Reflections on MOE's 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?

Firstly, we are growing in a global society where computer technology is being used on a daily basis, and computer and IT usage is an intergral part of everyone's daily lives. Therefore in order to help our children prepare for work and play in the future, Masterplan 1 was developed to help the children to be equipped with the necessary basic computer skills to cope with the future.

Masterplan 1 was important in the sense that it laid the foundation for the use of IT and computers in schools. A key feature of Masterplan 1 was seeing many schools were equipped with physical hardware to prepare for the equipping of computer literacy.

As computers become more advanced and powerful, the computer become more than just a presentation tool for Powerpoint slides, it was possible to teach Math using online geometry and even measure accurate PH reading or temperature reading for Science experiments.

Masterplan 2 was designed with this in mind - helping both teachers and children to experiment with technology to make lessons more interesting and engaging. With the pervasive use of internet, it was also important that E-learning was not restricted only in the school, but was to be continued at home. 

Masterplan 2 was important as schools were encouraged to develop autonomy in the use of ICT in the school and at the same time a baseline guideline was developed to ensure that all schools achieved a minimum standard for ICT use.

As technology develops at a rapid pace in the last few years, information is readily available to students, as such, students do not only learn how to use the IT/computers, they must also be taught how to use IT and in particular the internet in a responsible manner. Thus the emphasis on the cyber wellness as illustrated in the "Outcome Goal" of Masterplan 3 is an important one, that while helping students to develop into self -directed learners is crucial, they too must be taught to use IT in a safe way - to protect themselves and also those around them.

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).

While I was in secondary 1 (1997), I remembered that I had to learn a basic software programme called 'Basic Q'. It was a DOS based programme and it was very difficult to learn, but I enjoyed the lesson a lot because it was my first contact with computers. In my geography lessons, the teachers would often use videos and internet softwares to show us about geographical processes - such as the formation of volcanoes and the different types of clouds, which made lessons more interesting and understandable.

By the time I was in JC (2000), the use of OHP slides were replaced by powerpoint slides in my lectures. I remembered that biology lectures slides had vivid pictures of animal and plant cells that enable us to fully comprehend what the teacher was teaching.

Based on your enhanced school experience, how do you think the current Masterplan 3 may affect your role(s) as a beginning teacher ?

Firstly, the use of ICT is no longer just the prerogative of the teacher, students too have many things to share, as such, I would need to know and be willing to hear and encourage collaborative learning with students. Secondly, how the Masterplan 3 would affect me as a beginning teacher would be learning how to integrate the use of ICT in my teaching. Based on my experience as a teacher in my school, not all topics could be easily taught with ICT, as such if learning is based on ICT, I need to find out what are the resources the school have and I have to seek the help of colleagues to see if they have prior experience so to make my ICT lessons meaningful and engaging. Lastly, as I teach the use of ICT in class and encourage E-learning, I realized it is important to teach children the responsible use of IT as well, many of them are young and easily exposed to materials that may not be desirable or appropriate for them, as such, children need to be taught to practice discretion to distinguish what are information that are useful and what are not.