Making the Connection

For your third post, describe which achievement(s) of the three Masterplans for ICT in education are evident in the school or classes that you are attached to for your ESE.

I think based on my experience, BGS has incorporated the two Masterplans for ICT in education, and is still in the process of moving into the third Masterplan. The school is now training the teachers to create their lessons online, and to prepare for E-Learning.

The Taiga project that was adopted by the Humanities and English department definitely portrayed the attempts by the school to adopt the third Masterplan into their teaching activities. Not only the teachers have incorporated IT into the lessons, they have also made the concepts relevant in real world contexts. For example, the missions required students to get involved in doing research on water quality, and these research methods include interviewing the characters from the Taiga unit. 

However, I think the activities can be improvised in such a way that learning does not end once the missions are over. If possible, it will be good if it can be continuous. Or students themselves can adopt avatars to carry their own research. I think this will be helpful as they are now required to do fieldwork in Geography, and by being able to do so, will aid them in understanding the concept behind doing fieldwork. Furthermore, it is difficult to carry out actual fieldwork due to lack of resources, manpower, financial aid, thus by creating a second world where students can carry out fieldwork in the comforts of their home, serves as a reasonable alternative. Learning Geography is not complete without doing fieldwork, and with this approach, it will hopefully get the students to be interested in them because it is actually very fun.


The Secondary 1 students in the school are also required to take ICT workshops to equip themselves with basic skills that will be useful for them. Teachers are also taught to use Hot Potatoes, for the E Learning.

MOE Masterplans for ICT in Education

In your opinion, why do you think it is important for MOE to develop the three Masterplans for ICT in education? 

Looking at how fast the world is changing right now, it is crucial for Singapore to be as technologically advanced as the other countries as well. This is to ensure that we are always ready, and that we can continue to develop progressively. Thus it is important for teachers to incorporate ICT education, as schools play an important role in shaping a student's future. By starting young, we are equipping the future generations the necessary skills for them to use. This is vital in ensuring Singapore's stability.

Has any of the Masterplans impacted you as a student? Share your experience of how ICT had been used in the classes you attended as a student (if applicable). 

Back when I was an undergraduate in NUS, I took a Level 1 module in Thai Language. Learning languages used to be just verbally, where students will listen to how the teacher pronounces the word, and repeat it back. The module uses podcast for us to learn Thai in a more engaging and interactive manner. Each podcast aims to develop our command in Thai, be it in terms of being able to read the words, write them in Thai scripts, and even understand Thai. I thought it was very effective as it definitely helps us to score during our listening comprehension or the weekly class tests. 

Based on your enhanced school experience, how do you think the current Masterplan 3 may affect your role(s) as a beginning teacher ?

It will be challenging, without a doubt, as I am not that IT savvy sadly despite being 'the younger generation'. It will definitely require some effort on my part, to equip myself with the necessary skills and to constantly upgrade myself, while at the same time ensure that I will not stray away from my main focus in lessons. However that being said, I think this upgrading will help me in delivering my lessons more effectively and in a more innovative way, as students will be more engaged in this approach.

My Four-Week ESE

I was posted to Bedok Green Secondary School for my ESE, where I taught Geography and Literature. The school has incorporated ICT into their lessons in a rather impressive approach. The students here, have quite a good command in English, which is beneficial in understanding the instructions given. In addition, students are now more technologically advanced and are more interested in ICT way of learning, which makes it easier for such ICT-based projects to be carried out successfully. Below is an example of a project that was implemented by the Humanities department, for their Secondary 3 Express students, for their Geography lessons.

The Humanities & English Design Group: Taiga Unit

The Humanities and English group embarked on a joint Quest Atlantis project implemented in secondary 3 Express classes. The Taiga unit is identified because it addresses natural vegetation and the causes and effects of deforestation. The knowledge acquired from class lessons would help students with the five missions in the Taiga unit. In the unit, students become a character in the virtual world. Through their role in the virtual environment, they acquire knowledge and discover consequences.

In the Taiga World Unit, this Pre-Mission designed to prepare students to enter Taiga National Park as experts in water quality. Students help Abby fix a number of fish tanks in her lab. In further Missions, once they reach Taiga, they will return to Abby to lean more complex water quality concepts: specifically, how eutrophication and erosion lower dissolved oxygen concentrations (and therefore impact fish populations).

Following the Abby Pre-Mission, Mission 1 would require students to travel to Taiga and interview people from groups that depend on park resources. At some point, they will receive an alert calling them back to Abby to learn more about erosion and how it could be affecting the fish in Taiga. Students will assume the role of expert helpers as they interview people, collect data, and develop and test a hypothesis.

Alerts during Mission 2 will tell students to visit characters who think loggers are the problem, and some others will visit characters who think Mulu are the problem.

The 3rd Mission in the Taiga Unit will require students to collect water from three locations and bring it to fill fish tanks for Abby. She guides then through an analysis of each sample site's water quality. This information will be used by the students to produce a report for Ranger Bartle on what is causing Taiga's fish population decline.

In the 4th Mission, students will help Ranger Bartle to choose one group to blame for the fish decline in the last Mission. They will be traveling to the future to see the result of their choice. 

Finally in the final Mission, students travel much further into the future to see the result of Ranger Bartle's solution to the fish kill problem, which he made with the help of their more nuanced suggestions. They will see that the group that was blamed have been severely restricted.

The Literature department, also implemented a new ICT way of learning for their Secondary 2 students. In order to encourage a more meaningful learning and understanding of the text (The Animal Farm) that they are currently studying, a website portal was created with the help of Temasek Polytechnic students. In this portal, notes can be found for the students' perusal. Not only that, videos and quizzes are also provided for a more interactive learning. What is more important, is incorporating a forum discussion inside the portal, so that students can exchange their views and share ideas through this portal. This greatly encourages students who are shy in class to speak up, to share their views online through this community.