• Home
• GOVERNMENT CXO
• E-GOVERNMENT
• CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
• TAX AND REVENUE MANAGEMENT
• GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
• GREEN GOVERNMENT
• GOVERNMENT DATA MANAGEMENT
• GOVERNMENT SECURITY
• GOVERNMENT CLOUD
• GOVERNMENT ANALYTICS
• GOVERNMENT GIS
• CONNECTED GOVERNMENT
• DIGITAL INCLUSION
• EDUCATION IT
• HEALTHCARE IT

Education IT

Top ten lessons from FutureCampus Forum Malaysia

By Kelly Ng | 17 March 2011

FutureCampus Forum took on a new Interactive Discussion Table format in Kuala Lumpur. More than 120 Malaysian education thought leaders from ministries, schools and universities rotated over ten tables, each discussing one of the key challenges facing educators today.

Here, Discussion Leaders highlight the most interesting issues raised at each table:

MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS
Terry O’Brien Policy Project Leader, Digital Education Revolution NSW, New South Wales Department of Education and Training, Australia
The challenges of integrating ICT into teaching and learning cross national borders. We agreed that success is not measured by the numbers of computers or hits on a website but by how the technology is incorporated into instruction at both school and tertiary levels. Teachers are the key and our common task is the development of strategies to help teachers become effective agents of digital change. There must be bigger focus on helping students develop ICT skills which can be applied to learning rather than simply personal use and play.

REMAINING COMPETITIVE
Professor Stephen Doughty Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning), The University of Nottingham, Malaysia
Rankings, rating systems, grade attainment or employability are various measures of competitiveness. All agreed that ICT was an enabler for learning – specifically how it is used – but also that it could be an enabler for collaboration. An interesting thread was that collaboration doesn’t reduce competitiveness, and specific examples were provided. Developing a ‘Community of Practice’ might be a useful starting point to promote sharing and collaboration. Student expectation and vendor marketing are two key drivers for adoption of ICT. ICT as a tool can, if used appropriately, lead to an enhanced student experience leading to greater employability

GAMING AND IMMERSIVE LEARNING
Associate Professor Dr Cai Yiyu Former President, Intl Simulation & Gaming Assoc., Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Chow Ban Hoe Subject Head Biology (Junior High) River Valley High School, Singapore
Most of the forum delegates have some experience of 3D entertainment especially that brought about by James Cameron’s 3D movie, Avatar. They are even more elated to see the use of 3D technology in education. In particular, they are keen to learn of what 3D technology can bring for classroom teaching and student co-curricular activities. We shared on the development of curriculum resources using 3D technology which drew the interests of many in having such ICT lessons in their own classrooms. Lastly, we also discussed the roles of stakeholders – principals, teachers, students and developers in driving educational use of ICT.

CREATIVITY IN BLENDED LEARNING
Prof Eric Tsui Associate Director, Knowledge Management Research Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University HongKong
Dr David Asirvatham Director, Centre for Information Technology, University of Malaya, Malaysia
Some form of blended learning approach was in place in most Malaysian institutions, with experiences in the use of Facebook for discussion, Youtube to demonstrate concepts, or Moodle or Blackboard for interactive online learning. Some of the key challenges are the limitations of ICT infrastructure, lack of training for instructures and the uncertainly in the right mix of face-to-face and online learning activities. Blended learning does have an impact on the creativity of the learners. The use of social media such as Wikipedia, Facebook and blogs can greatly contribute towards the creative domain of the brain.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Prof John Arul Executive Director Asia Centre for eLearning, Asia e University, Malaysia
Krishna Sistla Senior Director – Oracle Education Initiatives Oracle
There is a lack of sharing because Malaysians tend to be shy in uploading their content on to the web. It is agreed that we should actively pursue collaborative efforts in the development of local content. Teachers at all levels of education need more training on the use of technology in teaching and learning. They should make greater use of content on the web and teach students how to critically evaluate web content. With the massive amount of content available on the web, the role of the teacher changes to that of a facilitator.

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
Ma Siu Leung Chief Executive Officer, Fung Kai Public School, Hong Kong
Most delegates initially found it difficult to believe that vendors are willing to partner schools by offering their products and technologies for free or at a much lower cost. PPP are mutually beneficial because in return, companies can use the school and the results as a reference point. The success factors for PPP include the school having a clear vision on how ICT can be leveraged to enhance education, its ability to judge the pros and cons of the proposed product in the perspective of students, and a clear demarcation of the intellectual property rights of any deliverables as the result of the partnership.

CONNECTED CAMPUS
Associate Professor Rob Ellis Director of eLearning, Learning Space, University of Sydney, Australia
Dirk Dumortier VP GPMO and Customised Solution APAC Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Group
A key question was the contribution of different categories of learning space to the student experience of learning and what might be the most optimal combination to achieve effective outcomes. The categories of physical formal space (such as lecture theatres and classrooms), physical informal space (such as libraries, cafes, and canteens), and virtual learning space (such as eCourses, eCommunities, ePortfolios, Social Technologies, etc) made sense to all participants and enabled a discussion about how each of these spaces play a legitimate role in the student experience. Questions include whether to permit social technologies in school, and finding the balance of the different types of learning spaces.

CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Dr. Norazah Nordin Assoc. Professor, Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
The big challenge that most school teachers are facing is mainly technical in nature, and the maintenance of hardware in school, such as computers and LCD projectors. They suggested that each school to be provided with dedicated Technical Assistants to facilitate the learning and teaching process when integrating ICT. They also recommended that schools and universities have more collaborative projects such as action research on ICT and pedagogy integration. Educators from institutes of higher learning are more concerned about the learning outcomes when integrating ICT and pedagogy in order to produce graduates who are holistic in the aspects of cognitive, affective and psychomotor.

FUTURE LEARNING STYLES
Dr. Logendra Stanley Ponniah Acting Director, Integrated Teaching and Life-long Learning Centre, Taylor’s University, Malaysia
I, like many others believe that technology is here to stay. Very soon we will stop talking about many of the technological tools and take it for granted. With the easy and stable excess to information, we now have a genuine position to reevaluate what it means to be called a learned person. Is a scholar someone who is able to recall a huge body of text or someone who has an in-depth appreciation for his domain of knowledge and is able to predict and participate in the evaluation of his chosen field? The future of learning is when the curriculum emphasize the process of knowledge acquisition is just as important as the knowledge itself, and we have Google for the rest.

CHOOSING CLASSROOM ICT EQUIPMENT
Kelly Ng, Education Editor, FutureGov Asia Pacific
Jason Lui, General Manager, Elmo
Among the 30 per cent of Malaysian educators who use visualisers in classrooms, almost all of them observed increase in student participation and interest. This echoed the positive results from a research study by Tamagawa University and University of Toyama, which found significant improvement in the grades of 1395 Japanese students. In Malaysia, more universities than K12 schools have visualisers in special rooms or have mobile units for teachers to carry it into class. The lack of budget was a major obstacle. 98 per cent of the participants registered for Elmo’s ‘Seeding Project’, which allowed them to try out the visualiser and tablet for a month.

---