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?

It is important for MOE to develop the three Masterplans for ICT so that the usage of information technology as a teaching aid and learning tool can be developed and implemented steadily, hence resulting in effective diffusion. This usage in education, on the other hand, is important so that teachers in national schools can effectively tap on the rich sources of information available on the internet as well as attract the interest of students who have been using information technology and  the internet for their personal and recreational purposes.

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). 

I do acknowledge that the launch of Masterplan 1 coincided with my upper primary school education and lower secondary education where the usage of ICT in English Lessons were introduced. Both in primary school and secondary school, I was required to compose a story based on a given theme. Using the software tools available, I was instructed to narrate that story using my recorded voice and animations. As such, the ICT lesson did attract my attention quite a bit because it gave me the opportunity to express myself creatively as opposed to the conventional composition-essay writing in class. In the process a storyboard or plot would be required along with a script, and this tested me not just on my mastery over the language but also the logical flow of the story and the entertainment element required to capture the attention of my viewers.

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

Masterplan 3 would force me to think of education in a different way. I used to think of the education process as one which is centred on the teacher playing a sage-like role and a disciplinarian tasked at chasing homework. With the introduction of Masterplan 3, the responsibility of learning is shared between the student and the teacher as a result of a shift towards more self-directed learning. The learning process is now a partnership, but this partnership can only exist when basic discipline and submission to the authority of the teacher in discipline matters is observed properly. At the same time, this also means that there is an expectation for me to conduct creative lessons using ICT as a tool; this may or may not be positive if argued from different perspectives, especially when realities of a teacher's workload sinks in.