Use gadgets in school:e-Hijrah consultants

INSTEAD of banning students from bringing their electronic devices to school, educators can make use of the gadgets in their teaching and give them ample room to learn and explore, consultants overseeing the e-Hijrah ICT blueprint said.

With e-Hijrah, classroom lessons can be taught using an interactive whiteboard that allows teachers and students to interact from their respective devices using an internal wireless Internet connection, according to Jonathan Beveridge, a senior consultant of the global SOF consortium overseeing the ICT blueprint.

"The teacher can monitor what the kids are doing on their tablet computers through the interactive whiteboard...instead of banning them, we can use (them)," Beveridge said as he demonstrated to The Brunei Times how each students' tablet computer screen can be displayed on the interactive whiteboard.

"In the past, mobile devices are banned in school because they (teachers) don't know what they (students) do in the devices. With e-Hijrah, we can make positive use of their devices...we have to think differently," he added.

Programme manager of e-Hijrah Shahrizal Hj Emran said that the mindset of stakeholders have to be changed in order for a big project such as ICT blueprint to be implemented.

"Change is always very important, we put emphasis on change management ... to get teachers who are used to the traditional chalk-and-talk method to open up to a modern and more interactive way of teaching," he said.

E-Hijrah focuses on implementing ICT on teaching and learning in school in line with the 21st century national education system SPN-21. The e-Hijrah is expected to be fully implemented in six years as it may take some time for a such a big change to be fully operational.

"It (e-Hijrah) is not going to happen overnight, we have to change the mindset of the stakeholders and the people involved," Shahrizal said.

The Ministry of Education e-Hijrah team hosted an Open House for the redesigned facilities for the e-Hijrah Office of Programme Management (OPM) from June 20 until yesterday. Between 250 and 300 people visited the new facility over the four days to get a first-hand experience of an "e-Hijrah classroom environment".

According to Beveridge, e-Hijrah has received very good responses from the visitors as both teachers and students who visited the facility actively engaged in the interactive technology to get a taste of what a future classroom feels like.

Teachers were impressed by the application of interactive ICT systems to deliver digital content and increase engagement with students, while students enjoyed a glimpse into the future by getting a taste of working with networked mobile slates, a press statement issued by the Ministry of Education said. The Brunei Times