Monday, November 17, 2008

ETD Divisional WorkPlan & Gathering

on 17 November 2008 held at Civil Service Club @ Bukit Batok

This is a whole day event... though the 1st half suppose to deal with the more serious stuff, it was carried out in a lighthearted manner.

The theme is "Back to School" where everyone is given a role to play - The Principal, Vice-Principal, HOD, Teacher, Parent and Student. The fun part was, everybody was suppose to dress according to the role - at least don something that at a look, others could associate one with the role. Well, there are very sporty ones! Yes, that morning, a number were actually in uniforms! School uniform and Scouts uniform! Ha! Really bring us 'back to the school'!

Well, my role was the Parent! hahaha... Parent? What wouid bring with me? The day before,



  • one colleague suggested - wear expensive stuff that Tai-Tai will put on... hahaha... The first person I could think of is LXXX - always spotted the Tai-Tai look - with lips in bright bloody red colour, nicely manicured & painted finger+toe nails, high-heels, sparkling shiny clothes, plus expensive handbag... hahaha... don't believe it? Yes, you could find one at Level 14! No, no!!!! Never, never will I appear in that manner!
  • another colleague suggested - why not assume the role of a less-educated parent who is assumingly unreasonable and rude, and behaves like a gangester. Hahaha... That's asking for the sky! That's not me! First of all, don't even have those costume... next... don't know how to act like one! How to talk like one? Sure fail!
  • Think hard... and eventually, I think I knew what to do... put on an apron! hahaha... That's the easiest - assuming the role of housewife! oh yes, a homemaker! Can be educated, yet because of the lack of exposure to the happenings out there... protective of the child, wanted to give him the best of everything - tuition & tuition... and day-in-day-out lor-lor-saw-saw... hahaha... That's easy, no need to get expensive or gangster-like clothes! The apron cost me less than $3.

While I appreciate the work team has put it to create the necessary atmosphere, one thing which I felt the team could do without is threat - there'll be penalty for those who we don't dress up accordingly to the occasion... On one hand, while it is important to get everyone to participate, on the other hand, it's toying with the "fear" factor - which I detest! You have done yourself a great disfavour! This reminded me about the other Divisional activity - the Amazing Race - yes, similarly, all the teams were threatened the penalty being the last to complete... while we enjoyed the activity, it could be done without such means!

Some key takeaways - about the IT Masterplan...

Looking back... our achievements which include

  • Getting the baseline infrastructure (which is largely mp1)
  • Introducing the Baseline ICT standards to equip pupils with the necessary ICT skills to be ready when they move on to the society (an outcome of the mid-term review of mp2). In fact, coupled with this is the leveling up of teachers' ICT proficiency since mp1. Hence a nationwide levelling up
  • Having 'perks' or 'sparkies' among schools - through programmes/projects like Lead ICT schools, Future Schools - which seems to be making bigger and bigger waves... but such programmes, in particular, Lead ICT schools have already gone through the first round review - some schools may continue with the project, to move on to make greater impact while some may not
  • The devolution of funds - introduced in mp2, has given schools' more autonomy on the planning and use of its resources. Look at it from another angle, schools are entrusted with greater responsibility - to take the $, it comes with more accountability
  • R&D efforts introduced in mp2 have, in a large way (from my perspective) benefitted schools that came on board for pilots! By an large, its findings and outcomes have not really reach the mass yet - it's like the ivory tower that only works with the elites (hahaha...)
  • One area has been much talked about - ICT enhanced pedagogies - yes, still very much talked about - hopefully more could be seen in the next masterplan - not just talking and research and trying out with that handful of schools - also think of the cascading down to the mass... The sad part is, while working very closely with the schools - the more we saw - many of them are still in the mp1 era!

Looking ahead...

  • Pedagogical practices - the sound use of ICT that would be transformed into pedagogical practices
  • ICT to IDM

mp3's vision and goals... Harnessing ICT to Transform Learners for the Future.. what's there... just wait for the key terms to be unpacked - self-directed learning and collaboration. More about mp3.

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