Masterplans for ICT in Education

  As I mentioned in the earlier post, it is important for MOE to develop masterplans for ICT in education because the Info-Communications Technology industry is a thriving industry in today's society. In order not to let our students be left behind, we need to develop their interests and skills in this field when they are young and the best place to do it is in schools. Schools are the best place for students to practice the up to date technologies as not every family can offer their kids with the latest technologies. After all, schools is the place where it prepares students for the workforce.
  Personally, I have been through the ICT masterplan 1 and 2 when I was studying. As media and technology grows in Singapore, I was delighted that some of my lessons were no longer classroom based. I remembered when I was in Primary School, my teacher often brought us to the computer labs and let us learn the subjects through the different interactive software. Learning through interactive media and audio really makes lessons more interesting. I feel that through these, my attention span in class was longer. Also, when I was in Secondary School, I attended many enrichment programmes which taught me the different computer softwares such as "adobe photoshop, microsoft office and flash". These programmes were very useful as they aided me throughout my education in things such as project work and presentation. However, I feel that not all schools have provided the platforms for students to put into use their learnt skills. As a results, many students forget the skills that they have learnt. As for me, I do not remember how to use the "flash" programme if you would ask me now. It is because such skills need to be constantly put into use in order for us to remember it.
  It is true that with the implementation of ICT, many students feel more engaged during lesson when their teachers leverage on technology. It develops our thinking skills and instill a form of social learning. However, teachers do need to use ICT effectively in order to carry out an efficient lesson. When I was a student, I feel that some teachers are merely tapping on the surface of what technologies can offer. For examples, many teachers used powerpoint slides that are wordy to teach. Yes, it is not purely textbook but the concept is still similar to teaching through a text. Students still sit in front of the screen and take down notes based on the powerpoint slides. Moreover, during some of the e-learning sessions, we were made to download a set of powerpoint slides that the teacher had prepared and do a worksheet after that. I do not feel that this method is very effective in engaging the student's mind because the e-learning is not interative enough. Even though my school had a platform for students to participate in forum chats regarding the e-learning, we as students do not really participate in the forums because we were not trained to ask questions during lesson time.
  As a beginning teacher to be, I feel that it is important for us to master the necessary ICT skills before we can transform leaders during ICT enhanced lessons. Being in Xinmin Secondary School during my ESE, I am pleased to realise that schools are providing many infrastructures for teachers to use during their lesson time but I'm also sad to know that not all teachers are equipped with the necessary skills. ICT can indeed allow students to gain the 21st century competencies such as self-directed learning. However, the teachers must first move out of the old methodology of teaching and embrace the new teachnologies too.