Divaharan, Shanti

This study examined the impact of an Information Communication and Technology (ICT) intervention program on teaching and learning in Physical Education (PE). The research involved 47 PE teachers from 47 Singapore schools and 838 students across primary and high schools. Teachers with little or no ICT experience (n = 24) and their students (n = 430) were placed in the intervention group. Data were collected using accelerometers, the Activity Perception Questionnaire, a K-12 rubric assessing psychomotor, cognitive and affective domains, an ICT integration rubric, and lesson videos. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to analyse the intervention’s effects. The results showed that ICT use did not reduce students’ physical activity time or motivation levels. However, teachers’ ability to design meaningful ICT-integrated lessons significantly improved, as did students’ affective domain. The findings underscore the importance of incorporating both theoretical and practical components in PE teacher training, using contextualised examples and flexible learning modes. School leaders and policymakers should enhance professional development opportunities and support teachers in integrating ICT effectively, thereby improving student engagement and learning outcomes.

Computer mediated communication (CMC) tools have marched into schools to provide borderless teaching and learning to complement existing face-to-face interactions. This article describes how teachers have used CMC to facilitate asynchronous online communication among students' collaborative project groups in project-based classrooms. Secondary school teachers used the CMC tool to facilitate and manage students' learning in terms of brainstorming and challenging student ideas, building resources, and working collaboratively to complete group projects.

Digital gaming is fast becoming a favorite activity all over the world. Yet very few studies have examined the underlying motivational processes involved in digital gaming. One motivational force that receives little attention in psychology is passion, which could help us understand the motivation of gamers. The purpose of the present study was to identify subgroups of young people with distinctive passion profiles on self-determined regulations, flow dispositions, affect, and engagement time in gaming. One hundred fifty-five students from two secondary schools in Singapore participated in the survey. There were 134 males and 8 females (13 unspecified). The participants completed a questionnaire to measure harmonious passion (HP), obsessive passion (OP), perceived locus of causality, disposition flow, positive and negative affects, and engagement time in gaming. Cluster analysis found three clusters with distinct passion profiles. The first cluster had an average HP/OP profile, the second cluster had a low HP/OP profile, and the third cluster had a high HP/OP profile. The three clusters displayed different levels of cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. Cluster analysis, as this study shows, is useful in identifying groups of gamers with different passion profiles. It has helped us gain a deeper understanding of motivation in digital gaming.

Self-directed learning and self-assessment require student responsibility over learning needs, goals, processes, and outcomes. However, this student-led learning can be challenging to achieve in a classroom limited by a one-to-many teacher-led instruction. We, thus, have designed and prototyped a generative artificial intelligence chatbot application (GAIA), named TeacherGAIA, that can be used to asynchronously support students in their self-directed learning and self-assessment outside the classroom. We first identified diverse constructivist learning approaches that align with, and promote, student-led learning. These included knowledge construction, inquiry-based learning, self-assessment, and peer teaching. The in-context learning abilities of large language model (LLM) from OpenAI were then leveraged via prompt engineering to steer interactions supporting these different learning approaches. These interactions contrasted with ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot which by default engaged in the traditional transmissionist mode of learning reminiscent of teacher-led instruction. Preliminary design, prompt engineering and prototyping suggested fidelity to the learning approaches, cognitive guidance, and social-emotional support, all of which were implemented in a generative AI manner without pre-specified rules or “hard-coding”. Other affordances of TeacherGAIA are discussed and future development outlined. We anticipate TeacherGAIA to be a useful application for teachers in facilitating self-directed learning and self-assessment among K-12 students.

This book is written keeping in mind prospective educators as well as practicing educators who are seeking a good understanding of how technology enables, mediates or enhances learning. This book provides insights into the global trends as well as Singapore’s journey in the use of technology for teaching and learning. Readers will benefit from the various aspects of using technology for teaching and learning, including the theoretical underpinning, design methods, planning, managing learners, and related issues and challenges. Key considerations for integrating various technological tools are also discussed at length in these chapters.

This is a go-to book for anyone who wants to understand how to enhance teaching and learning with technology.

In this paper, we report the perceptions of a CSCL-inspired curriculum implemented with a cohort of net generation student teachers. The motivation behind this study is to examine the influence of CSCL pedagogy on net generation student’s learning. Using convenience sampling, a total of 1081 student teachers participated in the survey consisting of factors on course content, delivery, learning environment and general experience. The findings revealed that the course in terms of all four factors has been very positively received. The CSCL-inspired instructional approach is found to have benefited net generation student teachers’ learning.

The study presented in this paper involved 124 Singaporean pre-service teachers who were attending a core information and communications technology (ICT) module, which is a component of their teacher education program. During this module, the pre-service teachers were introduced to the interactive whiteboard (IWB) through an instructional approach that consisted of tutor modeling, self-paced exploration, peer sharing, and team-based design projects. The pre-service teachers experienced the IWB first as ‘students’ and then explored it as teachers planning for implementation in their lessons. Qualitative data of pre-service teachers’ reflections was collected to analyse their perceptions of the IWB use in their lessons and to examine how they learnt to use the board. The findings illustrated that pre-service teachers predominantly felt that the IWB was useful for engaging students in the learning process and for generating active participation vis-à-vis the interactive affordances of the board. The findings also revealed that learning about technology in teams was most useful for the successful assimilation of a technology tool that was new and unfamiliar to pre-service teachers. This paper examines how the existing IWB instructional approach can be modified to help pre-service teachers learn pedagogical uses of the IWB more effectively.

The objective of the research study was to determine whether the introduction of the IT-based writing activities in a contructivist classroom setting improves students' written English. The research involved students from three streams, namely the Express stream. Normal Academic [N(A)] steam and the Normal Technical [N(T)] stream. A total of 103 students from the secondary level were involved in this research study. 37 students were from the Express stream, 38 from the N(A) stream and 28 from the N (T) stream. The research was conducted using a survey data sheet (ASLAT), a questionnaire (SAIEL) and classroom observations. The research study was conducted in three stages :

(i) Pre-intervention stage (no IT-based writing tools were introduced)

(ii) Intervention stage I (IT-based writing tools were introduced with scaffolding)

(iii) Intervention stage II (IT-based writing tools with no scaffolding)

The findings of the study imply that using IT-based writing tools does not improve students' written English in the various grammar components. Improvement was also in the students' final written product. Within the three streams , the N (A) stream saw the greatest improvement . In addition to contributing to the improvement of the students' written English, the contructivist classroom setting has helped students to become independent learners.

The focus of this qualitative research study was to ascertain the nature of the secondary school socio-cultural context that provided support or inhibited Type II ICT use in the lessons by teachers to engage the students in the learning process. ICT use could be classified as Type I or Type II. If the applications assisted the teaching process, making it easier and more efficient, then the ICT integration could be classified as Type I ICT use. If new opportunities have been opened up for teaching the subject or content in a more significant manner where the students are actively involved in the learning process, then the ICT use could be classified as Type II.

Activity Theory was used as a framework to design the study. It is a framework that focuses on the interaction of human activity and consciousness within its relevant environment context. Activity theory provides a powerful tool with which the human activity can be analysed within the cultural-historical context in which the activity is taking place. Activity systems were used to provide structure for data collection as well as for analysis of data.

A multiple-case study approach was adopted. Three secondary schools representing different school types were chosen, namely independent, autonomous and government. Data collection comprised of ICT integrated lesson observations, interviews with teachers, Head of Department for ICT (HOD/ICT), principal and students as well as analysis of relevant documents.

The findings of the study revealed that interaction of factors such as clear articulation of ICT goals to teachers and Heads of Departments and active involvement of Heads of Department of Instructional Programmes (IP/HODs) and teachers were important in the implementation process. Good support structures such as sharing within the department, relevant professional development complemented by ICT skills training and ICT-enabled infrastructure were a necessity. Teachers looked towards the principal to role-model expectations and to provide encouragement. The key agents of ICT integration within curriculum are the IP/HODs who need to be empowered to lead their departments to meet the requirements of the school with regard to ICT integration. It is therefore, pertinent for schools to function as learning organisations to effectively integrate educational innovations and to translate them into practices at the classroom.

The Project work (PW) initiative was introduced by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, to provide students with the opportunities to foster collaborative learning skills, to improve both oral and written communication, to practise creative and critical thinking skills, and to develop self-directed inquiry and life-long learning skills (Ministry of Education, 1999). Although PW has been introduced for a few years, there has not been much research done in the Singapore context, especially in terms of its effect on students’ motivation. To fill the empirical gap, this study examined the extent in which PW promoted students’ intrinsic motivation, as well as satisfied students’ needs for competence, choice and relatedness. Specifically, data was collected from 7 classes of Secondary 2 students with the use of a modified version of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI, McAuley, Duncan, & Tammen, 1989) to assess students’ intrinsic motivation and their perceived choice, competence and relatedness in the PW context and in their normal mathematics or science lessons. Comparisons were made to establish whether there was any significant difference in terms of the students’ experiences in the different learning contexts.