Master of Arts (Educational Management)

The Ministry of Education has introduced major information technology (IT) educational reforms in recent years with the objective of creating an IT-based teaching and learning environment in every school, so that the youth of Singapore can be equipped with skills that are critical for the future - creative thinking, the ability to learn independently and continuously, and effective communication. The IT reforms that have been introduced - IT Masterplan 1 (IT MP1) in 1997 and IT Masterplan 2 (IT MP2) in 2002 - are geared towards creating a highly skilled workforce that will thrive on global rapid technological and economic changes.

In the early stages of IT implementation, and still to a large extent even now, teachers were sent for staff development programs to equip them with skills and knowledge for IT integration into the curriculum. Implementation of IT in schools was largely top-down in nature with the responsibility for planning staff training and student activities residing with the school leaders and a few members of the school's middle management.

This was effective during the initial phases of IT MP1. The limitations of top-down approach of staff training and IT implementation became apparent, however with introduction of new constructivist teaching methods and IT MP2 initiatives. In the earlier years of IT educational reforms, the learning outcomes were largely traditional and measured by traditional assessments. The learning outcomes and experiences of IT MP2 activities, however, were not and could not be assessed by this predominant assessment mode of traditional pen and paper and standardized tests. Eventually, this led to a situation whereby the teachers in the researched school wavered in their support and understanding of IT implementation and curriculum integration.

An intervention system, called the Collegial In-house Learning System, was designed and implemented to improve teachers' attitudes and behaviours towards the IT educational reform in the school. The Collegial In-house Learning System was a staff development programme based on development of learning communities, and was characterized by the sharing of IT skills and knowledge through an informal setting via the school informal staff network. It was based on volunteerism and collaboration amongst teachers whereby some teachers volunteered to be "in-house trainers' and offered to enthuse, cajole and initiate their peers to learn and explore with them on the integration of IT for education.

This participatory action research study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Collegial In-house Learning System in consideration of the following:

1. To explain and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention system to bring about positive changes in the attitudes and behaviours of the teachers towards the school implementation of the IT educational reform, and
2. To monitor the spread of peer networking through the intervention system.

Research instruments consisted of pre- and post- programme quantitative questionnaires interviews with teachers to explain and elaborate the quantitative results, and network diffusion maps to chart the spread of peer networking.

The research was conducted in a school with 95 teachers and a student enrolment of 2450.

The results revealed that the Collegial In-house Learning System was generally effective.

The findings of this study would be useful to school leaders, who would like to seek alternative strategies to complement the still necessary and important top-down approaches to sustain the IT MP2 educational reforms.

The objective of this study is to manage the professional development of teachers in implementing Information Technology into the curriculum. This started with the administration of a computer attitude scale and a questionnaire to find out the computer background of the teachers.

The problems faced by the teachers were mainly computer anxiety and a feeling of inadequacy due to a lack of training in the use of IT for curriculum lessons. The solutions to the problems were approached by sending the teachers for the scheduled training conducted by the ETD/MOE, and conducting one-to-one interview with a few of the teachers to find what are the problems faced by them and to give them the required confidence and motivation. A qualitative study was conducted because of the number of teachers in the sample and the nature of the background data and results obtained.

The pre and post study results of the computer attitude scale showed an improvement in the attitude and perceptions of the teachers. This confirms the results from other studies that promote teacher training as the key method to teacher development. This study is appropriate and timely with the IT initiative currently being implemented in all schools by the MOE.

This study sort to explore effective staff development methods and tools in the use of information technology (IT) for teaching from the management's perspective. It examined the change process, teacher readiness for the change, training and developmental needs of teachers and the types of supports to be provided to teachers, to effectively develop them in the use of IT to enhance teaching. This study sought to develop a staff development structure to effectively nurture and support teachers in the use of it to enhance teaching in two technical institutes of the institute of Technical Education (ITE).

The inquiry was conducted in a natural setting with the researcher as a human instrument, using predominantly qualitative methods and a survey questionnaire while building on tacit knowledge. The research activities, comprising purposive sampling, an institute-wide survey, different data collection methods, inductive data analysis and the emergent design were conducted in an iterative fashion which led to the case report. The case report comprised eight mini case studies as well as the emergent concerns, issues and themes surrounding the inquiry. The survey questionnaire served as an overview on the computer competency skills of teachers in the two technical institutes, teacher readiness in the use of IT to enhance teaching, their training and developmental needs and the types of support needed by them to encourage them to use IT for teaching.

The inquiry revolved around three groups of teachers with three different levels of computer competency skills: teachers with advanced computer competency skills, teacher with average computer competency skills and the last group of teachers with basic computer competency skills. It aims to find out in greater depth their apprehensions and readiness to use IT to enhance teaching, their training and developmental needs and the types of support required by them to effectively develop them in the use of IT to enhance teaching. The teachers identified for the purposive sample were selected based on different age group, gender engineering or academic courses and years of teaching experience. Data collection involved structured and unstructured interviews with these groups of teachers, an institute-wide survey to all teachers and general observations of teachers in each of the two technical institutes. The various data collection methods and triangulation ensured trustworthiness of the inquiry. The main study was conducted between June 2000 and Dec 2000.

The inquiry reveals that diffusion of IT involves a complex change process, which requires careful planning and a systematic approach to implement the change. A staff development structure to effectively develop teachers in the use of IT to enhance teaching focuses generally on five main components of staff training and development. It starts with a focused vision from the management. The vision must be clearly articulated by the principal to everyone in the Institute affected by the change, so that all staff involved in the change will share the vision and its meaning. Secondly, teacher readiness must be addressed before IT can be used successfully to enhance teaching. Thirdly, staff training in IT involves proper training programs with hands-on practice. Fourthly, post training development provision is crucial for teachers to practice their IT skills after training, apply the IT skills acquired in developing IT-enhanced lessons, learned from their colleagues through interaction, encouragement, collaboration, support groups, peering-tutoring, sharing and reflection. Lastly, a holistic staff development structure includes the provision of the essential types of supports to encourage teachers in the use of IT to enhance teaching is proposed. The essential types of support include the provision of proper infrastructure and facilities, hardware and software, technical support when teachers encounter problems in the use of computers during their lessons and management support in terms of time, ready-made courseware and encouragement to teachers in the use of IT for teaching.

In the 1980s we witnessed the dawning of the ‘Information Age’. Today, the use of information technology (IT) has become an integral part of our lives and in businesses. Education is no exception. With the introduction of Web 2.0 tools, such as weblogs, students are presented a new platform for interaction and exchanging ideas. A review of the literature however reveals few empirical studies examining the relationship of the use of weblogs and student learning. From the general literature on blogging which include mainly professional-related articles, four broad benefits of blogging can be derived and they are (1) bloggers can personalize their own blogs resulting in a sense of ownership and therefore accountability, (2) bloggers can remain anonymous allowing them the freedom to express their ideas without fear, (3) a blog is a good platform for students to collaborate resulting in the formation of learning communities, and (4) the act of blogging encourages students to think about what they have to write making them more reflective in their learning. In view of this, the purpose of this study is thus to investigate the factors that are of specific benefits of weblogs in student learning. To determine this, principal component factor analysis was performed using standardized residuals (linear Rasch measures in logits) rather than the non-linear raw scores. The findings revealed four factors, namely, efficiency, deliberation, de-personalization, and collaboration that explained students’ perceptions of the benefits of weblogs in their learning. It is posited that culture has an impact how these perceptions. Essentially, the findings revealed that the students were concerned with pragmatism, maintaining harmony with other students doing the course, and maintaining face or mianzi when blogging.

The education world has become a much more hectic place than it used to be. Teachers need to keep pace with the waves of changes, one of which is the integration of information technology (IT) into the teaching-learning process.

The study involved teachers of an institute under the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) who have embarked on integrating IT into their classroom teaching-learning process. The younger teachers are enthusiastic about the change. The older teachers, on the other hand, seem hesitant. The ITE management has implemented several measures to provide the conditions necessary for the integration of IT into classroom instruction. For management effort to be more effective, there is a need to have a better understanding on how teachers are responding to the changes.

The primary focus of this study is to examine the conditions that facilitate teachers' effort in integrating IT into the curriculum in one of the ITE technical institutes. The study seeks to reach out to all teachers in the institute. A quantitative research methodology was adopted.

A questionnaire survey was administered to all the teachers in the chosen institute as of year 2001. The survey yielded demographic and teacher background information. Teachers were required to select the motivators that would facilitate their efforts in integrating IT from a list of 20 motivators and indicate other factors that would facilitate their efforts in the open-ended questions.

Findings showed that intrinsic motivators were more popular than extrinsic motivators. For extrinsic motivators, enabling motivators ranked more highly than reward motivators. Being teachers whose primary focus is 'training for jobs', 'seeing' how technology is being used at workplace (industry) is their primary concern, as this would enable them to implement IT suitably. The age of teachers and the provision of personal laptop computers were found to have significant effects of teachers' motivation in integrating IT.

Computer knowledge alone will not be enough to conduct innovative teaching. Good teaching practices is the key. It is important that teachers are adept in both technology skills and constructive, collaborative practices. Teachers who are unsure about what students should be learning will not do well with technology implementation. Teachers must learn to work together. The school environment must be where all can benefit. School leadership will increasingly require leadership in IT and teachers must become agents of change, actively engaged in design, development and innovative application of IT in teaching and research.

The future of the nation relies upon the ability of the educational system to provide trained and capable personnel; the teaching profession is a key institution of nation building. Clarifying and understanding the conditions under which ITE teachers may be more effectively motivated would be useful in the implementation of national goals. Hence, the findings of this study could be of use to ITE management because they would provide valuable insight into how best to motivate teachers, the most important professional human resource of all.

The Singapore Masterplan for IT in Education was launched in 1997 by the Minister for Education, Radm Teo Chee Hean. This was to mark a new emphasis of brining Information Technology (IT) to classroom. All schools were to be brought online in stages. Ten primary, ten secondary and two junior colleges were the first to experience the new initiative. Known as Demo (Demonstration) schools, teachers from these schools were made to undergo thirty hours of IT-based training. Computer hardware and the related peripherals were lavished onto these schools. Since then about one hundred schools formed the second phase and the remaining schools were put in phase three.

This study is a look at the perceived IT competencies of teachers in twenty secondary school in relation to their commitment to learning with the computer. It is based on studies by Levine et al. (1997) where they found, contrary to expectation, computer confidence was found to have a negative effect on commitment to learning.

A survey was conducted of teachers from twenty secondary schools in various phases of the IT Masterplan for Education in Singapore (MPITE); seven phase one schools, seven phase two schools and six phase schools. This survey found evidence similar to the study by Levine et al. (1997) on the relation between commitment to computer learning and teacher's perceived sense of self-confidence. It also found some possible variables that appear to be parameters relating to the above relationship.

In addition, the study also attempted to determine if there was any indication of the impact of the MPITE in terms of teacher's perceptions of IT across the three implementation phases. The study found evidence that in the different IT phases these teachers were in had no significant impact on their sense of confidence, commitment to learning with the computer.