Report on the 2013 IADIS conferences Internet Technologies and Society 2013 (ITS), International Conference on Educational Technologies (ICEduTech) and Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE).

The IADIS Conferences held in Malaysia, co-organized by UPM University and co-sponsored by Curtin University – Australia. It is the 4th education of ITS, 2nd edition for STE and 1st edition for ICEduTech.

The ITS conference aims to discuss the WWW/Internet perceptions and to assess the influence of the Internet in the Information Society. The main topics for ITS conference are mainly Internet Technologies, Information Management, e-Society, Digital Divide, e-Business, e-Commerce, e-Learning, e-Society, e-Government/Governance and e-Health.

The ITS keynotes are Professor Piet Kommers (University of Twente, The Netherlands) and Professor Dr. Ramlan Mahmod (Universiti Putra Malaysia – Malaysia). Professor Kommers discussed the growing impact of societal factors like the notion of “Networked Society” in the further evolution of education.  Kommers continued to discuss the technology role in the education, and how this tool, especially the social media, started to reshape the education in general and especially the higher-education sector.

However, Professor Mahmod discussed the challenges and risks which are facing the organizations, businesses, governments and common people are facing from ICT, since privacy and security are major issue for ICT adoption. A Usage Control Management System (UCMS) for protecting security and privacy of both data and users. This model protects private data from illegal access before and during the usage in all networking systems.

The ICEduTech is the scientific conference addressing the real topics as seen by teachers, students, parents and school leaders. Scientists, professionals and institutional leaders are invited to be informed by experts, sharpen the understanding what education needs and how to achieve it. The main topics for ICEduTech conference are mainly focused on Education in Context; Education as a professional field; Curricular Evolution; Learner Orientation; Integration Educational Technologies; and International Higher Education.

The ICEduTech keynotes are Professor Piet Kommers (University of Twente, The Netherlands) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sakina Baharom, Director of Centre for Learning Innovation and Excellence (CLIEx), UNITAR International University, Malaysia. A/Professor Dr. Baharom explored a student-centred learning environment (SCLE) concept to address the needs of the current type of leaners today. Her presentation discussed the SCLE implementation in UNITAR University, and she discussed the challenges and risks behind this experience. The STE conference aims to address the main issues which occur by assessing the relationship between Sustainability, Education and Technology. The main topics for STE are mainly focused on Sustainability and leadership; Sustainability and Green IT; and Sustainability and Education.

Professor Narayanan Kannan from Faculty of Environmental Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia was the keynote for STE conference. His presentation discussed the awareness and challenges of adopting the green technologies in eco-preservation and e-preservation of ancient databases for sustainable future. People can have a sustainable future via intelligent design; a non-material lifestyle may lead man kind and fellow beings on planet earth to a prosperous future. Furthermore, educational modules need to be developed in order to preserve, read, understand and practice ancient knowledge for continuity and posterity.

Final perspective, these conferences are interesting, multidisciplinary as it combined several specialized subdivisions of learning experts and professionals. The interaction between the participants was respectful and unique during the conference period, and majority of participants indicated that keynote speakers are knowledgeable and well informed in their field.