Industry leaders urged media educators and students to “be open to change in the 21st century and stay true to the golden standards of media ethics set in the 20th century”.
That was the message from the Singapore Media Forum 2016 (SMF2016) held on 15 July 2016.
The Forum was hosted by Murdoch University’s School of Arts and Murdoch Singapore, together with partners Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and UniSIM. Last held in 2013, the forum discussed the future and relevance of media education in nurturing and training the next generation of media and communication graduates in Singapore and globally.
Media educators from local polytechnics, universities and key overseas institutions attended the forum alongside well-regarded media industry professionals from SMRT, MDA, Google, and Mothership. Attendees debated a range of topics concerning the industry, including ways to narrow the gap between media education and industry needs and the importance of digital media learning. New insights into the cyberwellness of digitally-engaged learners, youth and the wider community were also shared.
Murdoch University’s SMF2016 Co-chair, Associate Professor Terence Lee said: “This is timely, as Singapore’s polity and public discuss the future of living and learning in the 21st century. We are striving to ‘future proof’ our workforce, and to help media talents and industry professionals to consider the next learning curve.”
The International Communications Association (ICA)’s first Asian President and Co-chair of SMF2016, Professor Ang Peng Hwa, of Nanyang Technological University added: “In a globalised internet-enabled media era, it is timely to reflect on the broad direction of Singapore’s media education and to examine cyberwellness trends that go beyond protection, to foster innovation and connectivity among online users.”
Addressing Murdoch University’s strong ties between Perth and Singapore, as well as sharing insights into new pedagogies were Associate Professor David Maguire and Dr Sharon Delmege, both from the School of Arts. Dr Florence Mwagwabi, School of Engineering and Information Technology, Murdoch Singapore, shared a fresh perspective on cybersecurity on the Cyberwellness research panel.
The forum finished with presentations by student groups from NTU, UniSIM and Murdoch University’s Singapore campus about their perspectives about important issues of cyberwellness and critical media literacies.
Heartened by the overwhelming interest, the organising team in Singapore hopes to bring Murdoch University even closer to students and the wider academic community at future forums.
More details on the panel speakers for the Singapore Media Forum 2016 can be found here.
By Tania Lim
Murdoch Singapore