01 July 2020

E-learning in Singapore has picked up speed in recent months. Each secondary school student will get a personal learning device by the end of next year. The Ministry of Education has also instituted plans to bringing the National Digital Literacy Programme forward.

But Mr Ong Ye Kung, Education Minister, has also highlighted the challenge of the digital divide. He said that many students did not have devices to participate in home-based learning, which led to schools loaning out over 20,000 digital devices to students, and more than 1,600 dongles.

Mr Ong is now of the opinon that online learning will become fundamental in our education landscape. He said that MOE has plans to make home-based learning part and parcel of the curriculum. We could, for instance, start with once a fortnight secondary schools.

One beneficial outcome of HBL is the cultivation of independent learning.

But Mr Ong cautioned that while online learning is useful, we can’t do away or substitute classroom learning altogether. The sensible thing to do is to complement classroom teaching with HBL, and make HBL a permanent and regular feature of education.

07 June 2020

The implementation of home-based learning has illustrated how inequality can affect students outside school.

At home, some students may face issues such as poverty, jobless parents and lack of motivation. Singaporeans tend to think of our education system as a uniform system, where all schools are well-staffed and have ample resources. But educational outcomes still vary considerably from student to student and family to family.

It is therefore time to look at not just providing a world-class education, which Singapore has already achieved, but also fine-tuning an educational system that takes into consideration the fact that the well-being and success of students depend on a lot more than just what happens inside school.

The Ministry of Education can begin by ensuring that family service centres and voluntary welfare organisations are well-resourced to coordinate and work hand in hand with schools.

Nominated MP Anthea Ong has called for Internet access to be provided as a public utility. For example, she has proposed that the Government’s free Wi-Fi service be extended to cover all rental flats.

In the meantime, many schools have rallied together to remain open so that children who depend on the subsidised school meal programme can continue to go to school and not go hungry at home, while others who lacked a conducive environment for learning at home can also go back to their schools to study. These measures can go a long way for some groups of students.

16 May 2020

Nanyang Technological University are now able to take massive open online courses (MOOCs) to fulfil undergraduate degree requirements.

All 23,000 NTU undergraduates, except medical students, can earn credits from completing selected online courses offered on MOOC platforms such as Coursera, edX and FutureLearn. For a start, 86 MOOCs have been approved. These include courses such as The Analytics Edge offered by MIT, Machine Learning by Stanford University and Business Strategies for Social Impact by Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

NTU students generally have to obtain between 108 and 140 academic units in order to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. MOOCs can count up to 12 academic units.

Students can take the courses at any time, including during the holidays before the new academic year begins in August, as well as at their own pace.

Currently. the National University of Singapore also allows its students to count completed MOOCs toward their bachelor’s degree.

09 May 2020

The Ministry of Education has provided about 3,300 electronic devices such as tablets and laptops to students who require them for home-based learning.

According the Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, schools will also reach out to students who may not have support at home for home-based learning. These students can use computers and the Internet access in their school while being supervised by teachers.

Corporate sponsors have also been roped in to assist needy students. For example, StarHub will be sponsoring unlimited mobile broadband connectivity to 550 students from lower-income families who do not have access to broadband at home.

Schools have dug into their stockpile of devices and sourced for more in order to ensure that all students will be able to carry out HBL effectively.

But apart from coping with the technological demands of HBL, the bigger issue, for most of their students, is that real life has intruded. Some children have shared their anxieties over their parents losing jobs. And with the loss of income, others have had to fret about going hungry.

As such, teachers have also become confidants and counsellors to these students.

08 May 2020

When full home-based learning (HBL) started last month, there was understandably a considerable amount of apprehension on the part of parents and students. Many were worried if they would be able to familiarize themselves with new routines in time.

In particular, teachers who are parents themselves had to juggle taking care of their own children, as well as teaching and performing household chores at the same time.

According to a poll conducted by the Ministry of Education, eight in 10 teachers felt confident in implementing full HBL. Seven in 10 reported they could support students’ social and emotional well-being during this period.

Acknowledging the adjustments teachers have had to make, an MOE spokesman said that although schools have worked to keep the HBL learning and assessment load manageable, it has been a very challenging experience for teachers, especially those who have had to deliver HBL and look after their own families during this period.

MOE has encouraged teachers to reserve enough time for themselves and their families by informing students of specific periods when they can contact them with queries.