Comprehensive study needed
I REFER to the report, “E-textbook introduction draws mixed reaction from public” ( SundayStar, Oct 28).
My initial reaction is how is this “school-going-digital” initiative different from the Smart School initiative of the late 1990s? How will it tie in with other ICT projects currently in schools such as 1BestariNet?
Without further details, and judging by the statement made that only PDF files will be used for a start, I can only caution that if proper long-term plans are not already in place for its rollout next year, this initiative may turn out to be little more than a costly déjà vu.
After all, students reading PDF files means that the e-device is only a page-turner and a storage of digitised content; and the e-textbook is nothing more than a change of form, not substance.
Admittedly, moving from PDF to interactive learning materials could be a real reform involving a change in substance, but this cannot happen without seeing it and planning for it in a larger context.
Are these interactive learning materials already developed and in use during the Smart Schools era or thereafter? If yes, do we have enough of such materials now ready for use soon? If not, is the development of such materials still in the pipeline, or only a work in progress?
I wonder if any comprehensive study has been conducted since the days of the Smart Schools Project – for which the previous government spent millions of ringgit – to assess and evaluate the current state of ICT and its use or applications in teaching and learning in our schools nationwide.
If yes, I certainly hope the Education Ministry (MoE) can use its findings to effectively bring the e-textbook initiative to the higher level of deploying it as an enabler and empowering tool to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. For now, the advantages of using the e-textbook touted by some, do not seem overwhelming, considering its cost and in view of the many disadvan- tages already voiced by various quarters so far.
This brings to mind a report which may be of some use to the MoE in planning to go digital by way of the e-textbook. Microsoft implemented its Partner-in-Learning (PiL) projects in various Asian countries including Malaysia, when a MoU was signed between Bill Gates and our then Education Minister in June 2004.
In 2006, I worked on a consultancy project with the then National Institute of Education in Singapore to evaluate for Microsoft, its PiL project’s impact in Malaysia. The report may be “old” but the many issues, problems and challenges unravelled are perhaps still current and relevant.
E-textbooks must not be implemented in haste, without a comprehensive study of where we are in the use of ICT in schools right now, the resources currently available and in place in schools, the overall cost and potential effectiveness of the e-textbook initiative, and its implications for our long term goal of substantive education reform in schools.
DR GAN SIOWCK LEE Kuala Lumpur