CASE STUDY
Mobile technology
Education
e-Learning
Mobilizing for student-directed
learning
Pervasive technology redefines education as Crescent Girls‘ School enjoys past success and eyes m-Learning 2.0
CHALLENGES
•Prepare students for a technology-centric world. Information technology is pervasive
in the workplace, at home, and in mobile situations. Without creative use of technology,
students will be unprepared for the demands of the post-school world.
•Empower students to be self-directed learners. Early models of technology-supported
learning were focused on delivering content, but Crescent has empowered students to
collaboratively develop content along with, and independently of, their teachers.
SOLUTIONS
“What Crescent has achieved in
terms of innovation and
technology in learning is
absolutely outstanding and
goes beyond the usual ICT
integration.”
Judge, Intel® Teach School Award 2011
• Evolve the role of teachers. Traditional teaching involves the top-down delivery of
information from teacher to student, but the m-Learning 2.0 paradigm is all about
student empowerment. To encourage this, teachers have become gatekeepers whose
primary role is to direct students and ensure they‘re asking the right questions to learn
and derive meaning from their work.
• Foster collaboration. Despite the proven value of its convertible tablet PCs, Crescent
recently began considering ways to improve device-based collaboration. Eleven purposebuilt ‘Heumi‘ devices, which let students collaborate on an interactive 46-inch screen,
have been installed at the school to let students collaborate on digital projects.
• Target 100% participation. Crescent‘s early mobility programs were seen by some
parents as an imposition, but years of demonstrated success in transforming education
have validated learning technologies, boosting participation rates and making technology
ubiquitous within the school.
• Transform learning. Ubiquitous use of learning technologies has transformed education
at Crescent Girls‘ School – so much so that it received a Regional Intel® Teach School
Award 2011. These awards are sponsored by Intel Corporation and UNESCO Bangkok to
recognize the impact of ICT in transforming education.
Crescent Girls‘ School, a 1400-student school located in the heart of Singapore, is used to
being at the vanguard of learning technologies. For more than a decade, it has embraced
technology-driven classroom learning, including the introduction in 2004 of a broad
online education policy called ‘m-Learning‘ that was based on giving students access to
convertible tablet PCs based on Intel® mobile technology.
“One-to-one computing was a fairly new concept at the time,“ said Mrs Tan Chen Kee,
Principal, Crescent Girls‘ School. “But we recognized that tried and tested approaches
weren‘t effective in engaging a new generation of students. We saw technology as a
key enabler in engaging them, and starting exploring how we could better leverage
technology to bring about a more engaging instructional program.“
Ubiquitous use of learning technologies has transformed education at
Crescent Girls’ School in Singapore – so much so that it received a regional
Intel® Teach School Award 2011, sponsored by Intel Corporation and UNESCO
Bangkok to recognize the impact of ICT in transforming education.
“It does not make sense that so
much of children’s lives involves
technology, but when it comes to
school, as soon as they arrive at the
school gates we would tell them to
stop using technology. We would
rather get involved with what they
are used to, so they can leverage it
for meaningful and purposeful use
in teaching and learning.“
Mrs Tan Chen Kee, Principal,
Crescent Girls’ School
A dramatic transformation in teaching and
learning at Crescent has integrated online
resources and learning into every aspect
of its curriculum. This integration has been
so successful that Crescent was identified
by Bill Gates in 2007 as a global mentor
school, and now mentors progressive
schools in 12 countries through the
Worldwide Microsoft Innovative Schools
Programme.
More recently, Crescent received a
Regional Intel® Teach School Award
2011. This program, co-sponsored
by Intel Corporation and UNESCO
Bangkok, recognizes the impact of ICT in
transforming education; Crescent beat out
competitors from 10 other countries based
on its excellence in technology integration,
creativity and innovation.
“What Crescent has achieved in terms of
innovation and technology in learning is
absolutely outstanding and goes beyond
the usual ICT integration,“ one judge
commented. “The school itself has evolved
into one community of learning,“ said
another.
These comments reflect the tangible sense
that ICT has helped transform a Crescent
education into something truly unique.
“Our learning seems to be much more
than students who are not using these
technologies,“ said student Nur Shahida
Bte Salleh.
“At normal schools that don‘t use PCs
as much, they probably depend on their
computer lab or their parents‘ computers
back home. But because everyone has a PC
here, we do things faster and we‘re more
productive.“
Despite its success so far, the school isn‘t
standing still. As technology has become
enmeshed into the very fabric of society
inside and out of school, Crescent has
more recently turned its sights to setting
the stage for what it is calling m-Learning
2.0 – a new learning paradigm in which
teachers‘ traditional didactic roles are
being augmented or replaced by students
empowered to drive their own learning.
Whereas m-Learning was designed to
improve students‘ access to learning
materials, m-Learning 2.0 is all about
using technologies to immerse students
2
in a learning environment driven by
collaboration that extends past the four
walls of the school through support for
a range of mobility technologies and
Internet-based learning tools.
Technology-driven learning
Because they now get access to learning
technologies from the beginning of their
Secondary 1 year, students are quickly
immersed in the online world and become
adept at using a broad range of software
from an early age.
“Children are very savvy with technology,
and they use it extensively outside of
the classroom,” said Mrs Tan. “It does not
make sense that so much of their lives
involves technology, but when it comes
to school, as soon as they arrive at the
school gates we would tell them to stop
using technology. We would rather get
involved with what they are used to, so
they can leverage it for meaningful and
purposeful use in teaching and learning.”
Although access to convertible tablet
PCs during classes still offers initial
excitement for students that suddenly
get access to potentially-distracting
online resources, the novelty quickly
wears off as teachers keep students
focused on the projects at hand. Crescent
training programs teach students to
use packages like Autodesk* Maya*
for 3D animation and Adobe* Flash*,
Dreamweaver* and Photoshop* for
content creation. Students then use
these applications for a broad range of
projects and topics.
Teachers, too, undergo extensive training
to ensure they can guide students to
make the most of the new m-Learning
environment. Intel has worked closely
with Crescent administration, especially
in the early years of the m-Learning
program, to ensure that appropriate
technology training was in place. Over
time, teachers have become eager users
and vocal, self-motivated advocates of
the technology.
Much of this support comes through the
use of online collaboration with other
teachers who review and comment
on each other’s lesson plans. Teacher
resources and comments are shared in an
online repository for collective learning.
“It really changes how teachers interact,
and it opens the space and allows more
teachers to contribute to particular topics
than ever before,” Tan explained.
“Teachers are making contributions and
offering feedback on others’ lesson
designs, allowing for better participation
and ownership. Because the teachers are
comfortable with the technology, they
have learned to recognize their needs
around the purposeful use of technology in
the classroom. Students are more engaged,
and teachers are keener than ever.”
Even as students continue to develop
their skills using technology tools,
however, ready access to the World Wide
Web has changed the dynamics of the
student-teacher relationship. Because
students in today’s information-saturated
world often know more than their
teachers in certain areas of interest,
teachers have had to take on more of
a gatekeeper role than simply standing
at the front of the classroom as an
undisputed source of information.
“Teachers are not the sole proprietors
of knowledge,” said Crescent teacher
Tan Yew Hock. “We need to acknowledge
that students can know more than us in
certain subject areas, and we need to
capitalize on that. If a student is stronger
in an area, we ask them to share their
knowledge in discussion forums or blogs.
In a way, our role is as facilitator – but, of
course, we also need to find out whether
what they have presented is correct.”
Teachers have other roles in maintaining
the technology environment. For
example, Crescent has provided teachers
with a classroom management system
that lets teachers view and control the
screens of the dozens of convertible
tablet PCs in their classroom at any time.
This approach eliminates the risk that
students may be distracted or struggling
with content material, and lets teachers
easily check on project status or confirm
that groups are collaborating as they
should. It also helps teachers in their role
as unofficial technology troubleshooter,
which requires them to be proactive in
building their own skills around using
and supporting students on the learning
devices.
“It can be quite intimidating for any
teacher to go in a classroom where all
the kids have their own learning device,”
Tan said. “The classroom management
system helps us with that. But Secondary
1 teachers also need to know how to
troubleshoot, because you are the first
person in class to respond to students
who don’t know how to use the device.”
Empowering collaboration
Although Crescent’s focus on one-to-one
technology access has already delivered
significant benefits for the school,
m-Learning 2.0 will help them work
together in new ways.
For example, students conducting
research for an assignment often find
themselves sharing resources or working
together on projects from home. Within
the m-Learning 2.0 paradigm, this sort of
collaboration should happen seamlessly
whether the student is at school or at
home, using the school-issued convertible
tablet PC or their own mobile devices.
Crescent has worked to provide students
with new learning opportunities to
ensure that they get much more than just
traditional book learning. For example,
a class called Project-Based Learning
(PBL) charges students with analysing
everyday environmental, social and other
issues, then developing and presenting
solutions in groups.
Collaborative online technologies, like
mobility and social media, help students
keep in touch and co-ordinate their PBL
and other projects. They can also use
those technologies to communicate with
teachers in and out of school, ensuring
that learning is no longer just restricted
to the classroom.
“Sharing is a very powerful approach to
learning,” said Tan. “Because they have
different learning styles and they share
using different tools, they realize that
different people have different views –
so that helps them learn better.”
“There’s so much happening every minute
all around the world, so how are we doing
the students justice by only providing
them a traditional classroom kind of
teaching and telling them what’s in a
book that was written years ago? Kids
today deserve more than that.”
SOLUTION SUMMARY:
M-LEARNING AT CRESCENT
•Convertible tablet PCs based on
Intel® technology
•Professional development for
teachers
•Ubiquitous wireless Internet
access to school portal and other
resources
“It‘s not just about pushing down information to students; they‘re no longer
satisfied that way. Teachers face a challenge around how they put content
together, how to engage students, and how to make them construct their
own knowledge. We‘re extending the learning process and empowering
them to create, based on what they‘ve learned.“
•Buy-in from parents, students,
teachers and administrators
•m-Learning has driven a
collaborative, technology-enabled
approach to learning
Eileen Tan, Mathematics Teacher,
Crescent Girls’ School
3
In keeping with that belief, Crescent
has developed new resources that will
further enhance the learning experience
for students. For example, a collaboration
between Crescent and local software
developers HeuLab and Amdon recently
resulted in the introduction of ‘Heumi’
devices within the school’s computer labs.
Each Heumi is shaped like a coffee table,
with a 46-inch touchscreen on its face.
Because it provides a large interactive
surface, Heumi has become a centre
of gravity for students who can work
together on the device at the same time.
“Many people can use it in one go, so we
can throw our ideas in at the same time,”
says student Heng Su Ping. “It saves time,
and we don’t need to transfer our files
here and there. We can contribute ideas
while we write them down.”
Self-directed learners
By both encouraging and facilitating
collaboration between students, Crescent
has introduced long-term changes to its
learning philosophy. Rather than just
throwing a lot of information at students,
teachers must now package content in
ways that are digestible – and encourage
students to continue investigations on
their own.
For example, students in a home
economics class use the convertible
tablet PCs to develop products and
share them in a class presentation, while
students in a cooking class might be set
loose to create recipes and discuss their
nutrition. In their assessment, students
would typically be instructed to develop
a proposal about how they want to shape
and present the assignment: for example,
students might want to develop how-to
videos for their peers and teachers.
“It’s not about using the tool no matter
what the students are doing,” said Tan
Yew Hock, another Crescent teacher. “It’s
about how teachers can make use of reallife situations, scenarios, or products in
the classroom, to make learning more
authentic and interesting.”
Other online resources support a
feedback loop that lets students improve
their work and collaboration on their own
initiative. For example, the ACE Learning
mathematics portal offers guidance
and how-to videos that help students
learn math topics. And many English
students upload their assignments to an
application that uses well-established
algorithms to measure the Pearson
reading level of the text; they can then
revise the assignment and re-check it
until they are satisfied before submitting it.
While the omnipresent convertible tablet
PCs have given students a new level of
empowerment, teachers still need to give
students the research and analysis skills
to evaluate and filter that information.
The school’s investment in m-Learning
practice and supporting technologies will
enable them to continue to do so for the
long term.
“There is so much information out there,”
said Tan, “that students are really just
speed-reading sometimes. If they’re
scanning through information, we have
to ask whether they’re missing the
big picture. The new generation has
a shorter attention span and tend to
multitask – so we have to consider how
we can help them manage and prioritize
the information that will shape their
learning into the future.”
Teachers still have a role to play in this
process, although it has changed as
students become more empowered.
Should a classroom enquiry lead to an
area where the teacher doesn’t have a
clear answer to the problem presented,
for example, students work with each
other to collate and evaluate possible
responses, then arrive at a consensus
answer.
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