IDA and British research company Futurelab establishes a two year partnership to develop new approaches to teaching and learning

The Third International Conference on Educational Technology held in Singapore in September 2006 heard how the Singapore government plans to leverage on Infocomm technology to drive enthusiasm in learning among students and to bring about engaged learning.

This plan was revealed by guest of honour LG (NS) Lim Chuan Poh, Permanent Secretary (Education), who also unveiled initiatives by the Singapore Government to help drive such programmes. To support the use of Infocomm adoption in schools, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will continue to provide central IT infrastructure and services for all schools. This amounts to close to S$700,000 per school for a three-year period.

This same amount is also provided to each school by the MOE to encourage the continuous innovation in the use of ICT within the school. In addition, from this year onwards, under the Lead@Schools scheme, schools with the potential - and plan - to achieve higher levels of Infocomm usage will have funding of up to S$100,000.

Celebrating the signing of the iLAB 2015 partnership

LG Lim said the teachers and the government have to continue to experiment, innovate and keep trying to discover how to best use Infocomm in learning. "Not all attempts will be successful, but not trying is not an option," he said.

The MOE is also tying up with industry vendors to reward teachers who are able to harness the use of Infocomm in education. For example, the Lenovo Innovation Award recognises and encourages teachers to continue their efforts in innovation and experimentation and is worth S$50,000 annually from 2007 to 2009.

IDA also announced a two year partnership to work with British company Futurelab to develop cutting-edge technology that will support new approaches to teaching and learning. Called iLAB 2015, the two parties will work together as well as with industry partners to develop prototypes which could be available in Singapore by the end of this year.

Mr Chan Yeng Kit sharing on how Infocomm can bring about engaged learning

Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO, IDA, said that he hopes this partnership with Futurelab will help transform the way students and teachers in Singapore approach education and usher in a new age of learning in the country. "Where there are good ideas, we will bring the industry in to develop the applications and try it in the schools. We hope that this will lead to a much improved teaching learning environment for our kids and for teachers," he added.