The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning ...

The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher LearningInnovative Applications in Distance and E-learningto Meet Vision 2020 ChallengesDr. Michael W. ChurtonProfessorProf. Pornchai Matangkasombut , President, Mahidol University and President of the Association ofSoutheast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning , ASAIHL Organizing Committee, Dr. Ninnat ,University Colleagues, ladies and gentleman. I am honored for having the privilege to share mythoughts and research with you today.I must, however, first underscore the point that I am a foreigner, an “orang puteh” but alsosomeone who has lived in Southeast Asia for many years and has developed a mutual respect for yourcultural traditions, religions, and for your people. In this paper, I do not represent my university or mycountry but only myself in the opinions and statements that I will make. These opinions however arepredicated on the experiences, research, and knowledge that I have learned and accumulated over thepast 30 years. I have spent nearly three years of my very formative academic years teaching in thenorthern state of Kelantan in Malaysia and I have maintained close relations with many of my formerstudents who are now among the middle class of Malaysia. I have conducted research and providedseminars for the past twenty years in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and PDR LAO. I wasa United States Fulbright scholar in Borneo during the year 2000 and for five weeks led a group of 12university researchers throughout the interior of Borneo in the state of Sarawak and Sabah, EastMalaysia. I am continuing my research focusing on indigenous people of Southeast Asia in particular,the people of Borneo in Sarawak and Kalimantan and also in Peninsula Malaysia, and howglobalization impacts their culture, languages and ADAT- their traditions, customs and laws. Ofparticular interest is the fact that although ICT has perhaps created some of the negative outcomes,especially among the less affluent in this region, it is my opinion that ICT can also be the digital bridgein preserving indigenous people’s customs and culture for future generations.I have conducted seminars and workshops on Distance and E-learning in PDR LAO, Vietnam,Philippines, and Indonesia and also conducted seminars on teaching children with disabilities, which ismy academic expertise. Most recently I have spent several weeks at Sukhothai Thammathirat OpenUniversity assisting the Faculty of Science And Technology in transiting to an e-learning model.However, today’s discussion centers on the scope of Vision 2020—and how can ICT can assistuniversities in conducting their duties and responsibilities in research, teaching, and professionalservice. I am not so interested in the process of Vision 2020 but rather the anticipated outcomes to be3