APU students and academicians recently excelled at UPM’s I-PICTL/SULAM 2025 carnival, winning two Gold and one Silver awards for their contributions to cultural heritage and education, ‘Ramabot Saga’ and ‘Automated Refinery Intervention Treatment (ARIT)’.

Students and academicians from Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation’s (APU) School of Computing (SoC) and School of Mathematics, Actuarial & Quantitative Studies (SoMAQS) have truly shone, scooping up two Gold and one Silver award at the International Putra Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference (I-PICTL) and the Service-Learning (SULAM) Carnival 2025.

The I-PICTL/SULAM 2025, organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia’s (UPM) Centre for Academic Development and Leadership Excellence (CADe-Lead).

This dynamic carnival-style event brings together a vibrant array of activities and initiatives, all geared towards fostering innovation and creativity in teaching and learning, ultimately enhancing academic quality, and promoting excellence across higher education.

With a strong emphasis on active student engagement, the carnival encourages participants to tackle real-world community issues by applying the knowledge and skills gained from their studies. 

It also serves as a vital platform to showcase how these impactful projects contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and champion holistic community development. 

This year’s theme, Adaptive Learning for a Changing World: Embracing Innovation in Teaching and Learning, certainly upheld its reputation as a hub for educational creativity and excellence.

Ramabot Saga: Bringing Wayang Kulit to Life with AI

Under the ‘Immersive Learning for a Changing World’ category, Data Informatics students Amelie Paul, Tan Ming Cyn, Lai Sin Yi, and Park Jiyeon bagged a Gold medal for their ground-breaking project, Ramabot Saga: Journey with a Timeless Hero of Wayang Kulit.

This remarkable achievement marks a significant milestone, brilliantly showcasing the potent combination of artificial intelligence (AI), culture, and education. 

It stands as a powerful testament to the growing influence of student-led innovation in shaping the future of learning.

Their project, Ramabot Saga, is an ingenious AI-powered chatbot designed to preserve and promote Wayang Kulit, Malaysia’s traditional shadow puppet theatre, through an immersive digital learning experience. 

Centred on the legendary figure of Rama, the chatbot invites users to talk, play, and preserve, engaging them through interactive storytelling, mini-games, and rich cultural conversations.

“Ramabot Saga perfectly illustrates how immersive technologies can effectively merge cultural preservation with modern learning. It offers an innovative pathway to keep traditional stories vibrant and alive in today’s digital era.

“By reimagining heritage through AI, this project makes a meaningful contribution to sustainable education in a rapidly evolving world,” explained Amelie, representing the team.

They developed the Ramabot system during their third semester last year as a class assignment, then began serious preparations for the competition with invaluable guidance from their mentors, Associate Professor Ts Dr Vinothini Kasinathan and Ms Tham Hoong Ching.

“We even had a last-minute practice session on Saturday morning and again via Teams on Sunday morning at 10 PM with Dr Vino to refine our pitch and presentation,” the team shared. 

“We are also incredibly grateful to Ms Tham, who supported us behind the scenes, from arranging our team t-shirts and the APU flag to handling all the administrative tasks. She even secured us a strategic corner spot, which gave us more space to interact with the judges. Her efforts truly made a huge difference to our experience.” 

Transforming Maths Learning 

APU academics Associate Professor Dr Rajasegeran Ramasamy (Head of SoMAQS) and Dr Sireesha Prathi Gadapa (SoMAQS Senior Lecturer) also made their mark at I-PICTL/SULAM@UPM 2025.

They successfully clinched one Gold and one Silver medal for their project, Enhancing Peer Tutoring with Automated Refinery Intervention Treatment in the AI Era. 

This impressive win was achieved under the ‘Inclusive and Personalised Learning Approaches for Adaptive Learning’ and ‘Oral Presentation’ categories.

The Refinery Intervention Treatment (RIT), a pedagogy rooted in peer tutoring principles, has been successfully implemented at APU to improve mathematics learning in mixed-ability classrooms. 

This innovative approach empowers high-achieving students to mentor their peers, fostering academic improvement, leadership development, and collaborative learning.

By creating an inclusive and supportive environment, RIT effectively addresses the diverse needs of learners, enabling them to reach their full potential.

To further strengthen this pedagogy, the Automated Refinery Intervention Treatment (ARIT) was introduced. 

ARIT streamlines the implementation of peer tutoring while retaining its vital educational essence.

Applied in the ‘Mathematical Concepts for Computing’ module, ARIT engaged 345 students, with participants categorised as Peer Leaders or Peer Members based on periodic performance assessments. 

“The approach significantly boosted student engagement, academic outcomes, and leadership skills, proving tremendously successful in enhancing overall course performance,” explained Dr Rajasegeran.

ARIT was introduced in a Level 1 module with clear objectives: to foster a deeper understanding of mathematics through collaborative learning, elevate student academic performance by providing targeted peer support, and cultivate strong peer leadership skills that empower students to effectively mentor and inspire others.

“ARIT benefits peer members by enhancing their learning and equips peer leaders with essential leadership skills, making education more inclusive and impactful,” said Dr Sireesha added, “ARIT is an innovative solution that fosters collaborative learning by providing quality education to students with low mastery. This directly contributes to SDG 4’s goal of equitable learning opportunities for all.”

It cultivates confidence, collaboration, and leadership, with its scalability holding the promise of extending quality education to underserved communities.