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I.T. REPORTS

Year 2000


I.T. report for year 2000

The State of I.T. in Chanwa

 

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to briefly trace the development of Information Technology in Chan Wa over the past five years, and to give recommendations for the next few years. This report aims to be objective, and is not an attempt to seek glory, but to place our development in perspective and to honestly appraise ourselves to build a solid foundation for the future of I.T. in Chan Wa.

History of the development of I.T. in Chan Wa

In mid 1995, the state of I.T. in this school was backward compared with many other schools. The office computers were a handful of old computers used mainly for data entry. The only significant function of the computer club was to use computers as a printing service. There were no effective I.T. courses conducted for students or teachers.  The computer club were run by students, who prided in their knowledge above their teachers.

When I came to Chan Wa, I introduced software development to the school, where I implemented an examinations processing system which I developed out of my I.T. training in PROGRAMMING and NUMERICAL ANALYSIS USING COMPUTERS as part of my course work in my Bachelor of Science Degree. (I spent more time on computers in university, than in my other subjects!) Further details of these developments can be found in the section on I.T. Achievements in Chan Wa. We have made no attempt to place our systems for competition with other schools, as these systems involve computer science technology that is way above the understanding of most teachers and administrators in the education system in Malaysia.

At that time, Mr Tan Fu Tee was the driving force in the use of computers for data entry and office administration. He gladly accepted the introduction of the examinations processing system in this school.

In the meantime, Mr Lee Chek Tin had also introduced some of his programs on teaching of Science and a system on school discipline. He also introduced a system on preparing the school time table.

When our current principal, Pn Wong Sai Nooi, came to this School, she had introduced computer courses for students through an external private company, Dynabook Computers, from 1996 to 1997. At the same time, she had pushed the Parent-Teachers Association to purchase 2 computers in 1998 and 2 computers in 1999.

In 1998, the Parent-Teachers Association requested that our computer room should be connected to the INTERNET. They also requested we host an official Web Site on the INTERNET, which is a combined effort of past students, the current Computer Club commitee members, and the chief advisor of the Club.

In 1998, I had introduced networking in the computer room, and our INTRANET link. This was called the Chan Wa Cyber Corridor, and was officially launched by our Menteri Besar.

In 1999, our principal also purchased Two computers for the office, and authorised the opening of an INTERNET account for office use.

By year 2000, our Web Site may not have some of the superficially attractive features of the Web Sites of many leading schools in this country, but we have started introducing e-education. This technology uses Java Technology, which is the most up-to-date Web tool. However, this concept is in its early stages of development, and is still too far ahead of its time in Malaysia. Most students do not have INTERNET access at home, for the technology to be truly effective.

State of I.T. in the year 2000

It is to be noted that very few schools have their own software development within their own compounds. We are a rarity in this sense.

However, the computer literacy level among students is very low. Many students have their own computers, but they are mainly used for simple preparation of notes, letters, pirated graphics and largely used as game machines. Some students have Internet access, but they are used mainly for e-mail, surfing and ICQ or MIRC chat activity. There is no significant creative use of computers among the students. As with all young people, they brag about the very little knowledge they know.

Not many students are interested in taking computer courses at all levels in this school. There is only a handful of students who wish to attend basic computer training on a voluntary basis. Moreover, the situation in our school is that most students attend tuition classes on most days of the week. However, if we have an established computer training program for all the students, the situation may change.

The computer literacy among Teachers and administrators in the school, apart from the trained staff, is extremely low. The situation is so bad that they cannot recognize or distinguish the talents inherent within our own staff.

The knowledge level towards Scientific Discovery and Information Technology among staff (except the trained staff) and students is extremely low in this school.

 

Recommendations

The future of I.T. development in the school should involve all teachers and administrators who are trained, experienced and have managed I.T. with a proven record. I.T. management should be a group activity.

We cannot depend on past students for mass training of students because there is no proven record of any past students with this ability. The management of such an activity is massive, given the very little free time available. This is unlike many of the other school activities in the arts where there is a significant talent pool. We do not have such a talent pool in I.T. among our students. I.T. is a fast changing field; and it is difficult to attract past students who are currently undergoing training in other institutions of learning.

However, it is possible to involve some past students (if we can get them), or teachers, to do some training in small groups of students. To do this, we must start them young, at Form One level. Hopefully, these students will help train their juniors as the years go by. We must start at a good starting point. And we must give them a good start.

We currently need a few more computers, and an air-conditioning system. We must not purchase equipment beyond the ability of our human resources to manage. Purchasing must be managed.

When we have sufficiently equiped our computer room, we will embark on two possible scenarios:

1.

Development of our own C.I.E. software, involving standard multimedia authoring tools, as well as developing our own authoring tools. This provides a mandatory exposure to all students in Chan Wa.

2.

Provide compulsory I.T. Courses to all Form One Students, whether or not the students are charged. This is necessary as a means to build a strong I.T. base in our school, or we will lag behind in our community. These courses can be conducted with our own teachers, or in collaboration with reputable local I.T. institutions of learning.

In addition to building a strong I.T. base, we must make use of the latest technology in intra-communications between staff within our school compound. This will involve further development of our Intranet, the Chan Wa Cyber Corridor concept, making possible effective communications and exchange of ideas and messaging.

The computers in the computer room are also available for all heads of departments to use in their planning for professional work for the school at this point in time, when no computers are available for them to use. They should be encouraged to expand their I.T. skills using available resources in the computer room, especially departments with no computer resources at all. We do not have sufficient computers at this time to make the computer room available to all teachers at the same time.

With the computer literacy level being so low in this school, anyone with a little bit of knowledge about computers, especially marketting personnel from external private entities can carry us away. Anyone can propose a plan, but we must not forget that not every plan is feasible. Not every plan is sufficiently up to date. We have come across tens of proposals which are either too expensive, or obsolete, or does not take into consideration the situation in our school. Every plan should be discussed in a committee comprising of trained and experienced I.T. staff. The choice lies with the authorities in this school: to place the future of our I.T. development in some fanciful transient phenomena, leaving behind a trail of half-baked ideas, or to build upon what has been developed by loyal and dedicated staff who have contributed selflessly to the betterment of our school and our community. We must think of how we can contribute to our society above self-glory.

Many have asked. Why are there not more activities in the Computer Club? Actually the answer lies in which group of students you are in. If you are in Form 4 and 5, we have a lot of activities every week, including computer training and courses you can attend. We believe in Guided Activities.

In the past, before 1995, activities were mainly organised by students. There were no organised computer training for teachers and students. The main actitivies were playing games and printing services. The result of these unguided activities is that ALL computers bought before 1995 are no  longer truly functional by the end of 1995.

We do not have many computers. And the few computers we have are mainly used for training and development, as well as provide the students and teachers an environment to get a feel of what is real computing and computer usage in the real world when the students USE computers (not PLAY computers) in the Corporate world when they leave school for employment or higher education.

Parents must understand that we do not have sufficient computers for the lower forms at this point in time for the sake of just "activities". We cannot at this point in time 'sacrifice' the precious few computers we have for the lower forms to play games and to tear the computers apart. Neither do we have enough computer teachers to provided computer training for the lower forms. We do not wish to repeat the errors of high activity and damaged computers in the years prior to 1995. However, we have plans to purchase more computers, and introduce computer training and guided activities for the lower forms in the future.

On the other hand, if there are students in the lower or upper forms who already have a good background in some small area of computer knowledge, and wish to join our team to make our Club a better Club, they are welcome. We are very short of students and teachers who are really good in computers and can contribute to our club. We are especially short of students who can contribute the time needed to do a better Web Site for our school. We have the technology and the know how, but we need lots of students to do the job.

In the meantime we are organising an IT 2000 Course to students of Chan Wa.

Prepared by

Yip Chi Kiong

Advisor to Computer Club

Let's play TeeTaaTea

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Mailto : smjkchanwa@po.jaring.my

Created By SMJK Chan Wa

Computer Club Students & Internet Team

Officially Launched on April 1999

07/21/01