Promoting IT in childhood education: how Singapore prepares for a different future.

In 1997, when the Ministry of Education in Singapore launched its first Masterplan for Information Technology (IT) in Education, a press release explained that the underlying philosophy of the plan was that education should continually anticipate the future needs of society and work toward fulfilling those needs. Children need to think independently and creatively, be competent and confident problem solvers, and become lifelong learners. IT-based teaching and learning strategies will facilitate such development, and open possibilities for designing new curricula and methods of assessment to meet our education objectives. IT also will enhance the effectiveness of education administration, and encourage schools to communicate and collaborate with other institutions and the community at large.

Singapore's Masterplan for IT in Education lays out a very comprehensive strategy for creating an IT-based teaching and learning environment in every school. IT in education is not about chasing the latest technologies; rather it is really about tapping into new possibilities that will help reach Singapore's education goals set forth by the Ministry, including that of ability-driven education.

The Masterplan is intended to be a blueprint for IT use in all schools and to ensure access to an IT-enriched school environment for every child. The main goals are to:

* Enhance linkages between the school and the world around it: Teachers and pupils will communicate and collaborate with other institutions.

* Generate innovative processes in education: Development of new teaching and learning strategies will open new possibilities for curricula and assessment. Schools will be given autonomy to deploy IT resources flexibly. New school designs, both curricular and physical, will seek to maximize the potential of IT in education.

* Enhance creative thinking, lifelong learning, and social responsibility: IT-based learning strategies will help to develop pupils' ability to think flexibly and innovatively, to cooperate with one another, and to make sound, value-based judgments.

* Promote administrative and management excellence in the education system: IT will be used to promote greater efficiency in administration and communication, thereby supporting more effective education management.

The Masterplan covers four key dimensions:

* Curriculum and Assessment

--shift towards a better balance between acquisition of factual knowledge and mastery of concepts and skills

--encourage pupils to engage in more active and independent learning

--include assessment modes that will measure abilities in applying information, thinking, and communicating.

* Learning Resources

--acquire and stimulate development of a wide range of educational software to meet curriculum needs

--facilitate use of relevant Internet resources for teaching and learning

--provide a system of convenient procurement to help schools obtain software easily and on time.

* Teacher Development

--train every teacher in the purposeful use of IT for teaching

--equip trainee teachers with core skills in teaching with IT

--form partnerships between schools and institutions of higher learning and industry.

* Physical and Technological Infrastructure

--provide a pupil-computer ratio of 2:1

--provide pupils with access to IT in all learning areas in the school

--provide a teacher-computer ratio of 2:1

--provide school-wide networks and link all schools through a wide area network, which will eventually connect to Singapore ONE (the island-wide broadband network), thus enabling high-speed delivery of multimedia service.

The 1997 Masterplan established national standards for IT use in schools. Schools were given the flexibility to determine how quickly they would meet the national standards by 2002, depending, in part, on their readiness to use IT meaningfully to meet learning objectives. Initially, all primary schools were provided with the hardware and software required to allow IT-based learning for 10 percent of the total curriculum time. Initial provisions for secondary schools and junior colleges enabled them to use IT for roughly 14 percent of curriculum time. By the year 2002, the Masterplan envisaged a pupil-computer ratio of 2:1 in every school, allowing for up to 30 percent of curriculum time to be IT-based. To provide teachers with ready and frequent access to computers, both during and after the curriculum hours, the Masterplan included a proviso to equip schools with sufficient computer notebooks for use by teachers and complemented this with a scheme to encourage teachers to purchase their own computers. In addition to a range of support facilities, each school was be to provided with an on-site, full-time technology assistant to help the school handle problems in their use of hardware and software.

About two billion Singapore dollars were committed from 1997 to 2002 to implement the Masterplan program. Those funds were designated to purchase computers, full networking of the schools, physical renovations, software and courseware, and teacher training. Another six million Singapore dollars per year was allocated to maintain and replace hardware, develop new software, and provide for ongoing training of teachers. Private companies were approached to act as hardware and content providers; many companies provided resource materials and new expertise. As a result, a major new industry in Singapore grew out of providing educational software and content.

The Impact on Childhood Learning

Since the first Masterplan ended in 2002, Singapore has been able to take full advantage of the information revolution due to its advanced computer, Internet, and social infrastructures. The first phase of implementation was highly successful, for a couple of reasons. Singapore is a small country, tightly knit and well-organized; therefore, all of the schools can be reached and programs completed quickly and easily. Also, Singapore has used its resources carefully. The government has exercised fiscal prudence and spent wisely on the program. In addition, Singapore has had a strong foundation in IT awareness since the early 1980s. Home ownership of computers is high, and so is computer usage in the workplace; Internet access in schools is very high. Many people are already computer-literate, and teachers are motivated and receptive to new technology.

The most important impact of the Masterplan, however, has not been in the technology infrastructure, but rather in the teaching and learning processes in the primary schools. In a relatively short time, Singapore has created an IT-enriched learning environment for all pupils in schools, and a teaching force has been nurtured that is able and eager to explore the opportunities that technology offers.

While these accomplishments are modest when compared against the list of goals, the achievements have been significant enough to entice a steady stream of overseas visitors to Singapore schools who are interested in learning more about our Masterplan experiences. Over a six-month period, for example, 30 schools have been visited or involved in sharing their IT experiences. Rulang Primary School is a case in point.

Rulang Primary School

Rulang Primary School was one of the 20 demonstration schools set up when the IT Masterplan was implemented in 1997. Teachers in a demonstration school were trained by senior instructors from the Educational Technology Division of the Ministry of Education in core skills for using IT in their lessons. Since the implementation, both teachers and children in Rulang Primary welcomed the opportunity and were quick to master the basic information technology skills that would enable them to integrate IT into the curriculum.

Besides three computer laboratories and a media resource library, computers also were placed in the classrooms and special rooms to enable more hands-on interaction by the pupils. Instructional programs were complemented with resources from the Internet and CD-ROMs. The students transformed from passive recipients of information into thinking individuals who are actively involved with their own learning. As teachers become more comfortable and competent in using IT for teaching, the school continues to explore ways to enhance administrative processes and develop the potential of each pupil.

After becoming a demonstration school, communication among the staff improved. Departments created folders to store administrative information, forms, and instructional ideas to make them easily accessible to staff for downloading and quick reference. Subsequently, E-record books replaced the traditional bulky ones. The school also allotted time for free access to the computer laboratories, so that pupils could do research or assignments outside curriculum time. The media resource library was equipped with computers, scanners, and printers for the children's use.

To guide children in selecting appropriate information from the overwhelming amount of data available on the Internet, Rulang WebVenture--the school Web site--was launched. Children in the school are encouraged to submit their recommendations and reviews of educational Web sites that they find useful, fun, and interesting. These reviews of Web sites are collected regularly for the entire school. One example is Science WebQuest, which engages children in solving challenging problems online through a series of process skills. In turn, science experiments have become even more exciting, with simulated outcomes generated by the use of data loggers. One feature of Science WebQuest that the children love is the computer microscope, which enlarges and highlights images and nurtures their love of nature.

The teachers in the school believe strongly in the intrinsic value of aesthetics, and so have developed programs to help the children realize their artistic talents. They carefully select software and hardware that may cultivate an appreciation for music, art, and literature. Digital storybooks, both in English and the students' mother tongue (Chinese, Malay, or Tamil), are attractively illustrated and feature interactive activities. These digital storybooks have spurred an interest in reading and enhanced linguistic literacy among the young learners.

Digital art lessons, which have been incorporated into the traditional art and craft classes, have helped children develop their visual intelligence and learn more about color coordination. The children now easily create their own masterpieces. For example, the children learned keyboarding and sight reading skills through the Blasterkey music program. They learned how to distinguish the sounds and tempos made by different instruments; those who are more musically inclined have the opportunity to put these different sounds together and produce their own musical compositions.

In 1999, robotics was introduced in the school, heightening the children's interest in science and technology. They picked up skills at such a rate that they eventually won awards at a robotics competition. As a logical step to further develop the thinking and entrepreneurial capacity of the school, the school has established a Robotics Adventure Center in the school. In an example of collaborative effort between the school and families, parents have been supportive and encouraging. Now, children from different classes take part in the annual National Junior Robotics Competition.

Singapore enjoys a supportive school IT culture, one that encourages teachers to explore new uses of technology and share their knowledge and experiences. Many schools, like Rulang, have institutionalized time for sharing during routine staff meetings. IT has been effectively harnessed to support a wide range of school processes, such as administration, counseling, communication, and even community involvement programs.

In addition, IT has brought the larger community and the world into the primary schools. Using telecommunications tools ranging from E-mail to videoconferencing, Singapore pupils have been collaborating with pupils elsewhere to solve problems, exchange ideas, or even to create something new. Schools have been working with industry partners to explore new technologies, create IT-based learning resources, and provide pedagogy-based training for teachers. In addition, museums and the zoo have cooperated with schools to come up with authentic and varied learning projects for our pupils. Some schools are using IT to forge bonds of community; for example, children in one primary school used the Internet to raise funds for a charity organization. They also provide support and advice to other pupils who wrote in to an online counseling forum. One teacher gave her time and effort to train a group of teachers from a special school in the use of digital art.

Moving on to IT Masterplan Two

A senior minister of state introduced Singapore's second IT Masterplan at an IT conference in July 2002 ("IT in Learning," 2002). As in the first Masterplan, this initiative will focus on enriching children's thinking skills, learning, and communication skills through IT-based teaching. "The first Masterplan has given Singapore a strong and broad base--a basic technology infrastructure, a starter pack of content and learning resources, a fair level of IT competency amongst teachers and general support of the use of IT in education" ("IT in Learning," 2002).

The second Masterplan will consolidate and build on the achievements of the first one, focusing on six goals:

* Children will use IT for active learning. Children will be stimulated to think and experiment, independently and creatively. Schools will incorporate IT potential into the planning, design, and delivery of the curriculum itself. Teachers and pupils will refer to a rich and comprehensive repository of digital media content as well as existing materials.

* IT will enhance the connections among curriculum, instruction, and assessment methods. IT tools will be used to increase the efficiency of summative assessments and to expand the scope and nature of formative assessments.

* Teachers will use IT effectively for professional and personal growth. Teachers will be able to look forward to a sustained model for staff development in the use of IT in education.

* Schools will have greater capacity and autonomy in the use of IT for school improvement. The Educational Technology Division will continue to work closely with schools to help them make the most effective use of IT to support their learning and administrative programs. With more freedom for schools to experiment and to customize their strategies, it is hoped that there will be a greater diversity of creative approaches and processes.

* An active research program in IT in education will be developed. There is considerable need for school-based R&D programs to improve the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning. Research grants will allow teachers to experiment with novel teaching strategies and develop new teaching and learning resources.

* A dependable and flexible infrastructure will promote widespread, effective use of multimedia resources.

The minister concluded his message by stressing that the ultimate goal of the second Masterplan is not about the use of technology, but rather about changing the culture of the classroom and school to support and motivate thinking and independent learning among young students. More and more of this change must be driven by teachers themselves; therefore, they will need to keep up with the times and try out new approaches to teaching. By doing so, teachers will spread their enthusiasm for experimentation and change to their students, helping our children prepare for a very different future.

Reference

IT in learning: Preparing for a different future. (2002). Available from: www.moe. gov.sg./edumall/mp2/mp2home.htm

Alice Seng SeokHoon is Associate Professor, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.