Report on Smart Schools

COURSE	SSI3013 - Information And Communication Technology In Science
GROUP	B	SESSION	2012/2013
Lab Sessions	Friday 8.00 – 11.00 a.m
ASSIGNMENT 2 : Smart Schools in Malaysia

LECTURER’S NAME

EN AZMI BIN IBRAHIM

STUDENTS NAME	MATRIC NO.
RIDWAN BIN SHAMSUDIN	D20101037472
RASYID BIN ABDUL SALAM	D20101037524
MOHD NURUL AMRI BIN RODZI	D20101037539

INTRODUCTION

Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards, and who are responsible and capable of achieving high levels of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large. In our country, the first computer system was implemented in 1966. Since then, the Government has launched many initiatives that integrate ICT in our lives. One of them is the integration of ICT in education and training programmed through “Smart Schools” programmed.

Malaysia intends to transform its educational system, in line with and in support of the nation’s drive to fulfill Vision 2020. This Vision calls for sustained, productivity-driven growth, which will be achievable only with a technologically literate, critically thinking work force prepared to participate fully in the global economy of the 21^st century. At the same time, Malaysia’s National Philosophy of Education calls for “developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and physically balanced and harmonious.” The catalyst for this massive transformation will be technology- supported Smart Schools, which will improve how the educational system achieves the National Philosophy of Education, while fostering the development of a work force prepared to meet the challenges of the next century.

The Smart Schools initiative is one of the seven flagship applications that are part of Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. The Government of Malaysia 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. This will be done by creating a group of 90 pilot Smart Schools by 1999 that will serve as the nucleus for the eventual nation-wide rollout of Smart School teaching concepts and materials, skills, and technologies. By 2010, all 10,000 of Malaysia’s primary and secondary schools will be Smart Schools.

"Smart School" is a Malaysian education system which learning institution that reconstructs systematically teaching-learning and school management in order to prepared children for Information Age. Smart School  is defines as one that uses a technology platform as mediums on which distance learning and specific teaching expertise are made available to remote locations including the home, with out compromise to the quality of information transfer and certified teaching methods developed locally, regionally or internationally. In early of 1996, the Ministry of Education was created laws of Smart School concept. There was teaching and learning based on creative thinking. Technology as a important component in Smart School concept when Smart School project exist as one of application that are part of Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).

Teaching and learning process were included the process of curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and teaching-learning materials in a mutually reinforcing, coherent manner. The curriculum process will help student achieve overall balanced development and integrate knowledge, skills, values, and correct use of language. Then, Smart School pedagogy will seek to make learning more interesting, motivating, stimulating and meaningful. It is also involve the children mind, spirit and bodies in the learning process. The strategies in Smart School pedagogy were use an appropriate mix of learning strategies to ensure mastery of basic competencies and promote holistic development, accommodate individual different learning styles, so as to boost performance and foster a classroom atmosphere that is compatible with different teaching-learning strategies.

Smart schools are ICT-enabled learning institutions with new teaching-learning practices and school management to prepare the children for the new economy. Smart School Components are listed below:

Ø  Teaching and learning material

Ø  Smart school Assessment system

Ø  Smart Management system

Ø  Technology Infrastructure

Ø  System Integration

Ø  Support Service

Ø  Professionally Trained Teachers 

Besides, the governments also had set the objectives of the Smart School which are based on Malaysia’s National Philosophy of Education, are as follows:

Ø  To produce a thinking and technology-literate workforce

Ø  To democratize education

Ø  To increase participation of stakeholders

Ø  To provide all-round development of the individual

Ø  To provide opportunities to enhance individual strength and abilities

The Vision 2020 has created a big wave that caused a major transformation in our education system . The challenge to develop the talents, skills, creativity and will of Malaysia’s ultimate resources is mainly held by education and training agencies including the Ministry of Education.

WHAT IS THE TEACHING AND LEARNING COMPONENT IN SMART SCHOOL CONCEPT?

There are six components contained in smart schools in Malaysia, they areTeaching and Learning, Management and Administration, People, Skills and Responsibilities, Processes, Technology, and Policies. I want to elaborate on the most important part that is the Teaching and Learning component. In Malaysia Teaching and Learning component of Smart School in are categories in four main areas, which are curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and teaching-learning material. Each of area will be the critical element in defining the teaching and learning environment for Smart School students.

Curriculum is the scope and content of a subject in educational institutions such as schools and universities, which cover the prospective learning within and beyond the classroom. Usually, it is determined by the Ministry of Education and the teachers should play a role in determining the curriculum and subjects taught. The Smart School curriculum was designed by combining the elements that enables the education system to achieve the goals of National Philosophy of Education. The curriculum shall be meaningful, socially responsible, multicultural, reflective, holistic, global, open-ended, goal-based and technological. It also emphasizes the all-round development that covers four domains that is communication, cognitive, affective and physical. The integration of knowledge, skills, values and correct use of language will form the new curriculum of Smart School. This integration of elements is suitable for the challenge of the Information Age. Curriculum of Smart School also incorporated elements of vertical and horizontal integration. In addition, the co-curriculum activities will reinforce the class learning and also make school more fun and interesting. Finally, the concept of this curriculum will ensure that all students would gain equal access to quality learning, and allowing for self-paced leaning across grades.

 Pedagogy is a strategy of teaching and learning, classroom management, school organization and teacher-student interaction. Student centered is the main element of pedagogy of smart school that encourage student to be more independent in their study.  The innovative and attractive teaching method is used in Smart School to provide different learning horizon and experience for the student. As we know, student nowadays is quite different from the previous generations of student, example like the way of thinking, studying, interacting and using of technology. In addition, the way on how teachers teach student have been changed entirely to ensure that student can follow and catch up the syllabus prepared in the school.  For an example, the possible role of students and teacher in classroom is range from teacher-centered to student-centered. Also, there are appropriate mixing of learning strategies to ensure mastery of basic competencies and promotion of holistic development. So, combination of role in classroom with learning strategies will results in an overview of different classroom environment. The key factor in choosing the classroom environment is the need to deal with diversity of skills, ability and learning style of students. The pedagogy used in Smart School will incorporating high level thinking skills and values in classroom and preserving students enthusiasm for learning with age. 

The Smart School assessment system is holistic, that covers not only achievement, but also readiness, progress and aptitude. This approach will give various information regarding to the student learning styles and abilities. The assessment also is element-based, where is focused on the element that the student must possess or develop throughout the curriculum.  The assessment system also is criterion-referenced, which is evaluating the individual performance based on the predetermined set of criteria. It also learner-centered, where flexible system of assessment which is administered on an individual basis is done. The integration of technology as a tool enables the on-line assessment and conducted in various form in order to allow demonstration of strength, abilities and knowledge. It also uses multiple approaches and instrument and will be continuous and on-going.

The teaching-learning material of Smart School is also specially designed to support the teaching-learning process in Smart School. The selection of teaching material covers five main areas which meets curricular and instructional needs, that is cost effective, as well as cosmetically and technically adequate. Smart School teachers must be able to use technology as a tool in teaching and learning process. The materials used must consider the students learning preferences. This is because each student has different learning styles, so they need a variety of materials to maximize their learning potential. Whatever materials that are being used, it must meet the criteria which are cognitively challenging, attractive, motivates students to learn, and encourages active participation. The use of conventional media such as 3D objects and audio/visual material that feature in Smart School is highly integrated with computer-based media such as courseware and the teaching-learning material, they  can be acquired from wide range of source, not limited within the school only.

HOW ICT IS USED AS ENABLERS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS?

In Smart School, the use of ICT as supporting tool in teaching and learning process had given many benefits. For each teaching-learning practices, ICT is widely use throughout the process. For example, in self-exploratory learning, the uses of computer provide the source of latest educational materials available locally, as well as to external resources. For collaborative learning, ICT is used as a tool that facilitates group work within the class and across the class. Distance learning also can be convenient by using ICT that enable communication with outside constituencies using technology such as video conferencing or email. The use of software or courseware helps the student to stimulate learning in experimental learning process and very useful for drill and practices purpose, where it allows the students to practice on their own or with peer. In research, reference and data collecting, ICT act as a tool to search, collect and collate information. By using ICT, the electronic assessment can be performing by using built-in assessment courseware.

PROGRESS OF SMART SCHOOLS IN MALAYSIA.

As we all know the smart schools project is one of the seven flagships initiated by MSC. It was implemented as pilot stages in year 1999-2002.Smart Schools integrated Solution(SSIS ) was given to 87 schools in the pilot phase . There are four milestone that the government has planned for the smart schools project by year :

Wave 1 – Pilot (1999-2002) –Implementation on 87 schools.

Wave 2 – The post pilot ( 2002-2005) – Lesson learned from the pilot.

Wave 3 – Making all schools smart (2005-2010) –Extending the digital information to all.

Wave 4 – consolidate and stabilize (2010-2020)            Technology become an integral part of nation learning process.

By the end of wave 1 the pilot stage many lesson are learned from the implementation of the SSIS to the 87 schools. One of them is the SSIS will only make the learning courseware and the PPSMI will produce the teaching courseware, a combination of this two will strengthen teaching and learning using ICT because the PPSMI is specialized in the teaching and the syllabus of the education and SSIS is specialized in the learning courseware.

Another good progress from this smart schools project is the academic performance of Malaysian students improved across all national examinations in core subjects – Language, Mathematics and Science. Compared to assessment scores in 1997 before the launch of the Smart School programme, Primary School scores increased by 11.4 per cent in the year 2009, Lower Secondary scores by 6.4 per cent and Malaysian Certificate of Education scores by 3.4 per cent.

The most significant progress that can be seen is the improvement of ICT awareness at schools in rural area. To encourage other rural schools to benefit from this smartschools scheme,in 2006, 50 rural schools have been selected to be role-models so that other schools in rural area can learn how to use ICT in teaching and learning from them. “The initial 88 role models selected in 2006 were very advanced in the adoption of IT. We are now in the third phase of making all schools – including rural ones – smart by 2010. Therefore, it will be more beneficial to have rural schools share their experiences and best practices because other rural schools can relate better to them,” says Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), which is co-leading the Smart School project with MOE.

MOE also launched EduWebTV.com under the wave 3 milestone , so students from both rural and urban schools can see good teachers speak on difficult topics. “We have eight channels with more than 1900 videos that children, parents and teachers can access for free. If we find a topic particularly tricky, we get a teacher who specialises in that area, film the lesson and post it up on the web site,” describes Datin Dr. Siti Zaleha Abdullah Sani, Director, Educational Technology Division, MOE. EduWebTV.com has clocked 22 million hits since it started in March 2008.

Other than that MOE has implement Smart Schools Qualification System (SSQS) .This system function to monitor the using of ICT in the schools because in recent years, focus has shifted from infrastructure issues to whether teacher and learner are using ICT effectively. In SSQS schools are given Star Ranking each year based on their performance in four areas – use of ICT, competency of end-users, adoption of applications provided by MOE and IT infrastructure. Until October 2009 MOE has awarded “Smart School Rating” to 7575 schools, they need to get at least 3 star to get the Smart School Rating. Of the 7575 Smart Schools, 67 per cent are at three-star ranking, 32 per cent at four-star and 1 per cent at five-star.. According to Dr Norrizan Razali, Senior Manager, Smart School Department a three star rating is for schools that had used the infrastructure of ICT given by MOE in their teaching and learning only, for them to get 4 to 5 star the need to re-create, collaborate and share materials within themselves and with other schools or the greater community.

CHALLENGES AND ISSUES

            As we all occur to know, when we want to excel in something there will always be challenges and issues that will arise before we are successful, this is the same with this smart schools project. Since the inception of smart schools in Malaysia there are many challenges arises and needed to overcome. In the pilot stage the challenges that can be identified are

- Infrastructure readiness

- Connectivity

- Change management

- Parallel ICT initiatives

- Training

- Technology obsolescence

- Policies

Connectivity problems occur is closely related to the infrastructure readiness problems, because some of the infrastructure in the rural area still not up to standard,example like the internet connections.This cause its effectiveness in teaching and learning in ICT to be lowered because they doesn’t have necessary ICT tools and proper internet connectivity.The training of theachers is also one of the challenges because the teachers still need to be trained for them to be skilled handling the ICT tools .Most of the teachers  in schools come from non ICT generation so they cannot handle the teaching and learning using ICT effectively and prefer to use the conventional ways of teaching. Ironically when the teachers dont want to use the ICT in their teaching and learning the ICT tools will be left out and ignored.This will lead to the technology obsolescence problem.

            In 2003 there are also challanges where the Smart School courseware was found to be under-utilised as schools preferred to use the newer courseware produced to teach Science and Mathematics (PPSMI) by the MoE. Since, Science and Mathematics were being taught in English in Primary Years 1 to 3 and Secondary Forms 1 to 3, while the Smart School courseware was in Malay Language. Teachers were also not keen on using the SS courseware as they found usage of materials directly related to exam preparation saved precious teaching time.

The Smart Schools Management System (SSMS) also face some difficulty to be implemented at schools .This is because there are many system to be implemented at once and schools found this hard to handle. Most Principals and Heads of schools that they had problems utilising three of the SSMS component - Financial managament , personnel management ,premises and facilities management.

Last but not least money play an important role in this Smart Schools project. Government has invest large amount of money in implementing Smart Schools in Malaysia.From the infrastructure to workers its all need to be paid.The MOE has faced a challanges in maintaining this smart schools project for it to work out effectively if not all the government hard work will be thrown out in vain.

REFRENCES

1. Tony Pua. (2006, June).Smart Schools Audit. Retreived October 8, 2012, from  http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2006/06/smart-schools-audit.html

2. Kelly Ng. (2010,April).MAKING MALAYSIA'S SCHOOLS SMARTER.Retreived October 8,2012, from http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2010/apr/30/making-malaysia-schools-smarter/

3.(2005, October).The Smart School Road map 2005-2020:An Educational Odyssey. Retrieved October 10, 2012 from http://www.slideshare.net/mariating/smart-school-roadmap

4.(2007). Smart School Project in CLM Countries. Retrieved October 6,2012, from http://www.msc.com.my/smartschool/events/clmv.asp

5.(2008). All About Smart Schools. Retrieved October 6 , 2012, from http://www.msc.com.my/topic/About+Smart+School