With reference to the report in the Sunday Star dated 28th October 2018, “E-textbook introduction draws mixed reaction from public”, and the many questions I have been asked about it, I must say this was indeed a surprise announcement by the Deputy Education Minster! My initial reaction is: How is this “school-going- digital” initiative which gets all stakeholders so excited or worried about, different from the large scale Smart Schools initiative of the late 1990s? How is it tying in with other ICT project(s) currently in schools such as the BistariNet?
Without having further
details, and judging by the statement made that only PDF files will be used for
a start, I can only caution that if proper long-term plans are not already in
place for its rollout next year, this initiative may turn out to be little more
than a costly déjà vu. After all, students reading PDF files means that the
e-device is only a page-turner and a storage of digitized content; and
e-textbook is nothing more than a change of form, not substance. (However, just
an aside here, if we can extrapolate and utilize it to promote bilingual
education, then it may be a different story!) Admittedly, moving from PDF to interactive
learning materials could be a real reform involving a change in substance, but
this cannot happen without seeing it and planning for it in a larger
context. Are not all these interactive
learning materials supposedly already developed and in use during the Smart
Schools era or thereafter? If yes, do we have enough of such materials now ready
for use soon? If not, is the development of such materials still in the
pipeline, or only work in progress?
I wonder if any official
comprehensive study has been conducted since the days of the Smart Schools
Project – for which the previous government has spent millions if not billions of
ringgit -- to assess and evaluate the current state of ICT and its use or
applications in teaching and learning in our schools nationwide. If yes, I
certainly hope the MoE can use its findings to effectively bring the e-textbook
initiative to the higher level of deploying it as an enabler and empowering
tool to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. For now, the
advantages of using e-textbook touted by some, do not seem overwhelming, considering
its cost and in view of the many disadvantages already voiced by various
quarters so far.
This brings to mind a report
which may be of some use to the MoE in planning to go digital by way of the
e-texbook. Microsoft implemented its Partner-in-Learning (PiL) projects in
various Asian countries including Malaysia, when a MOE was signed between Bill
Gates and our then Minister of Education, Malaysia in June 2004. In 2006, I
worked on a consultancy project with the then National Institute of Education in
Singapore to evaluate for Microsoft, its PiL project’s impact in Malaysia. The
report may be “old” but the many issues, problems and challenges unraveled are perhaps
still current and relevant. Maybe it is
time to take a relook at this report as well?
Finally, I would like to quote
what I said in my “IT and Education” column in the Star years ago, with regard
to the then Smart Schools Project and the many subsequent ICT initiatives in
schools:” ....If we can impose some limits rather than getting entangled in a
high-tech frenzy, we may be able to free some valuable financial resources
devoted to technology and channel them to some impoverished fundamentals such
as: providing adequate physical amenities for a conducive learning environment
in all schools, building up the nation’s core of knowledgeable, dedicated and
inspiring teachers, and teaching solid skills in thinking and learning.” In other words, e-textbooks must not be
implemented in haste, without a comprehensive study of where we are in the use
of ICT in schools right now, the resources currently available and in place in
schools, the overall cost and potential effectiveness of the e-textbook
initiative, and its implications for our long term goal of substantive education
reform in schools. Finally, questions that beg to be answered: Is this
e-textbook initiative planned as a significant cog in the larger wheel of
education reform in schools? Or is it a stopgap measure or quick fix for some
other problems?
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