After much anticipation, MonsoonSIM’s August EduTalk Seminar was held just last Saturday, 28th of August. With guests and participants tuning into the seminar from various different countries, such as Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and more, the online seminar was both lively and interactive.
The seminar theme itself, “Integrative Learning Supporting the Transition Between Business Schools to the Job Market”, garners much attention and open-discussion between the educators, facilitators and students attending.
Employability is arguably the most important outcome of higher education for students. However, with online learning, shifts towards remote working and work-from-home trends as well as the limited internship opportunities for students, these are all factors that make the transition of fresh, young graduates from their familiar business school environment to the job market often difficult.
Integrative learning offers a solution that can close this gap between business schools and the job market. So, what exactly is integrative learning?
The Association of American Colleges & Universities have described integrative learning as being the key change in university education for the 21st century. The concept behind integrative learning is that students take ownership of their own learning, becoming critical inquiries who are able to make meaningful connections between different disciplines and utilize critical thinking to real-life problems.
With integrative learning and its ability to increase understanding, retention and application of business concepts, this seminar takes the audience to further explore these concepts by inviting consummate speakers and thought-provoking experts, such as Dr. Hadrian Djajadikerta, Ms. Elaine Liew and Mr. Abdy Taminsyah.
Dr. Hadrian Djajadikerta, an Associate Professor of Accounting in the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University, Australia, presents a clear and detailed introduction into what integrative learning is and what it entails. As the first speaker of the seminar, he guides the audience to understand the impact and effectiveness of integrative learning in the classroom for both the teachers in the role of educator and facilitator and the students in the role of the learner. His model of integrative learning has been an informative and concise display of how integrative learning is effectively comprehensive and all-encompassing.
The next speaker is Ms. Elaine Liew, the co-founder of GDEXA, which is the Global Digital Excellence Association that’s built a Software-as-a-Service platform to kickstart and manage the personal journey of digital education. Through her interactive and insightful presentation, Ms. Elaine has brought along the audience to consider and discuss the various different factors that widen the gap from business schools to the job market. These factors, namely emotions, crisis, relationships, time-bound outcome, self-awareness and organizational hierarchy, are concepts that can’t be covered in a textbook-focused classroom environment and yet, graduates worldwide will certainly face them in the job market.
Mr. Abdy Taminsyah, as the final speaker of the seminar, has meticulously and expertly linked the factors mentioned by Ms. Elaine with the integrative learning model covered by Dr. Hadrian. The presentation demonstrates how MonsoonSIM’s business simulation and gamification education platform, which emphasizes on experiential, immersive and integrative learning, enables students to overcome the aforementioned factors and adapt quickly in the job market and real-world working environment. With MonsoonSIM, students can be equipped with the skills and practical, applicational knowledge that can gain them an edge against competitors in the job market whilst at the same time embark on an educational and much-relevant “experience journey”, most simply depicted and summarized in the image below:
The open-floor discussion and Q&A session after the speakers have presented were also just as intriguing and engaging. Educators from different countries and even students were given the opportunity to voice their thoughts and direct the discussion towards their questions.
Overall, MonsoonSIM’s August EduTalk seminar was a memorable event for educators, students and speakers alike. It was a thought-provoking and interactive forum where people worldwide with a shared interest and curiousity in integrative learning can get together to explore how integrative learning is the key to bridge the gap from business schools to the job market.
MonsoonSIM is truly grateful for the speakers’ wonderful presentations and for the audience in taking the time to attend the seminar and their active participation in all the discussions. Everyone has truly made MonsoonSIM’s August EduTalk seminar possible!