Team T.RIBE shapes up as final 8 in first-ever Arnott's ChampionShapes Inter-Campus Contest11/25/2016 By CLARISSA LOI PUI LING Team T.RIBE brainstorming for their creation in preparation for The Arnott's ChampionShapes contest. SUBANG JAYA | Taylor’s University’s (TU) team T.RIBE secured a spot as one of the eight shortlisted higher education institutions nationwide to compete in the first-ever Arnott’s ChampionShapes Inter-Campus Contest.
T.RIBE beat out 20 other submissions from various universities and colleges across the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Bahru for the chance of earning the RM10,000 grand prize. “We’re ecstatic that T.RIBE is able to represent TU at this competition. “ChampionShapes poses a new and unique challenge for us as we have never done a competition like this before, but we are confident that we are able to perform well,” said team leader Daniesh Ashik Selveswaran, 21. Participating teams were required to create an art-piece inspired by the Nazca Lines, which are a series of ancient hieroglyphs, using only 1,000 Arnott’s Shapes boxes to form the lines of their design in their respective campus grounds during the contest day of November 23. The creations will be judged based on an aerial view of their work, shot using a drone. “It is a very large-scale creation, and normally we work from elevation. However, for this we need to work from plan. “We've never heard of these Nazca Lines until recently, so we had to do a lot of research on it in order to understand the origins of the phenomenon and figure out on the ways to approach it,” said T.RIBE team member Arina Nadia bt. Farid, 19. Each team had an estimated two weeks to brainstorm, prepare and practice for the contest day, when they will only have six hours to complete their design during the competition. “Arnott's Shapes wanted to organise a contest that would be able to trigger and nurture students’ imaginations and creative thinking skills, while encouraging them to do something that’s beyond the classroom,” said ChampionShapes’ Head of Events, Julie Kristini. She added that Arnott's did not want a reinterpretation of its brand as part of the judging criteria as it may limit students’ creativities. “By emphasising the experience of learning, the participants are empowered to take charge over their own learning processes as well,” said Kristini. The winners will be announced in December after a selection process based on judges’ votes as well as an online public voting through Arnott's Shapes Malaysia Facebook page. “We hope that fellow Taylorians will give T.RIBE their full-fledged support by voting for them and their creation. It is also a great sign of appreciation for the students’ creativity and hard work,” said T.RIBE’s supervising lecturer Delliya bt. Zain. There will also be activities on-campus during the contest day itself for Taylorians by Arnott's, such as Robotic Ball Challenge, Ping Pong Challenge, Shapes Box Stacking Challenge as well as a sampling tables and goodie giveaways. TU’s T.RIBE will be facing off against teams from Universiti Sains Malaysia (Penang), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Johor Bahru), and Management and Science University, Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation, SEGi University, INTI International College Subang, and University of Selangor (Klang Valley) for the top prize next month.
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By NATALIE CHAN XIN CI Phua explaining his site plan's concept. SUBANG JAYA | A class of students from Taylor's School Of Architecture, Building And Design (SABD) have chosen the theme “Social Justice” for their final year project through examining different aspects of the theme.
Students were given a site plan at Putrajaya with each student designing a portion of it for a different and specific community such as the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) community, the ex-convicts community, the Orang Asli community, the Bersih community, the abused children community and a few others. They agreed on this measure as they felt the Malaysian government was not being fair to the nation and especially to communities like these. Hence, they decided to help and fight for these ill-treated communities by designing a place for them. “The Malaysian government is not fair to us, so we fight for the ones that are being treated unfairly,” said SABD student, Chan Pu Qi, 21. Besides this, the group said that the need to bring justice also stems from Putrajaya being the location of most governmental offices. Fellow SABD student, Phua Jing Sern, 21, said that everyone has their own reasons on why they chose to proposed a design for their communities. Adding to that, Chan stated that she wishes to design a business centre for the ex-convicts community as she felt that they deserve a second chance to be accepted in society. “I found that ex-convicts are not treated well once they are released from prison, so my idea is they are as normal as we are. “My aim to build this business centre is to allow them to be their own boss,” said Chan. The student group is facing multiple challenges in executing their concept such as drawing up a construction plan and carrying out design feasibility studies. Despite this, they are not giving up as they are passionate in designing for the community they chose. By LYDIA GEORGE KOSHY The client servicing team at the Malaysian PR Awards representing Taylor’s University and Shopee. | Photo Credit: Shamani a/p Krishnan. SUBANG JAYA | Taylor’s University’s proPassion Communications students won silver in the category of higher institution for their Shoppee campaign, at the Malaysian Public Relations Award ceremony in Nexus Connexion Grand Ballroom, Bangsar South on 21 October.
Fifty-seven students led by lecturer of Public Relations and Events Consultancy module, Karmini Narayanan, 46, together with former project leader and School Of Communication student (SOC), Shamani Krishnan, 22, handled one of the biggest campaigns in proPassion Communications history for their final year project under the Public Relations Consultancy module. proPassion Communications is a Public Relations and Events Consultancy module under the Bachelor Of Mass Communication programme by Taylor's University that promises to demonstrate passion, professionalism, and quality services to reach clients’ goals. “We were given one of the biggest budgets, RM30,000 to be exact, in proPassion history,” said former treasurer of Shoppee Campaign and former SOC student, Shazri b. Sofi, 25. The main challenge for them was managing the client’s expectations for the campaign, however their key performance indicators were rather high. “Despite the challenges, we pulled through as the client kept highlighting on how they were so happy with the passion shown by all the students while executing the campaign and how responsive they were,” said Narayanan. Krishnan stressed on how future project leaders of proPassion Communications should always focus on the end goal and never give up. She focused on how it is vital to have strong support from internal team leaders as they would be the main ones who would disseminate instructions and orders to the rest of the class. “Winning this award has really motivated me as a lecturer to know that my students are fully capable of achieving the best and I would like to share this experience with the rest of my proPassion students in future,” said Narayanan. The Malaysian PR Awards was first introduced in 2007, modelled after the Media publication’s Asia PR Awards. It showcases the best campaigns and communication programmes executed for different clients by Malaysia’s public relation professionals. by PARK JUNG-A The implementation of Taylor’s online courses has given students the convenience of learning beyond the classroom walls. SUBANG JAYA | The Ministry Of Education Malaysia has announced the guidelines on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) credit transfer policy on 7 November.
“OpenLearning is developing its platform’s component to assess the student’s work so that credit transfer for MOOC (CTM) will be available,” said MOOC's Lead e-Specialist in Content Development, Enna bt. Ayub. Taylor’s University (TU) has developed its own online courses of Hubungan Etnik di Malaysia (Ethnic Relations) and Tamadun Islam dan Tamadun Asia (Islamic Civilisation & Asian Civilisation or TITAS). TU has also begun to offer these 2 MOOCs as CTM since March 2016. However, at its pilot stage, the MOOCs are offered to TU students only. The initiative for TITAS and Ethnic Relations' MOOCs were initially led by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) last year, but it was not offered as CTM during then. After launching over 30 MOOCs last year, TU has engaged with more than 40,000 students from over 140 countries. Moreover, the MOOCs from TU's School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts (TCHT) have earned a Tier 6 in The Discipline-Based Rating System (DSETARA). TCHT came up with a series of Culinary Arts MOOCs, Basic Pastry Making by Chef Karam Singh Godrei and Advanced Cooking and Fantastic Foods by Chef Farouk Othman, with the assistance of TU's eLearning Academy. The MOOCs won the Best MOOC Award at the International University Carnival on e-Learning 2016 (IUCEL) held at UTM this year. “We are being more selective on the contents we put up. “Once TU starts the CTM programme, we hope to create more quality MOOCs,” Enna added. Starting off in 2013, TU is the first private university to collaborate with OpenLearning and the first university in Malaysia to offer MOOC. What started with a few selected courses, has now increased to more than 30 courses for students with a variety of modules to choose from. Some courses are self-paced while others are on-going. Every year, TU comes up with new developments on MOOC, and students can look forward to more CTM in the near future. By THEODORA Anna George Koshy (left) and Tan Chui San (right) found orange juice have the lowest concentration of both sucrose and glucose. SUBANG JAYA | Students from Taylor's Foundation in Science (FIS) programme presented their findings of an experiment that investigates everyday product consumption during the Integrated Science Project Exhibition (ISPE), held on the 26 October at The Grand Hall (TGH) foyer.
“Our project has a purpose of determining sugar concentrations in everyday food and drinks. "From this, we aim to help hypoglycaemic patients - we tested all the foods in our daily life to find out which food is suitable for them to give an instant glucose boost,” said FIS student, Tan Chui San, 18. Her group discovered that peanut butter had the highest concentration level of sucrose whereas soy milk and orange juice had the lowest concentrations of both sucrose and glucose. Tan added that the project helped her to prepare for the future in terms of teamwork, problem solving, presentation skills, knowledge and learning aspect. The exhibition was organised by FIS chemistry lecturer, Jason Wong Chee Sien and FIS Biology lecturer, Srividhya Chandrasekaran. “The purpose of this project is to stimulate the students' interest in science, mainly in bio and chemistry. “It is also to prepare students for their final project in their degree, so they will understand the methods and to polish their presentation and critical thinking skills,” said Wong, who is also an event coordinator for the exhibition. The ISPE project challenged participating students to explore areas where science and everyday life intersect. The experiment, designed to stimulate curiosity and engage students in scientific thinking, also produced other insights such as caffeine extraction from daily food, five-second rule contamination, biodegradable plastic, and the study of mould growth. “I am very happy with what my students have come up with during this self-learning process, from gathering information and research to time management. “I can see that my students have put a lot of effort into this project,” said Wong. by FARHAH SYAMILAH BINTI MAZMIL International students showing their dedication to learning Bahasa Malaysia SUBANG JAYA | Fifteen international students from Taylor's University attended ‘Learning Bahasa Malaysia (BM)’, the first language workshop organised by Best Buddies Connect (BBC) on 26 October.
The workshop aims to introduce BM to international students, especially those who did not get a chance to take Mata Pelajaran Pengajian Umum (MPU) classes. “It is important for our international students to learn local languages here in Malaysia, especially the national language. "You will learn more about the words as well as get a small taste of the culture,” said BBC Advisor, Tee Ching Hin. The two-hour class covered various aspects of the local language such as basic conversational skills, numbers and colours. The students were also taught BM words through well-known songs in Malaysia such as Rasa Sayang and one of the late Tan Sri Datuk P. Ramlee's greatest hit songs, Bila Larut Malam. Taylor's School of Liberal Arts lecturer, Siti Noor Amyah bt. Khasbullah, who was tasked with teaching the students, said she was happy to see international students participating in the workshop. “Nowadays, most of the people in Malaysia don’t speak the national language. “Even international students are interested to learn about our native tongue, so why don’t we take the responsibility and instil our national language among ourselves until BM reaches the global level,” she said. Taylor's School of Education student from the Philippines, Jake Arandilla, 21, who attended the workshop, was surprised to find it was unlike any typical language class he had expected. “I thought it was going to be a boring class but it turned out to be fun and interactive instead,” he said. Arandilla added that he was looking forward to practicing the useful words and phrases he had learned during his study life in Malaysia. Meanwhile, Taylor's Business School student from the Netherlands, Ellen Trees Bolt, 24, who had no prior knowledge about BM, attended the workshop due to her interest in learning the language after living in the country for three months. “When I came here, I was really looking forward to BM classes and I asked around whether there were any held on campus. So, I was grateful for this workshop because it has benefited me a lot,” she said. Taylor's School of Liberal Arts student from America, McKenzie Sommers, 21, shared similar feelings about the workshop and thought it was a good way for international students to familiarise themselves with the language. “Being in Malaysia, I wanted to understand the general stuff such as understanding menus, the signs and what people are saying. This workshop made it easier to get around and blend in with the local people,” she said. With such good reviews, Tee said that BBC planned to have similar workshops in the future. By THEODORA The exhibition housed various production of finest works on display and their engagement of architectural interventions within various parts of "Rumah". SUBANG JAYA | Bachelor Of Science Architecture and Master of Architecture final year students concluded their years of study with a joint graduate exhibition entitled RUMAH 16’ on the 25 to 27 October at White Box, Publika.
Participating students illustrated the fragments and essence of a house in their work, using the exhibition space as part of their interpretations of home. “Indeed, this is their home; they have spent six years of their lives in our campus, in our home. “I think beyond being their lecturers, we are their friends, their companions and to a certain extent, their housemates who shared a large part of their architecture education,” said Taylor's School of Architecture, Building And Design (SABD) deputy dean, Dr Veronica Ng Foong Peng. Aside from housing the student’s various works, the exhibition also showcased an engagement of architectural interventions among the works on display. SABD graduate Imann Azzuddin reconnected the past with the future in her UNESCO Centre of Creative Performing Arts project. Her project aims for a collaboration with UNESCO to preserve dying cultures and traditions in Malacca through performing arts. “I used the concept of framing the old but at the same time bringing meaning to the future, in hopes of reviving the spirit of the place and regaining its identity to invoke nostalgia of the people in Malacca,” said Imann, 22. Imann added that the preparation took a whole semester, during which she faced a few challenges with time management. “I am very proud and happy for Imann. “She has worked very hard for this, I’ve seen all the struggles and sacrifices she went through to make this happen,” said Imann’s brother, Aqeef Azzuddin, 24. Dr Ng was also proud of the students' accomplishments in the architectural field of study. “It is a very tough journey - I can say that there are few students who have started their journey with us from their foundation programme to part one of their architecture programme and then part two,” said Dr Ng. She said the joint exhibition of both the graduates of Bachelor of Science of Architecture and Master of Architecture marks a great milestone for SABD. By LYDIA GEORGE KOSHY Live Blood Analysis being explained by a nutritionist to an attendee at the Health Screening Booth. SUBANG JAYA | Taylor’s University(TU) proPassion Communication students organised the Beet Up Your Performance bazaar sponsored by Wellness Concept on 11 November at TU’s Lakeside Campus as their final year project.
ProPassion Communications is a Public Relations and Events Consultancy module under School of Communication which promises to demonstrate passion, professionalism, and quality services to reach their client’s goals. All 82 students took active roles throughout the entire bazaar to spread the awareness of Wellness Concept’s repackaging efforts on their Beta Beet Stickpacks product. “The students executed the event professionally with passion just like our name proPassion,” said Public Relations and Events Consultancy lecturer, Karmini Narayanan, 46. The bazaar started off with a Zumba session conducted by a professional instructor followed by demonstrations from various booths. “The highlight of the event was definitely the Zumba session, Health Screening and Fitness Challenge booth. “We would definitely want these activities featured again at our launch on 19 November,” said Wellness Concept’s marketing communications head, Andrew Boey, 42. School Of Engineering student, Harishan Sathian, 20 expressed how his favourite booth was the Fitness Challenge booth as he was a gym person himself. “Being rewarded with gifts after completing my fitness challenges was an extra add-on and that was great,” said Sathian. Project leader for the bazaar, Chiah Jing Wen, 21, added on how the turnout was promising despite the heavy rain towards the end of the event. “I’m glad we pulled through despite the heavy downpour and I have my classmates to thank tremendously for that,” said Jing. Wellness Concept was initiated through the joint effort of three sisters – Vivian Tan, Agnes Tan and Adrenne Tan as a family business. The business aims to provide organic and health themed products and services, as well as collaborating opportunities towards entrepreneurial business network among people. |
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