Distinguished Speakers

Keynote

PROF. ABBY CATHCART, PHD

Director, QUT Academy of Learning & Teaching

Queensland University of Technology

Professor Abby Cathcart is the Director of the QUT Academy of Learning and Teaching in Australia where her portfolio includes leadership of Academic Development, Evaluations, Academic Integrity, HEA fellowship, Awards, Indigenous perspectives in learning and teaching, and Expert Peer Review. She is a Principal Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and Advance HE’s Global Strategic Advisor (Australasia).  Abby is the recipient of multiple awards including QUT Teacher of the Year, three national Australian Awards for University Teaching (Citation, Teaching Excellence Award, and Program Award) and the QS Wharton Nurturing Employability Silver Award in 2019. As a Tertiary Education and Quality Standards (TEQSA) Expert she plays a key role in assuring the quality of education in Australian Higher Education Institutions. She has worked with staff at institutions in China, Taiwan, Australia, USA and Thailand in designing professional development programs and promoting teaching quality, including pathways to HEA fellowship. 

PROF. BRIAN BEATTY, PHD. 

Professor of Equity, Leadership Studies, and Instructional Technologies (ELSIT)

Graduate College of Education, San Francisco State University, USA

Dr. Brian Beatty is a professor of Instructional Technologies in the Department of Equity, Leadership Studies and Instructional Technologies at San Francisco State University. Brian’s primary areas of interest and research include social interaction in online learning, flipped classroom implementation, and developing instructional design theory for Hybrid-Flexible learning environments. At SF State, Dr. Beatty pioneered the development and evaluation of the HyFlex course design model for blended learning environments, implementing a “student-directed-hybrid” approach to better support student learning.

Previously (2012 – 2020), Brian was Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Operations at San Francisco State University (SF State), overseeing the Academic Technology unit and coordinating the use of technology in the academic programs across the university. He worked closely with IT professionals and leaders in other units to coordinate overall information technology strategic management at SF State. He received his Ph.D. in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2002. Dr. Beatty has more than 25 years’ experience as a classroom teacher, trainer, and instructional designer at schools, businesses, and the US Navy.

PROF. YA TING CAROLYN YANG, PHD                      

Distinguished Professor

Institute of Education, National Cheng-Kung University

Specialization:

E-Learning, Technology-Integrated Implementation into Instruction, Critical Thinking Skills and Disposition, Instructional Design and Research of Critical Thinking, Instructional Design and Research of Creative Thinking, Instructional Design and Research of Problem Solving, Digital Language Learning

 

Plenary

PROF. WIM VAN PETEGEM, PHD

Professor of Engineering Technology Education Research (ETHER) 

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Wim Van Petegem holds an MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ghent (Belgium), an MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from the KU Leuven (Belgium) and a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from KU Leuven (1993). He worked at the University of Alberta, Edmonton (Canada), at the Open University of the Netherlands and at the Leuven University College (Belgium). From 2001 till 2012 he was the head of the Media and Learning Center and later he became Director of the Teaching and Learning Department at KU Leuven (Belgium). Currently he is Professor at the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven. His research interests are in learning technologies, instructional design, engineering education, hyflex learning, and digital scholarship. He and his team are involved as contractor, partner, coordinator, expert, or evaluator in many research, implementation and development projects. He is teaching courses on professional and intercultural engineering skills, and implements innovative approaches of teaching and learning in other courses. He is a regular panel member of review committees to assess quality of education in Flanders and the Netherlands. He is heavily engaged in development cooperation projects with the South and gives regularly trainings in e.g. South-Africa, Ecuador, Ethiopia, China, Philippines, etc. on innovation in education and digital competences for teachers and professional support staff. He is actively involved in different international networks of universities like SEFI, MEDEA, and EDEN.

PROF. EDIZON FERMIN, PHD

Teacher Education and Curriculum Innovation Specialist

Vice President for Academic Affairs, The National Teachers College

Edizon Fermin is the Vice President for Academic Affairs of National Teachers College. Concurrently, he is the co-chair of the Philippine Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) Technical Panel in Teacher Education and an expert resource of the Technical Working Group on Flexible Learning.  He continues to work with the British Council and the CHED International Affairs staff in developing policy and practice pathways in transnational education and adult education, especially in terms of quality assurance. A 2019 Asia-Europe Foundation training scholar at the University of Edinburgh, he is an advocate of equitable access to higher education. He has been training teachers, supervisors, and administrators in basic education, higher education, and technical-vocational education for over two decades.

PROF. CHERYL PERALTA, DrPH

Vice Rector for Academic Affairs

University of Santo Tomas

Prof. Cheryl Peralta, DrPH oversees the overall quality implementation of the Enriched Virtual Mode of Instruction of the University of Santo Tomas under  its eLearning initiative, the UST Cloud Campus.  Under her leadership, the university was nationally recognized for being the recipient of the Gawad Edukampyon Award for Excellence in Flexible and Responsible Management by the Commission of Higher Education as a testament to its outstanding management response to ensure continuity of education during times of disruption while ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of students, faculty, staff, and school-community.