Archive Consultation Papers and Consultancy Reports Information Technology for Learning in a New Era Five-Year Strategy 1998/99 to 2002/03

Chapter 1 Our Vision 1.1The exponential growth in the use of communication and information technology (IT) in the past decade or so has had a tremendous impact on the society and our daily lives. IT is transforming on a global scale the way that business is conducted in both the public and private sectors. It is also quickly transforming the way in which education is delivered in schools by breaking down the traditional boundaries of teaching and learning. 1.2There is strong consensus that our school education should be alive to the various opportunities and changing needs of the information age. We should help our students to develop an understanding of the pervasive impact of IT on the society and their daily lives, higher order thinking skills, as well as abilities to seek, evaluate, organise and present information. They also need to develop habits of life-long learning so as to ride on the tides of rapid changes. To respond to these new requirements, our school education needs to see a paradigm shift - from a largely textbook-based teacher-centred approach to a more interactive and learner-centred approach. 1.3To effect the paradigm shift, there have to be changes to the mind set and culture among teachers, parents and students; the way in which the curriculum is designed and delivered; student assessment etc. Recent education initiatives such as the medium of instruction policy; reviews of the aims of school education, education structure, and examination system; and measures to improve language proficiency among our students all stem from the need to equip our students with the skills and attitudes to meet the challenges of tomorrow's world. IT in education is part and parcel of this overall plan. As a powerful educational tool, IT can play a catalyst role in the transformation of school education in such direction. Vision 1.4Our vision in promoting IT in education is, through harnessing the powers of IT:- to turn our schools into dynamic and innovative learning institutions where students can become more motivated, inquisitive and creative learners. IT has the potential to liven up classroom life by making teaching and learning more dynamic, interactive and innovative, as well as to facilitate more effective teaching and learning and development of a creative mind; to link up our students with the vast network world of knowledge and information to enable them to acquire a broad knowledge base and a global outlook. This is particularly essential if Hong Kong is to maintain its international competitiveness into the next century. IT can provide our students with a vast world of learning resources and perspectives to them. Such exposure will also provide the stimulus for the development of a creative mind; to develop in our students capabilities to process information effectively and efficiently. In the face of ever increasing information accessible through IT, our students should be guided to critically and intelligently seek, absorb, analyse, manage and present information; and to develop in our students the attitude and capability for independent life-long learning. IT will motivate and empower our students to learn at their own pace and help them develop habits of self-learning, which will benefit them for life. What do we mean by IT in education in practice? 1.5From the response we have received on the consultation document, it appears that there are different interpretations of "IT in education" at the school level. A respondent has rightly pointed out that "IT in education" should be distinguished from, and is more than, "education in IT". There is also demand for more elaboration on what exactly the proposed "paradigm shift" implies and how it can be effected on the ground. We have set out in Annex A some examples that may serve to illustrate what we perceive to be the implications of IT for classroom teaching, teachers and students. Five-year strategy 1.6In order to proceed towards our vision as outlined in para. 1.4 above and to bring about the scenarios presented in Annex A, we face the following missions - to provide adequate IT facilities, including network facilities, for our students and teachers to enable them to access information; to encourage key players in the school system to take up the challenges of their respective new roles. This is particularly important with regard to teachers; to integrate IT into school education meaningfully through necessary curriculum and resource support; and to foster the emergence of a community-wide environment conducive to the culture change. 1.7Following from the four missions above, the key components of this strategy are - Access and Connectivity Teacher Enablement Curriculum and Resource Support Community-wide Culture We will proceed in the following chapters to explain each of the above components, but it should be emphasised from the outset that the courses of action in respect of the key components are not meant to be interpreted without flexibility. Our guiding philosophy is that it is incumbent on Government to assume the leadership and co-ordination role, and to provide a threshold level of hardware for schools, training for teachers and any necessary infrastructure support, whilst providing avenues for those schools which are more advanced in terms of IT-readiness, teacher capability and physical conditions to acquire more resources and support to progress at a faster pace. In the true spirit of school-based management, we will encourage schools to devise their own IT plans and to set the pace for acquiring IT facilities and teacher training which best suit their individual needs.