Achievements in Masterplan

As aforementioned, the school has achieved administrative and pedagogical efficiency through the use of powerpoint presentations during lessons to students. There are also computer labs and this meets the Masterplan 1 where ICT made the school administration and educational management to be more efficient. It has also met some of the objectives of Masterplan 2 whereby there is sufficient penetration of ICT for students and teachers. Students and teachers are competent in the basic ICT tools like internet, email, word documents etc. In addition, teachers also use such tools in their teaching and assigning of homeworks. It has met Masterplan 3 whereby teachers have been able to deliver ICT enabled learning experiences for certain subjects and lessons (for e.g. Mother Tongue) Finally, the school infrastructure and IT support also makes ICT possible.

Thoughts on ICT

Why is it important for MOE to develop the three Masterplans for ICT?

This is essential because ICT is a powerful tool that helps teachers continue to provide the best quality education through improved efficiency and effectiveness in pedagogy and administration. ICT also empowers teachers to further improve our creativity in designing content and pedagogy for students and further our own learning goals.

Has any of the ICT impacted me as a student?

In NUS, webcasted lectures allowed me to catch up on lessons if I had to miss them due to sickness or other critical reasons. In addition, it allowed me to re-watch my lectures again, allowing me more time to understand certain concepts and gain a better understanding of content material. The use of videos and powerpoint slides were effective to the extent that they supported the teacher's role in teaching and not distracting us from the teacher's delivery of the lesson.

Based on my enhanced school experience, how would the Masterplan 3 affect me as a beginning teacher?

The vision of masterplan 3 in ICT is for both teachers and students to be learners, both individually and collaboratively, anywhere and everywhere. Therefore, as teachers, I will be using ICT to benefit myself as well as students through the online resources. In addition, I will also teach the students how to research for information themselves through the internet and library resources, in order to complete the assignments I give them. Finally, I can also incorporate blogging and the use of eportfolio as tools for charting each student's learning as well as myself. ICT will also be particularly useful for certain subjects such as Project Work in Junior College. I will also be wary of the dangers of ICT, whereby students may post unfavourable content on their blogs or social networking media.

How ICT is being used by school teachers in CHIJ Katong Convent

In CHIJ Katong Convent (KC), each classroom is equipped with an overhead projector, a computer with internet access, basic software such as microsoft office, a camera connected to projector for the use of transparencies or word document.

Both of my CT teachers made use of powerpoint slides to teach their students, sometimes showing videos or making use of applets to elucidate certain scientific concepts. For the Normal Technical students, the use of powerpoint presentation (PPT) and videos kept them engaged and entertained, while for the express students, the use of powerpoint slides made the delivery of content-heavy lessons faster and more efficient. For example, instead of writing notes or questions on the whiteboard, the use of PPT saved the teacher much time and were able to illustrate certain macroscopic representations of physical instruments such as the cathode ray tube in a secondary 4 physics lesson.

After lessons, a physics teacher communicated her assignments and requirements through a facebook group of students in her class. These students also submitted holiday assignments online to teachers in soft copy, making it easier for teachers to determine which student did not complete her assignment on time. Some assignments, such as multiple-choice questions could also be marked online instantaneously through use of programming, easing the teacher's workload in marking.

In addition, there was also a television screen in KC's school canteen, whereby important announcements are displayed to staff and students to futher remind everyone. This achieved goal 4 of the first masterplan, improving the efficiency of school administration and communication.