Associate Professor. Ts. Dr. Muhammad Helmi Norman is currently the Director for Professional and Leadership Development, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). The center focuses on talent development for university leaders, academic, and non-academic staff. He was previously the Deputy Director of Instructional Technologies for the Center of Teaching and Curriculum Development that spearheaded e-learning initiatives at the university. 

 

He is also an Associate Professor of Digital and Futuristic Education at the Research Center for Teaching and Learning Innovations, Faculty of Education. Previously, he was the Assistant Dean of Teaching and CITRA, and e-Learning Coordinator for the faculty and previously initiated the fourth industrial revolution initiatives at the faculty. He is a certified Professional Technologist of the Malaysian Board of Technologists. 

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He was been awarded with four international awards from Apple, which are the Apple Distinguished Educator award and Apple Teacher awards in 2019, as well as the Apple Professional Learning Specialist and Apple Professional Learning Provider awards in 2018, for his involvements in educational transformations at primary, secondary, and higher education levels. He was also awarded a post-doctorate award by the European Union Erasmus Mundus to conduct research on digital health at the Bournemouth University Human Computer Interaction Group, United Kingdom. He also has been recently awarded the Anugerah Bitara UKM 2022 (Anugerah Bitara Pengajaran) for the Applied Literature and Social Science Category awarded by UKM in his contributions towards e-learning at lower and higher education levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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He is an advocator of digital and futuristic education at both national and global landscapes across Europe and Asia and has given keynote addresses, talks, and workshops in this field. Notably, at international level, he was invited by UNESCO at the MNCU Network Dialogue with panelists from UNICEF, Malaysia and Fiji universities. Dr Norman is currently the Convener of the Digital and AI Transformation Committee for the Association for Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP) and member of the e-Learning Research Network for Asia-Europe Meeting. His past international affiliations include appointment as a director on the board of directors with the International Association for Blended Learning (IABL), which pioneers blended learning initiatives around the globe. With IABL, he was involved in development of the first blended learning policy in the world, which is the IABL Dubai Declaration: Blended Learning 2025 with the collaboration of experts with global experts representing academia, governmental offices, and industry, from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and South East Asia. He has also been attached at global research institutions, where was attached to the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California San Diego, USA, to study research on computational neuroscience; and Center for Driven Innovation, Learning and Design (eLL), Aalborg University, Denmark, to study on participatory innovation.

 

At national level, Dr Norman was appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Malaysian e-Learning Council for Public Universities (MEIPTA) and has been involved in various national initiatives with the Ministry of Higher Education including development of e- learning policies, guidelines, and publications, such as development of the “Garis Panduan Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran Teradun Gantian (Pembelajaran dalam Talian)” and "Amalan Terbaik bagi Pembelajaran Imersif bagi Pendidikan Tinggi" (Best Practices on Immersive Learning for Higher Education) and Alternative Assessment in Higher Education book by Malaysian Higher Education Teaching and Learning Council by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia.

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With regards to research, Dr Norman has led several research projects that include the European Commission Erasmus+ International Capacity Building on the “Digital Transformation of Asian Higher Education (DigitAsia)” collaboration between Croatia, Spain, Maldives, Sri Lanka & Malaysia as well as the Malaysian Research Universities Network (MRUN) project for development of cross- creative fourth industrial revolution (4IR) environments for children with Autism using mobile learning and drones. He was also involved in the European Erasmus+ Early Nutrition e-Learning Academic for South East Asia research project for development of a training module for healthcare and medical professionals. The project involved experts from Germany, United Kingdom, Romania, Thailand, and Malaysia. He has also published several high-impact journal articles including a recent WoS Q2 article entitled: “The Educational Digital Divide for Vulnerable Students in the Pandemic: Towards the New Agenda 2030” that involved collaborations with experts from Canada and Greece as well as a WoS Q1 article with collaborators from United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

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Dr Helmi has also been involved in several publication of international and national books and book chapters, notably, a co-edited a book entitled: The Impact of MOOCs on Distance Education in Malaysia and Beyond, which involves experts from Universities based in Canada, Austria, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, as well as international organizations such as the Commonwealth of Learning and International Association for Blended Learning (IABL). In addition, Dr Helmi has been involved in nationwide projects with the Ministry of Education and schools including the development of the national learning managment system called Digital Educational Learning Initiative Malaysia (DELIMa) involving major technological industrial partners Apple, Google, and Microsoft. He is also currently involved in collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation on the MetaSkool project, which involves a nationwide Proof of Concept programme of NextGen Technologies (i.e., metaverse) application and adoption for teaching and learning for schools.