IEEE R10 EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

ChunChe Lance Fung, Chair for R10 Educational Activities Committee (EAC), Emeritus Professor, Murdoch University

COVID-19 has caused major disruptions to the lives of many. In the midst of upheavals, the challenge is how to stay positive and be prepared for the future. The answer is – KEEP LEARNING!

One of the key goals from the 2020-2025 IEEE Strategic Plan is Life-Long-Learning. No matter what circumstances one is going through, knowledge and wisdom are the key and guide which lead to success. IEEE is leading the charge and equipping the members with numerous resources on educational activities and technical talks. Members could explore and utilise the information and materials from the IEEE COVID-19 News and Resources Hub in spectrum.ieee.org. In particular, the Free Resources page (https://spectrum.ieee.org/static/free-resources) has a collection of tools and information targeted towards Practising Engineers, Educators, Parents, Researchers and Students. One can also find free webinars to support academic faculty transitioning to distance learning during the lockdown https://innovationatwork.ieee.org/events/virtual-events.

The R10 EAC is encouraged to receive many submissions for the 2020 EAC Challenge. It has been a difficult task to select the winners, and after the judging process, the results are: Winner of the Pre-University Category is Hong Kong Section with its project, “Empower Diversified Learners in Hong Kong with IEEE TryEngineering”. Winner of University Category is University of Malaya Student Branch with its project, “Smart Hybrid Solar Energy Harvesting and Storage System Design Challenge”. Runner-up of the Pre-University Category is the IEEE Students Branch NIT Durgapur with its project “Dhruv”, and the Runner-up of the University Category is Power Energy Society Malaysia Chapter with its project “Electrical Power System Simulation Competition 2020 (EPSSCom)”.

Another eight projects: “Automatic collection and disposal of Garbage from rural areas”, “Virtual STEM Outreach to Secondary Schools in Sabah”, “Bringing STEM to life (STEM for Learning Disabled Students)”, “Elevator Pitch Workshop for Engineers / Technopreneurs”, “IEEE iCARE e-Tuition for Humanity among Rural Learners during COVID-19 Pandemic Period”, “1st IEEE Five Minutes Final Year Project (5MFYP)”, “Bridge the Healthcare Gap: Introducing Telemedicine and IoT to Secondary Schools Students of Rural Areas”, and “Eureka-2020”, were recommended to receive “Commendation Support” for their projects.

In order to raise the awareness of EA within the Region, a webinar was held on 29th March, 2020 to promote the R10 EA Challenge and winners from 2019 challenge were invited to share their experience and lessons learnt. Another Webinar has been planned for June 2020 to promote IEEE EA resources from IEEE and EAB. In addition, Chair of R10 EAC has been invited to speak at many online webinars. Introduction of IEEE, EA and other technical resources have also been actively promoted.

Chair of R10 EA is currently working with Region 8 EA Chair, and EAB staff to improve presentation and promotion of IEEE EA volunteer resources at https://ea.ieee.org/resources. A survey will be conducted later this year to assess the Satisfaction and Utilisation of the resources from the IEEE EAB site.

Keep Safe and well, Keep Learning!

Webinars to equip Academic Faculty for distance Learning
Screen Capture of New On-line Section Education Volunteer Manual at https://ea.ieee.org/resources/educationvolunteer/section-education-volunteer-manual