Connection between ESE & the Masterplans for ICT

Describe how the achievement(s) of the three Masterplans for the ICT in education are evident in the school/ classes that you are attached to for your ESE.

In my opinion, I think my school has done well in the Masterplans for ICT in education. In terms of infrastructure, our school has three computer labs catered for day-to-day teaching. On top of that, there is also a library/ research corner for students to use during their free time. Each teacher is given a laptop for use. Besides, all the classroom has a computer and also a visualiser for the teacher’s use when need arises. This encourages the teachers to use ICT resources in their teaching.

For the students, there are minimally 2 lessons plan each term, called the ‘ICT baseline’, where the teachers will impart computer skills to the students in any of the subjects. Some examples include asking the P4 students to search on dfferent search engines the meaning of geyser and presenting the information in table forms, or creating art pieces with the program Fireworks.

Teachers are also able to leverage on online resources like Lead.com and students generally enjoy going to computer classes. For example in Mathematics classes, the students prefer going to ZoobaIsland for practices to papers. I feel that computer programs like this stimulates the students’ thinking further as compared to just sitting in classrooms and doing the revision papers.

In Mrs Khoo’s class which I blogged about in the first post, it is evident that the students in this case already exhibit characteristics of being self-directed learners.

After that particular mobile trail, I did sit in for the post discussion. The discussion was lively, students have a lot of questions for the teacher and you can see that they want to know more and some of them are even able to generate ideas to answer to their peers’ question without the help of the teacher. This goes in line with the goal of Masterplan 3 where the students work as a community through collaborative learning with the use of ICT.

Masterplans for ICT in Education

Why is it important for the Ministry of Education (MOE) to develop the three Masterplans for ICT in education?

Schooling traditionally stopped when work began. In the knowledge society, it never stops. – The Economist, 2001

Singapore’s drive towards the knowledge-based economy requires an education system which can equip the people with skills for creating, acquiring, disseminating and applying knowledge.

The importance of the Masterplans for ICT for Education is to then lay the basic foundation and equip ICT skills and competencies in students so as to prepare them for work in an ICT-rich environment.

The primary motivation for integrating ICT in schools is the belief that it supports students in their own constructive thinking, allows them to transcend their cognitive limitations and engages them in cognitive operations that they may not have been capable of otherwise.

ICTs are the key enables of the knowledge society. The development of ICT will build an environment in which most knowledge is shared and more knowledge and information is created as the distribution of such knowledge increases.

Education is, therefore, one of the most important components in creating knowledge societies, economic growth and prosperity. Education, in other words, is the foundation for every nation to progress. Education is not only the means by which individuals become skilled participants in society and the economy, it is also one of the key drivers in expanding ICT usage.

Given the advancement in info communication technologies, our young today are born native to the digital age. Instead of curbing the proliferation of technology, the government has integrated ICT into education so as to harness the power of connectivity.

Fusing the Masterplans in education allows the people to be better equipped with skills necessary for the 21st century’s challenges.

Has any of the Masterplans impacted you as a student? Share your experience of how ICT had been used in the classes you attended as a student.

I was in Primary 4 when Masterplan 1 was implemented. There was not much of an exposure to any ICT materials. However, when I moved on the Secondary school, I was given the opportunity to attend computer lessons. We have a special tutor for these lessons where he will spend 1 hour a week to teach us how to use computer applications like Microsoft and even adobe.

One of the biggest impacts that it has in my life would be during the time of the Interdisciplinary Project Work in my Junior College days. I learnt to make use of the Internet and to search for information independently for my project. At that point of time, my family is not able to afford a computer for me at home. However, through the Masterplan, I was able to work on the project in School.

Looking back, these lessons have in fact prepared me for my years in University, as well as in my career. Being proficient in these applications enable me to work faster and better. It has also provided me with the skills to complete ICT-based tasks.

Based on your enhanced school experience, how do you think the current Masterplan 3 may affect you role as a beginning teacher?

The key goal for the current Masterplan 3 for students will be for them to become self-directed learners. This can be done through collaborative learning between students, as well as students and teachers.

As a beginning teacher that has undergone all 3 Masterplans, I guess my role will be more of a facilitator in helping the children gain these ICT skills as well as teach them how to make use of the information wisely.

Information flow will be cyclical instead of the traditional teacher to student. The curriculum also challenges me to infuse more ICT related tasks in teaching so as to make lessons more interesting and engage the students in higher order thinking.

Classroom Observation

Enhanced School Experience

Preparatory task for ICT for Meaningful Learning

Specific Observations

School name: Townsville Primary School

Class: 3 Hope

Profile of the class: The students are of mixed ability. There is one girl though, Lwin, who is new to school and is not familiar with the use of English as spoken language. Thus her teacher, Mrs Khoo, told me that Lwin seldom participates in class discussions and interacts very little with her classmates.

Subject: Science – Plants (mobile learning)

For the usual science lessons, Townsville follows the framework of Ideas First where children are encouraged to work as a community of scientists and leverage on each other’s knowledge of the topic. As such, sharing of ideas is a common practice in Science curriculum and the role of the teacher is usually to facilitate and correct the students when the need arises.

The ICT tools used for the lesson are netbook, a webcam, as well as a program called Quickmark.

The students are divided into groups of 5 and brought to the science garden within the school compound. There are various parts to the science garden, namely the butterfly enclosure, the pond, the organic farm and also a section dedicated to carnivorous plants.

As this is the children’s’ first time participating in the mobile learning trail for science, Mrs Khoo had to spend a fraction of the time briefing the students on how to take good care of the equipment and also to look out for certain clues to the questions. Students basically have no problems logging onto the computer and the Quickmark program itself as they were already exposed to the technology before hand.

For this lesson, the students were not issued any handouts at all and they are to bring the netbooks around the garden in their groups to look up information and subsequently answer the questions.

At each of the various sections, there is a barcode where the students have to snap a picture of with the webcam. The Quickmark program will then analyse the barcode and direct them to a website where information about the particular section can be found.

Students then learn to process the information and use the information on the website to answer a few questions that follow the passage. Instead of frontal teaching by the teacher, the website has served as an alternative platform whereby the children can learn. It provides the opportunity for students to be self directed learners where they get to decide for themselves what is needed to complete the quiz or task at hand.

General Observations

I feel that the students get very excited when they are allowed to use ICT tools in their learning and it increases their attention span on that particular lesson. Using ICT tools in lessons changes the role of the teacher to that of a facilitator where students can become self-directed learners.

Lwin was also seen participating in the activity actively. When I approached the group, I can see her trying to read out the passages on screen to comprehend and matching it the pictures to the real life example. When questioned, she can correctly point out and tell me in simple terms the plants and its functions.

Mrs Khoo feels that the children gain a greater sense of achievement when they can handle the equipments well and make use of the information to complete the task at hand without much handholding from the teacher. She observed that the retention span of the knowledge gained is also longer this way.