名校要2800师生用iPad 家长掀骂战
名校推行iPad教学，引起家长疑虑。（图／新报）
名校要2800名师生用iPad2上课，要开讲解会说明却有家长掀骂战，火药味十足。
立化中学计划在3月中，分阶段实行这项教学法，要求全校师生每人手持一台苹果iPad2平板电脑。
校方上月初开始为家长举办讲解会，就需支付700元购买电脑，和担心学生浏览不当网页等课题进行解释。
岂料，就在第二场对话上引来家长炮轰，质问校长有关新计划的执行详情。
完整报道，请翻阅01.02.2012《联合晚报》。
RGS更过分，要求今年中一学生买macbook，价格在1500新元左右，抵上两个ipad了。
苹果的ipad和macbook，因为屏幕ppi有限，加上苹果坑爹的字体渲染技术，汉字显示效果相当的差，小字模糊不清，眼睛非常容易疲劳。用这样的IT产品，如果能帮助学生学习华文，那才怪了。
不知道是谁想出来的馊主意，，，如果学校或者政府给一定的补贴，我看还可以考虑。。
可以把那篇文章贴出来吗？
联想到新加坡刚有二位局长因为与IT公司的交易被抓， 我看不久就会有二位学校的什么长被抓， 遗憾的是新加坡的反腐体制失灵，几乎都要靠举报才能抓出这么一二位。
有些面子工程和强买强卖的感觉。学校决定，家长掏钱，反对无效，郁闷纠结。
这种大宗的采购可有相应的财务监督？
且看这漂亮的玩意儿能否带来漂亮的成绩。。。
有些学校的校风真的该要批判批判了。。。
前阵子也想去教育部投诉，孩子的学校，什么都得用学校的。。。文件夹一定要有学校校名，校徽。。。连美术课用品都要用学校卖的，据孩子说，老师很明确表示，不用学校的会扣分。。。家政课围裙也是，外面卖的花花绿绿漂漂亮亮的不能用，一件很简单又难看的素色围裙要价7块半。。。没关系，这个无所谓。。。反正有些东西家里也没有，那就买。。。
为了新学期，已经买了好多新袜子 。。。他说不能用。。。必须买学校的，上面必须有校徽，不然会被记录，会约谈。。。这次我告诉他。。我就是不买，约谈，行。。我们就约到教育部谈谈吧。。。
对于这些这样的学校。。。熟可忍孰不可忍。。。还不用说这是新加坡的义务教育。。。还几百块、几千块钱的东西。。。家长应该要强烈反对。。。
最讨厌这种特依赖网络的教育方式，高消费低效率。一张纸的事，上网就要忙活半天，最后还可能要打印下来。
我刚刚整理了一下网站，去年各科一起搞了10多个。一个老师还开几个，搞得学生到处乱撞。第一个学期下来还没搞清楚，好几个网站都进不去，作业也没写滴。
个人觉得，电脑教学肯定是趋势
比如生物课时，讲解一个细胞的内部三维结构，直接呈现电子显微镜下的画面
比如人体结构，可以真实的立体内部呈现
比如数学课堂上，学生立刻传送运算步骤和结果给老师
比如讨论时，每个学生可以传送自己的见解，老师可以了解那些不爱发言的学生的想法
引入高科技工具改革教学方式和师生互动方式，肯定是教育改革的重大一步
新加坡想走在前面，是无可厚非的
但是，在没有充分向家长演示、说明的情况下
在教学软件并不成熟，而且系统并不完善的条件下
以冒进的方式强推，自然得不到家长的理解，受到家长的质疑。
我觉得，有2点需要改进
1）MOE可以通过电视短片的直观呈现，
让家长了解高科技产品带来怎样的教学方式上的革命
了解这将给孩子的学校学习生活带来怎样的积极的影响
2）更重要的，是尽快完善软件的开发，和系统的管理
不要出现CD88所言的电子作业的混乱局面
教学内容的设计编程技术要走在前面
不要用电脑看的是书本的复印件
反对用电脑教学！
我们天天背着电脑上下学，真辛苦。
作业、笔记几乎都用电脑进行。
我担心孩子的眼睛，每天疲劳轰炸，近视会更厉害。
我担心孩子的坐姿，现在很多孩子的脊柱很多都出现问题。
我担心孩子有颈椎问题和老鼠手。
网上写作非常分心，效率低下，随时有朋友、同学在线聊天。
网上的诱惑更不用多说了。
弊大于利太多了。
可是怎么办呢？总不能退学吧。
另一篇：
Parents question use of iPad
Bryna Sim | The New Paper | Fri Feb 3 2012
The shouting match over iPad 2s did not take place in a dodgy electronics shop between a sleazy salesman and a tourist.
Instead, it took place in one of Singapore’s top secondary schools between parents and school authorities.
River Valley High School (RVHS) plans to get all its 2,800 students and teachers to use Apple’s handheld tablet computer for lessons.
And the furious exchange took place during a briefing session, when some parents questioned the decision.
Their concerns also included the device’s cost – about $700 – and access to unsuitable material on the Internet.
The school’s principal, Mr Koh Yong Chiah, told The New Paper they had been planning for more than a year to implement the programme.
He said the main purpose is to use infocomm technology to enhance learning.
The first briefing session was held for parents of Secondary 1 children during the first week of January.
Parents The New Paper spoke to said that session did not have any incidents.
But housewife B. Tan, 42, said she left the session with a nagging concern: “The school did not show us how exactly our children would be learning through the iPad.”
It was during the second briefing session on Jan 13 for parents of Sec 2 students that the disruptions happened.
Students had been allowed to attend both sessions.
A Sec 2 student, who witnessed what happened but declined to be named, said: “There was a parent who kept shouting and interrupting even when the principal was trying to explain things to him.
“There was another parent who did not back down in spite of having her questions answered.”
The student added that the situation grew so tense that the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) head allegedly said: “If you don’t trust that the school is trying to help your children in their learning, then don’t participate in the programme or take them out of the school.”
When asked about the matter, Mr Koh said the male parent “wasn’t asking questions”, but was opposing what he was saying.
As for the PTA head, who is a parent volunteer with the school, Mr Koh said she had made the remarks as she was “upset and disturbed”.
He also told TNP that the school recognises the parents’ concerns are “valid” and is aware of the online comments.
“The parents’ concerns are also ours,” he said.
RVHS is not the only school here using educational technology in a big way.
Mr Koh intends to roll out the school’s plan in phases from mid-March this year, and he hopes that by the end of this year, the iPad2 will be used in 30 per cent of their lessons.
He intends to increase this percentage to 50 per cent by the end of next year.
Because of these figures, some parents told TNP they felt “pressurised” to buy an iPad2 for their children.
Said businessman M Lim, 44, whose daughter is in Sec 1: “If I don’t buy it, I fear that she will lose out in lessons.
“But I’m also uncomfortable with the pressure of the deadline of submission to purchase the iPad2.
Although the deadline is Feb 1, they were told to submit the form two weeks before that.”
Parents were told that if they were to buy the iPad2 from the school’s supplier, it would be “$200” cheaper than if they purchased it on their own.
But Mr Koh said it is “not compulsory” for students to buy the iPad2.
Students who cannot afford one will either receive school subsidies or be loaned a set for free. Other parents questioned if there was a need for the device.
The father of a Sec 3 student, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lee, 45, said: “A lot of things are good to have, but how much more will they be learning via the iPad in comparison to textbooks?”
Online forum
Added a parent on an online forum: “The school is already doing so well without iPads. There is really no need to introduce it.”
When The New Paper looked at the forum yesterday, there were at least 50 comments by concerned parents on the issue.
Mr Koh said one of the uses of the iPad 2 in lessons would be to simplify complex concepts. And what about security of the iPads?
Mr Koh said each student will have lockers to store the iPads and that more CCTVs would be installed in the school.
Another fear the parents have is that their children will get addicted to games and other sites on their iPads.
Mr Lim said he was told at the briefing that in school, cyber wellness was the teachers’ responsibility.
But at home, it would be the parents’.
He asked: “Why is the school giving me additional things to do?”
Mr Koh said the school has stepped up its cyber wellness education efforts to guide students on the use of iPads.
A Sec 2 RVHS male student, who declined to be named, said: “I really don’t know if I’d prefer learning from an iPad to learning from a teacher.”
One Sec 3 student added: “Textbooks may be heavier, but I’m used to them and I prefer learning from them. Learning from an iPad would be a sudden change for me.”
Eight schools on board Future Schools project
All the 1,280 secondary students at Crescent Girls’ School (CGS) have a tablet PC and an account on the school’s e-learning portal.
When logged in, students can access 97 modules of online lessons. These lessons can be accessed from home before they attend class, making it easy for students to study and revise at home.
Using their tablet PCs, the students can also blog, upload videos and chat using instant messaging with their teachers and classmates.
CGS’s principal, Mrs Tan Chen Kee, told The New Paper yesterday that it is “not compulsory” for the students to purchase a personal learning device.
“We facilitate the purchase of a personal learning device at attractive prices, but the decision is left to the parents,” she said.
Still, the take-up rate for the device’s purchase stands at “almost 100 per cent”.
“This is confirmation of the parents’ support for our approach in the use of technology to support teaching and learning,” she said.
In November 2010, The Straits Times reported that Nan Chiau Primary School bought about 300 mobile phones for all Primary 3 pupils and two Pri 4 classes.
Science lessons
Using their handsets’ styluses, the pupils use the software uploaded on their mobile phones to read up on the concepts for their science lessons, then go on to do exercises.
Both CGS and Nan Chiau Primary are part of the Future Schools project, which is funded by the Ministry of Education, the National Research Foundation, Infocomm Development Authority and industry partners.
The project now has eight schools on board, and these schools act as test beds for classroom technology.
Such schools try out educational technology, determine what works and share their know-how with other schools.
River Valley High School is not one of these schools, although it has been reported that the ministry plans to select up to seven more Future Schools by 2015.
Apart from CGS and Nan Chiau Primary, the other six Future Schools are: Hwa Chong Institution, Canberra Primary, Ngee Ann Secondary, Jurong Secondary, Beacon Primary and the School of Science and Technology.
Innovation, but at what cost?
How much technology is enough?
Schools these days seem eager to jump onto the high-tech bandwagon, testing programmes, doing tie-ups with organisations, all in the name of “enhancing students’ learning with technology”.
But in the process of striving to attain thisgoal, is there sometimes more loss than gain?
I’m not saying technology shouldn’t be embraced. In fact, I’m envious of secondary school students today when I see them, for example, using iPad 2s to compose tunes during their music lessons in school.
In my time – which wasn’t that long ago – music lessons consisted of just learning how to play a recorder.
I’m also heartened when students today say their interest in learning a particular language, like Mandarin, is finally piqued with the help of mobile learning devices.
But my concern is when technology, rather than teaching or education, becomes schools’ primary focus and the pursuit of technological advancement involves more than a select group of teachers and students.
The Ministry of Education has been emphasising the importance of character education.
But my view is that when teachers are tasked to support their schools in the latest high-tech initiatives, the human touch is compromised all the more because the teachers just don’t have time.
All too often, my teacher friends lament to me that they do too little of what they first set out to do – teach and shape their students’ lives.
I’m also concerned that as a student’s need to learn via a mobile learning device increases because of the school’s requirements, it doesn’t just encourage self-directed learning.
Self-sufficiency in that way is a good thing.
But my fear is that it will also breed greater selfishness and further alienate teachers from their students.
The days where students study together could soon be gone. From flipping through heavy textbooks scarred with pen marks of varied colours together, sharing notes and thoughts, students could instead be studying on iPads at home, alone.
Perhaps they would be saying goodbye too, to extra remedial lessons with their teachers since the mobile learning devices will have all the answers.
This is a scene in the future of our educational landscape I shudder to see but fear will manifest.
Can we master technology and control its influence, instead of letting it master our decisions?
This article was first published in The New Paper.
政府已经推出了Furture School的介绍短片：
目前政府支持的Future Schools试点学校有以下几所：
Beacon Primary School
Project name: BEACON WORLD
Key Focus – Creating Diverse Digital Learning Spaces
Beacon Primary leverages technologies to bring about engaged learning and to create a stimulating learning experience for pupils. Pupils will extend their learning beyond knowledge, skills and values to grow the ability to envision for the future and contribute to make a difference. Highlights include the diverse digital learning spaces and innovative key programmes.ST Electronics (Training & Simulation Systems) Consortium
ST Electronics (Training & Simulation Systems) Pte Ltd (Lead)Addest Technovation Pte LtdFiF Technologies LLPMicrosoft Singapore Pte LtdSky Media Pte LtdTemasek PolytechnicVantage Portal Systems Pte Ltd
Download the project brochure in PDF.
Canberra Primary School
Project name: CANBERRA LIVE!
Key Focus -BeyondUsing Play as Pedagogy
Canberra Primary School’s proposed six-year Canberra Experience comprises three key programmes – Discoverer, Global Learner and Attuned Learner. Each key programme will be designed to deliver the national curriculum and 21st century skills through collaborative knowledge building-based pedagogies and assessment.Singtel Consortium
Singtel Ltd (Lead)ACP Computer Training & Consultancy Pte LtdHeuLab Pte LtdMCOnline Pte LtdMicrosoft Singapore Pte LtdNCS Pte LtdPlayware Studios Pte Ltd
Download the project brochure in PDF.
Crescent Girls’ School
Project name: : i-CONNECT@CRESCENT
Key Focus – Empowering Learners through Student-Centric Learning
While the national ‘O’ Level curriculum forms the core content, the distinctive features in the curriculum of FS@CGS are the integration of the subject disciplines, use of learner-centric teaching approaches, deployment of multiple assessment modes, and the infusion of of 21st century skills to produce ‘world-ready’ youths.Hewlett Packard Consortium
Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales)Amdon Consulting Pte LtdASKnLearn Pte LtdHeuLab Pte LtdiCELL Network Pte LtdInchone Pte LtdMicrosoft Singapore Pte LtdPearson Education South AsiaZepth Pte Ltd
Download the project brochure in PDF.
Jurong Secondary School
Project name: : REDEFINING LEARNING THE COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD IS OUR CLASSROOM
Key Focus – Enhancing Education through Problem-Based Learning
Jurong Secondary School (JSS) aims to leverage the powers of technologies, to engage the community actively to provide our students with authentic learning experiences. Our vision as a FutureSchool is that the world and the community is our classroom.CIVICA Consortium
Civica Pte Ltd (Lead)G Element Pte LtdHeuLab Pte LtdMCOnline Pte LtdMicrosoft Singapore Pte LtdPlayware Studios Pte Ltd
Download the project brochure in PDF.
Hwa Chong Institution
Project name: : HWA CHONG NEXUS
Key Focus – Enabling Self-Directed Learning in a Borderless World
The HCI programme aims to combine technology with new ways of learning to create educational value. This is achieved by creating opportunities beyond the school’s physical campus at Bukit Timah, so that learning transcends boundaries between subjects, classrooms, schools, countries and cultures.ST Electronics (Training & Simulation Systems) Consortium
ST Electronics (Training & Simulation Systems) Pte Ltd (Lead)Addest Technovation Pte LtdFiF Technologies LLPMicrosoft Singapore Pte LtdSky Media Pte LtdTemasek PolytechnicVantage Portal Systems Pte Ltd
Download the project brochure in PDF.
School of Science and Technology (SST)
Key Focus – Creating Pervasive Learning Environments
SST is aiming to leverage 1:1 networked computing and interactive digital media (IDM) tools to create pervasive learning environments that support 21st Century learning, as well as foster students’ competencies in critical thinking, collaboration and communication.The school is currently at the phase of securing its partner consortium and developing technological innovations.
中学IT部门的老师，其实对IT是一知半解，只知道跟着所谓潮流跑，不知道什么才是对学生最重要和最合适的。
RGS的macbook，苹果店里只卖1500新元，RGS却要卖1800到2000新元，虽然增加了几年保险，但是其实啥也保不到。这明摆着是坑爹的行为，专门坑那些望女成凤但是对电脑不甚了解的父母。
对IT产品比较了解的父母，可能在等下一代的ipad3或者新的macbook问世，来解决这个屏幕分辨率的问题。现在中学要求学生立即购买现有的东东，让他们进退两难。
对学生来说，ipad怎么说都是不合适的，打字速度太慢就一条就可以否决它了。macbook也是不合适的，价格太贵，散热差，屏幕分辨率一般，无法调整字体显示模式，所装的office软件存在诸多兼容性的问题等等。
我觉得对学生来说，待机时间长的上网本才是最合适的，表现在：文字处理性能凑合，Windows系统可以调整字体显示模式（开启或关闭渲染，点阵或者曲线字库选择等等），软件多而且容易找，比较轻便，价格便宜，加上游戏性能差（算是优点，对学生来说）。
想说两句：
1。电脑普及确是大势所趋，用ipac学习是否合适却是见仁见智，这有待时间考量，同时还要有学校，家长，学生三方密切配合。不知是幸或不幸，这批孩子又成了白老鼠，作了试验品。
2。如果电脑是学校买的，然后让学生在学校使用，反对的声浪想必要小不少。这样一来，学校的责任要大很多，效果可能也会好很多。家长不爽的是在情况不甚明了下有些被动的掏钱买不太放心的电脑，还要时时小心孩子在家乱用，耽误学业。
教育是一门科学。希望学校的决定没有错，也希望家长的钱没白花，更希望孩子能从中获益。争来争去，到底不都是为了孩子嘛。
孩子学校暂时没有，看来得未雨绸缪了。
科技本来是手段
但是非要把它变成目的
真的是很悲哀的~~~
如果每人补贴500元，就没这么大意见。
参观一下创新科技的展览室，看看他们为学生做的图文并茂的pad教育软件，感觉会不一样。
此言差已，立化的校长不是这种人。 他以前是玉郎处级学院的校长，也是这一代行动党的头头。 比较敢讲话。
立化最近几年有起色，会考和cca都不错。
他干了（想干）一些事：
1， 给教室装冷气
2， 给餐厅装置磁卡付账系统，减少接触钱币。
3， 那些成绩不好的课外活动项目，要减少经费或砍掉。
4， 喜欢羽毛球项目，要打造羽毛球中心。
5， 检查哪些女生留了长头发。
6， 引入ipad
7， 引入马来语课程
6，7引起许多争议，如果每人送一架的话，争议就基本上消失，6是价钱的问题。
另外， 那些反对ipad的人应该多了解ipad互动教学和它在教学方面的潜力。立化
也应该帮助家长了解这些。
关于马来文， 我们公司外派多批人员去马来西亚协作项目，如果会马来文将来应该方便
与马国交流。但是一些家长的看法是学马来文影响其他课业。各说各有理。
我对立化了解不多，感觉有问题可以直接对话，听听校方的解释。
虽然和这次ipad无关，但是就是有关这位校长的 https://www.straitstimes.com/sin … -affair-with-vendor