Showing posts with label IDA Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IDA Singapore. Show all posts

17 August 2013

Education ICT Master Plan 2013-2018

The first Education ICT Master Plan is in the making and I am proud to a part of the team. We began right after the election and will be working on it till November. Last year MoIC and IDA International Singapore did the first eGovernment Master Plan and the next phase is going down to work on the details for a 5-year ICT plan for specific sectors, of which education is one of these.

Our team underwent eight days training together provided by IDA International experts, some of whom were the same people who work on the first Singapore ICT Master Plan in 1990s. Their presence was an inspiration knowing their successful history in transforming Singapore.

The education team started with 15 of us, including MOE officers, DEOs, principals and teachers like myself. Additional resource persons were added to our group along the way when we realized we needed more people with specialized knowledge in some key areas. We began working independently with two Singaporean consultants, and an Advisor and in
over two weeks we came up with the first draft. It was presented to a round table meeting chaired by Madam Secretary and attended by directors of different departments and other stakeholders, including private sectors. It was again presented to Education Minister in a separate meeting. We learnt much from the wisdom of these senior stakeholders of the education sector during these meetings.

Training Period- With Ms. Kar Joo Tan. I am the one sleeping right in front.
The ICT Master Plan aims to rationalize and streamline various ICT projects and activities under the Ministry of Education for implementation over the next five years. It will provide us with a broad holistic vision of how best to harness the power of ICT for teaching and learning.

The work has just begun. Much of the input during the first two weeks were based on our assumptions. Therefore the next month will be invested in validating the facts and for data collection. Upon accumulation of all the require data resources we will sit down to define specific projects and programs, estimate budgets, and specify timeline. Broadly, we are looking at three main areas (1) how to strengthen the integration of ICT into curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, (2) how to enhance the ICT capacity of teachers, students and support staff, and (3) what type of nationwide education and learning ICT infrastructure will be necessary to support these plans.

I am glad to be part of this important project that will help lay the foundation for a quality and relevant education in the country. If you have any idea that may be useful for The Education ICT Master Plan, we will be happy to go through it. But remember this is a personal blog and views expressed here are my personal and not reflective of my team or the Education Ministry.