International Conference on Educational Innovation Jointly organised by UNESCO and UM malaysia at Legend Hotel , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Date: 6 to 8th May 2008

1. Classroom Innovation of Technology Teaching in Malaysian Secondary Schools: PURUSHOTHAMAN RAVICHANDRAN Lecturer Kolej Yayasan UEM E-mail: ravi@kyuem.edu.my and RAJENDRAN NAGAPPAN Associate Professor Sultan Idris University of Education E-mail: nsrajendran@hotmail.com Some Preliminary Findings

3. Introduction Comparing the evidence of teachers using ICT in schools twenty years ago with that available today, it shows that there is a steady growth of innovative and experienced teachers able to use ICT to improve their pupils' attainment. What is needed now is a way of helping more teachers and pupils benefit from these opportunities and experiences. (http://www.becta.org.uk, 2003).

4. Introduction Online teaching increases multicultural awareness among the students of different cultures (Roblyer, 1991) & enhances communication skills with each other (Cohen & Riel, 1989) . A final most compelling reason for integrating technology into teaching and learning is the need for students to learn skills that will prepare them to become lifelong learners in an information society (M.D.Roblyer, Jack Edwards 1998) .

5. Introduction Teachers must be trained in the use of computers in education to make meaningful curricular decisions when using them in the classroom. Data available suggest that teachers, even those who have been trained, in general, find it problematic to effectively infuse technology into teaching using Web-tools (http://www.ejisdc.org,2001) .

6. Introduction This calls for a need to re-examine the ways in which teachers are currently using technology in their teaching and how the secondary school teachers can be re-educated to adapt themselves to Web-based teaching environment .

7. Background Malaysia, as a nation that intends to be fully developed by the year 2020 (Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, 1993) , has embarked on various information technology (IT) projects that will keep it abreast of the information era ("Corridor of Power," 1997; Ministry of Education, 1997) .

8. Background In Malaysia, online technology has been promoted in secondary schools since 1990s through various ICT programmes such as Electronic Resource Centre, Smart School Project (Gan, 2001; Ishak Hizam, 1993) and also Global SchoolNet Project (Chan, 2002). Although many such projects have been implemented, there is still skepticism of the effectiveness of these projects in influencing the teachers and students in Malaysian secondary schools.

10. Background As such there is a need to investigate what has to be changed in order to motivate, train and empower the teachers to have good knowledge and skills, belief, confidence and higher attainment in effectively teaching classes by integrating technology in teaching.

13. Research Questions RQ 2: What learning opportunities do teachers have in order to use Web-tools in their classroom teaching?

17. District-wise respondents to the questionnaire 2 88 216 191 Total 100 14 14 Perak Tengah 67 12 8 Hulu Perak 89 28 25 Larut Matang & Selama 77 22 17 Hilir Perak 83 18 15 Kuala Kangsar 88 17 15 Kerian 94 65 61 Kinta 84 19 16 Manjung 95 21 20 Batang Padang Percentage of Questionnaire received from each districts Total number of schools in the district Number of Questionnaire received from each district Name of the districts in Perak

18. Perceived problems of Web-based teaching 2 5.2 26.2 49.5 19.1 9. It is difficult for a teacher to teach additional subject matter using computer because most of the time teachers are involved in meetings, workshops and seminars 4.3 32.6 18.4 44.7 8. Most of the software CDs provided do not fit the requirement of the curriculum 3.6 12.0 31.3 53.1 7. There is no internet connection in the school and students may not be able to use the internet 4.0 15.5 53.3 27.2 6. The school does not provide computer training for students in e-learning 3.8 29.5 57.4 9.2 5. Most of the students are happy to replicate other students’ work and this makes it difficult for teachers to assess students’ ability 4.2 18.6 38.8 38.4 4. The school does not provide sufficient educational software for the subject 3.6 17.6 65.9 12.9 3. Teaching time is too short for CAI 5.0 19.4 56.9 18.7 2. Most of the computers are old 6.9 26.0 59.0 8.1 1. The speed of the Internet may be very slow Strongly agree Fairly agree Slightly agree Disagree Percentage of Respondents Statement

19. Discussion & Findings 1) Respondents collectively agree that the speed of the internet may be slow; (close to 92.0 percent of them perceive this to be so) . 2) Teaching time is too short for CAI (87.1 percent agreeing) . 3) This is followed by most of the computers are old (81.3 percent agreeing). 4) Difficult to teach additional subject using computer because most of the time they are involved in meetings, workshops and seminars (80.9 percent agreeing) .

20. Discussion & Findings Further the school does not provide computer training for students in e-learning (72.8 percent agreeing) ; the school does not provide sufficient educational software for teaching the subject (61.6 percent agreeing); and most of the software CDs provided do not fit the requirement of the curriculum (55.3 percent agreeing) .

21. Discussion & Findings However, these problems need not be a permanent stumbling block to the implementation of technology integration with classroom teaching in schools for a number of reasons. 1) The largest proportion of respondents who perceive these problems are within the “slightly agree” category. 3) Some of the perceived problems such as teachers being too involved with meetings, workshops and seminars seem to be perpetual problems in schools with or without e-learning. 4) The unsuitability or the lack of software in schools should be transition in nature as much as the lack of suitable textbooks was initially a problem in conventional teaching in the history of education in the country . 2) The lack of physical facilities such as having old computers should not be a problem in the first place because if the authority wishes schools to implement e-learning successfully, it must provide sufficient ancillary equipment.

22. Discussion & Findings Added to the above quantitative analysis, from the observation and interview results, assessments were done to find how far the teachers can adapt themselves to Web-tools. Teachers were graded based on the level of difficulties and skills exhibited using the observation chart and case-ordered effects matrix. Comfort levels for using Web-tools were scaled using “Limited”, “Moderate” and “High”.

23. Teachers’ attainment through various modules of Web-tools www.kyuemravi.com Four learning contracts were used for assessing the teachers’ attainment through Various modules of Web-tools.

24. Teachers’ attainment through various modules of Web-tools L – Limited M- Moderate H- High         Mohan         Loh         Krishna         Padhma         Khalijah         Suriathy         Lau         Azila         Gouri         Vel H M L H M L H M L H M L H M L H M L H M L H M L Web-tools Usage Quiz Reports/ Remarks Attendance. Creating Links Uploading Notes Posting Message Lesson plan Name

27. Reference Chan, F. M. (2002). ICT in Malaysian Schools: Policy and Strategies [Online]. Available: http://gauge.u-gakugei.ac.jp/ [2005, June 23]. Cohen, Moshe and Margaret Riel.1989. "The Effect of Distant Audiences on Students' Writing, AERA Journal, Summer” , 1989. Gan, S.L. (2001). IT & Education in Malaysia: Problem, issues and challenges. Petaling Jaya: Pearson Education Malaysia. Goldman, S., Cole, K., & Syer, C. (1999). The technology/content dilemma [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/techconf99/whitepapers/paper4.html Roblyer.M.D. , Jack Edwards Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching . Available: http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/roblyer/.