Smart School

Write a critical analysis on the issues and challenges faced by the various stakeholders. In your opinion what are some of the factors that should be taken in consideration in implementing the Smart School concept.

The Smart School initiative is one of the seven flagship applications that are part of Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project. The Government of Malaysia aims to capitalize on the presence of leading-edge technologies and the rapid development of the MSC’s infrastructure to jump-start deployment of enabling technology to schools. This will be done by creating a group of 90 pilot Smart Schools by 1999 that will serve as the nucleus for the eventual nation-wide roll out of Smart School teaching concepts and materials, skills and technologies. The school stakeholders consist of school administrators, teaching staff, non-teaching staff and students. School administrator play an important role to ensure effective and optimum usage of hardware and courseware. Base on my survey in SMK Seri Perak, Teluk Intan that is one out of three ordinary schools as a Smart School in Perak, this school was chose as Smart School because of their excellent achievement in academic every year. As a Smart School, the administrator have to select their student with certain qualifications. This is because the learning environment in Smart School is different from other schools. Those student with minimum grade 3As in UPSR will allow to learn there. The problem is when parents with disqualified children insist to learn in that school. Most of disqualified student who learned in this school cannot reach a minimum performance because of different learning application and environment.

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When Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English began in 2003, the teaching and learning facilities in every schools including non-Smart School (ordinary school) have almost the same facilities with Smart School. The Ministry of Education concern about this matter and increase the budget for Smart School to upgrade their ICT facilities better than ordinary school. For Smart School administrator, they have to overcome the problem with Smart School Management System (SSMS). There were other systems from other divisions and departments that had to be installed and used. Schools found these demands overwhelming. Another problem is utilization of Software Application and Courseware. The Smart School courseware was found to be under-utilized as schools preferred to use the newer courseware produced to teach Science and Mathematics (PPSMI) by the MoE. Since, Science and Mathematics were being taught in English in Primary Years 1 to 3 and Secondary Forms 1 to 3, while the Smart School courseware was in Malay language. The Smart Schools initiative offers an ideal opportunity to reassess the current schooling system, identifying problems and finding potential solutions, many of which can be enabled by technology. For the Smart School system, the major inputs are the resources that is students, teachers, technology and tools and the Ministry of Education. Students play a pivotal role in making the Smart School vision a success. The Smart School scenario calls for redefining the role of the teacher and te student where students are encouraged to play a more active role in the teaching-learning process instead of being mere passive recipients of knowledge. The problem is some of smart students is Smart School are not familiar with technology and tools. This is because some of them come from non-academic family background. They might feel a little difficulties with this new style of learning. Some of the student also preferred to learn in traditional method.

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The study found that students were not aware that the Smart School Management System (SSMS) was being used in their schools. Similarly, parents too were not wellinformed about the unique features of their children’s ‘smart’ school, though they knew that their children attended a ‘smart school’. The assessment of students’ performance on-line also will be a problem. In Smart School most of students’ assessments are using a computer supported by an internet. They have to learn how to gather information from the internet. Unfortunately some student doesn’t have an access to internet at home. Teacher development will be critical to the success of the Smart School. They were not keen on using the Smart School courseware as they found usage of materials directly related to exam preparation saved precious teaching time. Teacher will need intensive training in the use of information technology and in its integration into classroom activities in ways that enhance thinking and creativity. Smart School teacher will also need to learn to facilitate and encourage students in taking charge of their own learning. Almost half the teachers surveyed mentioned that in-house training for subject teachers was only moderately successful in achieving its objectives. Majority of them said the training was not sufficient enough in helping them apply the Smart School Integrated Solution (SSIS) principles. There was lack of repeat training for ‘new’ teachers who had just been transferred to the Smart School on how to teach the ‘smart way’. The study found the teachers used the computer labs for teaching learning only four times a month on an average. There were limitations in using the lesson planning software. Teachers’ competence in the four subjects for which courseware was provided was reported to be satisfactory.

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The challenges with “new ways” of doing things, hardware maintenance and technology obsolescence were main concerns amongst all stakeholders. Maintenance of hardware was problematic and breakdowns were frequent. Waiting for the maintenance team to fix those stuff are really wasting time. The Smart School administrator facing problem when they have teachers who hates technologies. Actually this kind of teachers become fear when they have to use those technology facilities in class because they’re not ready for changes. They also not familiar with high-tech facilities in classroom. The solutions are they need a courses to get familiar with the equipments. Teachers in ordinary school also have this kind of courses but in Smart School they need extra courses. This is the reality in some Smart School in Malaysia including SMK Seri Perak, Teluk Intan. Some teachers in Smart School still use ‘talk and chalk’ method. Through those courses they can optimize usage of the ICT facilities and the teaching and learning material that can contribute to the students’ growth and development. Parents also as a stakeholder. Parents will enjoy and utilize the ready access to school and relevant school information to forge a close relationship with the teachers and the staff. The problem is most of the parents in Smart School is not ready to accept the Smart School concept. Some of them never knew how to surf the internet and surprisingly some of them don’t have even one computer at home. Beside, for an academic background parent, this won’t be any problem to them. They can accept the Smart School concept and enjoy it. Some of the factors that should be taken in consideration in implementing the Smart School concept are:a) the administrator should have 100% power to choose their teaching staff. By doing this, the school administrator will interview and choose only those who familiar with ICT facilities and understand the concept of Smart School.

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b) The number of students in Smart School should be limited. Student who attend to Smart School must be among the excellent student because the learning style need a student who can explore by themselves to gain knowledge. c) The school must identify parents from non-academic background and give a basic courses about ICT to them. This will make them always alert with their children performance and the can see the progress on-line. d) Intensify change management programs and pedagogy training for all teachers on how to integrate ICT in teaching and learning. e) Encourage participation of parents in seminars, road shows and counseling sessions on the concept and implementation of the Smart School project.

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