Blog #2: MASTERPLANS for ICT in education

In your opinion, why do you think it is important for MOE to develop the three MASTERPLANS for ICT in education?

The MASTERPLANS for ICT in education is a reaction in response to the rapid changes in the IT fields and its growing influence on Singapore’s society.

In 1997, there is a clear indication that, on a global scale, we were entering the infocomm era where the internet would be the next big media. By looking at the data gathered by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore Website (iDA), we could trace back to the trend MOE would

have seen in 1997.

In the survey conducted in 2004 by iDA on household computer ownership and internet access penetration in Singapore, household owning a computer has increased from 20% in 1992 to 41% in 1997 and home internet assess has increased from 9% to 14% between 1996 and 1997.

There is no other commodity in our history that came close to this growth rate. In 1990s, we were at the transition between a switch in the main stream media and the emergence of the internet and social network sites, such as www.frienster.com. There was already a hint of the great changes coming due to the rapid innovation in IT. MOE foresee and responded to these coming changes with the MASTERPLANS for ICT in education.

With the rapid adaptation of the internet and social networking sites, the way the world runs its business has changed. To face the new challenges in the new world, MOE has to prepare our future generation differently. Singapore has no other natural resource but human resources. The quality of our future generations is curial to ensure future success of Singapore. Our future generations must be initiative to explore and learn on their own, be adaptive to rapid changes, be responsive to new innovation and understand its implication and lastly, be able to made informed and intelligent choices a mist the new and the unknown. In my opinion, the MASTERPLANS for ICT is to mold our future generation with the above qualities so that they can excel in the new world.

The MASTERPLANS has to be conducted in different phase because we are at a transition of a break through similar to the time when the steam engine was introduced and generalized. The old model of teaching has to be transformed into a totally new model. Not only does the transformation takes time, but requires resources to change the infrastructure of the school, the operation procedure of the school, the hardware to support the new technology, the software to capitalize on the resources and most importantly, the teachers’ mind set and teaching methodology. It is a major change. The MASTERPLANS has to be broken down into 3 logical phases:

1. Equip the schools with the infrastructure, hardware and integrated operation systems.

2. Upgrade and expose the teachers on the new hardware, software and resources, which were introduced and established in Phase 1.

3. Implementation and integration of the hardware, software and teaching staff as a whole to deliver a totally new education system ready for the challenges in the new world.

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 (if applicable).

Unfortunately, I have already graduated from university in 2004.

Based on your ESE, how do you think the current MASTERPLAN 3 may affect your roles as a beginning teacher?

One of the Enabler Goals in MASTERPLANS3 (MP3) stated that teachers are expected to be able “to plan and deliver ICT-enabled learning experiences that will foster self-directed and collaborative learning among students as well as guide them in using ICT safely and responsibly”.

An advantage of being a beginning teacher is that we are more susceptible to new IT innovation. With MP1 and MP2, I believe that in addition to my teaching role, I should also be the champion to spread the use of ICT among colleagues and harness the true potential of the foundation MP1 and MP2 had laid.

As a teacher, I believe that I should equip myself with more IT tool and stay updated to other IT educational initiatives. After all, there is no ending to learning. (Hence, it is of paramount importance to teach one how to learn).