang for your buck.
Sharing your vision. You can be as abstract or as detailed as you like. We will work with you to transform ideas into a tangible set of features, or user stories.
ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
Ready to build. Software is designed, built, documented and tested within each sprint cycle. Daily standup meetings allows us to communicate progress.
Software in 2 weeks! Completed software from each sprint is shipped and ready for you to try.
Infographic: RusselTate.Com
Not working for you? If you need any changes, no problem! We understand that you won’t know what works until you try it out.
Rinse, repeat and voila! We continue the sprint cycles until all user stories have been delivered to your satisfaction.
15 M
IN ST
AND UP MEET
ING
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WebService101 for
By Khairilzamrie bin Rosle
We also call it world-wide-web or simply the web.
How do we, as humans, communicate with the web? Well, it is simple! We use a website for that with the help of our beloved web browser.
But, have you ever thought of how an application communicates with the web?
Applications don’t have eyes or ears like us, so they don’t have the human capability to visually understand a website’s content. They certainly can’t use website like we do. So, how they do it?
Web service is the answer.
A Web Service is a standardized way for integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone, described by a document in XML format, in the XML language known as WSDL (Web Services Description Language) or Javascript Object Notation (JSON).
You know the internet, right? Yes, THE internet.
A beginners guide to Web Service
Muggles
ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
K
T
GH
FA
8
2
CW
Y
M
For better clarity we need an example, don’t we?
Have you ever use weather-based application in your smartphone? In a weather application, you can check the weather forecast for today, tomorrow or even for a whole week. How does the application know all this forecast? Does your phone equipped with sensors capable of doing weather forecast on its own?
No, they don’t.
When you open your weather app what actually happens is your application will automatically contact a web service through the internet asking for the latest weather data. The web service will acknowledge the request and return back the latest weather forecast data to your application. Once your weather application received the data, it will be displayed to you visually.
In UNIMAS we utilize web service to do a lot of things. Our official mobile application, UNIMAS Now utilize web service to integrate with our multiple internal existing systems. For example, all the news contents and notifications in UNIMAS Now actually comes from the events posted in our UNIMAS Portal via web service. Annual Appraisal Status in UNIMAS Now actually comes from our Human Capital System (HCM) also via web service.
Another application embracing web service technology is UNIMAS Expert (http://expert.unimas.my) - our intelligent staff directory application. UNIMAS Expert is not the typical, ordinary traditional application with a database, but instead has been built as a nimbly fast and responsive application fully taking advantage of web services technology. UNIMAS Experts combines data from multiple source of web services such as research web service, human capital web service and user directory web service and display it in a unified way without user noticing the data comes from different applications.
So there you have it, the understanding what is the web service and what it is capable of.
Web service is a way for communication to happen between applications. It enables information exchange between different applications, which is necessary to accomplish the integration of applications. Only data are transmitted using Web services technology; Web services do not have a visual interface, such as text boxes, radio buttons, and the like. Think of it as a website which is text only.
In English, please...what the heck is that? Whoaa..
Your weather
application is actually
uses web service to get
all the weather forecast
data.
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Bl e
ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
UNIMAS Blended Learning GoalsBy Chua Kee Man
nding it Rightl e
As part of the on-going pursuit to improve the
quality of teaching and learning at the tertiary
level, the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia
has outlined several strategic initiatives in its
blueprint, which include greater adoption of
online learning and flexible learning pedagogies
among academics. UNIMAS, being at the
forefront of ICT implementation across various
aspects of its operation, has embarked on
a similar path by putting technology-based
learning as one of the pivotal ingredients in
ensuring excellence in teaching among its
academics. Ultimately, this strategy contributes
to the enhancement of students’ learning
experience and attainment. Top in the list of
strategies concerning the effort to intensify
the adoption of technology-based learning in
UNIMAS is the practice of blended learning
among the academics from all faculties.
Blended learning, despite its recent rise as
a buzz word in academia, is nothing new in
UNIMAS. Since its establishment, the university
has encouraged its academics to make use
of various computer-based and web-based
resources in their teaching and learning via the
provided learning management system (LMS),
from Lotus Quickplace to the current Morpheus
(powered by MOODLE, an open-source LMS).
Academics are expected to “blend” their teaching
strategies by incorporating both face-to-face
and meaningful online activities. However, with
the rapid development of the Internet and mobile
technology, the term blended learning is given a
new breath of life and more exciting than ever
before, academics are showered with a multitude
of web-based tools as well as online pedagogies
(e.g. Flipped classroom) to supplement their
usual in-class lectures or tutorials.
In light of such development, Centre for Applied
Learning and Multimedia (CALM) plays a central
role in facilitating the academics in terms of
equipping them with technical skills as well as
pedagogical knowledge to design blended
learning environments.
The goal set for 2016 in
UNIMAS Strategic Plan is
40% of all courses offered
must be in compliance
with the blended learning
criteria set by the Malaysian
e-Learning Council for Public
Universities (MEIPTA).
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To ensure this goal can be achieved, CALM has spearheaded several strategies:
Hands-on training on Blended LearningA series of training workshops to provide necessary guidance to the academics will be held throughout the year. It started off with the Blended Learning Crash Course with up to 600 slots being offered, to allow more academics, particularly those who just returned from study leave, to learn about the blended learning practice. The hands-on crash course also exposes the academics to various pedagogical strategies that they can employ in using their Morpheus page. This corresponds to the true essence of blended learning whereby the combination of the virtual and physical environments should be made based on a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each environment as well as the appropriateness of choice to the learners involved.
Continuous Efforts to Upgrade LMSTo permit a better experience in adopting blended learning approaches, CALM continuously tries to ensure the learning management system (Morpheus) is always in good condition with the assistance of Centre for ICT Services (CICTS). Within these two years, Morpheus will be upgraded and equipped with more features so as to ensure the academics can use it easily without having to cope with the complicated technical know-hows.
recognition in Yearly Appraisal Academics who manage to fulfill the blended learning criteria will be given the Blended Learning Practitioner certificate that entitles them to be awarded marks in the yearly appraisal. Under the innovation in teaching and learning category of the appraisal, academics can showcase their good practices in integrating blended learning approaches for the courses that they are teaching.
Annual Blended Learning AwardCALM has also rebranded the “Outstanding Online Course Award” to Blended Learning Award, which is presented at the annual Majlis Anugerah Gemilang UNIMAS (MAGU) to lecturers who have shown outstanding efforts in adopting the blended learning approaches to enhance their students’ learning experience. This serves as a good source of motivation for the academics to constantly make good use of the Morpheus platform to supplement their face-to-face teaching and learning activities.
With these efforts, CALM hopes that more lecturers will be willing to join the exciting blended learning adventure and transforms their conventional lecture-based teaching into a more interactive one. In the end, the learners are able to gain benefits from the whole process and eventually it enriches their learning experience.
ISSUE 8 | 2016Tag-it
UNIMAS will be launching into an initiative to use Office 365 in early 2017. To give some
background; Office 365 Education, formerly Office 365 for Education and Microsoft Live@
edu, is a free suite of hosted Microsoft services and applications that is intended for educational
needs.
The program provides education institutions with a set of hosted collaboration services,
communication tools, and mobile, desktop, and web-based applications, as well as data storage
capabilities. Office 365 is delivered to users through the cloud and includes Exchange Online
for email, SharePoint Online for collaboration, and a suite of Office Web Apps, Web-based
versions of the traditional Microsoft Office suite of applications.
CICTS will conduct roadshows to all departments on campus to help train and familiarize
users with Microsoft 365.
What is Education?Office 365
Business Class Email
File Sharing
HD Video Conferencing
Technical Support
Financially-backed SLA
Simple IT Management
Anywhere Access
Office Desktop Apps
Office Mobile
Office Online
by Prestariang
22
Memorandom Persefahaman (MoU) antara Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) dan Integrated Access Communication Sdn Bhd (IAC) telah ditandatangani pada 5 Ogos 2016 dan merupakan titik permulaan buat UNIMAS, melalui inisiatif CICTS dan IAC, ke arah pembangunan sebuah pusat data yang bertempat di UNIMAS City Campus yang terletak di ibu kota Kuching, Sarawak.
MoU tersebut menyokong permulaan inisiatif untuk mengkaji kos untuk mereka bentuk, membina, menyelaras, menyelenggara serta aspek pengkomersilan perkhidmatan pusat data kepada agensi-agensi lain di dalam Sarawak secara amnya dan luar Sarawak.
UNIMAS yakin ia akan mendapat manfaat menerusi kolaborasi bersama dengan IAC, yang ternyata mempunyai kepakaran di dalam bidang pembinaan dan pengurusan pusat data dan juga dalam bidang penjanaan pendapatan menerusi perkhidmatan yang disampaikan oleh pusat data.
Selain berfungsi sebagai pusat data, pusat ini juga akan berfungsi sebagai Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC) untuk UNIMAS, membolehkan universiti memberi perkhidmatan kritikal ICT dan
Jalinan Kerjasama Untuk Masa Hadapan
Ini memberi keyakinan kepada UNIMAS
untuk menyatakan bahawa operasi
perkhidmatan ICT kampus sentiasa
berjalan 24 jam, 7 hari seminggu
tanpa henti dalam apa keadaan sekali
pun. UNIMAS akan sentiasa memberi
perkhidmatan ICT terbaik kepada semua
pemegangtaruhnya.
kesinambungan perkhidmatan sekiranya berlaku bencana di kampus utama di Kota Samarahan.
Selain daripada DRC UNIMAS, pusat ini juga boleh beroperasi sedemikian untuk agensi-agensi lain di Sarawak, iaitu membolehkan maklumat-maklumat sensitif dan berharga agensi-agensi tersebut sentiasa
terlindung. Ini sejajar dengan komitmen UNIMAS untuk memberi p e r k h i d m a t a n yang terbaik buat masyarakat Sarawak.
MoU ini juga m e n d u k u n g p e m b a n g u n a n kepakaran dalam kalangan staff serta pelajar universiti dengan memberi peluang melakukan latihan industri di IAC Sdn Bhd.
Amat jelas bahawa ini merupakan jalinan kerjasama buat masa hadapan yang memberi manfaat peningkatan kepakaran dalam
kalangan staf teknikal sehingga pelajar univerisiti.
Sehubungan itu, UNIMAS yakin menerusi usaha dan komitmen CICTS, bahawa semua objektif MoU boleh dicapai dan seterusnya menjurus kepada ikatan persefahaman yang lebih erat di antara kedua-dua organisasi.
by Maclean Patrick
