Over S$80 million will be spent over the next four years to build immersive learning environments for students at Singapore's pioneer batch of "FutureSchools". Four consortia headed by Civica, Hewlett Packard, Singapore Telecommunications and ST Electronics (Training and Simulation Systems) have been chosen to develop and deploy innovative infocomm-enabled learning applications for Jurong Secondary School, Crescent Girls' School, Canberra Primary School, Beacon Primary School and Hwa Chong Institution respectively.
These five schools are the first in the FutureSchools@Singapore programme and will lead the way for other schools in providing possible models for the seamless and pervasive integration of infocomm into the curriculum and pedagogy for engaged learning in schools. The FutureSchools@Singapore programme seeks to develop up to 15 schools which will serve as pathfinders for the wider Education and Learning community in Singapore.
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RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay(left) said the journeys of the FutureSchools will reap benefits for the wider education sector.
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"The infocomm-enabled learning journeys of these five FutureSchools will reap benefits not just for themselves but also for the wider education sector," said RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA). "IDA will continue to work with industry partners, schools, and the Ministry of Education (MOE) to ensure that the potential of infocomm can be unleashed to not only better the way our students learn and play, but also work and live as well."
The consortium led by Civica will be developing a "Journey of Discovery" for Jurong Secondary School, the highlight of which is the student's online avatar powered by artificial intelligence. According to Mr Marc Nolan, Executive Director of Strategic Development at Civica Library & Learning, these solutions are grounded in sound pedagogy and focused on "learning outcomes enabled by appropriate emerging technologies".
For Beacon Primary School, the consortium led by ST Electronics (Training and Simulation Systems) will be developing an immersive and interactive 3D Virtual Learning Environment called Beacon World.
The same consortium will be leveraging Web 2.0 technologies to develop the Hwa Chong Nexus - a virtual campus where students will be able to collaborate on projects, share information and gather feedback through peer reviews.
For Crescent Girls' School, the consortium led by Hewlett Packard will offer students personalised learning that offer real-time diagnostic feedback for assessments and interactive self-paced content. It also hopes to establish an open digital textbook framework for Singapore publishers to share content.
Canberra Primary School will be harnessing educational games and similar technologies in its learning journey in partnership with the SingTel-led consortium.
"The use of technology in each FutureSchool is anchored on the school's envisioned teaching and learning approaches," said Dr Koh Thiam Seng, Director, Educational Technology Division, Ministry of Education. "The FutureSchools, together with MOE and IDA will work closely with industry partners to develop the technology solutions which support these teaching and learning approaches. With these partnerships, we are poised to see further innovations in our educational programmes, to create a more enriching and engaging learning experience for our students."