AAOU Conference in Jeju Island, South Korea

It was an honor for me to be selected as one of the delegations to attend and present my paper at the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Conference in Jeju Island, South Korea. On the first day of the conference, we walked to the venue. The distance from the hotel to the venue was only about 15 minutes. We arrived at the ICC around 8 a.m., and it was still very quiet. There were only organizers from AAOU and KNOU (Korea National Open University). We immediately asked where we could set up the UT booth. We quickly set up the items we brought, including merchandise that turned out to be very attractive to visitors. After attending the opening ceremony in the hall, I immediately continued my duty as a note-taker at the AAOU Executive Committee Meeting. After that, I hurried to the next room because I had to present my paper. Thankfully, the presentation went smoothly. In the afternoon, I was asked to be the moderator for the Best Paper Award event. It was a very productive day. We walked back to the hotel and arrived around 8 p.m.

The second day of the conference was a bit more relaxed because I had already presented. At 10:00 a.m., the event started with presentations from two keynote speakers. After that, Ms. Vica and I were assigned to be note-takers for the AAOU General Body Meeting. While waiting for the gala dinner at 6 p.m., I managed the travel expense reports for all delegates with the AAOU and also attended presentations by several presenters from UT. After everything was settled, we headed to Ocean View for the gala dinner, and it turned out the organizers had arranged for entertainment. We watched a performance by a team playing traditional Korean musical instruments. It was very exciting! The view was also beautiful and breathtaking. Masya Allah.

On the last day of the conference, we listened to two speakers from ICDE and there was the announcement of the AAOU Awards. After that, we were taken on a post-conference tour to two locations using a bus provided by the organizers. We visited Jeju Gotjawal Forest and Gwakji Beach Promenade. The wind was super strong and the weather was very cold at the beach. We only managed to take some photos since we were not allowed to get too close to the beach. After the tour, we were taken back to the ICC. Since it was still quite early, we took a walk to Seogwipo Market before heading to Seoul the next day. We really wanted to try various street foods available, but unfortunately, we couldn’t due to concerns about the ingredients. In the end, we just bought fish-shaped cakes filled with red bean paste and also shopped for souvenirs at the market.