In 1997, the Ministry of Education launched the ICT Masterplan 1 to build up the basic ICT infrastructure in all schools and trained teachers in using ICT to improve their teaching pedagogy. In 2002, the ICT Masterplan 2 is launched to bring ICT usage beyond the mere use of powerpoint slide, encouraging innovative usage of ICT in teaching. The ongoing ICT Masterplan 3 has the goal of strengthening competencies for self-directed learning, tailoring learning experience according to different students, encouraging students to go deeper and advance their learning, and also allowing learning everywhere.
In my opinion, the ICT masterplans are important as they keep Singapore abreast in education at the international level. Countries all over the world have taken steps to infuse ICT in their education system. In Korea, plans have already been put in place to digitize all textbooks by 2015. Education ministries in different parts of the world have drawn up masterplans of their own, but with the same principle of infusing and promoting use of ICT tools in education. It is important therefore for Singapore to keep up with this global trend, so as to develop students with the necessary competencies, desirable not only within our home country, but also on the international stage.
In Singapore’s context, we have already reached a stage where the new generation is constantly and spontaneously updating themselves with technological advancement, equipping themselves with skills needed for the usage of newly developed ICT tools and exploring the wide range of services available online on their own. With learners themselves being curiously feeding themselves with information, it is therefore important that learners be educated in how to selectively sieve out useful information and harness the power of ICT tools for good purposes.
For learners, ICT tools facilitate customization of teaching to cater to students with different learning ability. This ensures that no students are left behind. Teachers are constantly trained to design their lessons based on the students’ needs, and this requires detailed analysis of the students’ work. This is facilitated by the use of ICT tools and online management systems. In this respect, the ICT masterplans sets the tone and calls for the initiation for student specific teaching which was previously a daunting task in education.
As an ex-Andersonian, I recall that Anderson Secondary School was one of the first few schools whereby ICT tools were first introduced. Many computer rooms were set up with the advance computers installed with the most updated software. This was at the beginning stage of ICT masterplan 1. I recall that science lessons were all conducted in the student-teacher workbench computer studio where we get to learn science by watching video clips of science experiments. The learning package also allowed immediate assessment via quizzes. After going through the lesson, the teacher will assess our understanding by posing questions and testing our concepts. It was a completely different learning experience compared to times when I was in primary school, where lessons are still mostly classroom-based. The message that was implicitly conveyed behind all these IT based lessons was that the use of ICT is and will continue to set the trend and play a crucial part in development of the world in the future. It is therefore important for individuals to equip ourselves with skills and knowledge to harness the power of these tools to remain competent in the future.
As a beginning teacher, I think it is important for me to familiarize with the available ICT tools and reflect about how these ICT tools can help students in becoming more independent and self-directed in their own learning, going beyond content taught in class. I believe that it will also be important for me to build up teaching resources with the available ICT tools, and think about how I can encourage students to be more creative with the ICT tools that are available to them in their own learning.
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