Sunday, September 5, 2010

✿ Educational Technology in Asian Pacific Region ✿

Asian Pacific Region formulated a state policies and strategies to infuse technology in school. And it understood that state policies will continue to change it is helpful to examine prevailing ICT policies and strategies of five progressive states / city namely, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Newly Listed on Software for Learning in New Zealand

Stop Motion Pro – is used to create stop motion and other animation projects, it connects with the camera and saves frames directly onto the computer.
Flip Bloom Classic 3 – allows young students to learn the basics of frame animation.
Robo Mind – enables student to program an animated robot.

Information Communication Technology ( ICT )

- ICT has great potential for enhancing teaching and learning outcomes. The realization of this potential depends much on how the teacher uses the technology.

Goal

            Government with the education and technology sectors community groups and industry envisions to support to the development of the capability of schools to use information and communication technologies in teaching and learning and in administration.

Strategy

   Improving learning outcomes for students using ICT to support the curriculum.
   Using ICT to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of educational administration.
   Developing partnerships w. communities to enhance access to learning through ICT.


Focus Area

   Infrastructure for increasing schools access to ICT’s to enhance education
   Professionals develop so that school managers and teachers can increase their capacity to use the ICT.


Attitude needed by a Teacher in ICT

   Teacher Preparedness –the basics skills and knowledge of the teacher in ICT must be upgraded or developed
   Teacher Motivation –it is important to motivate for building and enhancing ICT knowledge and practice.



Initiatives

   An online resources center w/ a centrally managed website for the delivery of multimedia resources to schools
   A computer recycling scheme.
   A planning and implementation guide for schools.
   Ict professionals development school clusters.


Implementation Strategies

   Fast local and wide area networks linking the schools across the state and territory.
   Substantial number of computers in schools ensuring adequate access.
   Continuing the teacher training in the use of technology for instruction.
   Technical support to each school.
   Sufficient hardware and software.
   Digital library resources


Technology demonstrations as models for schools. Technology plays many roles in a Smart School from facilitating teaching-learning activities to assisting with school management. Fully equipping a school includes:

   Classroom with multimedia, presentation facilities, email, and groupware for collaborative work.
   Library media center with data base with multimedia courseware and network access to the internet.
   Computer Laboratory for teaching, readily accessible multimedia and  audiovisual equipment.
   Multimedia development center with tools for creating multimedia materials. Computer studies as a subject.
   Studio/theatrette with control room for centralized audiovisual equipment, teleconferencing studio, audio room, video and laser disc video room.
   Teachers room with on-line access to courseware catalogues and database, information and resource management systems and professional networking tools such as email and groupware.
·   Server room equipped to handle applications, management databases and web servers.
   Administration offices capable of managing databases of students and facilities, tracking students and teacher performance and resources, distributing notices and other information electronically.


Singapore Master plan for IT in Education
The Master plan has four key Dimensions:

Curriculum and assessment

       A balance between acquisition of factual knowledge and mastery of concepts and skills.
       Students in more active and independent learning.
       Assessment to measure abilities in applying information, thinking and communicating.


Learning resources

       Development of a wide range of educational software for instruction.
       Use of relevant internet resources for teaching-and-learning.
       Convenient and timely procurement of software materials.


Teacher development

        Pupil computer ratio areas in the of 2:1
        Access to IT in all learning areas in the school
       School-wide network and school linkages through wide area network (WAN) eventually connected to Singapore ONE


Hong Kong Education Program Highlights

     Government aims to raise the quality of school education by promoting the use of IT in teaching and learning. The IT initiatives are:

   On average, 40 computers for each primary school and 82 computers for each secondary school
●   About 85,000 IT training places for teachers at four levels
●   Technical support for all schools
●   An Information Education Resource Center for all schools and teachers
●   An It coordinator for each of 250 schools which should have sound IT plans
●   Computers rooms for use by students after normal school hour
●   An IT Pilot Scheme to provide schools with additional resources
●   Review of school curriculum to incorporate IT elements
●   Exploring the feasibility of setting up an education-specific Intranet

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