Rolled out in 1994, to build its foundation, Ministry Of Education (MOE) defined its four goals for ICT Masterplan 1; to globalize the school’s network with the world,  to bring about innovative practices and growth in education, to improve creative thinking, lifelong learning and social responsibility, and to promote administrative and management excellence in the education system itself. (http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/)

The next phase, Masterplan 2, aims to further enhance the foundation; baseline level of ICT to be used by both teachers and school, encourage customization of lesson through integration of ICT in classroom teachings and encouraging innovative use of ICT in schools. (http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/)

While still leveraging on Masterplans 1 and 2, MOE developed Masterplan 3 which aims to enrich students’ learning environment so they will be equipped with the necessary skills to excel in the knowledge-based economy. (http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/)

Learning is just not a Listening Comprehension lesson; a teacher verbalizing his/her lesson plans and writings on the whiteboard as the students listens on and display their understanding through their class or home work. When it comes to ICT, it is not as simple as exposing students to computers. They need a guide on how to utilise the computers proper and explore it uses mindfully. As teachers, we must realize that students' learning environment is not bounded by their classroom or the school’s perimeter; it is beyond their school learning.

As a student, I was first exposed to ICT in Secondary School. During this time, every student had played computer games or surfed the Internet at least once or twice before. This, I believe, Masterplan 2 was implemented and schools encouraged the use of ICT by both teachers and students as well. We were required to integrate ICT for our projects; be it as simple as typing and printing out word documents, gathering data from the Internet and of course, Powerpoint presentations.  I remembered attending a basic web-designing workshop that was to be incorporated and presented for our group projects. Despite not having a computer of my own at home, I was pretty savvy when it came to computers.

Now, Internet is available at the tip of our fingers even if you do not own one with computers easily accessible at public libraries and most schools. Even my six-year-old niece knows how to switch on the laptop and click the internet browser to look for her favourite princess video, with a little bit of spelling help from me. With Masterplan 3 in place, students will have at least the basic ICT knowledge.

For a Beginning Teacher, the challenge is not whether the students are computer literate. It is whether they are taught and equipped with the required skills they need to be successful in this knowledge-based economy. How will my lesson plans benefit and enhance their ICT knowledge? Will it engage them enough and understand complex ideas? What do they need to know and will they know from the rights and wrongs? Will they be a responsible ICT user?

I’m still learning and hopefully, I will be able to create a conducive and enriching learning environment for them to excel. Keeping my fingers crossed.