FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

SULTAN IDRIS EDUCATION UNIVERSITY

SSI3013
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
IN SCIENCE

ASSIGNMENT 1
THE CHALLENGING IMPLEMENTATION
IN SMART SCHOOL

NAME AND MATRIX NO. LIM SHIU MAN D20151071000

CHONG XIN YI D20152072021
SHAFIQAH AWATIF BINTI ZAHIR D20152072050
B
GROUP
LECTURER’S NAME ENCIK AZMI BIN IBRAHIM

DATE 12 MARCH 2017

Content

1. Introduction

2. Advantage of Smart School

3. Challenge implementation in Smart School

4. Conclusion

5. Reference
INTRODUCTION

In order to keep up the fast pace of technological development of global, Smart

School was initiated in year of 1996 under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia
flagship applications. Smart School can be defined as a learning institution that has been
systemically reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in
order to prepare children for the Information Age. There are five goals as the government
introduced the implementation of smart school which the first goal is to produce a thinking
and technology-liberate workforce. Next, with the implementation of Smart School,
education can be democratized and participation of stakeholders will also increase. With
Smart School, all-round development will be implementing in individuals such as students’
identities as they are not just good in studies but they will also need to follow the Information
Age which are good in ICT. Last goal is to provide opportunities to enhance individual
strengths and abilities.

As the implementation of smart school, there are four waves to conclude such as pilot
phase (1999 - 2002), post-pilot (2002 - 2005), making all schools smart (2005 – 2010), and
consolidate and stabilize (2010 – 2020). In the pilot phase, 88 schools were selected
nationwide for upgrading to Smart School as the baby step of implementation of Smart
School. For the second wave, massive computerization phase is undergoing to all 10,000
schools in Malaysia. In wave 3, the government had decided to leverage all ICT initiatives.
For the last wave, government will launch innovative practices using ICT enculturation.

The characteristics of a Smart School are student-centred teaching and learning and it
will be cater to different learning styles. In twenty first century, teaching and learning process
is not more teaching-centred and “Chalk and Talk”. Thus different learning styles will be
introduced to students such as mastery learning, inquiry and cooperative should be used to
make sure the teaching and learning process is on the right pace. Secondly, students exhibit
Higher-Order Thinking Skills (KBAT) which they can be self-paced, self-accessed and self-
directed with their understanding. Next characteristics are teachers and administrators should
have skills in using ICT in daily tasks and enable to use ICT as accelerator for better teaching
and learning process. This is to increase the school level to higher level as technologies have
been increased in leaps and bounds. The last characteristic is smart partnerships with various
agencies.
Basically, Smart School has a huge difference with normal national school. In Smart School,
there are computer, LCD projector, printer and other facilities in the classroom. The school
will also equip with computer lab which every student will use the computers as one-to-one
access. As Smart School is a new vision in education, there are several issues need to
overcome such as management and administration, people, skills and responsibilities,
technology, processes, and policies.

ADVANTAGE OF SMART SCHOOL

The advantageous of smart school assessment is teachers, students and parents will be
able to access on-line assessment items. It will causes increasing of living certification, which
not only attest to students cumulative accomplishments but will also be open to continued
improvement on a lifetime basis. The new teaching strategies will need teaching-learning
materials designed that will accommodate student differing needs and abilities. It is will lead
students to take greater responsibility for managing and directing their own learning. Smart
school management can be manage efficiently and effectively when the primary objective
were correlation with the resources and processes that required to support the teaching-
learning function. The smart school management will need strong, professional
administrators and teachers who can articulate school goals clearly, lead teaching at the
school, and elicit strong parental and community support to fulfill its objective. Finally, smart
school is important in Malaysian education system in line with and in support of the nation
drive to fulfil Vision 2020. At the same time, the individuals who are intellectually,
spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious can be well produce.

In the smart classroom, the teachers can use the resources available in internet for the
better understanding of the students. For every subject, teachers as well as the students at any
time in a smart classroom. Internet plays a major roles in learning process. Today’s students
are curious to know about everything. They wants to gain extra knowledge about the ongoing
topic in the class. This is limitation of books. The books print only the syllabus. For those
who wants to learn beyond the syllabus internet is very useful tool. Even for the syllabus, the
resources available on the internet are very helpful.

Gone are the days of traditional black-board education. Now is the age of smart
classes which allow the faculty to impart education using PowerPoint presentations, word
documents, audio sessions, and video screenings and also through images. A picture is worth
a thousand words. In line with this famous maxim, it is through smart classes that students
will be able to assimilate all the information that is presented via these instructional tools.
Since the teacher is not writing on the board, students will be able to better concentrate in the
class, assimilating audio-visual (AV) information through digital tools like CDs, pen drives
and PDF files that will be e-mailed to students. This pattern of teaching and learning thus
avoids the trouble of making notes while the lecture is in progress. Since notes will be
provided to them through these modes, they can concentrate better while the class.

Smart classes are a perfect solution to the environmental hazards that are posed by the
conventional methodology of education. We will be creating a health friendly zone when we
will learn about our favourite subjects without the use of paper and pen. We do not need to
rely on printouts and photocopiers which lead to the formation of a carbon footprint. This
way, a smart class can indeed become an intelligent and workable way to pave way for a
greener environment. There are some teachers and students who are very sensitive towards
the use of chalk or markers. Some of them experience skin allergies when they write with
chalk and some are allergic with chalk dust. Some teachers are not comfortable with the smell
of the ink used in the marker. For these teacher smart classroom are advantageous. There is
no or very less use of marker or chalk in a smart classroom. The teaching is done by using
digital resources. So there no more allergy.

Grades are a barometer to assess the performance of students. It is through smart

classes that students will be thrilled to surprise themselves, their teachers and parents with
excellent grades. All thanks to innovative methods of learning, we will be able to clearly
understand the topic taught via digital tools. When the fundamentals of a subject are clearly
understood, we can bank on this strength to proceed with the comprehension of difficult
sections of the subject. All these will not only help us master the subject but will also
manifest in the form of top educational grades. The visual learning using smart technologies
serves the audience better by using elements like graphs, images, charts, and presentations
that are not easily conveyed by the classroom notes or text. The students thus learn
effectively and therefore are capable of retaining more information. Smart Learning in smart
school builds a student’s interest in a certain subject. The visualizations take students to the
world of imagination which develop their interest as well as motivate them to learn more.
Smart learning uses smart boards that are capable of doing many things. It just needs the
creation of transparent worksheet and simply placing it under the camera to be seen on the
smart board. Computer monitors can also be displayed on smart boards and can be written
over using a highlighter tool or simply with our hand as mouse to control the computer screen
without having to return to our computer. We can also use wall mounts by placing smart
boards over them to facilitate smart learning while giving presentations, and videos. As they
are movable and easily approachable for the students. The use of digital tools of instruction
bring in an interactive environment to learning. It is in a smart class where better
transparency is established between the faculty and students. Since learning is linked to
photos, maps, images and animated videos, we as a student will be able to establish a strong
connect with our faculty. We will be enthused to share our thoughts freely in class,
expressing them through writings and drawings.

Fret no more if we have to miss our smart class for a day. Students of smart classes
can access lectures at any time since all of them are recorded on digital devices. We can
simply download the recorded lectures which are uploaded on the internet by keying in our
user ID and password and access the study material which was discussed in our absence. This
way, our digital notes will come to us rescue when we miss a day in school without putting in
any extra effort to obtain the same. Furthermore, if the student who studies in a regular
classroom absent for a day, it become difficult for them to gather all the notes of the classes
that their missed. Also, it become difficult for the teacher to explain the previous to the
student who were absent. The student then take a shortcut method and get the notes
photocopied from other students. In this way, the student do not understand anything from the
class their missed.

CHALLENGE IMPLEMENTATION IN SMART SCHOOL

Smart School aims to help students in learning, integrating the knowledge and skill.
Smart School is aim to support teaching and learning in school. But to manage smart school
system, there are a few challenges. For example, long term cost, lack of internet connection,
shortage of computers and pc, and lack of technician.

The first challenge of smart school of course is the lack of technological infrastructure
in school, especially the rural areas that is hard to connect to internet. As we know, some
schools have problems which is shortage of ICT equipment, for example computers. They are
also lacking of computer labs to equip with computers to support teaching and learning of
students and teachers. Rural school are far from city and it is very hard to complete all the
ICT equipment to proceed with smart school system. This give a huge problem to teachers
and students to explore the world of ICT and to learn the syllabus besides chalk and talk
method because as we know Ministry of Education are now promoting 21st century learning
using computers. Ministry of Education equip the textbook with a CD where it actually
enable teachers to open in class and have a more interactive learning environment. But this
cannot be completed since the school is lacking of LCD projectors and computers.

To solve this problem, Government should provide convenience to every school, rural
school and urban school, not just the urban school. Because there is no gap between these
schools. Hence, each of every school should receive the same facilities and all the teacher can
use ICT to leach in the classroom. Students also can experience a different method of
learning and can get the latest information on the fingertip. This hall be replacing the
traditional way of teaching and learning in the school.

The second challenge of smart school is teachers readiness to use and teach by using
the technology. This problems is faced by many senior teachers, which is the old teachers
because they are not interested to use the technology as they never use before and it will cost
their time to learn how to use the technology. They prefer and more comfortable with the
traditional method which is chalk and talk. This affects teachers’ willingness to use the
technology in the classroom. Despite, students are more into the use of ICT tools than the
teachers because they are more familiar with it than the teachers.

To solve this problem, teachers should enhance their knowledge to use the technology
in the class so the students do not look down on the teachers and teachers too can teach in
another method. Teachers can attend some courses to learn how to use the technology in
order to get ready and use the technology in the classroom.

The third challenge is lack of budget for ICT facilities, maintenance of the facilities
and technician to repair the computers. As we all know, to equip the school with ICT
facilities, government need to spend a lot on ICT facilities, installation of software and new
books for every school. The cost and maintenance fees are too high. Some software use in
school is causing problem to key in the data, some hardware and software is out of date, the
processor takes a long time to respond due to school using a lower RAM computers and lastly
the lack of knowledge of senior teachers to handle the computers also can cause damage to
computers. Next, the school is also lacking of manpower, which is the technician in handling
the technical problem to repair the computers if the computer fails to work. Teachers at the
school also do not have skill of ICT to repair the computer if there are any problems.

To solve this problem, every school should have at least two to three technician to
repair the computer equipment. They are also responsible to do maintenance to ensure the
computer, computer laboratory are always in a good condition and can be used by students
and teachers without any problems that will interrupt the teaching of learning of students and
teachers. Government should establish a college to train skilled technician to be posting at the
school to do the maintenance work in the school. Apart from that, this also will provide
employment opportunities to those who are interested in these skills and teachers too should
be trained on ICT because they cannot fully depend on technician only. As a teacher, they
should monitor and observe the students when they are using the computers in computer lab.

The fourth challenge of smart school is server problem which is lack of internet
connection especially in the rural areas. Some school have hard access to the internet because
the server is already full when too many students and teachers using at the same time. Hence,
it makes it hard to get access to internet and find the information on the internet. Other than
that, the ICT facilities and school internet are only accessible during the school session only.
The teachers and students are hard to access after the school session because some students
cannot afford to pay for the internet at home.

To solve this problem, government should increase the bandwidth at the school so that
all the teachers and students are able to browse the internet at anytime and anywhere.
Therefore, there will be no problems encountered by the students and teachers and so they
can quickly get the information via internet. However, each school should come out with a
solution in preventing the students to view other pages not related to studies. This is to
prevent the students misuse the ICT facilities and the internet connection in the school.

The last challenge of smart school is the leadership and top management. Ministry of
Education is promoting smart school system to improve our education to be better and more
effective. But how to they be committed to the school if no action is taken to build ICT
facilities in the school.

To solve this problem, all parties should work together to achieve smart school system
in the school. One cannot expect the government to equip the ICT facilities. One cannot
expect the teachers to run this task only. Everyone should play an important role to ensure
every school can be smart school in the future.

CONCLUSION

Undeniably, Smart School has few challenges need to overcome and solve. However
since the implementation from year 1999, government and authorities have gained a lot of
experiences and insight to improve the project. We as students should overseen the
challenges and focus to the advantages as it is unavoidable to introduce ICT in teaching and
learning process when technologies have improved all around the world. To build a nation
which is competitive with other countries, implementation of Smart School is indeed
irrevocable in all schools. With this, soon Malaysia will achieve Vision 2020.
REFERENCE

1. Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia. The Malaysian Smart

Schools: developing 21st century skills. Retrieved from:
http://www.jaet.jp/katudou/seminar_ict/Malaysia.pdf

2. Peow, See Hoon. (2006). The E-Era Education Refrom: The Malaysia Smart School
Project. Inservice Education Bulletin, 23(3). Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228257292_The_E-
Era_Education_Reform_The_Malaysian_Smart_School_Project

3. Educational Technology Division Ministry of Education Malaysia. (2011). Hearts and

minds towards Making All School Smart. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/Fadzliaton/hearts-and-minds-towards-making-all-schools-
smart