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SINGAPORE : Tech-savvy teachers are the way to go for the new generation of schools. And there is now a centre for educators from Asia to hone their skills and develop their innovative ideas.
Based in Singapore, the School Technology Innovation Centre (STIC) is a first such institution in the region.
For example, teachers from Australia and Canada learn how to use a touch screen computer to make dense formulas look interesting and easy to digest, as they find out how a physics lesson of the future might look like. And this is just one of the visions that the new centre hopes to realise across the Asia Pacific region.
Christopher Quek, programme director, Media Development Authority, said: "A lot more new ideas are coming up, so part of this STIC is to put our brains on it and to think of the best uses we can to integrate some of these new technologies and sources available in the world today."
To get this going, the Media Development Authority, National Institute of Education and Microsoft have come together and signed a S$1.35 million investment deal.
They hope to have some 6,000 Singapore teachers sharing and devising new teaching methods over the next three years.
Professor Lee Sing Kong, director, National Institute of Education, said: "Because of the key role that they play in the education of our students, they need to be equipped with the latest skills, with the latest knowledge, in order to bring this latest way of teaching into the classroom."
Educators are also sharing resources online.
In the past month, there has been a 60 per cent jump in communication between teachers on Microsoft's social networking website from Asia.
James Bernard, worldwide director, Partners in Learning, Microsoft, said: "We are seeing amazing stories of teachers from Bangladesh, Singapore and Australia being able to connect with one another around communities that practise.
"So you might have a science teacher or history teacher who wants to learn from other teachers, not just about how to use ICT in the classroom, but how to teach in the classroom - how to teach 21st century skills.
"So the network is really about professional development for teachers and giving them the chance to be able to learn from one another in a social networking context."
So whether it is through Facebook or a simulation game, tech-savvy teachers are showing they are game for anything that will blaze a new trail to the classroom of the future. - CNA/ms
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