Xuesong Yang,

Professor, International School, Guangzhou Huali College; Medical College, Jinan University, China

Biography:

Xuesong Yang is currently a professor at Histology & Embryology Division, Medical College, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. His research interests contain: 1) Medical education research: pedagogical research on medical education. 2) Biomedical research: etiology and pathology of reproductive medicine and birth defects. So far, he has published more than 170 SCI academic papers in the scholarly journals including Developmental Cell, PNAS, Current Biology and Development, Environment International, Anatomical Sciences Education, Medical Education Online etc.

Speech Title:

Anatomy education online in China during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-COVID-19 era

Abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the medical schools in China launched online medical courses, including gross anatomy and microanatomy. To evaluate the overall situation regarding anatomy education for clinical medicine students in China during the pandemic, we conducted the nationwide surveys via WeChat with the collaboration of the Chinese Society for Anatomical Sciences in spring 2020. A total of 359 completed questionnaires were received, representing 77 schools coming from all provinces in mainland China as well as the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. The results showed that most of the medical schools preferred to implement online teaching of theoretical sessions only after the pandemic, and some medical schools were keen to return to traditional face-to-face anatomy education, although there was a significant cognitive difference between gross anatomists and micro-anatomists. The information obtained from the survey describes the general situation of online anatomy education during the pandemic in China and provides anatomists some data to evaluate and improve online teaching [Anat Sci Educ. 2021] [Med Educ Online. 2021] [Trans Res Anat. 2021]. Meanwhile, a questionnaire survey at Jinan University School of Medicine revealed the crucial issues (i.e., the relationships between medical students' preferred online instructional strategies, course difficulty level, learning performance and effectiveness) for medical education online during the COVID-19 pandemic [Adv Physiol Educ. 2021].

COVID-19 has tremendously urged anatomists to reconsider the appropriate pedagogies of anatomy education in the coming post-pandemic age. Blended learning is admittedly proposed by various educators and scholars as the most suitable teaching approach to combine traditional face-to-face lecture and online learning on the verge of a new era. To understand the current anatomy education accurately in the post-COVID-19 era, we likewise implemented another nationwide survey among the anatomists nationwide after almost two years. The survey results generally support the above-mentioned hypothesis - blended learning is gradually becoming an acceptable teaching approach on training medical students in China [Anat Sci Educ. 2023] [PeerJ 2023].

Meenakshi Kaushik,

Professor, TIIPS, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, India

Biography:

Dr. Meenakshi has more than 15 years of experience in teaching, training, research and corporate in the area of HR & OB, Values & Ethics, and as a Motivational and PDP Trainer. Presently she is working as a Dean (Research) in Trinity Institute of innovations in Professional studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. Her Ph.D. thesis is entitled "A Study of Leadership Effectiveness in women executives in Context of Delhi Based business organizations” has brought relevant theoretical and empirical imperatives on leadership development strategies among women leaders and executives. She has also rendered education as a professor with several reputed Institutions as NDIM, Amity University, Delhi Business School, ICFAI Business School She also worked as a guest faculty and Trainer in Indian society for training and development (ISTD), New Delhi for six years. At present she is also supervising and evaluating PhD thesis of candidates from Aligarh Muslim university (AMU, Central university).

She has authored and edited a book entitled “Digital Transformation: Recent Trends & practices” in 2022 available at Amazon, Kindle, Himalaya publication website. She is continuously been invited as Resource person and as a Panel Session Chair in various national and international conferences. she is continuously involved in research and publication work and written many research papers in Scopus, Elsevier, UGC listed journals and has got many citations for her research papers. She is continuously in a process to contribute to the society in terms of her teaching, trainings, publications and research activities. She received LREA Award, London for best contribution in education industry.

Speech Title:

Digital Transformation Trends in Modern management

Abstract:

The Covid-19 Pandemic, which is probably the most devastating crisis in the world faced in the last many decades, had a far-reaching impact on management & business practices. Companies had to quickly innovate and come up with certain digital strategies to sustain and thrive in the modern business world.

The emergence of digital transformation in modern management has made every aspect of business very simple and easy to connect with people all over the globe due to its unprecedented speed and global accessibility .The fast paced technology making its contribution almost in every area and sphere. Due to tremendous development in the digital technology world & intervention of AI, companies could quickly transition to different ways of work and sustain their business. There is an urgent need to introspect and examine the digital transformation trends and emerging opportunities & challenges in front of business organizations in modern time.

The fast-paced technology is making its contribution almost in every area and sphere. Digitalization refers to the use of digital technologies to bring forth change in business processes, strategies, and business models by providing new avenues and other opportunities. According to the current scenario, organizations & industries have a vision, of where exactly they want to go & seek various opportunities to digitize their organizational processes, strategies, operations & business models according to the demands of the dynamic, changing customer preferences and competitors ‘strategies & have a proper understanding of competitive landscape, long-term goals, and discovery driven planning (DDP).

Digital transformations & AI are continuously transforming organizational work-culture and people lives globally. Technology adoption can be noticed in majority of industries like education, transportation, data storage, communications and healthcare and many others. These are also impacting governments operations and functions.

Organizations need to adopt and follow a discovery-driven digital transformation approach by applying digital technology in the majority of their operations by becoming more customer friendly. Their knowledge about the products and services, preferences, digitalized operations and accordingly adopting various business models. Pre- and post-pandemic COVID-19, the organizations and industries shifted from physical platforms to digital platforms to fulfil their requirements and contactless, remote customer relationships, remote learning, and working from home (WFH). Organizations and industries have understood the significance of digital transformation and its effective application in modern management very well and have taken the initiative to undertake digital transformation to better engage and serve their people and to serve the customers’ needs to achieve competitive advantage.

Delfín Ortega-Sanchez,

Professor, Faculty of Education, Department of Specific Didactics, University of Burgos, Spain

Biography:

Delfín Ortega-Sánchez holds a Ph.D. in Didactics of History and Social Sciences from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Burgos and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Extremadura. His research interests focus on the processes of construction of cultural, social and gender identities from the educational, anthropological and ethnohistorical fields, and on education for a democratic, inclusive and committed citizenship with social problems and controversial issues. These lines of interest articulate the activity of the Recognized Research Group DHISO, directed by Dr. Ortega-Sánchez (https://www.ubu.es/didactica-de-la-historia-y-de-las-ciencias-sociales-dhiso).

His research career has been recognized with his nomination as one of the Top 10 best social science researchers in the world under 40 years of age in the seventh edition of the Universal Scientific Education and Research Network - USERN Prize 2022. His nomination was proposed by an international jury composed of several Nobel laureates and the top 1% of scientists in their respective fields.

He currently holds the position of Vice-Rector for Social Responsibility, Culture and Sport at the University of Burgos, with competences in activities for the promotion of equality, diversity, social inclusion and non-discrimination, and in attention to diversity and people with disabilities, and Director of the Chair of Human Rights and Democratic Culture - Auschwitz Birkenau Institute (first in the world in collaboration with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum -Poland- and supported by the Ministry of Universities -Government of Spain-).

Speech Title:

Translation, Adaptation, and Validation of the 'Map of Interests on Controversial Issues in High School Students' (ICIHSS) Scale

Abstract:

Despite the difficulties in defining the concept of a 'controversial issue,' it can be asserted that it possesses general characteristics based on the integration of conflicting values and interests, the presence of individual or societal sensitivities, and the potential to evoke emotions. Addressing such issues leads to multiple solutions, open to discussion, such as climate change, terrorism, armed conflict, or gender and affective-sexual diversity. From the theoretical principles of education for global citizenship, the development and acquisition of social competencies aimed at contributing to contemporary controversial issues are expected. The didactic treatment of these contents encourages contrasting reasoned perspectives, elective rationality in decision-making within controversial or problematic contexts, and social commitment as an inherent part of the democratic process (Ortega-Sánchez, 2022).

Although there is some availability of studies related to the analysis of future and active teaching staff's representations regarding the curricular relevance of controversial topics (Ortega-Sánchez, 2023; Ortega-Sánchez and Pagès, 2022), there are no studies conducted with Ibero-American high school students. This research aims to validate the psychometric properties of the Map of Interests on Controversial Issues in High School Students (ICIHSS) scale, designed by Uygun and Arslan (2020) and applied in the Turkish geographical-cultural context by Öztürk (2022), within a sample of Castilian and Leonese, Andalusian, Asturian, and Aragonese students in the fourth year of Compulsory Secondary Education (n = 728) (M_age = 15.87, SD = 1.23), taking into account their gender, reading habits, and autonomous community.

The results of the instrument's application, consisting of 20 items measured on a 5-point Likert scale, reveal a unifactorial structure, satisfactory fit indices, and an optimal degree of internal consistency. It can be concluded that the translation into Spanish and adaptation of ICCEED provides adequate validity and reliability guarantees for assessing the formative interests of Spanish students in controversial issues.

Keywords:

Controversial issues; social science and literature education; high school; psychometric properties; map of interests

Brandon Randolph-Seng,

Professor, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Texas A&M University-Commerce, United States

Biography:

Brandon Randolph-Seng (PhD, Texas Tech University) is a full professor of management at Texas A&M University-Commerce. His current research primarily examines the social, ethical, and cognitive factors in leadership, entrepreneurship and teams. His work has appeared in such outlets as, Academy of Management Review, The Leadership Quarterly, Business & Society, and Behavior & Brain Sciences. He teaches mainly organizational ethics/behavior-related courses both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His recent consulting experience is mainly in the public sector, ranging from local municipalities to larger defense-related contractors. He also serve as Editor-in-Chief for the journal Management Decision.

Speech Title:

How to publish in good journals

Abstract:

Dr. Randolph-Seng will be presenting over the  process of writing, revising, and reviewing manuscripts for publication in scientific journals. He will pull from both his over 10 years of experience as a researcher and professor of management and from his knowledge of being Editor-in-Chief for the journal Management Decision since 2020.

Lew Tek Yew,

Associate Professor, Department of Management, Marketing and Digital Business, Faculty of Business, Curtin University, Malaysia

Biography:

Dr. Lew Tek-Yew is an Associate Professor at the Department of Management, Marketing and Digital Business, Faculty of Business, Curtin University Malaysia.  His areas of research interests are  future of work, psychological capital, employee engagement, organizational commitment, job performance and psychological well-being.  He has been lecturing at Curtin Malaysia  since 2003. He  holds a Ph.D. in Human Resource Development  and has published over 30 journals articles in peer reviewed journals such as Employee Relations, Sustainability, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, Journal of Asia Business Studies, Sarawak Development Journal and Bankers' Journal Malaysia.

Speech Title:

The roles of Work Design on Employees’ Well Being and job performance

Abstract:

This talk will present on the impact of work design on employees’ well being and job performance based on the SMART Work Design model.   The SMART Work Design model includes five work characteristics ie. Stimulating, Mastery, Autonomy, Relational and Tolerable Demand to organize tasks, responsibilities and relationships at work.   This model provides a unique integrating and multidimensional theory of work design which can be used to advance knowledge, and to guide scholars and industry practitioners to diagnose and address contemporary work design challenges in promoting thriving organizations.