D2L Connection: Singapore

Louwarnoud is Director Education and IT for the University of Groningen. He is responsible for the usage of IT in education, digital assessments, professionalization of teachers, educational institutional research and innovation in education. His background is in Educational sciences and he couples this with a lot of work experience in large scale deployments of IT-systems in a university context. His passion is the gradual improvement of education which he sees as one of the main goals of every society.

Mr Loh Yew Chiong joined Singapore Polytechnic in 1996 as a lecturer in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, after working as a software engineer for 3 years. He is currently appointed as Deputy Principal (Academic). His responsibilities include providing strategic directions and leadership for the academic schools and programmes, including industry collaborations, academic functions, pedagogies, and quality systems. He is currently co-leading a 5-polytechnic project in providing useful student learning analytics and information to all academic staff.

Mr Loh had taught various courses like Network Security, Broadband Communications, Digital Communications, Networks and Protocols, Programming and other professional industry certification courses. He was also involved in various staff and student R&D projects related to Next Generation Networks and Services.

Mr Loh holds a Bachelor of Engineering (1st Class Hons) from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Science with Distinction (Communications and Signal Processing) from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK.  He was awarded the R&D Commendation Award in 2004 and 2009, and the Excellence in R&D Award in 2013 by Singapore Polytechnic.  He was conferred the National Day Award – Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2018.

Matt Baker, SVP International at Class, is a pioneer in the e-Learning arena having spent 25 years supporting institutions around the world with their technology needs. Matt spent over a dozen years at Blackboard as one of the first to expand the business outside of the US. He has also held executive roles at other EdTech start-ups along with a senior executive role at Instructure. Currently, Matthew can be found growing Class Technologies as one of its co-founders and headis up the international business.

May Lit is a Senior Associate Director in the central IT Department at Singapore Management University. She is responsible for the Learning Systems and Technologies Division, which provides IT solutions and services to Teaching and Learning areas. Over the past 20 years, she has managed three generations of Learning Management Systems and completed many customized solutions on multiple platforms. Prior to her current role, she developed and managed IT projects for Government Offices and Healthcare Institutions. Her latest implementations include Learning Analytics, Generative AI in Course Delivery, Peer Tutoring, Interactive Teaching Video, Enterprise systems Cloud Migration and Remote Exam Solutions.

Li Fern is Assistant Manager at Temasek Polytechnic’s Learning Academy. She has taught at the polytechnic for over a decade and her passion for education has involved her in various projects that includes Learning Management System (LMS) projects at Temasek Polytechnic and joint-Polytechnic workgroup. Her involvement in the LMS projects gave her the ample opportunities to continuously explore the tools and features to effectively improve student learning outcomes. She has two Master Degrees – Master of Science in Mathematics from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Education from the University of Sheffield. She has authored numerous academic journals covering topics such as staff experiences of learning via MOOCs, perceptions of staff and students regarding flipped learning model, patterns of LMS content access, the effectiveness of personalised adaptive learning, and the relationship between LeaP and GPA.

Steven has built a distinguished career in education and research, starting as a Research Analyst before moving to roles at Johnson and Johnson, where he developed key sales, marketing, and leadership skills. Since joining Temasek Polytechnic in 2007, Steven has excelled as a Senior Academic Mentor at the Learning Academy and Business School, where he has significantly impacted student and staff development, and pioneered innovative projects like the Personalized Adaptive Learning (PAL) project.

His work has earned him numerous accolades, including being a finalist for the President’s Award for Teachers (PAT) in 2019, the Public Sector Transformation (PST) Exemplary SkillsFuture@Public Service Award in 2021, and the Education Innovation Award in 2023. Steven holds an M.Ed. from The University of Sheffield and a BBA (Hons.) from The National University of Singapore, underscoring his expertise and commitment to advancing educational practices.

Dr. Woo Boon Seong is Director of the Learning Academy at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore. In this role, he and his team are driving pedagogical initiatives and innovations in the digital transformation of teaching and learning, and supporting the implementation of digital and interdisciplinary learning across the polytechnic. He is currently examining how the existing education system may be hacked to support personalised learning. Boon Seong has 20 years of academic, management and leadership experience in the polytechnic sector in Singapore, and he holds a doctorate degree in Education from the University of Sussex, UK and a master’s degree in Information Environments (Interaction Design) from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Dr. Rino Febrianno Boer currently holds the position of Director of the Postgraduate Program at LSPR Institute of Communication and Business. He is responsible for managing both the Doctoral Program in Communication and Leadership Programme and the Master’s Program in Communication Science. Dr. Boer has Doctoral degree from the University of Indonesia in the field of Communication Studies after completing a Master’s in Management (MM) from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. He has published several academic works related to crisis in public relations, persuasive technologies, company reputation communication, and cross-cultural adaptation processes. Additionally, Dr. Boer has authored books on ethics, leadership, and digital communication. He can be contacted via email at [email protected]

Karin Avnit is an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). She is a faculty member in the Infocomm Technology cluster and the Deputy Director (EdTech) in the SIT Teaching and Learning Academy (STLA), where she works with Educational Developers and Educational Technologists to support and develop educators in the adoption of technologies for teaching and learning. She teaches in Competency-Based modules in the Applied Computing programme and is the recipient of SIT’s Teaching Excellence Award (2015, 2017, 2019) and a member of the Teaching Excellence Award Honour Roll (2018, 2020). 

Dr May Lim is an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Assistant Provost (Applied Learning). She looks after the SIT Teaching and Learning Academy that advances competency-based education, recognition of prior learning and coaching practices. From 2017 to 2022, May served as the Director of Centre for Learning Environment and Assessment Development (CoLEAD) that spearheaded various faculty development programmes at the university level. She was awarded the National Day Honours: Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2022, the SIT Teaching Excellence Award in 2016, 2019 and 2020 and and Education 2.0 Outstanding Leadership Award in 2022.May has received several teaching and learning research grants from the Ministry of Education to investigate the effect of experiential learning, gamification and improving metacognition. She actively collaborates with experts in different fields to advance learning practices. In total, she has received around S$5 million grant in various research projects.
May is also an experienced occupational therapist by profession, she has been working with children with developmental delay and disorders in Singapore and Australia. She previously led the Bachelor of Science (with Honours) in Occupational Therapy degree at SIT. She was involved in national projects such as providing consultancy to early intervention centres.