Now that we’ve finally found the time to lift our heads after an extremely busy couple of months, we thought we’d document our recent travels to Southeast Asia.
Earlier in the year we were delighted when the International School Brunei (ISB) chose Titus Learning as their VLE provider. We hope this will be the first of many international schools we’ll work with in the region, and were therefore extremely keen to meet ISB face to face and speak with other schools in the surrounding areas. Alongside working with ISB, we’ve also become members of FOBISIA and EARCOS, both of whom support international schools in South and East Asia. October and November play host to the annual conferences for both associations where Heads, SMT, teachers, and education suppliers all come together. Finally, who could say no to a mini Asian adventure to sample the food, culture, weather, and all the other goodies Asia has to offer!!
Click here to read our International School Brunei case study
After the much loved 16 hour trip we landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as our first stop. We were lucky enough to meet with two relatively new international schools to discuss their eLearning requirements and the VLE solutions we provide. In addition, we also had the chance to meet an English Language Training provider, where we consulted on how to best convert their content for online use and provision to hundreds of state schools in Malaysia and neighbouring countries. We were treated to some of the local cuisine in the evening and then it was time to pack up again before a quick flight to East Malaysia.
We arrived in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia on Thursday 30th Oct and after a quick turnaround, started to construct our exhibition stand. The exhibition was an excellent opportunity to meet with a large number of international schools studying the IB, British, American and other international curricula (though we are still wondering whether it was the Scottish Shortbread or our wonderfully engaging personalities that was drawing people to our stand!). We found the time to attend some great talks by Larry Rosenstock, Josephine Kim, and many many more, and heard great feedback from delegates about the quality of the CPD sessions. The evenings were filled with social events to talk further with teachers and other education suppliers. All in all, it was a great event, and one we’ll be attending again in 2015. One thing that’s still on our minds, after spotting Double Haven moored in the hotel marina, is we’re concerned for a certain school business manager when they spot the travel expenses budget!
Next on the list was Brunei, and one of the stops we were most excited for. One of our UK based trainers flew out to meet us and perform onsite VLE training at ISB. We spent a few days in Brunei getting to know the school and its teachers better, ensuring a close working relationship over the years to come. Whilst in Brunei we also managed to meet with other schools in the area, government ministers and potential partners for an extended presence in Southeast Asia.
The final stop was Bangkok, Thailand where we were attending the FOBISIA conference. It was yet another great chance to meet up with new schools in Southeast Asia, and suppliers we already work with such as iSAMS (read the Moodle-iSAMS blog post here). This year’s conference placed a large focus on student leaders, and all delegates and exhibitors were treated to a student led presentation, followed by ‘student helpers’ throughout the event. Both the school and FOBISIA organised a great conference and as above, it will certainly be one we’re returning to in 2015.
Plans for next year are already well underway and we’re very much looking forward to exploring Southeast Asia and the rest of the world some more.
Should anyone want to find out more about the eLearning solutions we’re providing to international schools all around the globe, please get in touch.
