ICT Masterplanning for Education: Singapore's Experience Dr. Thiam-Seng KOH Director, Educational...

transcript

ICT Masterplanning for Education: Singapore's

Experience

Dr. Thiam-Seng KOHDirector, Educational TechnologySingapore Ministry of Education

20 June 2006

Presentation Outline

• Video on Use of ICT in Singapore Schools

• Historical Perspective of IT Use in Education

• First IT Masterplan in Education

• Second IT Masterplan in Education

• Key Learning Points for Policy Formulation

Late 1970’s - Computer Appreciation Clubs as extra-curricular activities.

1980’s - Computer assisted learning in primary school mathematics.

Computer Science (1981) and Computer Applications (1994) as subjects in the curriculum.

Mid-1995’s – Pilot projects on use of IT in education.

First Masterplan for IT inEducation (1997 – 2002)

Second Masterplan for IT in Education (2003 – 2007)

Historical Perspective

The National ComputerisationPlan (1980 – 1985)

The National IT Plan(1986 – 1991)

IT2000(1992 – 1999)

Infocomm 21(2000 – 2003)

Connected Singapore(2003 – 2006)

Intelligent Nation 2015(2006 –)

Civil Service Computerisation Programme (1980 – 1999)

Computerisation… Communications … Connectivity/Content

e-Government Action Plan(2000 – 2003) Convergence

e-Government Action Plan II(2003 – 2006) Connectedness

e-Government Action Plan III(2006 –) Creation …

Use of IT in EducationNational IT Plans e-Government

Source: http://www.ida.gov.sg

• Late 1970s – Introduce the use of micro- computers by students in computer appreciation clubs as extra-curricular activities at schools.

• 1981 – Introduce Computer Science as a subject in the A level curriculum.

• 1994 – Introduce Computer Applications, a skills-based subject in the secondary Normal (Technical) curriculum.

• 1980’s – Explore the use of computer assisted learning in primary school mathematics.

• Mid-1995’s – Pilot the use of IT in teaching and learning– Accelerating the Use of IT in Primary Schools (AITP)

project: Use of multimedia and computers in 6 primary schools.

– Students’ & Teachers’ Workbench (STW) project: Use of networked digital resources in lower secondary science in 6 secondary schools.

– JCNet: Use of Internet to support learning of GP, Physics and Chemistry in 2 Junior Colleges.

Philosophy ofFirst IT Masterplan (mp1)

Education should continually anticipate the

future needs of society and

work towards fulfilling

these needs.

Goal 1

Goal 2

Goal 3

Goal 4

Goal 1

Goal 2

Goal 3

Goal 4

Goal 1

Goal 2

Goal 3

Goal 4

Goal 1

Goal 2

Goal 3

Goal 4

Promote administrative and management excellence

Start-up Provisions for Student-to-Computer Ratio

Primary Schools – 6.6:1

Secondary Schools – 5:1

Target = up to 30% of curriculum time using IT.

In classrooms

In computer labs

In the library

In science labs

Technical Support for Schools

• A full time Technology Assistant (TA) for each school

• To provide first-level on-site support

Achievements of mp1

• Standard physical and technological infrastructure to support teaching and learning with IT.

• Teachers attained basic proficiency in integrating IT into the curriculum.

• R&D efforts with academia and industry e.g. EduPAD, Digital Media Repository & ScienceAlive

• Pockets of excellence in the use of IT in learning among some teachers and in some schools.

Second IT Masterplan (mp2)

• Consolidate and build on the achievements of the First IT Masterplan.

• Sustain the momentum.

• Bring the use of IT in learning to greater heights.

Philosophy ofSecond IT Masterplan (mp2)

Education should continually anticipate the

future needs of society and

work towards fulfilling

these needs.

Vision of mp2

IT will be pervasively and effectively used to enhance educational processes and structures to help realize the ability-driven education paradigm.

Today vs Tomorrow

IT to support existing curriculum

Mainly print content & CD-ROM courseware

Standard provisions

Teacher-centered

Basic competencies

One size fits all, phased approach

Seamless integration of IT into curriculum

Dynamic & interactive digital content

Flexible provisions

Student-centered

Range of competencies

Mass customization, greater ownership & autonomy

Some Learning Points

• Address the fundamental issues in education first before introducing ICT across the system e.g. appropriate curricula and good teachers.

• Take a systemic and systematic approach to IT implementation in the schools i.e. infrastructure, curriculum & assessment, content and professional development.

• Address the cultural or people dimension of IT implementation to transform the educational experiences rather than just doing faster of more of the same.

• Ensure alignment of intent and interests among key stakeholders (e.g. policy makers, parents, teachers, students, academics, industry, etc.)

• Take a multi-disciplinary and multi-partnership approach to push the frontiers on the use of IT in learning.

• Avoid spreading resources too thinly by distributing them equitably in the beginning of the implementation.

• Use the centralized approach to kick-start the implementation process but move on to providing top-down support for ground-up initiatives when the system achieve some level of maturity of implementation.

• Continue to learn from other countries to generate ideas and adapt good practices into the local curricula.

Challenges Ahead

• Sustaining professional development of teachers and school leaders.

– Changing beliefs through “success stories”

– Achieving reforms through communities of practice

– Building capacity and strengthening expertise in technology planning

– Building capacity in digital resource development by teachers

Challenges Ahead

• Exploiting the potentials of emerging technologies in the consumer space and IT-based pedagogies.

• Scaling up research findings to impact classroom practices.

References

• Singapore EduMALL (http://www.moe.gov.sg/edumall/)

• British Educational Communications & Technology Agency (http://www.becta.org.uk/)

• World Bank: ICT and Education

• UNESCO: ICT in Education (http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=494)

mapping

possibilities

Thank you

ICT Masterplanning for Education: Singapore's Experience Dr. Thiam-Seng KOH Director, Educational...

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