Enhancing paradigm shift in teaching through use of eduPAD: A case study

There is a growing concern that the present approach to education is unlikely to prepare the young for new circumstances and new problems that they may face in the future knowledge-driven economy. The young have to be schooled in the use of ICT and develop the habits of lifelong self-directed learning. The eduPAD Project under the IT Master Plan initiative is an attempt to make learning more student-centred in the Singapore school system. In this paper we explore the usage of the eduPAD by a particular teacher in the trial school by comparing a lesson in which the device was used with a lesson in which it was not used. Introduction Teaching is a culture, a set of learned beliefs and practices with which each one of us as teachers is comfortable. Wanting to change that, is not an easy task and there are no easy approaches. In fact this tenacity of the teaching culture into which we are imbued explains why attempts at education reform falters. So we can say that teachers have little choice but to teach the way they do, for they are constrained by what they have absorbed during the 17 years as students on the other side of the teacher's desk. This ethos of schooling is so powerful that breaking free of it would require great effort. The widely shared beliefs and expectation that underlie teaching are so fully integrated into teachers' views and belief systems that they fail to see them as changeable (Stigler & Hiebert, 1994; Anderson & Piazza, 1996; Olson, 1999). But change is necessary if we are to succeed in the new millenium. Salvin (1996:4) talking about American Education System points out that "Students achievement cannot change unless teachers used markedly more effective instructional methods". Many countries are taking a fundamental look at their education systems, assessing their strengths and weakness and putting in place reforms to better prepare their people for the future knowledge-driven economy. Though Singapore education system has been widely recognised for having produced high level of achievement among learners at all level, there is a growing concern that the present formula for success is unlikely to prepare the young for the new circumstances and new problems they will face in the future. Singapore's attempt is set out in the vision "THINKING SCHOOLS, LEARNING NATION" (Goh, 1997). In relation to this the Ministry of Education has come up with a number of initiatives that are being implemented in stages in the schools. The core initiatives are i) IT Master Plan, ii) Thinking schools with emphasis on critical thinking and creativity, collaborative learning, life-long learning and selfmotivated learning, and iii) National Education. Associated with these initiatives are content reductions in the curriculum, changes in the assessment and greater school autonomy. There is an attempt to reduce the curriculum content by 30 percent so that more time can be devoted to the development of creative and critical thinking skills and the use of IT in the teaching-learning process. For this vision to be successful there has to be some change in the teaching learning milieu.