Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Assignment 2 Report Smart School


REPORT SMART SCHOOL

1.      INTRODUCTION

1.1  THE PROGRESS OF SMART SCHOOL IN MALAYSIA 

The Malaysia Smart School is a learning institution that has been systemically reinvented in terms of a teaching-learning practices and school management in order to prepare children for the Information Age. As we know, our country needs to make critical transformation like Japan that use 100% technology in education. The progress of Smart School made so far is the schooling culture has been change from one that is memory-based to one that is informed, thinking, creative and caring through leading-edge technology. In the pilot, the Smart School Integrated Solution (SSIS) was rolled out to 87 schools in the country at the cost of about RM 300 million. The Smart School is implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Malaysia. Then, there are four waves of the Smart School implementation plan are wave 1 from 1999 to 2002, the implementation on 87 schools, wave 2 from 2002 to 2005, lessons learnt from the pilot, wave 3 from 2005 to 2010, extending the digital transformation to all and wave 4 from 2010 to 2020, technology becomes an integral part of the nation’s learning process.

            Firstly, from 1999 to 2002, the 87 pilots schools were identified to act as the nucleus for the eventual roll-out of Smart Schools concepts, materials, skills and technologies. As stated in the Smart School Conceptual Blueprint, the Smart School concept is a work in progress and remains open to evolutionary refinement, including advances in pedagogy and improvements in information technology. To date 2005, there have been several enhancement efforts by various parties to expand the role of ICT in Malaysian schools. There are mainly the ICT-enabled teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI), the government’s school computerization project aimed at equipping all schools with PC’s and a computer lab. As with the PPSMI, the SSIS must make the transition to English for Science and Mathematics teaching. As the PPSMI produces teaching courseware and the SSIS produces learning courseware, a combination of the two will strengthen teaching-learning in the classroom.

            Then, from 2002 until 2005, in order to implement ICT-integrated teaching more effectively and to obtain all stakeholders’ support to the nationwide implementation of the Smart Schools. After that, The Smart Schools Management System (SSMS) holds the promise of a total, comprehensive and complete approach to learning. Measures to improve the SSMS and schools’ transition to a knowledge culture will be facilitated strongly. While improving the user-friendly aspect of the SSMS, steps will also be taken to integrate parallel efforts such as the PPSMI, the school computerization program and the School-Net project. 

            Besides, timeline from 2005 until 2020, following the Pilot Project in 1999 until 2002, the MoE has developed a visionary plan for the roll out the Smart School during 2006 until 2010. The plan to “make all schools smart by 2010” will leverage on all the initiatives MoE has undertaken prior to and since 1999, as well as future initiatives. Thus, by 2010, the target is to have 10,000 Smart Schools in Malaysia. Hence, each of the 10,000 schools turning smart in 2010 will have many facilities, such as wireless, notebooks for all teachers (for subjects of Science and Mathematics in English) and broadband access. Moreover, under this period, teachers will undergo a programmed of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) as they will be continuously trained to enhance the teachers’ competency in integrating ICT in teaching and learning. Training of teachers by 2010 will cover educational TV, smart teaching learning and a module on integrating the ICT initiatives in a lesson.

            A long-term implementation plan for the period 2005-2020 will set performance targets that will have to be met by the major players. The plan would have to get the approval and full backing of the government in terms of its commitments to the goals of the Smart Schools. Having relevant policies in place is an important factor to enhance implementation. Support will also be provided in terms of making available the necessary human, financial and physical resources required by the initiatives. In other hand, other government agencies, such as the Ministry of National and Rural Development, Tenaga Nasional Berhad can play significant roles, especially in providing for the needs of rural areas. This will have a positive impact on the Smart School.

1.2       CHALLENGES FACED SINCE THE INCEPTION OF SMART SCHOOL

            Malaysia is fast moving towards becoming a united and fully developed nation by the year 2020. Towards this end, Malaysia need to strategize and take step to ensure that the nation will achieve its goals. However, Malaysia need to be innovative to venture into new fields and focus on new emphasis in order to be able to compete with other developed nations. Extra efforts must be taken to face new challenges ahead in this era. Challenges which the nation need to face are mostly from globalization and liberalization as well as from the rapid development of information and communication technology. The great challenge Malaysia is facing at the moment is to extend the concept of smart learning to all schools (there are about 8000 primary schools and 3000 secondary schools). With the rise of K-economy, the new economic challenges and the knowledge-based workforce, Malaysia needs to manage its education system in a more creative and innovative manner. 

 Firstly, teachers are now faced with the challenge of dealing with a learning environment, which is borderless, offers multi-modal learning pathways, and resource rich. The implies that the teacher needs to understand how an ICT-based learning environment as intended by the Smart School education concept affects the student’s training and learning.  Teachers also need more training on ICT programs than the students. It’s important to ensure teachers capability to deliver their curriculum and so that all teachers can contribute towards achieving the nation’s educational direction and goals together. Thus, a great need to train and retrain teachers to the new concept of teaching-learning. Teaching should be student-centered whereby learners are allowed to access knowledge at their own pace. Teachers should be innovative and use the internet as an important resource.

In addition, limitation of infrastructure, such as computer labs and continuous limitations to access the network hamper the effectiveness of technology supported teaching and learning. So, the extension of the smart school concept; Teaching–learning processes should be run. It helps the students learn effectively and efficiently. It also enable students to self-accessed and self-directed learning. It also cognitively, attractive, motivates and encourage students to learn and active participation. Moreover, combinations of network-based, teacher based and course-ware materials will become more attractive.

Next, students nowadays are passive. It is also one of the challenges that we faced today. They hope everything from their teacher. Although the teacher is mainly responsible for what takes in the learning environment, the students should also play an active role in determining the direction of their learning by virtue of their participation and activities. Apart from that, majority of the parents are not involved in this project. Most of them busy with their work so that can upgrade their life. In their opinion, this programmers is the work for government. Thus, they do not care about it.

Then, schools are supposed to have enough technical expertise or technology coordinator to maintain the ICT infrastructure. Besides that, they also responsible for supporting teachers in the overall deployment of multimedia and other technologies in the delivery of Smart School teaching. It is because, sometimes the old teacher do not know how to used the computer. So, we need technical expertise to help and guide teachers in delivering effective technology supported instruction. Apart from that, the technology coordinator will also supervise maintenance of all technical equipment and liaise with the school technical support staff team for equipment repair, replacement and facility upgrading as and when necessary.

After that, the problem of face breakdown of electricity supply also should be considered. Thus, the authorities should play their roles in improving the management of smart school. The constant breakdown of electricity supply especially in the rural schools. This is due to the inability of the existing system in schools to cope with increase usage of electricity. For an example, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has already held the powetron electricity generation project to overcome the problem of Sabah’s electricity supply shortage.

2.      SMART SCHOOL INITIATIVE

The Smart School initiatives has five main goals which focus on the need to develop a skilled work force for the Information Age and to promote goals of the National Philosophy of Education which is produce thinking and technology-literate workforce, democratize education, increase participation of stakeholders, provide all-around development of the individual and provide opportunities to enhance individual strengths and abilities. All this should be achieved to make sure the Smart School in Malaysia is the best around the world.

All around development of individual include intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual. This element of individual development is important for student to achieve their goals in the future. As a student, they should know their needs for the balance development in their life. Strategies that can be taken are provided a broad curriculum for all students and teach values and language across the curriculum. By the way, students are able to active with their curriculum activities such as club and sports. This provide student to achieve the first goals of Smart School which is all around development of individuals. Next is emphasized thinking skills. Thinking skills is about the way student should think to resolve the problem. Student should be creative and think widely across their mind. At the end, they can generate a new idea or theory for future development of our country.

            Besides, provision to develop individual strengths and abilities. Individual strengths and abilities are very important towards student because they have many obstacles that should be faced to success in their study. Provide elective in the curriculum and allow for vertical integration (virtual express class) can though the student to face the reality nowadays. They should alert with the environment and try to adapt with the surrounding. Brilliant student should know their strengths and abilities to make sure their weakness can be cover and try to develop a new skill to protect their original strengths and abilities. Teachers are ready to guide and help is necessary for students to develop their own strengths and abilities.

Next, produce a thinking and technology-literate workforce. An integrated set of strategies will be employed to achieve this goals are teach thinking across the curriculum and apply technology in teaching and learning. Application of technology in teaching and learning is the best way to implement student to approach this goal because students are able to communicate with the world and positively can bring something new to Malaysia specifically. Malaysia need someone that can think widely and know about technology nowadays because in these era, world is using technology and this is the right position of our country to be and posited beside the best country in the world such as Japan and United State. Malaysia can compete with the others country if this issues is taking seriously by our government to successfully develop The Malaysia Smart School.

After that, democratize education also the goal of The Malaysia Smart School. An integrated set of strategies will be employed to achieve this goals are provide equal access to learning opportunities and provide for differing abilities, styles and paces of learning. Different people have different style of study. So, as a good teacher they should know and try to make a new thing and variation their style of teaching to make sure student are not boring with them. Student also a teenagers and they are attracted with the new thing especially about technology. The school environment is important because teacher should know and play their role to attract student during teaching process with the school environment. As a student, they also know their part and try to fulfill their own hope and if the education provided is suitable, they can go through and the goal of Smart School is achieved.

Last but not least is increasing participation of stakeholders. There are some strategies to fulfill the last goals of The Malaysia Smart School which is create awareness of what happens in schools, enable easy and speedy communication with the school using technology and provide opportunities for stakeholders to participate. We should take an action before anything bad is happen in the future. Prevention is better than cure. It is the best word can be said to show that we should awareness of what happens in schools. To success this goals, we should easy and speedy communication with the school using technology. Parents and community can easily get the information about their children and schools. This is the best way for parents to know about the curriculum and academic achievement of their children.

The school management should provide opportunities for stakeholders such as parents and community to participate. This can increase participation of stakeholders if the opportunities provided to the stakeholders are successfully full by the school management. The relationship between community and the school is closer and fulfill the objective of The Malaysia Smart School. All this goals should be achieved to make sure the Smart School in Malaysia is the best around the world.

The successful of Smart School is not depends on the planning of the project, but the responsibility of stakeholders in many aspect that taking care across the Smart School programmed. The stakeholders can deliver services with ease and facilitate processes, they need to identify common goals that alike Smart objective. One of the main goals in Smart School is to increase participation of stakeholders. In other word, all citizens have responsibility in increasing the level of national education in the world view.

The government has provide much money to set up teaching and learning facilities especially teaching aid like desktop, laptop, projector, internet connection, hardware and education software. Smart School also provides opportunities to enhance individual strength and abilities. Every assessment or work given is point to this objective. Some of them might be given through online. So, teachers, students and parents should be able to access on-line assessment items. This smart school assessment will be flexible and learner friendly, while assuring the quality of the assessment information by using multiple approaches and instruments. This is important to make sure the students also can undergo their learning at anywhere, anytime and anyone can help them.

The teacher is an important component in the teaching and learning situation. His or her knowledge, skills and attitude are equipments in creating the best conditions for their students learning. What we can say here is, the teacher is an important factor that can determine and influence the future of young people than do the members of other professions. So, we can consider that teachers play an important role to provide education and other moral good human behaviors to students.

Good and creative teacher is a person who can designed their own creative teaching methods and play with emotions, factual data and moral values broaden the learning experience and make it more relevant to everyday life situations. If the role of a teacher is to teach, the role of a student must be to learn. However, it has been agreed that learning is not only an exercise in reading and reciting facts, but in gaining a deeper insight of events and situations. Through the use of drama and dramatic conventions a teacher does not only teach and learn the materials but also the why and how the materials do.

Smart School teachers need to learn to facilitate and encourage students in taking charge of their own learning. Teachers will continue to be the students mentor. Each student will have one or several virtual mentors who can be accessed anytime they want like in class and through the online. These mentors will monitor the online activities of their area, offering advice, suggestions and feedback. Such mentors will also report any significant happening in the child’s learning to the parents, teachers and any other interested stakeholders. The teachers not only teaching, but their work includes as a mentor, manager and reporter. They are mapping of performance goals with student activities, offering real-time course corrections, replacing evaluation through periodic tests. Each transformation that teacher make in the class will continuously until the objective of Smart School achieve.

The changing from normal school to smart school will need changing the culture of school, moving away from classic memory-based learning. It give a chance for students to thinking, be creative, and caring in all students. So, the students need more exercise on each topic and have responsibility on their own education and their future. It is because Smart School gives opportunity to students to decide their way but still under teacher attention. Here, the students can explore the knowledge with their own creativity.

The ways of the student works play the major role to determine the successful of Smart School. The students should participate actively in all teaching and learning process. If the students become passive in class, the expansion of knowledge and transferring knowledge is not occurring perfectly. The students mind set to achieve glory in their education must set in the early age. They must work harder and not depend on someone to explore something new in their life.

In the smart learning scenario, students will make extensive use of facilities that can help them learn in the school as well as away from it. They must know that the facilitator or teachers is useful for them in each learning activities. The students also must courage to work in distributed, collaborative groups, playing a more proactive role in the teaching-learning process. It is for their future life especially in their work time. Learning will eventually become student-centric, with the students becoming experts in managing the learning environment. The power of controlling is given to them by the teacher because the teacher has become as facilitators who only giving help and clues for them to make an exploration of knowledge easier.

When parents are involved in their children's education, both children and parents are likely to benefit. Parents can play the major role in helping Smart School provide individualized education for students. Research has shown that students do better when their parents are involved. Researchers reports that parents participation in their children's schooling frequently enhances children's self-esteem, improves children's academic achievement, improves parent-child relationships, helps parents develop positive attitudes towards school and a better understanding of the schooling process.

Despite these advantages, it is not always easy for parents to find time and energy to become involved or to arrange their time with schedules for school events. Some of them might sense as an uncomfortable experience and have their hands full with a job and other children. Recently, teachers and other school staff have made special efforts to increase communication with parents and encourage involvement in children's learning experiences via technology progress by the government.

Parents are welcome in school like to involve in teaching-learning, participating in developing of educational materials and planning the assessment for their children. Parental involvement can be seen to fall into three types, behavioral, intellectual and personal. Actively participating parents help their children in their academic development by going to schools and participating or supporting school programs. The caring parents can also motivate teachers to become more careful in dealing with particular student. It is also give opportunity for parents and teachers to take care more on the students.

Time that has spends by the parents in the school is a very quality time. Parents should give some time in this field because their children are in the transforming time to the more matured in life. But, parents must be widely acknowledge and accepted, in order to create significant buy-in for parents to assume a much stronger role in the Smart School education process. This process is not at school only, but also at home. The parents also must monitoring their children progress, become a guider who are motivating and counseling children in each time.

The understanding parents are need in planning and working of Smart School. Even teachers can supervise their children, parents are should not giving fully responsibility to the teachers only because parents also have their own responsibility on their child. While it is possible for a teacher to implement such a parent involvement program alone, it is much easier if the school and the whole is committed to the Smart School program. Administrative staff can relieve some of the burden of implementing a comprehensive parent involvement program, and can offer help and support to teachers.

The effectiveness of teaching and learning is depending on the skill and knowledge of the teachers. This aspect is the major factor that can determine the successful of a smart school before taking other factor. The skill is the ability of someone to do something and the knowledge in this view is the information that the teachers have. The continuous professional development of teacher in their knowledge and skills will benefit their students.

The important things of teacher duty are to prepare students for the Information Age. There are a few strategies that the teachers must take care. Firstly, they must provide all round developments with provision for individual abilities, offering a broad curriculum for all, with electives, that is vertically integrated, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. To provide all this kind of behaviors, the teachers must provide all this with them before can teach others. The skill that the teachers need is the psychology skills to influence the students. To understand the teenagers behavior, the educators must study the teenagers development theory. From that, teacher might use soft skill to bring and guide the students on a right way.

The second perfect strategy is emphasized intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and physical growth, concentrating on thinking, developing and applying values, and using correct language across the curriculum. Teachers who work in Smart School must encourage their students to have good critical thinking. Despite giving much knowledge to their students, they also must know how to understand each learned by their self. In developing students mind set, the teachers also can applying good moral values in each aspect of learning due to the government principle to provide integral human for nation in the future. In this millennium era, the teenagers had confused with their identity especially in their acting and language. They had influence with the west culture. The major thing that we can see is mixing language. Malaysian will lose their identity if the younger do not appreciate what they have. All this kind of acting can be change by the teachers, they should use appropriate language in class. It is important to foster the teenagers to use correct language, but some term in some language need word or sentence in others language to explain it. So, it can be excuse.

The Smart School had been developed in such powerful and had big impact of their curriculum. The smart school curriculums are meaningful, socially responsible, multicultural, reflective, holistic, global, open ended, goal-based and technologically. The educator must know each kind of Malaysian culture in a large aspect. So, the curriculum itself shall promote holistic learning and allowing children to progress at their own paces.

The institution that provide teachers must produce teachers with technology literate that can think critically, encouraging thought and creativity across the curriculum and applying technology effectively in teaching and learning. Before entering any class, teachers are responsible to know and study about the issue that will discuss with their students. It is involve how to use a computer, projector, microphone, speaker, scanner or other equipments that can be use in the class. Have a creative ways of delivering will make a good attractions to the students to focus to the teacher in each second of learning time. Although the teacher has ability to use the digital media in their class, they also must know how to manage the instrument correctly like maintain the ability of the instruments.

The other skill, knows how to be democratize in learning. They must offering equal access to learning opportunity and accommodating differing learning abilities, styles and paces. Its mean, they must manage each step they take in class to make sure the facilities provide is enough for every students. It also to prevent buyers for some student especially the passive students and minority races.

Our education system had go several revolution in making a world class of education system. The expansion of Malaysia Education must follow the recent world expansion especially the expansion of latest technology. Introduction to technology in education field like Smart School is one of the steps to achieve National Vision and increasing the value of national education. To achieve this kind of golden goals, all participants are responsible to create thus education vision successful. If these visions are successful, it will give benefit to Malaysia totally. Finally, developing national education is not only government or Ministry of Education responsibility, but all Malaysian are involved in bringing national education through excellent.

3.      TEACHING AND LEARNING COMPONENT WITHIN THE MALAYSIAN SMART SCHOOL
            The idea of Smart Schools is dedicated to the task of regaining excellence in Malaysia education. It restructures Malaysian education as evidenced by changing the teaching and learning environments in schools in order to prepare children for the Information Age. There are several components in the Malaysian Smart School. One of the components in the teaching-learning processes which are the core of the Smart School. The processes relating to curriculum, pedagogy, assessments, and teaching-learning materials, are reinvented to help students learn more effectively and efficiently. The school enable students to practice self-accessed and self-directed learning at their own learning pace.

3.1       Curriculum
            Every school have their own curriculum objectives include the Smart School curriculum. The main objective is to promote holistic learning. The curriculum of the Smart School emphasizes seven learning areas. They are language and communication, science and technology, social studies, physical and health development, vocational and personal awareness, practical and creative arts, and values development. Learning areas represent a very important concept in the Smart Schools. They are designed to help students achieve overall and balanced development with which the goals are aligned. In Smart Schools subjects no longer stand alone. In each learning areas, subjects are taught through various perspectives of knowledge, skills, values, and language. Each subject is divided into several levels for students with different learning abilities. Therefore, students may learn at to their own pace.

3.2       Pedagogy
            Pedagogy is also the component of teaching-learning in the Smart School which make the learning more interesting, motivating, stimulating, and meaningful. It is because pedagogy involves the student’s minds, spirit, and bodies in the learning process to prepare them for greater challenges in future. The process in the Smart School pedagogy involves specific method like student-centered learning. This innovative and effective method is used to provide different learning experience for the student. For instance, the possible role of students and teacher in classroom is range from teacher-centered to student-centered. Pedagogy has its own learning strategies by mix of appropriate learning to ensure mastery of basic competencies and promotion holistic development. It also accommodates individual different learning style to develop great performance. Besides, pedagogy shall foster a classroom atmosphere that is compatible with different teaching-learning strategies.

3.3       Assessment
            The other component of the Smart School is assessment which is distinctly different from other schools. It is element-based, criterion-referenced, and diagnostic. The system is developed so as to measure student achievement in cognitive development, communication, social-emotional development, and science and technology. This assessment will be flexible and learner-friendly, while assuring the quality of the assessment information by using multiple approaches and instruments. The integration of technology as a tool enables the on-line assessment and conducted in various form to perform strength, abilitie, and knowledge. This assessments also can be open to continued improvement on a lifetime. Authentic, alternative, and performance are examples of assessment approaches, while anecdotal records, calendar records, checklists, work samples, and exhibitions are some examples of assessment instruments. Certification serves as a learning record and is subject to life-long updating.

3.4       Teaching-Learning Materials (TLMs)
            The last component is the teaching-learning material that is designed for the new teaching strategies. Smart School teacher must be able to use ICT application as a tool in teaching and learning process and also consider the students learning preferences in order to maximize their learning potential. The teaching-learning materials in Smart School to be compared with the ordinary schools are cognitively challenging and motivating by combining the best of network-based, teacher-based, and courseware materials.

4.      TECHNOLOGY AS AN ENABLER

Technology infrastructure shall form the basis of the Smart School upon which all of the applications shall reside and operate. Although the Smart School is curriculum driven, technology nevertheless plays a crucial role as a prime enabler and one of the critical success factors for the Smart School.  The Technology Infrastructure for the pioneer Smart Schools may comprise some or all of the following components like hardware such as end terminal devices and servers, software such as operating system, graphical user interface, and IT security software. Besides that, Local Area Network (LAN) components, such as network interfaces, network operating system, network system management, physical cabling, hubs, routers and access equipment. In addition, video conferencing and its related components, Non-IT Support Equipment such as overhead projectors and audiovisual equipment. The Technology Infrastructure shall be able to support, fulfill and integrate the Smart School. Its design shall take into account the migration of hardware and software applications from one level of technology to another. Levels of Technology are made necessary by differing readiness of infrastructure and
budget restrictions. 

Unfortunately, there have been disputes as to whether Smart Schools are associated with information technology (IT), and that smart teaching and learning can be implemented with or without IT. Gan (2000, p.81) maintains that, on the basis of the conceptual definition for Smart Schools that rests on the premise to educate Malaysian children for and with the tools of Information Age, “Smart Schools without IT will definitely not be able to produce generation of IT-literate Malaysian[s] ready for the challenges of the Information Age”. Furthermore, it has been persuasively argued that, “The journey of the Smart School project might otherwise be a long and gradual one, but we can now use technology to take us there quickly and efficiently” (SSPT, 1997a, p.37). The corollary that stems from such argument is that science teaching and student learning can be made more efficient and enabling with the use of technology.

The blueprint gives examples of IT-enriched teaching and learning practices and their implications for IT. For instance, in self-exploratory learning, the implication would be, “every computer shall have access to the latest educational materials available locally, as well as to external resources” (ibid., p. 102). Nevertheless, the blueprint suffers from a lack of specific examples as to how technology could be used as enablers in science classes. This void is only partially filled when one refers to the science syllabuses that provide one or two-sentence descriptions on the suggested IT-enabled science teaching approaches such as the use of simulation, modeling, and computer-assisted experimentation to teach certain concepts.

5.      CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Malaysian government has made an ambitious and bold initiative and has laid the foundation for our school children, the future citizens, to progress towards achieving Vision 2020. It is now up the various stakeholders to play their part and ensure that the path towards achieving the goals is obstacle-free.

6.      REFERENCES


Assignment 1 Report PBL

REPORT CONTENT ANALYSIS PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (PBL)

1.0       OBJECTIVES

1. To define the terms Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

2. To determine the issues in integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in Malaysian schools.
3. To discuss the challenges in integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in Malaysian schools.

2.0       INTRODUCTION

Malaysia does aware with the growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Thus, smart schools have been introduced under Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. The government aims to capitalize on the presence of leading-edge technologies and the rapid development of the MSC’s infrastructure to jump start deployment of enabling technology to schools. ICT are defined as a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, create, disseminate, store and manage information. These technologies include computer, internet, broadcasting technologies and telephony. ICT does great but there are some issues and challenges in integrating ICT in teaching and learning in our Malaysian schools.

3.0       PROBLEM STATEMENT 

FILA Chart Content Analysis Problem-based Learning (PBL)
FACTS
IDEAS

LEARNING ISSUES
ACTION

ICT applications
have become an
important part of
teaching and
learning.

The Ministry of
Education has
invested a huge
effort in terms of
funding and
training to equip
teachers and
students with ICT
skills.

Readiness of
teachers in using
ICT applications
in their teaching
process.

Teaching and

learning will be
more effective
and interactive.

Involvement of
ICT in the schools
in rural areas.

What is ICT?

What are the

issues in
integrating ICT in
teaching and
learning in
Malaysian
schools?

What are the

challenges  in
integrating ICT in
teaching and
learning in
Malaysian
schools?

Are school

teachers ready
enough to use ICT
applications in
their teaching
process?

Does the teaching

and learning
process will be
more interesting
with the help of
ICT?

How about, the

students in rural
areas, does they
know about ICT?


Refer to the
internet.

Refer to ICT

books.

Teacher needs to

prepare physical n
spiritual.

Teachers have to

guide students for
using ICT
application in
learning process.

Government

should provide
more facilities for
the school in rural
area



4.0       DISCUSSION

The first issue that we choose is the readiness of teachers to use ICT for their lessons. We find the challenge, teacher must be provided with the knowledge and soft skills for using the new digital tools and resources to help all students achieve high academic stands not only base on the traditional lesson ‘talk and chalk’. Furthermore, teacher needs to prepare the slides show like Power Point to make the lesson more interesting and change the perception for all the students especially at rural area. Teachers also have the problem to change the new pedagogy by using ICT.  Besides that, formal training is a must for the teachers as they play on important role to incorporate ICT in education. Thus, learning outcomes cannot be achieve if teacher cannot  attract the students’ attention because the influence of examination oriented culture and the teachers have ‘finish syllabus syndrome’.  In addition, because of heavy workload, teachers have less time or less initiative to adopt new teaching approaches in their lessons. 

The teaching and learning process using ICT applications will be much more interesting and effective compared to the traditional ways. Teachers may use the applications that have been prepared by the government such as the CD-ROM, computers, projector and the internet. Teachers and students may search for more interesting notes and exercise by browsing through the internet. There are lots of materials and notes that are suitable for teaching and learning online. However, they have to be smart in selecting the information in the web pages on the internet because they are some fake information that has been uploaded by the irresponsible people. Besides that, using ICT applications in class does help smoother the teaching and learning process, but without full guidance from teachers, students may use the internet to browse negative web pages. This action may lead to social problems; lessen moral values; wasting time and many other problems. Even worse, these abuses may contribute to cyber crime.

Besides, ICTs can provide new and innovative means to bring educational opportunities to students in rural and remote-rural areas. Even though, in reality we found that there are some problem if we try to brings ICT education in rural area such as not enough facilities, students from low-socio economic background and network problems. But, it is one way to improve academic performance for rural area students. Then, to creating a more effective and more exciting school environment and to change in community’s attitude towards the usage of digital resources to improve result and knowledge acquisition. Usually, this opportunity will focus on to students from remote areas and students with average academic achievements; mainly in English, Science and Mathematics and actively involved in school curriculum.

5.0 CONCLUSION

By conducting this Problem-Based Learning (PBL), it is hoped that the key challenge of all the issues can be identified to school management and the ICT policy maker, so that any ICT program involving collaborative approach can be conducted more successfully in the future.

6.0       REFERENCES

Making Malaysia’s Schools Smarter. Access fromhttp://www.mscmalaysia.my/sites/default/files/pdf/publications_references/FutureGov_February_2010.pdf on September 25, 2012.

Koridor Utara Malaysia. Access fromhttp://www.koridorutara.com.my/site/?__f=catmain&catname=Education&catsub=&aliascat=&tracking=&relatedpages=1&q=education_humancapital/cita&type=&id=93 on September 25, 2012.

ICT in Education/Key Challenges in Integrating ICTs in Education. Access from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ICT_in_Education/Key_Challenges_in_Integrating_ICTs_in_Education on September 25,2012.

Assignment 1 : Content Analysis PBL

Assignment 2 : Smart School