eEducation seminar: Knowledge sharing on to elevate a country through education and learning technology.

Singapore and Oman further strengthened their ICT collaboration when the infocomm authorities of both countries held a joint eEducation seminar alongside the COMEX 2013 ICT Exhibition, which took place at the Oman International Exhibition Centre in Muscat on 25-29 March.

The seminar, presented by the Information Technology Authority of Oman (ITA) and Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), provided a platform for sharing information about how technology can support academic approaches and enrich the learning environment for students and teachers.

Six Singaporean ICT companies and the Nanyang Technological University shared their project implementation experiences, discussed the benefits of e-learning programmes and showcased best practices in ICT adoption by educational institutions.

One of the participants was GSA Technology Group Pte Ltd, which provides technology training, technology development and technology advisory services, especially in the use of open source and Web 2.0 technologies in education.

Presenting at the eEducation seminar, GSA’s Managing Director Mr Jimmy Tan gave an analysis of trends in ICT usage in education and discussed in greater detail the topic of collaborative learning in the classroom. He highlighted the various challenges that educators will face and discussed the assessment methodology for this approach to learning.

For GSA, the seminar presented an opportunity to gain further exposure in the region. “From the company’s perspective, Oman is a gateway to the regional gulf countries. We hope to garner more evidence and support from local partners to expand the company’s footprint in the region,” said Mr Tan.

The other companies taking part at the seminar included Heulab Pte Ltd, IDA international Pte Ltd, Inspire-Tech Pte Ltd, LDR Pte Ltd and LittleLives Inc Pte Ltd, all of which have developed ICT products and services that have been successfully adopted by the education sector in Singapore and other international markets.

During the seminar, IDA also shared its ICT Education and Learning Plan, which was developed under Singapore’s Intelligent Nation 2015 Masterplan (iN2015). Mr Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of IDA, said he was pleased to have the opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas with ITA on the use of ICT to strengthen the education sector.

“Educational institutions all over the world are actively looking to leveraging ICT to better equip their students and teachers for a learner-centric environment,” he said. “In Singapore, we have the ‘EdVantage’ programme which was implemented to meet the diverse needs of learners through the innovative use of infocomm.”

EdVantage is IDA’s flagship programme for the education sector, and is aligned with the Ministry of Education’s Masterplan for adopting ICT to enhance education in Singapore. Its three core programmes are:

• FutureSchools@Singapore: Whole-school transformation of exemplary schools;
• Experimentation@Schools: Ground-up innovations from pilot schools;
• Infocomm@AllSchools: Mass deployment to schools.

The eEducation seminar also featured speakers from Oman’s Ministry of Education and various senior executives from ITA, who contributed to the panel and keynote sessions.

Dr Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqui, Chief Executive Officer of ITA, said Oman recognises the need to elevate the country through education and learning technology. In view of this, it has been working closely with Singapore to exchange experiences in the collaboration of ICT.

“This joint seminar is an example of how both countries can strengthen Oman’s adoption of ICT for the education sector through knowledge sharing. Singapore’s eEducation programmes can serve as a guide along with other worldwide experiences in inculcating practices and promotions of ICT innovation for schools, teachers and students in Oman,” he said.

In November 2011, ITA and IDA signed an extended Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on various aspects of ICT in government and various economic sectors such as education. Both parties will continue with the experience and knowledge sharing in this collaboration on ICT, and explore co-operation on projects which will be implemented by both the public and private sectors.