| James Kon |
MICROSOFT is looking to work with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and stakeholders in Brunei Darussalam to produce a distinct holistic ‘Education Transformation Framework’ to influence the direction of education in the country towards the global advancement of technologies.
This was stated by Don Carlson, Education Director of Microsoft Asia Pacific, during his ‘Educational Digital Transformation’ talk at the second keynote address for the 3rd Politeknik Brunei International Symposium on Innovative Teaching and Learning (ISITL 2017) at the Orchid Garden Hotel.
Present at the talk was Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Nawi, Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the Ministry of Education, as the representative of Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Bahrom bin Pengiran Haji Bahar, the Deputy Minister of Education.
Chairperson of the organising committee of the 3rd ISITL 2017, Politeknik Brunei (PB) Director, Denis Ho Mun Tai as well as other officials were also present.
Carlson’s talk focussed on the issue of the need for education transformation at a time when businesses are going through enormous digital transformation reforms, posing a key question – “Is the need for education transformation different from a decade ago, or is it just another step in the evolution of education systems around the world?”
His session also touched on how technology may or may not help with education transformation as seen from the various education systems around the world.
Carlson highlighted the national priorities in education comprising three components – ‘Quality of Education’ comprising teacher capacity, personalisation of learning and student analysis; ‘Skills for Employment’ comprising STEM education, 21st Century skills and regional competitiveness; and ‘Equity and Access’ which covers geography, technology and gender.
“Mobile technology and e-learning, we cannot separate these two, and it is a question of how to make them work. We have put together an ‘Education Transformation Framework’ where there are 10 critical components. Among these are ‘leadership and politics’, ‘establishing a vision’, and ‘21st Century pedagogy’,” Carlson said.
“We will pair each of the components with leaders in their respective fields to develop corresponding white papers. Each of the components needs to be looked at holistically and analysed thoroughly during the formulation of the papers.
“We will be more than happy to work with the MoE, to work with our partners in the industry to help develop a framework like this. We can learn from other countries and we will work with the ministry to continue to support the teachers and students of Brunei Darussalam for the future,” he added.
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