♥ E-PORTFOLIO ♥

Prepared By:

Hazirah Bt Razali D20081032284

Yii Ee Weng D20081032237

Zaimahizzati Bt Zailan D20081032261

Nur Amirah Bt Shamsudin D20081032302

Malaysian smart school

The Malaysian Smart School is a learning institution that has been systematically reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in order to prepare children for the Information Age.

There are several components in the Malaysian Smart School. The teaching learning component can be divided into four other components which are curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and teaching-learning materials. Every school have their own curriculum objectives include The Smart School curriculum. The main objective is to promote holistic learning. Students are allow to progress at their own pace, varying their own capabilities, interests and needs. Besides that, it is to ensure that students are educated with critical and creative thinking skills, inculcated with appropriate values and encouraged to improve their language skills. Due to these objectives, the curriculum will be designed to integrate knowledge, skills, values, and correct use of language. Furthermore, it will state explicitly intended learning outcomes for different ability levels and also to help students achieve overall balanced development.

Pedagogy is also the component of learning in The Smart School which make the learning more interesting, motivating, stimulating and meaningful. It is because pedagogy involves the student's minds, spirit and bodies in the learning process to prepare them for greater challenges in future. Thus, pedagogy has its own learning strategies by mix of learning to ensure basic competencies and promote holistic development. It also accommodates individual different learning style to develop great performance. Besides, pedagogy shall foster a classroom atmosphere that is compatible with different teaching-learning strategies. The other component is assessment which is distinctly different from other schools. Teachers, students and parents will be able to access on-line assessment items. This assessment will be flexible and learner-friendly, while assuring the quality of the assessment information by using multiple approaches and instruments. This assessment also can be open to continued improvement on a lifetime. The last component is the teaching-learning material that is designed for the new teaching strategies. All these four components in teaching may enhance the development of The Smart School.

At the Smart school, the information technology implications of the teaching-learning process consist of 8 components which are, distance learning for communication with outside constituencies using technology like video conferencing, e-mail, video on demand, broadcast, where every computer shall have access to the latest educational materials available locally, collaborative learning which is the tools that facilitate group work within the class and across classes, experiential learning such as simulation software and virtual reality to stimulate learning research, reference and data collection which is tools to search, collect and collate information, electronic assessment for on-line assessment via a standard database and built-in assessment courseware and also drill and practice software or courseware that allows students to practice on their own or with peers inclusive education tools to help students with disabilities cope with learning more effectively.

There are also requirement that need to be implemented at smart school which are varied and easy access to teaching-learning resources such as physical facilities for example classroom or lab, teaching and learning equipment including hardware and software. Smart school also needs conferencing facilities for distance learning meetings and in-service training and also variety of materials such as conventional materials, multimedia materials and network-based materials.

For the national level, the requirement that needed for the smart school are the access to resources over an open platform, open communication channels with constituencies controlled distribution of sensitive information and external telecommunications backbone to support widely distributed points of access. The telecommunications backbone can be current telecommunications infrastructure or the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) infrastructure. The Schools can get into the secure network through the open network via encryption means or directly via remote access the (MSC) designated multimedia centre located at Putrajaya, the new federal administration office. MSC will have the best and guaranteed telecommunications and infrastructure facilities that will support the network connection and preference for all smart school in Malaysia.

Malaysian needs to make the critical transition from an industrial economy to a leader in the Information Age. The progress of Smart School made so far is the schooling culture has been changed from one that is memory-based to one that is informed, thinking, creative and caring through leading-edge technology. As we know, Smart School has been made one of the flagship applications in the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). Smart School is therefore no longer a fashionable luxury but the only way forward.

Now, the curriculum will therefore recognise that students have different learning needs. Technology is spreading and students and teacher also need to be advanced about this modification. Smart School will prepare students to make successful transition to the modern and more global environment. Government wants students become active learners and will be able to go on information around the world to search and collect data.

Smart School going to be leap a way because of school management computerised and on-line. Networking will facilitate the involvement of parents and the community in school programmes, making them effective partners in their children education. Multimedia Infrastructure also contributes in making Smart School being more efficient and excellence in education. The infrastructure is successful in planning because we have good facilities.

Furthermore, teachers should also have training to help adapt in new environment. Materials also supply courseware that need to be developed for all subjects in the curriculum. Ministry of Education implement innovation to achieve highest standard. Ministry also help teacher by giving expensive notebook and multimedia projectors for classroom. Their only implementation so far is by providing laptops to educationist to assist virtual learning and smart board also make students interesting in study. Ministry of Education also making improvement in progressing Smart School become more successful.

There are some problems and challenges faced since the inception of Smart School Concept in Malaysia. First of all, teachers are now faced with the challenge of dealing with a learning environment, which is borderless, offers multi-modal learning pathways, and is resource rich. This implies that the teacher needs to understand how an ICT-based learning environment as intended by the Smart School education concept affects the student's training and learning.

Students nowadays are passive is also one of the challenges that we faced today. They hope everything materials provide by their teacher. Although the teacher is mainly responsible for what takes place in the learning environment and in relation to technology applications, the students should also play an active role in determining the direction of their learning by virtue of their participation and activities. Software that is designed to facilitate students’ active, creative and critical engagement with the content can help enhance the active construction and reconstruction of ideas and experiences of their understanding of the content presented.

Apart from that, most of the parents are not involved in this project. Most of them busy with their work so that can upgrade their life and provide the better environment to their children. In their opinion, the smart school education programme is the work for government as well as teacher. Therefore, they do not care about it.

In addition, limitation of infrastructure, such as computer labs and continuous limitations to access the network hamper the effectiveness of technology supported teaching and learning. Besides that, the findings indicate that both teachers and students are ready to teach and learn English the Smart-way, although some teachers expressed their non-readiness to teach English the Smart-way.

As a conclusion, in ensuring that the concept of Smart education can successfully breed and nurture lifelong education at the school level we need to overcome the challenges that we faced.

In recent years, the integrating of information and communication technology (ICT) in education is an essential component of every education system as it strives to facilitate and improve the teaching and learning environment. Therefore, the Ministry of Education has invested a huge effort in terms of funding and training to equip teachers and students with ICT skills in our Malaysian Schools.

In my opinion, the integrating of ICT in the teaching of mathematics and science in English under the Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English Programme ( Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris, PPSMI) is one of the issues that has been implemented by the Ministry of Education since 2003. At the same time, there are several challenges that we need to overcome in integrating ICT in PPSMI. One of the challenges is teachers are not fully utilizing these facilities in their teaching. This is because the utilization of ICT in teaching and learning environment will require teachers with the ability to shift to unfamiliar materials, new teaching and learning strategies, new techniques to assess students learning, new types of assignments, and ongoing professional development.

Furthermore most of the teachers lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum due to the insufficient teacher training opportunities for ICT projects. In addition, it is difficulty in integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson because lack of time in the school schedule for projects involving ICT.

Besides that, the inadequate technical support for these projects such as lack of hardware, and software as well as other structural and operative infrastructural which necessary for teaching and learning programme cause this project cannot go on smoothly.

Apart from that, our government also integrating ICT in the e-learning programme for the teaching and learning in our Malaysian Schools. This programme is created by our government so that the student can get the latest information from their teacher through the internet at home which make their life to become more easier. However, the network service is expensive for some people especially those who are come from poor families. They are unable to pay the network service. Thus, these students need to go to the cyber cafe to search for the information. Indirectly, this will increase their burden and waste their time.

Another challenge that we face for this issue is the network coverage is incomplete provided at whole Malaysia. For instance, the students who live in the rural area which far from urban centers cannot get the network service.

As a conclusion, although the Malaysian government has concentrated its efforts to enhance the use of ICT in Malaysian Schools, the impact of it on the actual practice of teaching and learning has not yet been significant. It is still a challenge for the Malaysian Ministry of Education to solve the problem that have exist so that Vision 2020 can be achieve fully in the global economy of the 21st century.

Educational Philosophy Statements

National Education Philosophy

"Education in Malaysia is an on-going efforts towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonic, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards and who are responsible and capable of achieving high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large"

Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan

Pendidikan di Malaysia adalah satu usaha berterusan ke arah lebih memperkembangkan potensi individu secara menyeluruh dan bersepadu untuk melahirkan insan yang seimbang dan harmonis dari segi intelek, rohani, emosi dan jasmani berdasarkan kepercayaan dan kepatuhan kepada Tuhan. Usaha ini adalah bertujuan untuk melahirkan warganegara Malaysia yang berilmu pengetahuan, berketerampilan, berakhlak mulia, bertanggungjawab dan berkeupayaan mencapai kesejahteraan diri serta memberikan sumbangan terhadap keharmonian dan kemakmuran keluarga, masyarakat dan negara.

National Science Education Philosophy

In consonance with the National Education Philosophy, science education in Malaysia nurtures a science and technology culture by focusing on the development of individuals who are competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient and able to master scientific knowledge and technological competency.

Falsafah Sains Pendidikan Negara

Selaras dengan Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan, pendidikan sains di Malaysia memupuk budaya Sains dan Teknologi dengan memberi tumpuan kepada perkembangan individu yang kompetitif, dinamik, tangkas dan berdaya tahan serta dapat menguasai ilmu sains dan keterampilan teknologi

My teaching Philosophy Statement on Education

I believe that children are our future, each of them has the potential to contribute something unique and special to the world. As an educator, it is my desire to help students meet their fullest potential in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially by providing such environment, (1) the teacher acting as a guide, and (2) allowing the child's natural curiosity to direct his/her learning.

When the teacher acting as a guide, providing access to information rather than acting as the primary source of information, the students will gain the knowledge during they find answers to their questions. To construct knowledge, students need the opportunity to discover for themselves and practice skills in authentic situations. Providing students access to hands-on activities in group work that reinforce the lesson being studied creates an opportunity for individual discovery and construction of knowledge to occur.

Besides that, developing a curriculum that involves the interests of the children and makes learning relevant to life is equally important to stimulate the passion to learn. The way to take learning in a direction relevant to student interest is incorporate them into group study. This give the opportunity for input, students can generate their ideas and set goals. When students have ownership in the curriculum, they are motivated to work hard and master the skills necessary to reach their goals.

For me, teaching is a lifelong learning process of learning about new philosophies and new strategies. Teaching also provides an opportunity for me to continual learning and growth. One of my hopes as an educator is to instil the love of learning in my students as I share my own passion for learning with them.