The Infocomm@All Schools Programme focuses on bringing about higher levels of ICT usage for learning and teaching in all schools by embedding ICT into the curriculum and assessment.

IDA works jointly with MOE to conceptualise and manage the implementation of a range of projects to support the national curriculum and assessment. Through this programme, all teachers and students will enjoy enriched learning and teaching experiences in schools.

Enriching Experiences for Teachers

By providing teachers with quality resources and tools, they are able to create engaging ICT enhanced classroom environments and lessons.

edumall2.0

edumall2.0, accessible by all teachers in Singapore, is an internet-based education resource gateway that provides quality resources from MOE and external content providers for learning and teaching. Teachers can use these quality and trusted rich digital resources in their lessons and interact with one another using a variety of Web2.0 tools in edumall2.0.

Key highlights:

• Web2.0 Collaborative Tools such as discussion forums, blogs and wikis;
• Digital Repositories and libraries with Search functionality; and
• Personalised Homepage for teachers

iSHARE (inter-cluster SHAring of REsources)

A ground-up initiative for accessing, managing and sharing of teacher-created digital resources for learning and teaching, iSHARE provides seamless access to educational digital resources created by teachers for teachers.

Key highlights:

• Deployed across 28 school clusters all over Singapore with over 110,000 resources to-date;
• Silver Award recipient at the Learning Impact Award 2009 by IMS Global Learning Consortium;
• "Best National Repository" under the "Best-in" category at the Learning Impact Award 2009 by IMS Global Learning Consortium; and
• Runner-up for the Best in Class (ranked top 5 out of 500 nominations) at the Government Technology Awards (GTA) 2009 by FutureGOV.

Enriching Experiences for Students

Through the pervasive and effective use of ICT, all students will enjoy enriched learning experiences in schools and at home.

Science N(T) Next Generation Interactive Textbook (NGIT)

A digital interactive textbook cum teaching-and-learning application that comprises rich IDM resources in the form of videos, manipulatives and simulations, as well as tools that promote meaningful classroom interactions to better engage upper secondary Normal (Technical) students in the learning of Science. The aim of the project is to enable the transformation of teaching and learning practices for the Science subject from one that is traditionally teacher-centric and didactic in nature, into one that is better able to engage students.

Key highlights:

• Enables the teacher to customise lesson packages by selecting specific pages from the interactive textbook, importing content from other sources, and setting tasks for students.
  
  
• Comprises a set of advanced lesson delivery tools that promote classroom interaction and allow the teacher to capture and share students' responses in real-time.
  
  
• Provides annotation tools for teachers and students to embed and share additional notes about the learning.

The industry partner for NGIT is a consortium which comprises the following members:

• Singapore Telecommunications Ltd
  
  
• HeuLab Pte Ltd
  
  
• Amdon Consulting Pte Ltd

Interactive Portal for Mother Tongue Languages Project (iMTL)

A web-based interactive portal that enables students to strengthen their Mother Tongue Language (MTL, namely Chinese, Malay, Tamil) skills by promoting formative assessment practices through self-directed activities or teacher-assigned tasks such as oral presentations, reading fluency and language games.

Key highlights:

• Both students and teachers are able to participate in oral presentations and reading fluency activities for self/peer/teacher assessment.
• The portal incorporates Text-to-Speech and Speech Evaluation solutions to provide automated assessment feedback and guidance to students on their pronunciation and intonation.

The industry partner for iMTL is the SingaporeTelcommunications Limited consortium which comprises the following members:

• Singapore Telcommunications Limited
  
  
• ACP Computer Training School Pte Ltd
  
  
• Anhui USTC iFLYTEK Co Ltd
  
  

V.A.S.T. : Voice Activated Spy Tech

Voice Activated Spy Tech (V.A.S.T.) is a virtual world with a gaming component and a teacher-led, role-playing component. The aim of the project is to provide an immersive virtual environment where students are able to practise English Language speaking in a stimulating and non-intimidating manner. With V.A.S.T., students also benefit from frequent and real-time computer-assisted feedback on their speaking practices to guide them in their learning.

Key highlights:

• The student is able to receive immediate pinpointed feedback on pronunciation, fluency, word stress, etc, from a customized speech recognizer which compares the student's speech against a local, model speaker. A seamless, natural virtual environment is created for conducting conversations between students, where an in-game camera is designed to automatically zoom between wide shots and close-ups of whoever is speaking in the role-playing mode. The spoken sounds will also be projected directionally, depending on the position of the user's avatar with respect to the other avatars.
• The teacher is able to manage the content while conducting the lesson, as well as monitor students' progress within the game using a customized class management and reporting module.

The industry partner for V.A.S.T. is Magma Studios Pte Ltd.

Learning Management System (LMS)

A robust internet-based system, LMS enables teachers to create e-learning lessons and activities for facilitating students' learning. IDA, in collaboration with MOE, published an LMS Service Contract to establish a minimum service level, standardised core functionalities and a common data exchange standard to support the delivery of lessons to students for regular classroom learning and home-based learning in the event of National School Closure during an emergency.

The Service Contract for provisioning of LMS to schools was awarded to 3 industry partners - ACP Computer Training School Pte Ltd, ASKnLearn Pte Ltd and MC (Marshall Cavendish) Online Pte Ltd.

Key highlights:

• Web 2.0 Collaboration Tools such as Wiki, Blogs, Forums, Chat rooms, Email and Surveys;
• Content Builder: SCORM 2004 certified Lesson Authoring Tool;
• Assignments and ePortfolio
• Document Management System

Baseline ICT Standards Assessment System (BasIC)

The Baseline ICT Standards is a set of ICT skills competencies set out in progressive stages. These represent the basic level of knowledge, skills and values that students need in order to fully benefit from a curriculum enriched with ICT - to eventually thrive in a technology-driven society.

To facilitate the review and monitoring of students' attainment of ICT skills based on the Baseline ICT Standards, an online system named the BasIC System was developed. Key highlights of BasIC include:

• Assessment Player to facilitate the delivery of online assessments to students which automatically grades their performance;
• Question Editor allows teachers to create assessments for students to review the baseline ICT skills that they have attained; and
• Report Generator churns out reports on students' performance in class, school, cluster and national levels.

Interactive Learning Trails

The Interactive Learning Trails project aims to enhance collaboration and engagement level among learners during school field trips. Interactive learning trails provide an authentic environment with realistic social contexts to enliven and enrich the learning process. By harnessing infocomm technologies such as wireless local area network (WiFi), global positioning system (GPS), and two-dimensional barcode, interactive learning trails enable active exchange of ideas, help in information retention, and promote critical thinking among learners.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MOE), other government agencies and schools, the project plans to develop learning trail applications and contents in various locations in Singapore. A key strategy of the project is developing strategic partnerships with committed industry partners to develop viable business models for operating the trails at an affordable rate for schools and students.

To date, two learning trails had been developed:

• Sungei Buloh Wireless Trail
  The Sungei Buloh Wireless Trail was developed jointly by iCELL Network, Kranji Secondary School, MOE and National Parks Board using WiFi network and EzCode 2D barcodes. This is a Geography and Science trail deployed around the Mangrove Boardwalk in the nature reserve. Learners are able to access multimedia content through ultra-mobile personal computers (UMPCs) provided by the park. The trail was launched in August 2007.
• Chinatown Interactive Learning Trail
  The Chinatown Interactive Learning Trail was developed by MOE and Activate in partnership with IDA with the objective of enhancing the learning of the Chinese Language and Culture at an outdoor environment. Situated in the centre of Chinatown, an area known to possess rich Chinese cultural vibrancy, the learning trail provides learners with an authentic learning experience during school fieldtrips. Presented as an interactive location-based game, learners are challenged with context-specific tasks at designated learning hotspots throughout the trail, which they have to complete by collaborating in teams and learning from the physical environment.

Games for Learning

Digital Games for Learning is a type of learning resource that offers learners an experiential environment that encourages strategy development and community-based collaboration.

Unlike other off-the-shelf educational games in the market, the games are carefully designed by the Ministry of Education (MOE) curriculum planners and game developers.

This unique co-operation hopes to achieve the challenging objective of creating games that are not only entertaining and enjoyable, but also based on strong pedagogy, allowing the player to effectively learn the concepts or content which the games are intended to deliver.

Besides teaching facts and figures, these games also hope to develop 'higher order thinking' skills such as decision making and analytical thinking to enable our students to deal with the challenges that they may face in the 21st century.

Some of the educational games developed to-date includes:

Ecocity is a multi-user real time strategy game developed Playware Studios for the teaching and learning of Upper Secondary Geography. In the game, students collaborate in teams to bring up the level of development of a simulated city by making decisions around an inter-related set of economical and environmental conditions. Through the game, students also glean important lessons on teamwork, communication and collaboration.

Gut Feel is a multi-user Science game designed by Amdon Consulting for the teaching of the human digestive system to primary school students. The game covers beyond the primary school Science syllabus and features an inquiry-based pedagogy that engages the learner and facilitates understanding. The multi-player nature of the game also encourages the development of 21st century skills needed in effective collaboration, problem-solving and critical thinking.

ParaLife is a multi-user Science game developed by Amdon Consulting. The game seeks to acquaint students with and develop an understanding on plant and animal cells in a fun and engaging way.

Origins of Ancients and Origins of Nations is a two-part multi-user game developed jointly by Amdon Consulting and Nan Hua High School in consultation with Futurelab UK. The game is aimed at complementing core syllabus in lower secondary humanities and promoting deeper student inquiry. In Origins of Ancients, players assume the role of migrant settlers who have to cultivate the land in order to survive and prosper. Through the game, students learn the importance of geographic features such as floodplains, monsoon, and rivers to early civilisations. Origins of Nations picks up where Ancients left off and places players in the role of kings or court ministers to manage inter-nation relationship through means of diplomacy, commerce, and even war, thereby developing strategic thinking and social interaction skills.