ICT Masterplanning for Education: Singapore's Experience Dr. Thiam-Seng KOH Director, Educational Technology Singapore Ministry of Education 20 June 2006

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 2 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

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 3 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 in Education (1997 – 2002) Second Masterplan for IT in Education (2003 – 2007) Historical Perspective The National Computerisation Plan (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 Education National IT Plans e-Government Source:

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 4 Historical Perspective Late 1970s – Introduce the use of micro- computers by students in computer appreciation clubs as extra-curricular activities at schools – Introduce Computer Science as a subject in the A level curriculum – Introduce Computer Applications, a skills-based subject in the secondary Normal (Technical) curriculum.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 5 Historical Perspective 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.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 6 Philosophy of First IT Masterplan (mp1) Education should continually anticipate the future needs of society and work towards fulfilling these needs.

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© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 8 Goal 1Goal 2Goal 3Goal 4

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 9 Goal 1Goal 2Goal 3Goal 4

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 10 Goal 1Goal 2Goal 3Goal 4

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 11 Goal 1Goal 2Goal 3Goal 4 Promote administrative and management excellence

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© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 16 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.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 17 In classrooms In computer labs In the library In science labs

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© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 19 Technical Support for Schools A full time Technology Assistant (TA) for each school To provide first-level on-site support

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© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 21 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.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 22 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.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 23 Philosophy of Second IT Masterplan (mp2) Education should continually anticipate the future needs of society and work towards fulfilling these needs.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 24 Vision of mp2 IT will be pervasively and effectively used to enhance educational processes and structures to help realize the ability-driven education paradigm.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 25 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

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 26 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.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 27 Some Learning Points 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.)

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 28 Some Learning Points 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.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 29 Some Learning Points 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.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 30 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

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 31 Challenges Ahead Exploiting the potentials of emerging technologies in the consumer space and IT-based pedagogies. Scaling up research findings to impact classroom practices.

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 32 References Singapore EduMALL ( British Educational Communications & Technology Agency ( World Bank: ICT and Education UNESCO: ICT in Education (

© June Singapore Ministry of Education. All Rights Reserved. 33 mapping possibilities mp2 Thank you