ICT now a teaching tool

By ALYCIA LIM

educate@thestar.com.my

Audio aid: Muhyiddin trying the Audiocity software at the launching of the Policy on Information Technology and Communication in Education in Putrajaya yesterday. Looking on is Education Ministry Director- General Tan Sri Alimuddin Md Dom (right).

PUTRAJAYA: The education policy in the country has taken a new leap forward and it is set to embrace Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as the main tool for teaching, said Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The policy aims to use ICT as a vehicle to encourage creativity, collaborative learning, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
“The teaching and learning process is no longer a teacher centric or one-way process. A teacher is now a classroom facilitator, who is equipped with ICT knowledge,’’ Muhyiddin said, adding that the new approach would uplift the quality of education in the country.
“Through this policy, all ICT programmes in the ministry will work towards the same goal, which is to increase student achievements and to ensure that every student has access to quality education.”

At the launch of the new ICT policy in education yesterday, Muhyiddin, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said that education ICT practices in developed countries would be used as a benchmark to ensure that the ICT component in Malaysian schools are of international standards.
The policy, which was developed by the ministry in collaboration with Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), was a continuous effort from the Smart School initiative launched in July 1997.
The policy will focus on eight main fields, which include a structural realignment of ICT management, education administration and management, technology infrastructure, teaching and learning, and community involvement, amongst others.
He added that there would be four supporting components – third party outsourcing, collaboration with the community of practice, public and private partnership, and involvement of the extended community to ensure the policy’s effectiveness.
“The ICT policy in education will also go through a Central Management Programme which will be responsible in organising all the ICT initiatives in education, in order to increase administrative efficiency and to save resources.”
Muhyiddin hoped the policy would align the quality of Malaysian education to the vision of making Malaysia an excellent education hub, in line with the status of an advanced nation by the year 2020.

SME Corp and Microsoft team up

By FARAH FAZANNA ZULZAHA

starbiz@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: SME Corp has partnered Microsoft Malaysia, via its Office 365 productivity suite with cloud computing technology, to assist local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute to 41% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020. The partnership would see an expected investment by Microsoft of RM20.8mil in the first year, if adopted by 50,000 SMEs in the country. Microsoft would also reinvest RM41 a year for every user that subscribes to Office 365 through SME Corp.
“We are focusing on lowering the cost of getting to the cloud. We are also looking at training and developing SMEs through our partners and equal systems,” Microsoft Malaysia managing director Ananth Lazarus said at the partnership announcement yesterday.
“The objective of the partnership is to empower Malaysian SMEs with the tools they need to succeed globally, interconnected business landscape where agile and scalable technology infrastructure is key to maintaining the competitive edge,” said SME Corp chief executive officer Datuk Hafsah Hashim.

Empowering SMEs: Hafsah says the opportunity for transforming the way Malaysians did business was enormous, as 99.2% of businesses in Malaysia were SMEs. With her is Ananth Lazarus

She said the opportunity for transforming the way Malaysians did business was enormous, as 99.2% of the businesses were SMEs, employing 56% of the workforce and generating 32% of the GDP.
“Office 365 will benefit Malaysian SMEs to have the capacity to expand their businesses to reach beyond the local and regional shores without the need to invest heavily in IT infrastucture,” she said.
Hafsah said SMEs had to grow at about 8.5% annually to contribute 41% to Malaysia's GDP by 2020.
“One of the ways to achieve higher efficiency and high productivity is to encourage SMEs to use ICT,” she said. (ICT refers to information and communications technology.)
SMEs would also be able to face the current economic situation in Europe and withstand the competition, as 80% of them are domestic-driven.
“The external market now is quite uncertain, but as long as we are able to create the right kind of opportunities for the SMEs, they would be able to withstand the competition,” Hafsah said.
“With free trade agreements and competition now come knocking at their doors, we are preparing the SMEs so that they will be more efficient and productive,” she added.

Maxis introduces iPhone 4S

LAST Friday at the stroke of midnight, Maxis Bhd launched the iPhone 4S which is now available at all Maxis Centres and Maxis Exclusive Partners nationwide.
“Having an iPhone is one thing, but to experience it on Maxis is something else. We are delighted to bring the latest model of the iPhone, that is the iPhone 4S to our customers, having brought the first iPhone to Malaysia in 2009.
“Maxis continues to lead the way in bringing smartphones to its customers, a whole range of which has been offered during the last two to three years. As a result of which, we already have more than 7.5 million active mobile internet users,” said its CEO Sandip Das in a statement.
Maxis is offering four new iValue plans for customers, with the highest combined mobile and WiFi data of up to 11GB. Customers who have been with its iPhone community since it launched the iPhones 3G, 3GS and 4 will be the first of many enthusiasts who registered their interest to get the device from Maxis and enjoy new plans automatically.
“Maxis is supportive of its customers’ continued demand for internet broadband services, that Maxis has worked very hard on improving data network experiences, tied up exciting content besides offering a wide range of data packages for customers to choose from.
“We have the largest data network and introduced exclusive applications specially developed for the iPhone 4S, which will enrich the Maxis customer experience beyond what is ordinarily offered everywhere else,” said Sandip.
Among the new enhancements to its iValue plans are increased data quota as well as free WiFi connection of 4GB per month across all Maxis hotspots nationwide. With the added free WiFi connection, Maxis now offers customers the highest mobile data allocation.
Under a Maxis plan, the new iPhone 4S comes with Maxis-developed applications such as Maxis’ Customer Service, the first telco customer service application available on the iPhone in Malaysia.
With this application, customers can access their account and bill information, subscribe or unsubscribe to value added services and contact Maxis’ Customer Service using a preferred channel at their convenience.

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/245067

M’sia, Saudi Arabia sign MoU on science and technology cooperation

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to forge bilateral cooperation in the area of science and technology for a period of five years.

The MoU was signed by Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof and Vice President of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology Dr Abdulaziz Mohammed Al-Swailem.
The MoU provides for a Malaysia-Saudi Arabia Joint Committee on Science and Technology to be set up to identify and facilitate collaboration between Malaysian and Saudi Arabian research institutes through, among others, joint research, exchange of scientists, joint conferences and common utilisation of scientific equipment.
Speaking to the reporters later, Fadillah said: "We have identified project proposals in various areas in science and technology and expertise such as ICT and renewable energy and standardisation."
Dr Abdulaziz said Saudi Arabia is ready to share its expertise, researchers and scientists with Malaysia. - Bernama

Private sector vital to ICT-literate generation by 2020, says assemblyma

By VANES DEVINDRAN

vanes@thestar.com.my

KUCHING: The private sector plays an important role when it comes to training trainers in the field of information-communication technology (ICT).

Demak Laut assemblyman Dr Hazland Abang Hipni said since there were only eight years to 2020 when Malaysia becomes a developed nation, the private sector would help expedite training and enable trainers to create an ICT-proficient generation.
“We are fast approaching 2020 and it is clear that if we want an ICT literate society, we need to have teachers who are well-trained and equipped to pass on their knowledge.

ICT savvy: Dr Hazland (fourth left), Eduspec Holdings Berhad chief executive officer Lim Een Hong (left), Prof Mohd Fadzil (sixth left) and some of the winners of the 19th Dynabook National ICT Competition.

“These teachers need to have global mindsets and skilful too so that we are assured that we have a generation well-versed in ICT.
“These teachers are mostly in the private sector, which is why this sector is vital to our ICT development,” he said when closing the 19th Dynabook National ICT Competition at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) .
He was representing Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.
Dr Hazland said it was not too late for Malaysia to achieve its goal towards having an ICT proficient society if the government had the support of the private sector.
As such, he said, the government always gave additional allocation for ICT education.
“We shouldn’t be easily satisfied. We need to constantly raise the bar because the world is getting more and more competitive. If we want to keep up, we need the keep on improving ourselves,” he said.
Earlier on, Unimas Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman said competition like this should be held frequently since not only does it promote ICT, it would even unearth talented individuals.
“Who knows, we might find the next Steve Jobs (Apple co-founder). After all the late Steve Jobs started in his backyard and so did Bill Gates (Microsoft co-founder). If these two great minds can make it, I don’t see why our children can’t do so too,” he said.
The event had 650 students from 61 primary schools nationwide participating and the competition encompasses computer drawing at the junior and senior levels, general knowledge and typing skill.
The winners are namely Lee Jia Yu from SJK (C) Yuk Kwan, Perak (general knowledge), Ching Jia Sing from Kong Min Pusat, Penang (junior drawing), Nigel Leong Zheng Hao from SJK (C) Chung Hwa, Sabah (senior drawing) and Oh Coyun from SJK (C) Chong Hwa Setapak KL (typing).
The event was held by Dynabook, a subsidiary of Eduspec Holdings Berhad, Unimas and the Federation of Kuching and the Youth Section of Samarahan Division Chinese Associations.
The 20th Dynabook National ICT Competition will be held in Malacca.