In Master plan 1, the diverse range of activities rolled out with ICT-based elements have made me feel that as society develops and as Singapore develops into a first world country with some of the best technological facilities, that students should also be, in a primary way or another, exposed to a certain extent, gauging from their age and their levels of education, different types of ICT learning such that as growth and development takes place through their adolescence and through to adulthood, the increased number of personal experiences with ICT would allow them to stay relevant and keep ahead of the game, and it would also allow them to be developed into technologically savvy adults.
Examples such as the 3D biological construct model of a videocast cell allows River Valley High students to immerse in a visual context of how a cell looks like through a 3D scope and what are the entailing features not normally seen in a usual 2D model.
With these types of new technological tools for teacher's usage, the imperative for science and even arts subjects such as Geography and History would definitely allow students to understand the contextual meanings and the topical discussions even better, due to the constant tapping of their mental construct and increasing the level of interest in lessons.
Also, with competitions such as the National Robotics Competition, it allows students that are taking part to push perceived boundaries even further and challenge themselves in these situations of ICT environment, and for some, they might even discover their passion in technological advancements and might open up engineering and even research horizons for them in the future.
Having the Baseline ICT standards will also allow schools to assess and ensure that students that are going through the programs have secured and understood the capabilities and the usefulness of ICT learning, and thus self-induced a level of practice that is proficient enough in basic programs such as blogging, podcasting, video-taking amongst others.
In Master Plan 2, which is an extension of Master plan 1, it is to put in place a supra-support structure that allows schools to take a step further in implementing ICT more than 50% of the ordinary curriculum time, as well as increasing capabilities to the schools to have facilities that help improve conditions for ICT learning in their quandaries.
However, though it is important for MP2 to be implemented, the phases must be progressive and teachers should also be given an opportunity and better space to harness this new utility, and with the least of hassles possible, such that students are able to fully benefit from the learnings from ICT and the value-added information from the teacher who is free from the administrative pressure of taking on the responsibilities of organizing a lesson with ICT components.
With these factors in mind, MP2 will turn out to be a success.
In Mp 3, which is the extension of the package of Mp1 and Mp2, it is important at this point in time to allow for development in phase to be completed in full, across the board in all school realms targeted for ICT learning, such that teachers who enter the workforce as well as fellow veteran teachers have an equally good grasps of handling ICT during lesson periods. This continuity element enhances and allows the space that i mentioned above in MP2, and the general hope is that Mp3 will allow teachers, the wizards of ICT, be able to have a grapple on the element and successfully bring out concepts in a much more vibrant and creative light to the students.
