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Education IT

Singapore to stress on technology in new education masterplan

By Xinghui Guo | 14 April 2011

According to Singapore’s Educational Technology Division (ETD) in the Ministry of Education (MOE), the digital divide related to technology access is fading. What the nation faces now is a digital divide about students with ICT skill sets, and those without, said Tham Yoke Chun, Deputy Director of the Professional Development & Consultancy, ETD.

Hence, the ETD is now on its third education masterplan, looking to strengthen and scale education technology use in schools and to develop a new curriculum—a Curriculum 2015 Vision (C2015) meant to build 21st century competencies in students.

Tham explained at today’s 3D Learning Symposium, “If we want to make sure technology use is sound, the starting point must always be sound pedagogy and curriculum”.

“Technology in itself cannot transform learning,” Tham said.

In which case the C2015 hopes to create students who are:

Anchored in strong moral values;

Possess social and emotional competencies;

Have ICT skills, civic literacy, cross cultural skills and critical and inventive thinking.

The department is also looking to introduce “new modes of pedagogy using social media to enable participation, negotiation of meaning, dialogue, and co-construction of knowledge”.

The MOE’s first masterplan started in 1997 to build a strong ICT foundation in Singapore’s schools; and the second one in 2003 birthed FutureSchools in a bid to seed innovation. The current masterplan started in 2009 with a vision of “harnessing technology to transform learners”.

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