Information and Communication Technology (education)

Zainal Abidin Bin Ismail, Coordinator of the Teachers’ Activity Center, Port Dickson, Malaysia, presented this report.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad articulated that the Information era will force Malaysians to change their lifestyle and way of working, and that the sooner Malaysians adapt themselves to it, the sooner their horizon of knowledge will expand and a better future be secured for the country. This statement embodies Malaysia’s vision for ICT.

Malaysia’s national programme for ICT for education develops the whole individual. Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. The effort is geared to produce 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 able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, society and nation.

A crucial component of Malaysia’s integration of ICT in education is the Malaysian Smart School programme, which intends to “systematically reinvent” learning institutions in terms of teaching practices and school management in order to prepare children for the Information Age. The Smart School System has been pilot tested in 90 schools throughout the country.

The general objectives of the Malaysian Smart School are to:
>Achieve the goals of the national education philosophy; and
>Develop a workforce for the information age.

Its specific objectives are to:
>Develop students physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually;
>Provide opportunities tom improve individual strengths and abilities;
>Produce a thinking and technology-literate workforce;
>Democratise education; and
>Increase participation of stakeholders.

The primary teaching and learning components of the Smart School are:
>Curriculum;
>Pedagogy;
>Assessment; and
>Materials.

Each of these components has unique features. The key features of the Smart School curriculum are:
>Overall development;
>Knowledge, skills values and language across curriculum;
>Explicit learning outcomes for different levels of ability; and
>Integration of knowledge, skills and values for the information age.

The key features of the pedagogy followed for the Smart schools are:
>Varied learning strategies to ensure basic competencies and overall development;
>Teaching that responds to different learning styles; and
>Classroom environment that is conducive for a variety of teaching and learning strategies.
>Since assessment is an important component of the Smart schools, it consists of an on-line assessment system, a database and training and certification for assessors.

The materials used in Smart Schools are intended to:
>Fulfill curriculum teaching and learning needs;
>Challenge thinking, motivate learning, encourage active participation
>There are also a variety of materials for networking between teachers and students >Conventional materials are complemented by electronic materials.

The Smart Schools’ management system is comprised of:
>Technology (system implementation, system maintenance etc.)
>Financial management (budgeting, reporting, accounting, purchasing etc.)
>Human resources (teacher scheduling, hiring, staff training management etc.)
>Facilities (maintenance, asset management etc.)
>External resources (database management, liaison with external resources etc.)
>Educational resources (resource database management, input to curriculum management etc)
>Student affairs (student profiles, performance evaluation etc.)
>School governance (communications, public relations, curriculum management etc.)
>Security (Physical security, IT security etc.)

In the Smart School System, technology is used for the following purposes:
>As an information processing and productivity tool;
>To enhance professional development; and
>To automate instruction.

Information Communication Technology

Information and Communications Technology - or technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the manipulation and communication of information. The term is sometimes used in preference to Information Technology(IT), particularly in two communities: education and government.
Although,in the common usage it is often assumed that ICT is synonymous with IT; ICT in fact encompasses any medium to record information (magnetic disk/tape, optical disks (CD/DVD), flash memory etc. and arguably also paper records); technology for broadcasting information - radio, television; and technology for communicating through voice and sound or images - microphone, camera, loudspeaker, telephone to cellular phones. It includes the wide variety of computing hardware (PCs, servers, mainframes, networked storage), the rapidly developing personal hardware market comprising mobile phones, personal devices, MP3 players, and much more; the full gamut of application software from the smallest home-developed spreadsheet to the largest enterprise packages and online software services; and the hardware and software needed to operate networks for transmission of information, again ranging from a home network to the largest global private networks operated by major commercial enterprises and, of course, the Internet. Thus, "ICT" makes more explicit that technologies such as broadcasting and wireless mobile telecommunications are included.
It should be noted that "ICT" by this English definition is different in nuance and scope than under "ICT" in Japanese, which is more technical and narrow in scope.
ICT capabilities vary widely from the sophistication of major western economies to lesser provision in the developing world. But the latter are catching up fast, often leapfrogging older generations of technology and developing new solutions that match their specific needs.