Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Assignment 1

Issues and Challenges in Integrating ICT in School

Problem Statement
ICT applications have become an important part of teaching and learning. The Ministry of Education has invested a huge effort in terms of funding and training to equip teachers and students with ICT skills. In your opinion what are the issues and challenges in integrating ICT in teaching and learning in our Malaysian Schools.

Malaysia has long recognized the importance of ICT to spur the national development. National IT Council and National IT Agenda were formulated in 1990 and 1996 respectively. This is further emphasized under the Vision 2020 policy in 1996. The policy project Malaysia to be fully developed nation by 2020. In an effort to measure the status of the schools in terms of ICT categorization and integration of ICT in education, a Smart School Qualification Standard (SSQS) was introduced in 2007.

Information and Communication in Technology (ICT) has become an important part of teaching and learning process. Even though, The Ministry of Education has invested a huge effort in terms of funding and training to equip teachers and students with ICT skills, but there are still issues and challenges in integrating ICT in teaching and learning in our Malaysian Schools. Although valuable lessons may be learned from best practices around the world, there is no one formula for determining the optimal level of ICT integration in the educational system.

The significant challenges those policy makers and planners, educators, education administrators, and other need to consider include educational policy and planning, infrastructure, language and content, capacity building, and financing. For example, from the infrastructure side, in the first place are we need to think that are our Malaysian School have an appropriate room or buildings available to house the technology or not. In our countries where there are many old school buildings, extensive retrofitting to ensure proper electrical wiring, heating or cooling and ventilation, and safety and security would be needed. Policy makers should also look at the ubiquity of different types of ICT in the country in general, for instance, a basic requirement for computer-based or online learning is access to computers in schools, communities, and households, as well as affordable Internet service.

Besides, inadequate of teacher training opportunities and technical support for ICT projects will cause difficulties to implement ICT in schools. On the other hand, computer skill level among teachers was still at the average level. Teachers tend to use computers and ICT only for their personal usage and not and teaching and learning process. Moreover, some of the teachers have perception that when there is a drastic change to the curriculum then they have to do more work.

Furthermore, students in rural area cannot access the internet due to the lack of facilities. On top of that, when the students are lack of skills in using computers they tend to feel the process of learning and teaching are difficult. Hence, they are bound to be less interested in studies. Besides, due to the limited period of time provided for every subject, teachers having difficulties to implement ICT during the lessons. For certain teachers they think ICT are not the main priority for the Malaysia Educational System since it is based on examination.

Creating awareness of what happens in schools can facilitate the integration of ICT in education and promote successful partnerships between schools and the community. Integration of ICT in teaching and learning will yield numerous benefits. Students need to develop the skills that will enable them to benefit from new opportunities offered by ICT. ICT can also be used to support teachers who lack adequate skills and content knowledge, thus contributing to improving the quality of learning. Besides, principals have to play role in developing a more collaborative approach when defining ICT.

The Ministry also collaborates with different organizations both local and international in ICT-related projects. Through smart partnerships and strategic alliances between the Ministry of Education Malaysia and local international organizations, Malaysia schools are not only provided with professional expertise and advise on technological strategies, but also assure a continuous flow of ideas and practices that can be used to enhance teaching and learning and school administrative processes. 

FILA CHART

Fact
Ideas
Learning issues
Action plans
          -  ICT application has become an important part of teaching and learning.           
          -  The Ministry of Education invested a huge effort in terms of funding and training to equip teachers and students with ICT skills.

            - Malaysia has long recognized the importance of ICT to spur the national development.
     - Smart School Qualification Standard (SSQS) was introduced in 2007.
           - What did Malaysia do to integrate the ICT technology?
           -What are the challenges to integrated ICT in Malaysian School?
          -What are the advantages of using ICT in teaching and learning processes?

           -Search internet
          -  Reading articles
           - Ask friends







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