What did you learn this week that struck you as particularly important in learning about virtual schools? How has your thinking changed as a result of this week's learning?
I appreciate both sides of views presented in the readings and the postings. I've certainly gained greater understanding of the merits of virtual schools. Frankly, though virtual school concept is not entirely new and that I am in the educational technology field, I do not see many successful cases (success herein refers to improvement in students' standard in national diagnostic).
Especially in other parts of the world outside US, I observe that it is an uphill task to set up virtual schools. Maybe there is "first-mover advantage and that virtual schools can be accessed from any part of the world, the origins of virtual schools seem to be from US, UK and Australia. And, my guess is that due to cultural norms in certain countries, people may not be used to virtual learning and there may be a lack of a complete ecosystem to support the setting up of virtual schools.
Given the case studies and some statistics provided, I am now more convinced that virtual schools is a viable model for learners.
With this learning, I hope that in future weeks into this module, I can learn more about how to work on some challenges of virtual schools - quality, scale and sustainability.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
About Me
Background
I am a strong advocate of empowering people through education and I am currently pursuing this advocate in my job.
As the Regional Academic Programs Manager (APM) for Microsoft Asia Pacific, I lead the Microsoft Partners in Learning program across 12 countries in Asia Pacific. Working with local APMs, we strive to increase technology access for schools, foster innovative approaches to pedagogy and teacher professional development, and provide education leaders with the tools to envision, implement, and manage change. All these are done through establishing good and effective public-private partnerships across the 12 countries.
Prior to assumming this role, I work for the Ministry of Education, Singapore. I taught A-level Economics in college (think it is Grades 11 & 12 equivalent in US) and held diverse portfolios. I have keen interest in innovation and research and had led many teams in these areas.
I have a honours degree in Economics and a Post-graduate Diploma in Education from National Institute of Education.
Beyond work, I like to build things. I enjoy putting Lego-blocks together and piecing jigsaw puzzles. And, I love the sun and sports. I like to play team sports under the sun on large green pitches, such as hockey and soccer, or individually conquer long distances like running a marathon. On the other hand, I love music too (play percussion) and had watched most musicals in West End!
What made me interested in this course?
More than 50% of my work (for example communications with customers and collegues around the world) is done virtually, through emails, conference calls and virtual meetings. In my work, I do meet many people in schools who are like me, where information communication technology (ICT) is part of their daily lives.
Given growing ubituitous learning in many schools around the world, online learning is commonly observed. Furthermore, under the Innovative Schools program, I work closely with various schools online.
Hence, I would like to learn more about the models of online schooling and its pedagogical approaches. I would also like to learn more about the research done around the impacts of online schooling. Hopefully, I can contribute more towards the Innovative Schools program, from my learning in this course.
My experience with online learning - positive and negative encounters!
As online learning is not very common in 1990s, my first online learning experience was in university, where course admin, info, updates and content is dealt with online. As online learning is rather new, most of us did have problems navigating in the course web. Adaptabity becomes a core skill to have! Having adapted to the new learning environment, I really enjoyed the convenience of retrieving information anytime, anywhere, and learn at my own pace. Hence, this experience was first negative then positive.
Following that experience, online learning became more common and it has been part of my learning to date, including this module!
Having started teaching at 2002, I was at the other end of online learning, ie. teaching students through the virtual world. I must say that it was initially very challenging because designing an instructional program around a virtual world was a new experience and that it is rather time-consuming to prepare all the new teaching and learning materials online. However, after a getting buy-in from other colleagues, with team work and experience, the preparation of teaching for online learning became easier. And, it was very fulfilling to observe positive impacts on students' learning - engaged learning, teaching less learn more, etc.
I am a strong advocate of empowering people through education and I am currently pursuing this advocate in my job.
As the Regional Academic Programs Manager (APM) for Microsoft Asia Pacific, I lead the Microsoft Partners in Learning program across 12 countries in Asia Pacific. Working with local APMs, we strive to increase technology access for schools, foster innovative approaches to pedagogy and teacher professional development, and provide education leaders with the tools to envision, implement, and manage change. All these are done through establishing good and effective public-private partnerships across the 12 countries.
Prior to assumming this role, I work for the Ministry of Education, Singapore. I taught A-level Economics in college (think it is Grades 11 & 12 equivalent in US) and held diverse portfolios. I have keen interest in innovation and research and had led many teams in these areas.
I have a honours degree in Economics and a Post-graduate Diploma in Education from National Institute of Education.
Beyond work, I like to build things. I enjoy putting Lego-blocks together and piecing jigsaw puzzles. And, I love the sun and sports. I like to play team sports under the sun on large green pitches, such as hockey and soccer, or individually conquer long distances like running a marathon. On the other hand, I love music too (play percussion) and had watched most musicals in West End!
What made me interested in this course?
More than 50% of my work (for example communications with customers and collegues around the world) is done virtually, through emails, conference calls and virtual meetings. In my work, I do meet many people in schools who are like me, where information communication technology (ICT) is part of their daily lives.
Given growing ubituitous learning in many schools around the world, online learning is commonly observed. Furthermore, under the Innovative Schools program, I work closely with various schools online.
Hence, I would like to learn more about the models of online schooling and its pedagogical approaches. I would also like to learn more about the research done around the impacts of online schooling. Hopefully, I can contribute more towards the Innovative Schools program, from my learning in this course.
My experience with online learning - positive and negative encounters!
As online learning is not very common in 1990s, my first online learning experience was in university, where course admin, info, updates and content is dealt with online. As online learning is rather new, most of us did have problems navigating in the course web. Adaptabity becomes a core skill to have! Having adapted to the new learning environment, I really enjoyed the convenience of retrieving information anytime, anywhere, and learn at my own pace. Hence, this experience was first negative then positive.
Following that experience, online learning became more common and it has been part of my learning to date, including this module!
Having started teaching at 2002, I was at the other end of online learning, ie. teaching students through the virtual world. I must say that it was initially very challenging because designing an instructional program around a virtual world was a new experience and that it is rather time-consuming to prepare all the new teaching and learning materials online. However, after a getting buy-in from other colleagues, with team work and experience, the preparation of teaching for online learning became easier. And, it was very fulfilling to observe positive impacts on students' learning - engaged learning, teaching less learn more, etc.
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