The Culture Corner team of UTMi Global Buddies had organised an event called Virtual Culture Corner 2.0 (VCC 2.0) on 15th & 22nd of January 2021 through the Zoom Meetings platform. The primary objective of the event was to enhance the cultural appreciation among UTM students from various nationalities background as part of a mission to promote diversity in culture, tradition, and customs.
The activity with a tagline “Creativity and Culture, Mix It Together”, was intended to make connection among UTM students through a fun and captivating experience during this pandemic season. The event was believed to be a fun way for the participants to learn about the different cultures and traditions around the world from the comfort of their homes. The event was realized this time to ensure the spirit of Culture Corner programme that serves the purpose of embracing the cultural diversity which usually organised on a monthly basis before, is not simply worn off due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The total number of participants who took part in VCC 2.0 for both Episode 1 & Episode 2 was 120 students which comprise UTM undergraduates and postgraduates. The participants were from different countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Yemen, Egypt, Indonesia, and many more.
A few themes were put in place for each episode of the VCC 2.0 such as Cultural Music & Dance, Festivals & Celebrations as well as People & Languages. The participants got the opportunity to attend presentations and 40 mins workshop session conducted by various International Student Society (ISS) such as ISS Yemen, ISS Egypt, ISS Indonesia, ISS Nigeria and ISS Pakistan.
At the beginning of January, the event was promoted to UTM students through various channels such as WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages, and Global Buddies Official Instagram page. The event had received a good response from the target audience based on the registration for the event and participation in a WhatsApp group that created specifically to facilitate the communication between participants and organisers during the activity.
All the participants are required to fill up the registration form created using Google Form. On the day of the event, a reminder message consisting of all the things that the participants should have to keep in mind including the event platform link (Zoom Meetings) and event virtual backgrounds were sent to the WhatsApp group.
In addition to that, the participants were encouraged to actively utilize the chat room during the event which acted as a space to share information and perspectives related to cultures and traditions. Towards the end of the event in both episodes, the participants got to play the Kahoot Quiz game to test their gained knowledge throughout the event and the winner got to win cash prizes.
Based on the feedbacks collected from the participants, the majority of them have gained a lot of new information about international cultures around the world through the event. The virtual platform had made the overall session interactive and enjoyable for the participants although they were not connected which each other in the same physical space.
Conclusively, the Virtual Culture Corner 2.0 was very fruitful and had managed to achieve its objectives. The Organising Committee of VCC 2.0 believes that a similar kind of event can be conducted in the future to continue enhancing cross-cultural understanding among UTM students from different religious backgrounds and nationalities.