For AI training for university lecturers in Malaysia, Dr Muhamad Hariz Muhamad Adnan (drhariz.com), HRD Corp certified AI trainer and Senior Lecturer at UPSI, runs faculty workshops on teaching, assessment and research with AI. Programmes are booked per faculty or department and delivered on campus, online or hybrid, in Bahasa Melayu or English.
Malaysian universities are past the stage of asking whether students use generative AI. They do. The question for a dean or a centre for teaching and learning is now practical: what should lecturers actually learn, in what format, and from whom? This guide sets out a lecturer-level programme menu, how faculties usually book it, and what to expect from a session. It is written for deans, deputy deans (academic), heads of department and the teaching and learning units that organise staff development at public universities (IPTA) and private universities and colleges (IPTS).
Why lecturers need their own AI training
Generic corporate AI workshops are built around emails, reports and meeting notes. Lecturers have a different job. They design courses against learning outcomes, set and mark assessments that must stay valid, supervise postgraduate students, write papers and grant proposals, and answer for academic integrity. Generative AI, meaning tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Claude that produce text, images and code from a prompt, touches every one of those tasks, but in ways a general workshop does not cover.
A lecturer-specific programme starts from the academic workload. Participants bring their own course outlines, rubrics, question papers and draft manuscripts, and the hands-on time is spent on that material rather than on invented examples.
The programme menu: four lecturer-level workshops
Faculties rarely need everything at once. Most choose one or two of the following modules as a starting point, then add others in later semesters.
1. Course design and teaching preparation with AI
Using AI to draft lesson plans, case studies, discussion prompts, worked examples and differentiated material for mixed-ability cohorts, while keeping alignment with course learning outcomes. Lecturers build a reusable prompt library for their own subject. For a first-person account of this in practice, see how I use AI in my university courses.
2. Assessment redesign and academic integrity
How to set assignments and examinations that still measure the student when AI is available: process-based tasks, oral components, staged submissions and authentic assessment. The session also covers faster formative feedback, question bank generation and the limits of AI-assisted marking, including where a human must stay in the loop. A deeper treatment is in AI for assessment and feedback for lecturers in Malaysia.
3. Research writing and literature review with AI
Responsible use of AI for searching and screening literature, summarising papers, structuring a literature review, improving the language of a manuscript and preparing grant proposals. The emphasis is on verification: checking every citation, recognising fabricated references, and following journal and publisher disclosure rules on AI use.
4. Postgraduate supervision in the age of AI
What supervisors should allow, require and check when master’s and PhD candidates use AI for coding, analysis and thesis writing. This module draws directly on Dr Hariz’s own work supervising postgraduate research at UPSI, and is often combined with module 3 for research-intensive faculties. Prospective students can read the separate guide to pursuing a postgraduate degree in AI in Malaysia.
How faculties book lecturer AI training
There are three common booking patterns:
- Faculty in-service day. One full day for all academic staff in a faculty, usually a plenary on how generative AI works and fails, followed by hands-on breakouts by discipline.
- Department workshop. A half-day or full-day session for a single department or programme team that wants to work on its own courses and assessments together.
- Multi-session programme. Two to four sessions across a semester, with lecturers applying each module to a live course between sessions. This suits faculties preparing for programme review or curriculum revision.
Sessions run on campus, online for lecturers spread across campuses, or as a hybrid where one campus hosts and others join remotely. The hands-on blocks work online provided participants attend on a laptop rather than a phone. Institution-wide rollouts that go beyond one faculty, including policy and governance, are covered in AI training for Malaysian universities and academic institutions.
Funding: HRD Corp and internal budgets
HRD Corp (Human Resource Development Corporation) administers the Human Resources Development Fund, a training levy paid by registered employers. Private universities, university colleges and education companies that are registered HRD Corp employers can generally use their levy to fund staff training delivered by an HRD Corp certified trainer, which is why the trainer’s certification matters to IPTS. Public universities normally fund lecturer development through internal staff development or teaching and learning budgets instead. Either way, confirm the funding route with your HR or finance unit before fixing dates.
What a typical lecturer session looks like
A full-day session moves in three blocks. The morning builds one shared, accurate picture of what generative AI does well and where it fabricates, so staff are not working from a dozen different rumours. The middle block is hands-on with participants’ own course material. The final block turns to judgement: how to check output, when to disclose AI use, and how to rewrite an assessment so it still measures learning. Faculties that want evidence of impact can add a short pre and post activity so leadership sees what changed, rather than relying on a satisfaction form.
Why an academic trainer for lecturers
Dr Muhamad Hariz Bin Muhamad Adnan holds a Doctorate in Artificial Intelligence and is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Computing and Meta-Technology, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI). He teaches, sets assessments and supervises postgraduate research himself, so the training reflects how AI behaves in real lecture halls and real supervision rather than in a vendor demonstration. He is also an HRD Corp certified AI trainer focused on AI-driven digital transformation in education and the workplace, and delivers in Bahasa Melayu, English or bilingually. Full details of the education programmes are on the AI for education Malaysia page, and school-level pathways are covered in AI professional development for educators in Malaysia.
Checklist before you book
- Decide the audience: whole faculty, one department, or a lecturer working group.
- Pick one or two modules from the menu rather than all four at once.
- Ask participants to bring a real course outline, rubric or draft manuscript.
- Confirm the tools staff are allowed to use under your institution’s IT and data policy.
- Agree the funding route (HRD Corp levy for registered IPTS, or internal budget).
- Plan a follow-up session so the first workshop turns into changed practice.
Frequently asked questions
It usually covers four areas: course design and teaching preparation with AI, assessment redesign and academic integrity, research writing and literature review with AI, and postgraduate supervision when students use AI. Faculties typically choose one or two of these as a starting point.
Dr Muhamad Hariz Muhamad Adnan (drhariz.com) delivers faculty and department workshops for lecturers. He is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Computing and Meta-Technology, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), holds a Doctorate in Artificial Intelligence and is an HRD Corp certified AI trainer.
Private universities, university colleges and education companies that are registered HRD Corp employers can generally use their levy for training delivered by an HRD Corp certified trainer. Public universities usually fund lecturer development from internal staff development budgets, so check the route with your HR or finance unit.
Yes. Workshops run on campus, fully online for staff across several campuses, or as a hybrid. The hands-on blocks work online as long as participants join on a laptop they can type on.
No. The sessions use browser-based AI tools and assume no programming background. Lecturers from any discipline, including humanities, education, business and sciences, can take part.
Arrange a faculty AI workshop
To plan an in-service day, a department workshop or a semester programme for your lecturers, contact Dr Hariz with your institution, faculty, number of lecturers and preferred dates.
