Singapore ICT in Education: Perspectives From The Private Sector

1. Singapore ICT in Education: Perspectives From The Private Sector Sharing at Hong Kong University 27 Feb 2009 Yee Jenn Jong, CEO Victor Yuk, VP Sales

2. Agenda • Major MOE Singapore ICT Programmes • Other Key Influencers of ICT in Education • ASKnLearn Involvement • Singapore’s ICT in Education Industry • Challenges Schools Faced • Examples of Innovation in Schools’ ICT Views are from the perspective of an active industry participant in Singapore’s ICT in education and do not represent official views of MOE Singapore and other authorities

3. About ASKnLearn • Servicing over 180 schools in Singapore • Member of Educomp Group which caters to 11 million learners in over 21,000 schools in Asia & North America • Was portfolio company of NUS & NP (2000-2007) • Largest IT Training Provider in Singapore • Major E-Learning provider to Singapore Schools • E-Learning solution for all higher learning institutions in Brunei • Microsoft & Adobe’s InfoComm Club Training Partner • IT Partner for PEARSON South Asia • Red Herring Asia 100 Finalist in 2005-6 • Deloitte Technology Award 2006, 2008

4. MOE Singapore ICT ProgrammesSince 1997

5. Singapore School Landscape • 360+ primary and schools and junior colleges • Typical size of 1,200 – 1,600 per school • 11 Integrated Programme (IP) schools (no O levels) • Mostly Cambridge exams, some IB, NUS dip • 500,000 students, 30,000 teachers • 30+ international schools, few private schools for Singaporeans

6. Masterplan I – 1997 – 2002 Building IT infrastructure Min 2 MB internet for all schools Intranet file servers Standard LMS (pilot project) Standard resources for all schools PC labs, video machines, video cams, digital cams Providing ready IT resources to schools Standard multimedia resources Use IT to support existingcurriculum, providing teacher-centred education Teacher training, conferences MOE ICT Journey

7. Some ICT MP1 Key Programmeshttp://www3.moe.edu.sg/edumall/mpite/overview/ • Large scale infrastructure set-up in phases, teacher laptop purchase scheme • Large scale Ed software procurement scheme (mostly CD-ROMs from overseas) • Large-scale ICT training for teachers • School Industry Partnership Scheme (SCHIPS) - creation of tailored programmes for students • Partnered Economic Development Board to encourage local content development (iLIUP) • School Digital Media Repository (DMR) • Demo IT schools • Data loggers for all schools

8. At End of IT MP1 (2002) • Achieved basic IT / Internet skills for most teachers • Reasonably good IT network for all schools • Abandoned single LMS in favour of user autonomy • About 40-50% schools using LMS. Schools want ready content • Encouraging results from some schools experimenting with new ideas in ICT and e-learning

9. Masterplan II – 2003 - 2008 Flexible infrastruture (autonomy by schools) Integration of technology at planning phase of curriculum design Resources for teachers to build customised lessons using reusable lessons and learning objects Student-centred and ability-centred learning MOE IT Journey

10. Some ICT MP2 Key Programmes • Baseline ICT standards: BY(i)TES • Active competitions for students and teachers • LEAD ICT Schools • Emergency closure readiness – e-learning day simulations • Expanded role for HOD ICT • Education Technology Officers as advisors to clusters • Backpack .NET • Future Schools • (Teach Less, Learn More)

11. At End of IT MP2 (2008) • 100% schools use e-learning, all teachers expected to engage students with online learning • Teachers more comfortable with variety of ways of making own content, customised approaches to use of ICT • # schools on LEAD ICT, 6 schools selected as Future Schools • Close collaboration with InfoComm Development Authority • Active action research by schools and NIE • Fulfillment of content for schools by industry, low key by MOE

12. Masterplan III – 2009 - 2014 Strengthening integration of ICT into curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to enhance learning and develop competencies for the 21st century Providing differentiated professional development that is more practiced-based and models how ICT can be effectively used to help students learn better Improving the sharing of best practices and successful innovation Enhancing ICT provisions to schools to support the implementation of masterplan 3 MOE IT Journey

13. Anticipated ICT MP3 Key Programmes • More experimentation with one-to-one computing • Continuation of MPII: future schools, emergency school closure preparedness • Improved bandwidth (Next Generation Broadband Network) and infrastructure • Active links with NIE and other institutions for research in ICT in Education, conferences • More active provision of content by MOE • Unknowns: • Centralised vs independent LMS? • Centralised vs independent core content provision?

14. ICT Masterplan I ICT Masterplan II ICT Masterplan III 1997 - 2002 2003 - 2008 2009- 2014 Maturity Growth Foundations • Strengthen integration of ICT into curriculum • Provide differentiated career development for teachers in ICT • Improve sharing of ICT best practices and methods among schools • Enhance ICT provision further • Schools given more autonomy in ICT areas • Awards, competitions, recognition schemes and support for schools with good ICT models • Baseline ICT standards for students introduced • Integrate ICT into curriculum • Set blueprints for use of ICT in schools • Equipping schools with ICT facilities • Provide teacher-computer ratio 2:1 and student computer ratio ?? Summary

15. Other Key Influencers • IDA (Since 2000) • FastTrack@School Broadband Ed (2000-2002) • Project Work consortium (2003) • Backpack .NET (2004-2007) • InfoComm Club for 250 schools (2007-2011) • Future School (2008-2014) • EDB (1997-2003) • iLIUP

16. ASKnLearn’s Involvement • All IDA initiatives • 50% of FastTrack schools, Project Work, Backpack, FS, 30% of ICC training • Currently providing e-learning for 35% schools (>50% sec schools) • Supplied content for MOE VITAL (staff training portal), development of content for MOE Science and Geography • Largest supplier of full-time ICT Educators and ICT Executives to schools (100)

17. Industry Evolution (I) • Pre-ICT Masterplan (Stone Age) • Ednovation (pre-school multimedia content), Times, SNP, Daiichi Multimedia producing limited range of content • Then-NCB (now IDA) Student-Teacher-Workbench (pre-Internet content delivery) • Small-time ICT training providers to schools

18. Industry Evolution (II) • ICT Masterplan 1 (Bronze Age) • Horizon Educom (SCHIPS, Data loggers) • Ednovation (School DMR) • Boom of local content developers supplying to MOE: MoreatOnce (former Daiichi Multimedia), IT21, EDN Media (Malay), A-Star Interactive (Chinese) • Mushrooming of LMS providers (Postkids, IQMind, ASKnLearn, Litespeed, Wizlearn, etc) from dotcom boom (from 1999) • Mushrooming of ICT providers providing training (and often hardware) to students and teachers: Knowledge Village, ACP, Cyberland, Cybertech, Horizon

19. Industry Evolution (III) • ICT Masterplan 2 (Industrialised Age) • Disappearance of providers dependent on large MOE contracts (Horizon) • Disappearance of many dotcom companies • Convergence of content and LMS as school solution • Merger of Moreatonce, Times Multimedia, Ednovation school division into Learning Edvantage, with investment by Popular E-Learning • Merger of ASKnLearn and WizLearn • Listing of Litespeed on Msia Mesdaq. Declined towards end of MP2 • Decline of pure ICT providers. Growth in companies providing e-learning with ICT trainers • Romance of 3 kingdoms (LEAD, ASKnLearn, Litespeed) • Backpack application specialist: Heulabs, network: iCell, Content tools: KooBits

20. What Shaped The Evolution? • Centralised vs Autonomy • New and small players thrive under autonomy • Active Experimentation • Initiated by IDA to spark local ICT industry • Caught on by MOE under MP2 • SARS -> Serious use of e-learning

21. Challenges For Schools • Teachers not used to process of content / product development • HOD IT becoming IT managers • Understanding how to use ICT effectively for teaching & learning • Rapid technological changes • How to drive usage across the board (teachers, students) • Change of vendors => re-learning, content migration

22. Selected School ICT Showcase • Online Simulations • Learning Objects • Video Journalism • Games in learning • ePortfolio • eBooks

23. Simulations & Animation

24. How Contents Are Used • Teacher-led learning in classroom • Simulations with Applets • Animation of Concepts • Students’ Independent Learning • Home-based learning days • Preparation for Tests / Examinations

25. Learning-Objects Lessons ETD Video Resources Multimedia Resource Library Teacher’s materials Audio & Visual Learning Lesson Module Internet Resources Item Bank Game Base Quiz Auto Mark Track able Quiz Webpage Tools

26. Creating Lesson in 5 mins!

27. LessonBank

28. Video Resources – Hundreds of Streaming Videos

29. MOE E. Resources - Online

30. Teachers’ Courseware

31. EduBlog

36. Use of EduBlog • Students reflection, e.g. literature review • Students’ personal pages & project work • Staff outreach to studentsStaff Blog / Student Blog

37. Game Builder – Teachers can create their Own Games easily! 30 Flash-based games

38. Sample Games

39. Forum

40. ePortfolio

41. eBooks

42. Lessons Learnt • Creativity from autonomy, but wastage too • Authorities can push development of industry through speed marriages of driven schools with innovative companies. Seed ideas then support winners • How to support new role of HOD IT as IT manager? • What support needed for innovative e-learning and ICT use by teachers?

43. Thank you. Victor: yyk@asknlearn.com Yee JJ: yeejj@asknlearn.com