The“i Learn at home”Internet Learning Support
Programme is sponsored by the Office of the Government Chief Information
Officer (OGCIO). WebOrganic implements the programme in 10 districts in the
western region of Hong Kong. With 13 Community Support Centres (CSC),
WebOrganic offers the following 6 types of services: 1. affordable Internet
access service and computer equipments; 2. flexible payment options; 3.
technical support through hotline and help-desk; 4. training for students; 5.
training for parents; and 6. group & individual counseling service.
The goal of WebOrganic is to provide the means to the needy students for
learning over the Internet. Hardware and
software support will make eLearning possible, and Web learning opens up new
opportunities. We firmly believe that information technology is one of the most
important tools in building a good foundation for the young through education,
and that it elevates the learning interest and develop the latent potentials of
the students. Our programme aims to
generate chances and hope with a special focus on the underprivileged.
The sprouting bean, our icon, represents Hope, Chance and Choice. It is a WebOrganic virtuous circle that
denotes growth and innovation for the younger generation through eLearning and
peripheral support.
The program launch in September 2011, as of February 2014. Within 2 years of
operation, there are over 40,000 families enrolled in the program, and WebOrganic
serviced more than 13,000 families.
1. Microsoft KODU
KODU是一個三維的遊戲平台，有很多人編寫了大量的遊戲免費給別人玩，如賽車，冒險，RPG遊戲，射擊，對打等。KODU本身是一個非常簡單容易使用的遊戲編寫程式，可以輕易創作可愛好玩的三維遊戲，或改良別人的遊戲。這個Microsoft推出的遊戲編寫程式，除了可以在Windows的平台上運作外，他產出的遊戲更可以在Xbox上跑。
教育局也有開班教老師怎樣用Kodu作教學。USA Today說Kodu是"New programme allows everyone to design video games".
A "school bag" is very different from a general purpose bag. The former is a dedicated container for learning, especially when a student has a lot of physical items (e.g. textbooks, exercise books, handbook, pencil box, drawing tools, water bottle, lunch box, and many others) in order to support his whole-day learning at school.
Digital school bag has the same idea. All you need for learning (except water and lunch box) could be digitized and contained in a light-weight mobile digital device, with a A4 size screen. iPads or other tablets immediately appear as the de facto devices for such concept.
In Hong Kong, not many schools converted themselves into such learning environment. Fortunately, we worked with 2 primary schools which embrace such e-Bag concept and turned it into reality some years before. These two schools are:
The Hong Kong Institute of Education Jockey Club Primary School (JCPS)
C&MA Chui Chak Lam Memorial School (CCL)
Why e-School Bag
Real-time and 7x24 Multiple Feedback Loop - Learn from Others and Not Only from Teachers
Self-directed Learning - Fit One's Own Need and Pace
Seamless Learning - Learning Everywhere
Early Adaptation to New Form of Economy - More Chance of Career Success
1. Eligibility
Students joining this e-Bag need to meet certain pre-requisites:
Good academic results -Students need to get an average score of B for all subjects.
Self-discipline - Students need to follow instruction of teachers and behave themselves.
Financially ready - Parents need to buy a school specified computer and bear the extra cost incurred.
e-Bag starts from primary 4. Once a student is accepted to e-Bag class in primary 4, he will be in e-Bag class for primary 5 and 6 as well. 2. Subject Coverage
The e-Bag programme is implemented as class-based. In the e-Bag classes, all major subjects will use digital way of teaching. The subjects include:
Chinese
English
Math
General Studies
Visual Art
Music
Therefore, over 80% of class time will leverage e-School Bag for learning activities. This is very different from the on-demand approach of e-Learning in most schools, which only have digital devices to support few learning activities, accounting for less than 10% class time.
3. Teaching Content
Since both schools are public sector schools, they are following the local curriculum required by the Education Bureau. Most teaching contents are from major publishers ( http://www.publishersglobal.com/directory/hong-kong/subject/education-publishers/ )
Like other schools, teachers will create their own teaching materials according to their students' interests and capabilities. However, unlike other schools without e-Bag, teachers in such 2 schools could create new learning activities and dispatch information more efficiently, thanks to the digital devices for each student.
4. Any Printed Textbook?
With publishers' consent, textbooks are scanned and the digital copies are kept in students' dedicated learning device. With Dyknow (http://www.dyknow.com) as the classroom and learning support system, in theory, there is no need for printed textbook. However, parents are not as high-tech as their children and they explicitly request for printed textbooks. So that parents can easily do revision with their children, and, hence, less stress for them. Textbooks in such schools are not for students but for parents.
5. Parent Talks
More parent-school communication is needed since the e-Bag programme is a collaborative project by nature. Parents, students, and teachers need to tune in before they can dance together. There are 3 key parent events through out an academic year.
e-Bag Launch - In September, when students are just back to school, the e-Bag class will be trained to use their mobile learning device. This year, the two schools start using Lenovo Tablet2 for their primary 4 students. ( http://shopap.lenovo.com/hk/en/tablets/thinkpad/thinkpad-tablet-2/ ) This parent talk will brief them about the learning and teaching process at school using e-Bag, as well as advice for parents.
e-Bag Open Class - In January, when students are adapted to e-Bag mode of learning, their parents will have a chance to see how their children learn at school. It is also serving as a promotion activity for next year's e-Bag programme. Parents of primary 3 students are invited to "feel" how such e-Bag creates value for their children.
e-Bag Application Briefing - In June, it is almost the end of a school year. The school is going to recruit e-Bag students for next year. e-Bag a 3-year commitment starting from primary 4. Therefore, school will invite primary 3 students and their parents to "feel" and understand the programme details for next year.
6. Involvement of Parent-Teacher-Association (PTA)
PTA support is crucial to e-Bag's success. At the beginning, PTA shows strong commitment on e-Bag by carrying out fund-raising activity, so that school could upgrade infrastructure and acquire other resources to start e-Bag programme. On-going communication through PTA is important. PTA helps managing parents' perception and addressing feedback on e-Bag, which are the keys to a win-win situation among parents, students, and the school.
In addition, PTA offers additional financial support to underprivileged students if they are accepted to e-Bag class. This gives a fair learning opportunity to all students in the schools.
7. Hardware
Students' end devices are the key equipment for learning. This year, the two schools start using Lenovo Tablet2 for their primary 4 students. ( http://shopap.lenovo.com/hk/en/tablets/thinkpad/thinkpad-tablet-2/ ) With close relationship with Lenovo, we could offer the two schools a very competitive price.
The two schools got a special requirement on maintenance which is a strong differentiator for us, namely Accident Damage Protection (ADP). (http://www.lenovo.com/services_warranty/US/en/accidental-damage-protection.html ) Within a year, there is a quota for unintentional damage not covered by basic warranty. Unintentional damage means liquid spills, unintentional drops and bumps.
A server was installed and configured in order to support a new classroom management system called Dyknow. (http://www.dyknow.com)
8. Software
A new classroom management system was required. Dyknow Vision was used to support classroom interaction. (http://www.dyknow.com) Dyknow supports multiple platforms like Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.
This tool could keep students engaged in learning activities and track their performance. This is a strong differentiator for the 2 schools in e-Learning and e-Teaching. This is the essential tool to integrate technology to teaching process. Without this tool being consistently used, it is hard to deliver extra benefits against traditional teaching approach.
9. School Infrastructure Upgrade
Network upgrade was performed before the e-Bag launch. This included the enhancement of network backbone, upgrade of network switch, installation of Wifi Access Point, etc. For the classrooms of e-Bag classes, renovation work was performed in order to install additional power plugs.
10. School Administration
This programme requires tweaking of school's class allocation system. Traditionally, students are allocated to different classes according to their academic performance. However, in e-Bag programme, students can apply for entering the e-Bag class. The traditional allocation system needs to give priority to e-Bag.
11. Students Not in e-School Bag Programme
A typical e-Learning approach is adopted for non-e-Bag classes. Based on the learning and teaching activities in a subject, teachers may request student to bring a digital device (not limited to specific device) for a lesson or two.
12. Special Arrangement for Deprived Students
Underprivileged students are not deprived of the chance to enter e-Bag programme. Hong Kong Government offers help through the Internet Learning Support Programme ( http://www.gov.hk/tc/theme/ilearnathome/news/ ) and other financial aid through Student Financial Assistance (SFA) and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA).
WebOrganic is offering additional financial assistance through WebOrganic Fund ( http://www.weborganic.hk/Pages/ch_wo_fund.aspx ). Successful applicants may receive computers and free Internet service for free.
Reference
The Hong Kong Institute of Education Jockey Club Primary School (JCPS)
After graduation from university, I started my career as a consultant in IBM Hong Kong. With deep understanding on the value of consulting and e-Learning marketing landscape, I decided to engage schools to start their e-Learning journey. I truly believe e-Learning could help deprived students to get through cross-generation poverty. We started with pilot project model with 3 public sector primary schools. We did the 3 iPad eLearning Pilot Projects between Feb and June 2013. Top-down engagement approach was used and we secured principals' buy-in before we signed an agreement with them. The engagement cycle varied from 2 months to 4 months in order to get a signed agreement.
In the project, we usually assume the roles as:
Teaching Consultant
Conduct teacher training for using iPad as mobile learning device. Usually we cover 10 common iPad apps to start with.
Co-plan lessons with teachers to integrate iPad with T&L activities. This will be down to a learning module in a subject of a class level (e.g. primary 4 Mathematics - module on learning "Area").
Conduct rehearsal with teachers to boost their confidence.
Technical Advisor
Setup e-Learning environment, e.g. Wifi Access Point, Wifi screen projection, tablet application, user account, cloud storage, etc.
Setup of Learning Management System (LMS) like Edmodo and Dyknow.
Resolve technical problem arisen.
Provide advice to school on infrastructure upgrade. Develop infrastructure upgrade plan with school.
Strategy Consultant
Define and implement communication plan with parents and key stakeholders.
Identify learning trends and opportunities for school. Shape e-Learning roadmap with school and its key stakeholders.
Provide advice to school board and e-Learning task-force.
Project Manager
Manage project scope, schedule, and resources. Report progress to stakeholders and resolve issues during project execution.
Apart from digitizing traditional teacher-to-student (T2S) and student-to-teacher (S2T) communication, learning management system enables real-time student-to-student (S2S) communication using multi-media and other creative ways. After lesson, all feedback loops can continue in both synchronous and asynchronous ways.
Learning from peer is something effective but teachers are hard to drive in the past. Today, social network among students get much stronger and make each student a "peer teacher". In the future, our children will become our "teachers" if not "professors".
In a learning management system (LMS), students and teachers can comment each other's work. Comment could be as simple as giving Facebook "Like".
2. Self-directed Learning
The traditional approach of teaching is through curriculum setting. This is for mass scale production. More personalized education will become more popular. By catering learning differences in terms of capabilities and objectives, students can direct their own effort effectively to different activities in the learning process. Tracking system and assessment system (so-called "Learning Analytics") will guide them through the process and allow students to move more effectively towards their learning goals. Longitudinal assessment will become feasible for each person through-out their lives.
In a learning management system (LMS), students and teachers can have cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis on students' performance. This enable teachers to adjust their teaching strategy and perform remedial actions for students lacking behind.
3. Seamless Learning
In every minute of students' lives when they are awake, learning could happen. Apart from formal lessons, students can watch a Shakespeare's play (e.g. Romeo and Juliet) and immediately want to wiki Shakespeare's other plays. By creating a survey, students can collect opinion on Shakespeare from their friends world-wide through social media network (e.g. facebook and twitter) or conduct face-to-face interviews outside an opera house. Students can let their curiosities flow through their learning process and guide them to explore a new knowledge domain.
4. Early Adaptation to New Economy
The Internet world has abundant resources which not only give us knowledge but improvements on our quality of life. Creativity unleashes from billion of users through trillion of hours we spent here. More and more value creation happens on the Internet and it becomes a new form of economy without country barrier. Teachers could give an edge to students by integrating classroom learning effectively with the new world around their students. The earlier students get in touch with the emerging new world, the stronger they can be in the future. (Ref: The Internet and the New Economy, Alan S. Blinder, January 2000, http://brie.berkeley.edu/sc/cp221/blinder%20on%20productivity.pdf )
Chiu Sheung School (CSS) is an
aided primary school located in Pok Fu Lam. CSS has 12 classes in 6 class
levels, with a total of 300 students. It is a Non-native student designated
school since 2007, with a majority of non-Chinese speaking (NCS) students. Home
countries of the students and their parents include India, Pakistan,
Philippines, Nepal, etc.
Quick Start from Ground Zero and End
with Great Achievements within 2 Months
To have a quick start, CSS
engaged WebOrganic for a 8-week pilot project. After the project, teachers
become confident in new ways of teaching. TA / TSS are trained to support
mobile learning devices and Social Network communication. School identifies the
detail requirements for infrastructure upgrade. School’s e-Learning roadmap is
drafted. The key outputs are:
1.With 30 iPad
and 1 Cisco AP, a stable e-Learning environment was created at CSS for 4 weeks.
2.30 Maths and
English lessons were conducted using iPad, within a 4-week try-out period.
Involved 3 teachers and 2 class levels.
3.Seamlessly
integrate lesson plans with 10 iPad apps through 4 co-plan and training
sessions.
4.Received 160+
YouTube pageviews and 140+ Facebook “Like” from students, parents, teachers,
alumni, and general public. (as of 7th May 2012)
5.School board approved funding proposal for e-Learning infrastructure upgrade and acquisition of e-Learning devices. A 3-year e-Learning roadmap is created.
Reference
For more information, please visit CSS’s
website, Facebook, and YouTube sites as below:
Background My consulting team did an eLearning Pilot Project with Chiu Sheung School (CSS) in March 2013. (Reference: e-Learning Consulting - Reference Case of Chiu Sheung School - Fast-Tracking e-Learning Enablement Project ). It was a quite successful one. We even received a compliment letter from her Principal, Mr. Chim Hon Ming. We were invited to set up a booth to introduce our organization, WebOrganic, during the school's parent day on 12 July 2013. Booth and School Hall Screen Apart from setting up a booth at the school entrance, the school hall main projector screen was used to display our organization's introduction, our project videos, as well as some videos on the positive use of the Internet. We did receive greatest exposure to parents on such day. I deeply thanks CSS for their kindness and respect to our work.
Delighting Parents Knowing that parents may need to wait before meeting class teachers, we prepared a leaflet of QR code for killing time. There were 20 QR codes, arranged as 4 channels with different themes. At the back of the leaflet, it was the brief introduction of WebOrganic. The first channel was about the videos of our iPad e-Learning Pilot Project at CSS. The second channel is to get benefits from the Internet (e.g. using Taobao to save money) and avoid troubles (e.g. setting up agreement with children on Internet usage). Channel 3 is about eLearning projects we did for other schools. The last channel is in Cantonese which is about the positive use of the Internet (e.g. avoid Internet addition).
The feedback of the leaflet was quite good. All the printed copies were distributed out at around 10am. Since we just set up the playlist for videos created by other users, we cannot track how many parents watched such videos through our QR leaflet. Hope this will improve in the future. Display Board There was one display board about eLearning. It was great that CSS formed a eLearning taskforce to promote eLearning, and she obtained resources to upgrade her wireless infrastructure as well as acquiring 30 iPad to start their eLearning journey. I believe we played an important part to accelerate the whole process.
Special Remarks Thanks for the Open Lesson at HKIEd Jockey Club Primary School (Ref: e-Learning Consulting - Open Lesson at Jockey Club Primary School ) early this year, which kicked start our conversation with CSS. Special thanks to Mr. Brian Tsang to make my wish came true. I wished to play basketball at school playground because I always saw students playing happily during their P.E. lessons. Finally I played basketball with Nic, Samson, and 7 non-Chinese-speaking (NCS) students from CSS. We also played volleyball and skateboard. Our sweat marked a beautiful full stop to the engagement with CSS this academic year.
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