E-Learning and ICT Infrastructure in Developing Countries (original) (raw)

Smart Schools an Innovation in Education: Malaysian's Experience

According to the new environment created by the information period, training and learning new skills are being inevitable. Retraining the skills of group working to coordinate the information age has created special conditions for education. Smart schools are one of the strategies adopted by schools in response to today's modern needs. Smart schools are active for entrepreneurship, using modern methods to improve the quality of education, and training qualified people who at any time have the capability and efficiency of modern industry. The purpose of this study, is the use of ICT in Malaysian Smart School and comparing it with the Smart Schools in Iran. To conduct this study, library, documents, Web sites and electronic journals are available. The results of this study show that although there are significant differences between the education system and deployment of ICT in Iran with the standards in smart schools in leading countries like Malaysia, according to the original development of smart schools in Iran which has been adapted from Malaysia, recognizing the realities of this action in Malaysia, can be effective in the development of schools in the country and prevent indiscriminate development.

Are We ‘Smarter’ Now? Case Study of Smart School Implementation in a Developing Nation

Journal of Studies in Education, 2015

This study was aimed at investigating ICT adoption at a Smart School in Malaysia. A questionnaire gathering data on the tools and applications used by teachers as well factors affecting teachers' adoption of ICT in teaching was administered to 73 teachers and one administrator while 10 teachers and the administrator were interviewed to gain a deeper understanding of the reasons for the responses given in the questionnaire. Frequencies and percentages were calculated while emerging themes from the interviews were recorded for analysis. The results revealed that the participants were at the Utilisation level of ICT adoption even though most of them have positive attitudes toward ICT adoption which means that they were willing to use ICT, specifically computers, in the classroom. The participants used ICT tools to prepare exam materials, content, worksheets and handouts for their teaching. However, the factors that influenced participants' ICT adoption were: one, using ICT in teaching took up too much time, two, the school management did not provide enough ICT facilities and training to improve ICT skills was needed and three, even though the school management supported ICT adoption they did not put it as a priority. In conclusion, the findings indicated that the participants were positive about the adoption but several factors are barriers which could have affected their progress from lower level to a higher level

Teaching and learning process with intergration of ICT: a study on smart schools of Malaysia

WSEAS Transactions on …, 2009

The mission 2020 basically is to develop a world class quality educational system which will realize the full potential of the individual and fulfil the aspiration of the 'One Malaysian nation'. This will only happen if education departs from the disinterested rote learning mode, and explores how information technology can be used to encourage active, creative, and independent learning. Therefore, Malaysia needs to make the critical transition from an industrial economy to being a leader in the Information Age. In order to make this vision a reality, Malaysian Government took a strategic project through smart school. Smart Schools were identified as having a key role to increase the number of ICT-skilled to meet the demand of industry that would be intergrating ICT into their process. It is a need to make a fundamental shifts towards a more technologically literate and thinking workforce, able to perform in a global work environment and use the tools and technology available in the Information Age.

THE INTEGRATION OF ICT IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESSES: A STUDY ON SMART SCHOOL OF MALAYSIA

Proceedings of the 5th …, 2009

The mission 2020 basically is to develop a world class quality educational system which will realize the full potential of the individual and fulfil the aspiration of the Malaysian nation. This will only happen if education departs from the disinterested rote learning mode, and explores how information technology can be used to encourage active, creative, and independent learning. Therefore, Malaysia needs to make the critical transition from an industrial economy to being a leader in the Information Age. In order to make this vision a reality, Malaysian Government took a strategic project through smart school. It is a need to make a fundamental shifts towards a more technologically literate and thinking workforce, able to perform in a global work environment and use the tools and technology available in the Information Age.

An Evaluation of the Smart School Teacher Training Programme and its Impact on Integrating Technology into Teaching and Learning Processes in Malaysia

Sosiohumanika, 2016

: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of conducting the 14 weeks In-Service (INSET) Course for the training of Smart School teachers, which was conducted by the Teacher Education Division, Ministry of Education, Malaysia and the In-House Training at the school levels. Questionnaires were administered to a total of 882 teachers and 2,689 students from 70 Smart Schools in Malaysia. The main findings from this study showed that teachers who had attended the courses had acquired all aspects of Smart School teaching and learning strategies which comprised of acquiring the concept, planning the Smart teaching, the Smart School teaching and learning processes, management of Smart classes except the Smart School assessment and evaluation techniques. In implementing the Smart School programme at their respective schools, teachers were facing numerous constraints which included heavy work load, insufficient funds, examination forces, time management, syllabi demands, empow...

Integration of ICT in a smart school in Betong, Sarawak / Dayang Hironi Awang Kipli

2013

The purpose of this study was to identify the teacher's and student’s perception of school ICT readiness. The secondary schools namely national secondary school (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan/SMK) was selected for the study. Data were collected using questionnaire and interview techniques. The questionnaire was distributed to a total of 200 randomly selected teacher and student respondents and 165 questionnaires were returned, however only 150 questionnaires were appropriately completed and able to be used for analysis. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that the level of four aspects of readiness including user readiness, management readiness, content readiness and cultural readiness were positively at the highest level. In addition, findings indicated that there was no significant difference in teacher's perception of readiness based on gender. This study indicated that there were significant relationship between the user r...

Success Factors for Smart Schools Emphasizing the Role of Information Technology: A Case Study

International Journal of Engineering and Technology

Smart school is a learning institution that has been systemically reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in order to prepare students for the Information Age. Information Technology or IT, as an important pillar of smart school system, has different roles in the system from facilitating teaching and learning activities to assisting the school management. The aim of the research is to investigate the smart school activities in Iran in order to propose an IT framework for improvement of the smart school system in Iran. Although in recent years some efforts have been done for developing smart schools in Iran, there is still no comprehensive solution for development of smart school system to be referred. This research has employed mixed methods, encompassing qualitative and quantitative methods in order to identify success criteria for development of smart school system. Twenty success criteria were identified, among others, Information and Communication Technology or ICT skills, ICT use rate, application use rate, and ICT courseware. The proposed IT framework developed based on the criteria success is used to investigate current activities of smart schools in Iran, and to assess five cases in Iran through interview and observation methods. The findings indicated that these schools should have electronic contents for all courses, high speed networks, Internet lines, computers, printers and other related equipments to become complete smart schools. The framework provided a set of guidelines in terms of smart school components in a structured way, which can assist the Ministry of Education of Iran and top-level policy makers to improve current activities of smart schools in Iran. Besides, the research also contributes towards the expansion of theory and knowledge of smart school which could benefit to other developing countries.

Chapter 1 ICT Integration of ICT in a smart school in Betong, Sarawak dhak@

, 2016

The purpose of this study was to identify the teacher's and student’s perception of school ICT readiness. The secondary schools namely national secondary school (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan/SMK) was selected for the study. Data were collected using questionnaire and interview techniques. The questionnaire was distributed to a total of 200 randomly selected teacher and student respondents and 165 questionnaires were returned, however only 150 questionnaires were appropriately completed and able to be used for analysis. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that the level of four aspects of readiness including user readiness, management readiness, content readiness and cultural readiness were positively at the highest level. In addition, findings indicated that there was no significant difference in teacher's perception of readiness based on gender. This study indicated that there were significant relationship between the user readiness, management readiness, content readiness and cultural readiness. Besides that, all aspects of readiness positively associated with each other. In terms of the contribution of the significant predictors of ICT integration, the results revealed that there are two important variables namely teacher and student contributed to the variance of ICT readiness. Overall, the findings of this study have implications to the role of principals, teachers and school management in the way to enhance positive integration of ICT readiness. Based on the findings, this study also provides recommendations for improvement of practices and future research.

SMART SCHOOL SYSTEM ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Smart school is a learning institution that has been systemically integrated with ICT in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in order to prepare children for the Information Age. Malaysia has developed a successful roadmap for development of smart school system. This paper summarizes the finding of conducted interviews in fourteen smart schools in Malaysia. The results of these interviews have shown current issues and challenges of smart school system in Malaysia. Among findings, the strength of the systems were mentioned as access to internet and network systems; experienced teachers and skillful technicians; enough equipment and good communication within parents and schools.