Creative Technology (Singapore)

This community service program aimed to enhance teachers’ competence in developing industry-aligned skill competency test questions for vocational education. The activity was conducted at SMK BMR Pekanbaru on December 12, 2025, in response to limited teacher capacity in designing assessment instruments aligned with industry standards and national competency frameworks. A participatory mentoring approach was implemented through workshops, guided practice, group discussions, and validation sessions. Teachers were assisted in mapping occupational competency standards, developing performance-based test questions, and constructing analytic scoring rubrics relevant to industry needs. The results showed improved teacher understanding of competency-based assessment principles and increased ability to produce customized skill competency test questions supported by clear performance indicators and scoring guidelines. Participants also demonstrated greater confidence in independently developing assessment instruments for future competency examinations. These findings indicate that structured mentoring activities effectively strengthen teachers’ assessment literacy in vocational schools. Aligning competency test instruments with industry requirements enhances the relevance and quality of vocational assessment and helps prepare graduates who meet workforce demands. The program confirms that mentoring-based community service can serve as a sustainable strategy for improving assessment practices and strengthening school–industry alignment in vocational education.

This article aims to explain the concept of the “Open-Door Church” in the apostolic exhortation <em>Evangelii Gaudium</em> and to apply in the pastoral work of the Church in Indonesia. This study employs a qualitative method, focusing on in-depth literature review complemented by systematic content analysis of primary and secondary sources. The primary document studied is <em>Evangelii Gaudium</em> to gain a comprehensive understanding the concept of the “Open-Door Church”. Based on an in-depth examination of the document, the “Open-Door Church” is defined as the Church's effort to move beyond the comfort zone of liturgical-centered pastoralism, a Church ready to welcome all people of good will, a Church that prioritizes service to the poor, a Church that continually renews itself internally, and a Church that respects the culture of the community. The “Open-Door Church” demands pastoral work that is sensitive to the signs of the times, focuses on <em>diakonia</em> for the poor, and prioritizes intergenerational evangelization for those of different faiths and the poor. By becoming a “Open-Door Church”, the synodal aspect of the Church becomes stronger.

The teaching of Arabic literature at the pre-university level, particularly the Adab wa al-Nuṣūṣ subject within Malaysia’s Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) programme, continues to present significant pedagogical challenges. Students frequently experience difficulty engaging with and interpreting Arabic poetic texts due to abstract language, symbolic expression, and instructional practices that remain largely teacher-centred and text-bound. Drawing on growing evidence that immersive technologies can support learning in abstract and cognitively demanding domains, this study examines the pedagogical potential of Augmented Reality (AR) as a curriculum-aligned instructional medium for Arabic literature education at the STAM level. Guided by a Design and Development Research (DDR) methodology and grounded in constructivist learning theory, multimedia learning theory, and experiential learning theory, the study reports on the design, development, and preliminary classroom implementation of MySyair, an AR-based learning application aligned with the Malaysian Kurikulum Bersepadu Dini (KBD). The findings indicate that AR-supported visualisation and multimedia explanations can enhance students’ engagement, comprehension, and appreciation of Arabic poetry, while also supporting teachers’ instructional practices within formal classroom contexts. By extending the application of AR into curriculum-driven, school-level Arabic literary education, this study contributes a pedagogically grounded and design-based model for innovation in pre-university humanities education.

This study examines the role of visual humor in the dynamics of political communication, representation of power, cultural diplomacy, and ethical issues in the digital media era. Using an integrative literature review approach, this study synthesizes 34 academic articles from various fields, including political communication, visual studies, media ethics, and international relations. The analysis reveals five main themes: humor as a political communication strategy, caricatures as a visual representation of power, humor as soft power in cultural diplomacy, the ethics and responsibilities of visual humor, and the transformation of visual humor in the digital media era. This study confirms that visual humor is an effective and sensitive medium capable of influencing public opinion, shaping images of power, and mediating geopolitical relations, but at the same time is vulnerable to violating the ethics of representation. This article offers a conceptual model “Ethical Soft Power Framework for Visual Humor” as a theoretical contribution to understanding the role of visual humor in contemporary politics.

To the Editor -My father was born in the coal fields of eastern Kentucky.As a child, he watched neighbors' lives cut short by diseases we now know how to prevent.He carried the scars of inadequate dental care for the rest of his life, a reminder of what it meant to grow up poor in rural America.Those experiences shaped his calling to pediatrics and his lifelong advocacy for children who, because of financial, physiological, or behavioral limitations, were too often on the short end of the stick.

This chapter investigates how extended reality technologies are represented in the worldbuilding of tabletop role-playing games and how the experiences of seeing or perceiving the world through machine vision are integrated into gameplay. Due to their flexibility and openness in creating imaginary speculative futures, tabletop role-playing games will be used as a reference point. Due to its uninterrupted release history and publication policy of reflecting on and responding to contemporary technological developments, the Shadowrun (1989-2024) series is selected as the focus of the chapter. The chapter first discusses how science fiction has shaped the public perception of extended reality technologies and how tabletop roleplaying games can be used to approach technology critically. The chapter then presents how the Shadowrun series integrates emerging technologies into its world-building and continues with an investigation of how extended realities are represented. Two distinct periods are identified in this survey. In the first period, emerging cyberpunk tropes are used to speculate on extended reality technologies as a novelty with little social commentary. Inspired by the growing availability of online services, the second period envisions a future society where extended realities have become ubiquitous. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how tabletop role-playing games can be utilized to explore perceptions, expectations, and design possibilities regarding developing extended realities by providing a space for exploration and speculation.

Technical English (TE) proficiency is crucial for the future careers of polytechnic students. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools offer significant potential to enhance language learning, their effectiveness relies on student acceptance and use. There is limited understanding of what drives polytechnic students to adopt these tools specifically for TE. This study aims to identify the key factors influencing polytechnic students' acceptance and use of AI tools in this context and employ a quantitative approach based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze survey data collected from 100 Polytechnic Kota Bharu (PKB) students enrolled in TE courses. The research investigates core antecedents, primarily perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU), and their impact on students' behavioral intention (BI) to use AI tools. The potential influence of external factors such as social influence and lecturer support are examined. The study found PEOU was identified as a critical antecedent, which significantly positively affected PU and BI. The study reaffirmed the significant predictive power of BI on AU, indicating that students' stated intentions reliably translate into their subsequent usage behaviour. This research will offer practical recommendations for educators seeking to integrate AI tools effectively into TE instruction. Theoretically, this study contributes to understanding technology adoption within the specific domain of technical and vocational language education, providing valuable insights for leveraging AI to improve essential communication skills for aspiring technical professionals.