18 October 2003

SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, ACTING MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AT THE EDTECH AWARDS CEREMONY 2003 AT 9.30am ON 18 OCT 03 AT THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

1. Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to be here with all of you for the EdTech Awards 2003. It is once again an opportunity for us to recognise and showcase innovations in the use of IT in teaching and learning. Today, we will be highlighting the efforts of teachers and pupils who have excelled in the Hewlett-Packard Innovation in IT Awards (HP INIT) and the Learn@Arts Awards.

2. In a way, the event celebrates the first fruits of mp2, our second Masterplan for IT in Education which we launched last year at iTopia 2002. But it also reflects the firm roots and sturdy trunk that was nurtured in our first Masterplan, which began in 1997. Within a short 5 years, we put in place a technology infrastructure in every school to allow pupils to expand their boundaries of learning, and to collaborate more with each other. We also trained every teacher in every school, equipping them with the skills to integrate IT in their lesson plans. On a national scale, the hours and resources we have invested in training teachers to use IT has exceeded that anywhere else. As a result, the vast majority of our teachers have reported that they find it worthwhile to prepare IT-based lessons, and wish to explore more ways of bringing IT into their teaching.

3. This ability and keenness of our teachers to explore the opportunities that IT offers is the best test of whether we have made progress. It is also gratifying that the fruits of our efforts are being recognised internationally, in a variety of ways. One such instance is the recent Second IT in Education Study: Module 2 or SITES M2, for short.

4. SITES M2, conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), was a 3-year study of innovations in pedagogical practices in 28 participating countries from 1999 to 2002. In the final report of the study, published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), the researchers were particularly impressed by Singapore's Masterplan, as providing a broad vision of the way IT can change education, and a well-coordinated plan for implementation. But the test of an educational plan is ultimately not in how well it is articulated, but in the results on the ground, in our schools.

5. The 6 Singapore cases looked at in the SITES M2 study were good examples of the kind of innovation taking place in our school system. In Victoria Junior College, Physics and Chinese teachers used broadband to deliver media-rich interactive instruction. For Physics, students were able to verify scientific hypotheses by simulating physical processes using interactive Java applets. Students learning Chinese language could access from home not only multimedia learning content, but also exercises that had an auto-marking function which the teacher could monitor online.

6. At Radin Mas Primary School, another school that participated in the SITES M2 study, pupils used digital art tools to explore new ways of expressing their imagination. For instance, pupils used the editing feature of such tools to experiment with the different effects of Chinese brush painting, water-colour, and batik painting. This was not just a matter of being able to try out alternative artistic techniques in the most efficient way. It also sparked new artistic ideas in the pupils' minds, and opened up totally new possibilities.

7. The innovations in the use of IT that we have seen in these two schools are part of a wave of experimentation that has been taking place in many other schools. IT in the school is no longer a matter of PCs and laptops, or networks and bandwidth, or CD-ROMs. We have gone beyond the hardwiring, and beyond the passive use of packaged software. IT in schools is now being driven by human experimentation - by teachers and students who are using IT to push the boundaries of learning, and make lessons more interesting and engaging.

8. We are creating more opportunities for such experimentation. Our Learn@ series, launched in 2000 is one such channel. Each year, the Learn@ event takes pupils out of the school, and encourages them to make the most of IT as they collect and record their observations and learning experiences. They are also encouraged to collaborate with each other as they do so.

9. This year, MOE collaborated with the National Arts Council to organise Learn@Arts, the fourth in the Learn@ Series. The aim was to promote an appreciation of the vibrancy and diversity of the performing and visual arts in Singapore.

10. A total of 118 schools (67 primary, 51 secondary) took part in this year's Learn@Arts event. Pupils watched live performances, interacted with artists, got engaged in hands-on activities and accessed information using MMS technology. Pupils working in teams then documented their experiences by creating Digital Visual Journals. Through this process, they collaborated to reflect on art and its role in our lives, as individuals and as a community.

11. The pupils' creativity was impressive. Many entries have not just slick layouts and interesting user interfaces, but also unusual narratives and highly original artwork. What is apparent is also a growing sophistication in web design among our young children in creating their Visual Journals.

12. Today 22 of these journals will be awarded prizes. The pupils in the winning teams and all those who participated in this competition, won for themselves new perspectives and a new sense of what they are each capable of.

13. The HP INIT Award was launched in 1999 and is now into its fifth year of implementation. This Award, supported by Hewlett-Packard, provides a good platform to recognise teachers who have, in their own ways, pushed the envelope in educational technology.

14. What is particularly encouraging is the collaboration and networking that this Award has spawned among teachers and other pedagogical experts. A recent informal survey by MOE of 31 past Award winners showed that they had in the last four years reached out to more than 11,000 fellow educators to share their innovative ideas, through formal and informal occasions.

15. The 43 entries submitted for the HP INIT Award this year reflected an increasing range of IT tools, from SMS to infra-red technology. They were also utilised at higher levels of proficiency, and more closely integrated or woven into teaching. The entries reflected the collaborative efforts of more than 180 teachers, a 38% increase over last year's participation. We are making good progress.

16. We are especially encouraged by the significant number of inter-school collaborations, as exemplified by the team from Xinmin secondary school and Qifa primary school. There has also been greater partnership with external experts. One example was the team from Crescent Girls' School which worked with the National Cancer Centre to create an educational website for children named 'Kids against Cancer'.

17. Today, we shall be launching the next phase of the HP INIT Award programme. We will expand the programme to include the INIT2 award. This new award will focus on sharing and outreach within the teaching fraternity. The new award will recognise a process which has already started amongst teachers, and spur it on so that innovative practices that have worked well for one team of teachers in one place are replicated or mutated elsewhere, or help stimulate further innovations. Winners of the INIT2 award will help their colleagues to be "in it too"; 'it' being the practice of innovating with the help of IT.

18. Today, MOE will sign a new Memorandum of Understanding with Hewlett-Packard to advance the HP INIT Award and the new HP INIT2 (Outreach) Award competitions.

19. HP will continue to sponsor the HP INIT Awards up to a total value of S$50,000 a year. The new INIT2 Award itself is valued at $50,000 per year with a total of S$20 000 to the winners with the best outreach plans and an additional cash grant totalling S$30 000 per year to cover costs for the implementation of the outreach plans. The first INIT2 award will be given in 2004.

20. The teacher is at the core of everything that we want to do in education. Technology lends a tool, but is not itself what innovation is about in education. How well technology is used by the teacher and integrated into learning - whether IT is used to simply replicate what is done on the blackboard or in the textbooks, or used to open up new vistas and to push students to learn in new and sometimes unplanned ways - will make all the difference.

21. We will enhance professional development programmes for teachers to help them integrate IT into teaching and learning in creative and unforced ways, and on a sustained basis. IT will then become the 'smart-casual' of the teaching week, worn confidently and breezily, not the occasional formal dressing that we feel obliged to comply with.

22. We will also build leadership capacity in schools for technology planning and evaluation. For example, IT HODs will focus not just on IT, but will re-focus on their roles as instructional leaders, working alongside subject HODs to champion the integration of IT into the curriculum.

23. We will also make use of attachments outside the school to give teachers a broader sense of what technology allows. Besides the broader initiative to give teachers more opportunities for experiences outside the school, we will incorporate such stints in courses for HODs (both IT and subject HODs) at the NIE. They will be able to go on attachments with business organisations such as IBM and HP, and research and education institutions such as the Institute for Infocomm Research, the polytechnics and universities. These opportunities will expose our instructional leaders to an environment where innovation and enterprise are keys to survival.

24. Another strategy that the Ministry will push is the building of communities of practice or C.O.P's. These C.O.Ps will be the forums that provide and sustain the necessary collegial support and mentoring for professional sharing and knowledge-creation. Besides the face-to-face sessions, which are undoubtedly still the best way to share ideas, we will provide common online platforms to enhance collaboration and sharing among the teachers.

25. We hope that these enhancements in the professional development programme will create a culture of collegiality and experimentation among teachers. It should boost our collective capacity for innovation. CONCLUSION 26. Let me finally express the Ministry's appreciation to Hewlett-Packard (HP) and the National Arts Council (NAC) for their partnerships with us this year.

27. I would also like to congratulate all the Learn@Arts and HP INIT award winners. I wish them ever-greater success as they push the frontiers in the use of IT in education, and excite others to do the same.