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MAY 12, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 18 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK


Tony Yu for Asiaweek
Elaine Choi (left) and Josephine Lam attend Hong Kong's St. Paul's school, a leader in computer skills

Wired For Life
Take a look at these schoolgirls. They are among the most
computer-savvy in Hong Kong, so at ease with the technology that they can use the Internet to compose their own music. In no way do they or their friends match the cliché of a generation growing up so absorbed by life online that they have no lives of their own. Across Asia there are countless others like them - proof that the wired classroom can produce youngsters who are smart, balanced and ready for the workplace of the future

By PETER CORDINGLEY

Includes:
Japan Iguchi Primary School
Singapore Raffles Secondary School
Taiwan Cheng Cheng Secondary School
Hong Kong St.Paul's Secondary School
Singapore Radin Mas Primary School
Hong Kong SKH St. Joseph's Primary School


"We want the computer revolution to reach every child, whether or not he can afford to have a computer at home." This was the ambition outlined nearly three years ago by Singapore's education minister, Rear Admiral Teo Chee Hean, when he launched a five-year plan to make computers and the riches of the Internet as common in his country's classrooms as pencils and paper are today.

Singapore's hopes are matched in many Asian countries as governments seek to nurture a technically savvy workforce to safeguard their nation's economic future. The (unproven) theory is that in maybe as few as 10 years from now, anybody who can't find his way around the Internet or at least do his banking from home will not only be a comical dinosaur but a drain on resources - unemployable in an increasingly high-tech workplace.

Energized by this scenario - and by pressure from parents who fear their children may be left behind - many Asian governments are giving top priority to making information technology (IT) a tool for learning. In many aspects of this wired revolution, Singapore leads the way. Its IT Masterplan, unveiled in 1997, aims to provide one computer for every two children by 2002. This would allow 30% of school curriculums to be delivered through computers. There will be a hefty price tag. The government has committed $1.25 billion over the five-year period. The money is to be spent, among other things, on computers, networking schools, software and teacher training. Another $375 million a year is earmarked for hardware maintenance and replacement, developing software and continuous training of teachers. The aim - and it is central to the whole undertaking - is that teachers will not only know how to use information technology, but will be able to apply it in the classroom.

Two and a half years after the wraps were taken off the five-year plan, Education Minister Teo reports: "We have crossed the hump." He says IT is now used in 5% to 15% of curriculum time, depending on when schools entered the program, and 95% of teachers have been trained to use the technology. "Every school has broadband access to the Internet. There is one computer for every six students - double what it was three years ago - and we expect to double the number again within three years."

While Singapore was mapping out its IT future, Hong Kong was distracted by political wrangling over the handover from Britain to China. It has had to do some catching up - fast. In his 1999 Policy Address, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa vowed that local school children would "master the general application of information technology" and "connect to the Internet within five years." The aim is that by the 2002-2003 school year, 25% of curriculums will be taught with the support of IT. By 2001, most secondary and primary schools should each have an average of 40 and 82 computers, respectively. All secondary schools are now connected to the Net; by late last year, about 300 primary schools were also online. About 85,000 IT training places are to be provided for teachers.

In Japan, where until recently the cost of going online was prohibitive, one school in three is connected to the Internet. The government aims for all 40,000 institutions to be online by March 2002. Three years later, every child should have access to a computer, compared with one in two at the moment. The big challenge, though, will be to introduce a curriculum that makes use of the Internet. The deadline for that is 2002, by which time it is hoped a teacher-teach-teacher program will have helped ensure all educators are Internet literate.

Across Asia, as elsewhere, the degree of IT penetration of the classroom is a relatively accurate reflection of computer use in general. In the U.S., which official figues suggest has the highest number of computers per capita, 99% of schools are connected to the Internet, though not always in the classroom. Singapore (11th in the per-capita table) tops this, but has the advantage of being exclusively urban. Perhaps significantly, the Philippines, Indonesia, China and India are among the countries with few computers.

Coming soon in Hong Kong: the SAR's first cyberschool. The unsnappily named Pegasus Philip Wong Kin Hang Christian Primary School will be offering primary pupils a totally interactive schooling environment, with multi-media teaching rooms and all computers connected through an internal network. The school says the use of IT will help reduce rote learning, allowing more focus on moral and civic education. In Taiwan, Chen Lih-shyang, director of the Ministry of Education's computer center, paints a similar picture. Information technology, he says, will make education "more liberal, global and humanistic, allowing instructional resources to leap out of the restraints of text books and national boundaries." Maybe.

Some critics say the dangers of the wired classroom are almost as great as the advantages. For a start, nobody fact-checks the Net. Apart from the obvious perils of porn and hate websites, students who use the Internet for research are likely to run up against vast amounts of misinformation, disinformation and downright lies. There is also a tendency to copy and paste, rather than rephrase. When this happens, little information is absorbed. Teachers who received their training through a relatively limited library of books have no way of knowing what sources have been used. Not only that, most are less tech-savvy than their pupils. And how many of those who do have computer skills have managed to make the all-important leap to knowing how to teach with them?

For primary-school children, learning computer skills uses up time that should be spent on more important tasks - such as reading and writing. Barely formed handwriting can turn to mush if not practiced enough. Computers also limit interaction with classmates, lowering social skills. For this reason, experts say it is important that parents spend more quality time with their children - away from a computer - in the evenings and at weekends.

Not only that, but . . . well, the pitfalls go on and on. Luckily for Asia, some Western countries have gone ahead and identified the problems. What seems clear is that when these challenges are squarely faced, the wired classroom can change the nature of learning for the better. Students are often described as more enthusiastic - not just about the subjects they are being taught, but about other activities. For today's wired kids, knowing how to program your own computer game doesn't mean you can't also be captain of the school soccer team or a virtuoso on the cello. Read on to see how some Asian schools and children are making that point.

Japan Iguchi Primary School
It is the first week of the April term for students at Iguchi Elementary School in Mitaka, a western suburb of Tokyo. Third-graders are filing into the computer room. "I want you to write and illustrate your goal for the year," instructs their teacher, Sato Keiko. Eight-year-olds begin punching away on Japanese-alphabet keyboards. "I would like to study math harder this year," writes one. "I will write letters more carefully and be nice to friends," says another. Some of the children use an educational program called Hyper Paint to add pictures of trees, flowers or their own portraits. Others use clip-art. Computer teacher Kosuge Masayuki adds his technical expertise, assisting kids who need a little extra help and encouraging others to turn their Japanese characters into more difficult Chinese ones. In 20 minutes, the students have completed their assignments and handed in printouts to Sato.

Technology is being integrated into nearly every facet of learning at Iguchi. Students begin working on computers at age six. By eight, they are able to access the Internet and at 10 they are using it to research special projects. Iguchi's use of advanced technology makes it a model public school in Tokyo. The high-tech tools have also dramatically reshaped the curriculum. "Computers have revolutionized the way we teach and kids learn," says school principal Mizukami Yoshihiro.

In society class, fifth-graders learning about the Japanese fishing industry found a website run by a local fisherman. They not only used it to read up on area fishing, but e-mailed the fisherman for more first-hand information. "When they actually get replies from sources outside, that is when they fully realize the meaning of e-mailing," says Kosuge. The kids are encouraged to not just regurgitate information they find on the Internet, but instead process it and use it to help express their own ideas. Mizukami describes this as "the foundation of lifetime education."

The computers at other schools in the district are linked to Iguchi, allowing them all to share information. A guest lecturer speaking at Iguchi about astronomy was shown live via Internet teleconference at one of the other schools on the network. When a student in the class asked about the Mars Pathfinder, the speaker showed how to access the NASA site to find out more about the subject. Because the schools' computers were linked, all the children saw the same Web demonstration at the same time.

For students who just can't get enough of computers, Iguchi has an after-school club. Its 20 members are encouraged to create their own homepages for the Web. The sites are fairly simple, but the exercise helps the children explore the Internet and realize how they can go beyond merely consuming information from it. "At their age, the most important lesson is to see, feel and experience computers and the Internet," the principal explains. That, he thinks, will open them to the limitless potential of information technology in the future.

Singapore Raffles Secondary School
No starchy uniforms. Just T-shirts, shorts, perhaps flip-flops and maybe 'N Sync playing in the background. Over one laid-back week last June, this was the style when all 1,700 students at Singapore's Raffles Institution stayed home for an experiment in online learning. Teachers put five days' worth of lessons on the Web, and the boys browsed through the material in their own time.

Many staff members had been apprehensive about the iLearning project, says Raffles' head of information technology, Fong Lay Lean. The pace of innovation can be quite daunting, she agrees, and some teachers struggle to keep up. "But the onus is on teachers to come up with effective Web lessons. That requires a lot of planning, thinking - and rethinking," she says. Fong acknowledges most IT initiatives in schools are novel. "It's still a new field, and we don't have all the answers."

As it turned out, the iLearning week was "surprisingly enjoyable" for Derrik Ho and many other students. Because there was enough flexibility for him to set his own pace, the 16-year-old says he was able to tackle the schoolwork without sacrificing favorite activities such as playing with his pets, experimenting with robotics and reading. Like being on holiday, almost. The boys stayed in touch with each other and with teachers through e-mail and chat rooms. To some students, such communication was perfectly adequate. But Ho and others missed the human interaction. "It's a little lonely without friends to talk to and laugh with," he says. And, gratifyingly for the school, staff were missed too. "Nothing beats a teacher talking to you personally," says Ho.

The elite school (Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Premier Goh Chok Tong are among the alumni) has more ambitious plans to keep its students plugged in. Eventually, the boys should be able to use the Web to review lessons or access those that they have missed. Headmaster Wong Siew Hoong sees all this as part of Raffles' effort to prepare its students for the digital world. "Teaching pupils to think, and equipping them with the ability to search for information, is more critical than the data itself," he says.

As for the more dubious material available online, Fong asserts:"The only way we can protect our students is to make them discerning. Net nannies only slow things down. What's important are the controls that are built into the boys' psyche."

Taiwan Cheng Cheng Secondary School
Given information technology's ability to leap high mountains and cross international borders, Cheng Cheng school plays an oddly centralized role in Taipei, where it serves the computing needs of all the city's junior highs. The reason: Ko Zong-lin, the school's head of computer studies, is also in charge of implementing a masterplan to wire the education system and give 11- to 15-year-olds the opportunity to grow into highly valued programmers and network engineers. That's why students from across Taipei and local government tech experts attend Cheng Cheng, the first group to learn how to explore the digital world and the second to build the necessary infrastructure.

To realize these high-tech dreams, Taiwan has had to develop many of its own interactive educational programs and much of its IT-based teaching material. The problem is that most of what is available comes from the West and is not in Chinese. Han Shin-min, a senior official at the Ministry of Education's computer center, says: "We adapt some commercial products and create the rest ourselves."

The government is expected to spend more than $360 million to put a computer in every Taiwan classroom by 2001. That's not much compared with some other countries, but a little technology can go a long way. Consider one class of 14-year-olds taking a course on Impressionist painting at Cheng Cheng recently. With the aid of a single terminal hooked up to the Net, they were able to visit their own gallery, strolling past a procession of Renoirs, Monets and Pissarros. A few years ago, the teacher might have been passing round a cumbersome book of reproductions, possibly the only copy in the school. The fact is, says English teacher Nicole Lee, classes in pretty much every subject incorporate some computer work simply because it makes learning much more interesting.

Tapping into the Web has certainly livened up English lessons - sometimes in unexpected ways, as Lee found out when she gave her class an assignment to scour the Internet for jokes. Many, including some about President Bill Clinton, would have over-broadened the youngsters' vocabulary. "We shared the more acceptable jokes in class and had a great time," Lee says. "It was more fun for everyone than the standard grammar exercises - and far more effective at improving their language."

Hong Kong St.Paul's Secondary School
Most days of the week, the sound of piledrivers is at near-deafening levels outside St. Paul's Convent School in the Causeway Bay business district of Hong Kong. Not a likely setting for a quiet revolution in musical education. And yet one is going on inside this all-girls haven. "Composition Theory" students are at its front lines, where computers are helping them sharpen their musical skills in a way traditional teaching methods never could.

The students use the Internet to find music websites that provide inspiration or programs they can use to write their own songs. Software allows them to try out tunes on different synthesized instruments or experiment with transposing notes in a particular composition. The best projects are then posted on the school's Intranet. Fourteen-year-old Jennifer Wong says the technology has helped make this class one of her favorites.

The music program is just one example of how the Internet is being used to help teach at St. Paul's. The prestigious institution was one of the first in Hong Kong to implement an extensive and creative information-technology focus in its general teaching methods - a relatively unusual feat at an all-girls school. Says Law Siu-wing, a teacher involved with St. Paul's IT initiatives: "Girls are sometimes told outside of school that they are not suited for subjects like math, science and computers."

All 1,400 students, aged 11 to 19, receive several hours of computer instruction each week. They have a school

e-mail account, which they can access from home. By the time they are 15, they are able to build their own websites. Use of the Internet has gradually been integrated into almost all courses.

Roy Li, a math and physics teacher, likes to suggest URLs for his students to check out in connection with the day's lesson. A lecture on the Pythagorean theorem might for instance encourage a visit to a specialized geometry site that has multi-dimensional animations, games and links to other sites about the life of Pythagoras. Li says students often come back to him with more questions and plenty of enthusiasm. He also finds the Internet useful for teaching physics. Experiments that are too dangerous to do in a classroom can be conducted in a virtual setting online.

Computer imaging can help illustrate particularly complex lessons too. Law, who teaches biology, rounded out a lecture on cell division by downloading animation clips from the Web and posting them to the St. Paul's Intranet for students to refer to. "When you read a book, it's just an idea," he says. "And the number of books in the library is limited. When you use the Internet to show that idea, it expands your resources and makes the concept come to life." And that, after all, is what good teachers through the ages have been striving to achieve.

Singapore Radin Mas Primary School
Don't expect to find Radin Mas in any guide to Singapore's leading academic institutions. The government school is nestled in the corner of one of the city's many housing estates, with little about it at first sight to indicate it is in the forefront of Singapore's IT revolution. But that's where it is - thanks, initially, to having been selected five years ago as one of six primary schools in a Ministry of Education pilot scheme to accelerate computer literacy in the classroom. Two years later, Radin Mas was one of a first wave of 10 primary schools to benefit when the government rolled out its Masterplan for IT in Education, designed to create East Asia's most computer-competent workforce.

The school's 2,000 students, split into two sessions, share 200 Macs and PCs, with up to five computers in each classroom. Some 30% of the syllabus is IT integrated. Last year, 11-year-olds were assessed on two CD-ROM projects - one on math and the other on English - plus on their Power Point skills.

One of Radin Mas's most popular projects is a virtual zoo that the students created jointly with children in Hawaii. They designed their own website with pictures and notes on the resident animals. Extra fun came in the form of a digitally drawn hot-dog stand and a virtual toilet with flushing actions and sounds. On a more regular basis, the students do digital art involving traditional Batik and Chinese brushstrokes.

Radin Mas teachers were coached by trainers from the Education Ministry. For the older teachers, learning the new techniques was a daunting challenge. Cynthia Somasundaram, 51, says: "I had been teaching English using the chalk-and-talk method. If I hadn't learned [about computers], I would have been left on the shelf." She says she now finds it much easier to teach and to hold her class's attention. "The children like it. Even teaching composition is easy now. We click and get into similes, click and get into proverbs or idioms. The children are happier as they don't want to hear the teacher talking all the time."

The power of the Net to kindle curiosity beyond curriculums is illustrated in the case of Kavita Rajendren, 13. She says she was so inspired by websites on the human anatomy and other aspects of biology that she wants to become a doctor. A classmate Lee Jun Yi, 12, says he already has his heart set on science, involving "high energy physics, nuclear physics or chemistry."

For all the obvious benefits, parents often need calming about the perils of bad influences on the Internet. "We try to be as transparent as possible," says Eli Chong, 29, who heads the IT department. "We impress on parents that technology can never go away, that their kids are acquiring life skills." Chong happily acknowledges that, despite his credentials, some of his students tease him for not knowing as much as they do. "This generation of children are so IT-savvy, they'll be able to go anywhere and do anything," he says.

Hong Kong SKH St. Joseph's Primary School
Ko Po village is about as far from the gleaming towers of Hong Kong's Central district as you can get without leaving the territory. An hour-and-a-half away by train and then taxi, the rural hamlet is accessible only by dirt roads that are lined with low-rise houses, vegetable patches and wild-looking dogs. The children growing up here live a world apart from their cosmopolitan, city-dwelling counterparts. But computers are helping them bridge the divide. The 400 or so students who attend Ko Po's SKH St. Joseph's Primary School have access to some of the most advanced high-tech facilities in Hong Kong. "We need to give them an advantage because they are rural children," says teacher Bernard Poon.

St. Joseph's is part of AT&T's international Virtual Classroom project, in which selected students work with children from two other countries to build a website for a worldwide competition. Last year, the St. Joseph's students, along with their Japanese and American teammates, created a site that was judged among the best in the world. This year's entry includes illustrated stories from the children.

The cross-cultural exchange is at least as important as the technical skills the kids are gaining. Students get to know their partners through teleconferencing and e-mails. When not planning the site, they swap JPEG photos and notes about their cultures. Daisy Tsui, a 10-year-old member of the team, has made new friends in Japan. They now e-mail regularly about their favorite subject: Hello Kitty.

The students have their principal to thank. Alan Chan has been aggressive about building a strong computer-education program. Six years ago, when funding was short, he sought out used computers from companies like Reuters. Then in 1998, the private, government-subsidized school was chosen along with nine other primary institutions for the SAR's elite IT pilot program. St. Joseph's now has four servers, a computer lab stocked with 45 Pentium-powered desk-tops, and three computers in each homeroom - two for the students and one for the teacher. Teaching methods are also Internet-age. Slick Power Point and multi-media presentations have taken the place of the old overhead projector slides. E-mail is a part of daily life, and students listen to Internet radio broadcasts from all over the world. The average St. Joseph's 12-year-old can build his own website. That's the kind of school life that makes the world of Ko Po village much bigger for St. Joseph's students than their parents could have ever imagined.

Reports by Alexandra A. Seno/Hong Kong, Jacintha Stephens/Singapore, Bradley Winterton/Taipei and Murakami Mutsuko/Tokyo

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