IcT In My Life

I use ICT everyday in my life. I always use internet to find any information about my project and assignments and common issues. I also use it to open my email, my friendster, and use it to chat with my friends and family. Sometimes I use it to play online games. From the internet, I got new friends from over the world by using friendster and skype. By using internet I can find information on my interest like Egypt,National Geography and so on.

A StOrY FoR U To ThInK AbOuT It..

There was one time a very young boy, who used to spend time playing by a tree. One day he got bored and he said to the tree, "I'm bored, I've played with these toys too many times!" The tree replied, "OK, you can climb up on me and play on my branches." The boy got really happy with this suggestion and he had a lot of fun playing and sitting high up, on the branches of the tree.When he started school, he spent more time away from the tree, but one day he came back to it, and the tree was overjoyed to see its young companion, and it encouraged him to climb on, but he refused. "My clothes are going to get dirty if I climb up on you." So the tree thought for a while, and said, "OK, bring a rope and tie it to me, and you can use my branches as a swing." The boy liked that idea, so he did that too, and would come back every other day to sit for a while on that swing. Whenever he used to get hot, the tree told him to rest in its shade.As he got older, and moved on to college, times became harder on him and he ran short of food, so he went back to the tree which he had stopped visiting for a long time. The tree recognized him immediately and welcomed him, but he was hungry and complained to the tree, "I don't have any food to eat, my stomach is cringing with hunger." So the tree said, "Pull down my branches and take off the fruit, and fill yourself up." The young guy didn't even hesitate, but jumped up and tore off one of the smaller branches and ate to his fill. Over the weeks, he tore off all the branches and ate all the fruit.After the fruits had all gone, he went away and didn't come back to the tree. When he reached his middle ages, he came back to the tree and said to it, "I have been very successful in life. I have earned a lot of money, I have a huge house and I have found a great wife. Now I want to travel and see the world." The tree was now very old, but to help its long time companion, it didn't wait, and said, "Bring a saw, cut off my trunk and make a boat. Then you will see the wonders of the world." So again, without hesitation the man cut down the tree. The same tree which he had played on, ate its fruit, laid in its shade; he cut it down and made a boat. As soon as it was finished, he sailed away and wasn't seen by his people again.One day, an old man, walked past the tree. It hadn't recovered from the time he had cut it down. He went up to the tree, but didn't say anything. He felt the tears coming down from his eyes. This time the tree spoke in a faint voice, "I'm sorry. I don't have a trunk for you to climb, nor fruit for you to eat, nor branches of shade for you to lie in. All I have now are my deep roots." The old man whispered, "That's fine. Tree roots are the best place to lie down, snuggle up and sleep after a long life."The tree symbolizes our parents, and the boy symbolizes us. The moral of the story is that we make use of our parents like tissue, and use them all up, and don't even give thanks, but they stay with us till the very end.

ShOuLd tHiS HaPPeN??

Some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They're all for you, Daddy."Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses... from our children, family members, friends, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than this.Friends please do not take FAMILY and FAMILY Members for granted. Love them, acknowledge them, Hug them, Kiss them.

OnCe UpOn A TiMe

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,"Richness, can you take me with you?"Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!""I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you.""Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder,Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who Helped me?""It was Time," Knowledge answered."Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

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.