Hung, David

In this paper, a teacher epistemic learning model for implementation is proposed with the aim to prepare seeded teachers in reflection-for-action and to build their capacities in designing and enacting the curriculum on their own virtue. Fundamentally, epistemic learning is proposed because changing classroom practices is more than a surface or shallow change phenomena, but requires teachers to fundamentally shift in perspective or way of seeing how learning is to be practiced. We describe this epistemic learning model and explore its effectiveness. Various types of data were collected, including surveys, interviews, field notes, and teachers’ lesson design artifacts. It is found that the seeded teachers from the five schools, regardless of their own teaching profiles and school contexts, have obtained high degrees of buy-in of the innovation and developed their readiness towards implementation for the future enactments. It is envisioned that such an epistemic learning model will inform the design for teacher professional development, in the pursuit of innovation diffusion, serving a wider community of the teaching practice.

This article describes some of the key affordances for learning of the generic class of handheld computers known variously as smartphones, palmtops, and thumbtop using the Apple iPhone 3G as one of the most mature exemplars of this class-based on the authors' experiences with and reflections about the device over a period of a year. An argument is made that one of its most potentially powerful affordances is that of shifting the paradigm of educational technology away from providing learners with technological solutions ('development for learning') to that of encouraging learners to engage in interdisciplinary thinking about the design of software applications which are authentic and personally meaningful ('learner as developer').

In the Singapore education system, e-learning is fast becoming the next frontier for schools. E-learning has the potential to add great value to education, allowing modes of learning that have never been possible in the traditional classroom context. However, before we hail e-learning as the definitive step forward in education and plunge headlong into it, educators have to understand e-learning and its implications in school leadership, management,curriculum, resources and pedagogy. While a well thought through approach will bring great gains to a school, blindly plunging into it may bring great pains because the process of change can be fraught with subtle pitfalls. Using the Organisational Change Model, this article provides a framework for schools to systemically and systematically consider the issues related to the implementation of e-learning in schools and the process of change. It argues that school leaders should consider the goals, business, culture, processes, and enablers(working tools) seamlessly and coherently in order that e-learning could be anchored in the school to bring real sustainable benefits.

Program design is crucial in youth development, mentoring, after-school, and community-based programs. However, current approaches to youth program design are often limited by: 1) lack of clarity in intended program outcomes; 2) difficulties in adjusting programs to different contexts; and 3) long-term program sustainability. This paper addresses these challenges by exploring the application of Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) and conjecture mapping in designing a youth program in Singapore. By emphasizing targeted outcomes, contextual considerations, and stakeholder experiences, the DBIR approach offers a promising solution to enhance youth program design. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of DBIR and conjecture mapping in improving program design, while also acknowledging and discussing the contextual limitations and considerations of this approach.

Recent literature has emphasised active and learner-centred learning as opposed to passive and didactic methods of learning. The term "engaged learning" is often used synonymously with active learning, self-directed learning, collaborative learning and other similar canstructivist pedagogics. In this paper, we will track how Singapore's education system has advancedfrorn certain key initiatives in recent years to the next lap of embracing the engaged learning paradigm. We propose a definition and some indicators of engaged learning that are relevant to the Singapore context and advance a framework for bringing about engaged learning. In particular, the Instructional Science Academic Group of the National Institute of Education (NIE) will be developing a programme based on this framework of engaged learning for preservice and in-service teacher education and professional development. While this framework is conceptualised for teacher education and professional development, its components provide the basis for classroom teachers and administrators to design and implement effective instructional programmes that promote engaged learning in Singapore schools.

"This project is a case study of building communities of practice (CoPs) among Heads of Departments of Information Technology ((HOD(IT)s) in Singapore schools. As part of the second MasterPlan for Information Technologies in Schools initiated in 2002, there has been a stated goal to employ the CoP approach as a key strategic initiative to develop a more integrated "IT across the curriculum" approach in schools. As part of the same plan it was hoped that there would be a slowing changing pedagogical model that the learning environment might become more learner-centred through the effective integration of the technology. "-- [p. 1].

Education cannot adopt the linear model of scaling used by the medical sciences. "Gold standards" cannot be replicated without considering process-in -learning & diversity, and student-variedness in classrooms. This article proposes a nuanced model of educational scaling-and-diffusion, describing the scaling (top-down supports) and diffusion efforts (bottom-up innovations from teachers and schools) in Singapore's education landscape. For educational innovations that focus on explicit knowledge, scaling is mechanistic ("roll-outs"), while inquiry-based learning designs are connoted as organic ("diffusion of innovation"). Inquiry-based learning designs focus more on process rather than content dissemination, although content and process are intertwined. Roll-outs are generally sound when disseminating content as products, and in the haste of implementation, we inherently partake in the fallacy that process abilities can likewise be taught as content.