The document outlines several challenges facing the implementation of smart schools in Malaysia, including heavy upfront investment needs, lack of customization for student needs, insufficient technical support and infrastructure issues especially in rural areas. It also notes underutilization of hardware, software and courseware due to lack of teacher ICT skills and preference for traditional teaching methods. However, it points to some progress, including improved academic performance on national exams since 2009 and over 75% of schools achieving at least a 3-star rating under the Smart School Qualification Standards framework.

1. SMART SCHOOL
CHALLENGES

3. Heavy investment on facilities
 Government need to spend a lot for electronic facilities
and new books.
 The cost and maintenance fees for the facilities are high.
 Effective implementation of Smart Schools will require:
 funding for the building of new schools with its entire
multimedia infrastructure
 upgrading facilities in existing schools
 teacher training institutions
 maintenance of new technology

4. Lack of democratization in
education
 Students have no choice on what to learn and when to sit
for exam.
 They don’t have enough time to study and understand the
lesson as they have different ability to learn.
Lack of manpower in handling the
technical problem
 Insufficient technicians.

5. Lack of technological infrastructure
and teaching materials in school in
rural area
 Limited internet connection
 Limitation of infrastructure, such as computer labs
lead to ineffectiveness of technology supported
teaching and learning.
 Shortage of computers.

6. Smart school hardware, software
and courseware was found to be
under-utilized
Some teachers are not keen on using the courseware
 lack of ICT knowledge
 not comfortable with the use of hardware and
courseware.
 prefer traditional way of teaching which is chalk and
talk
 a waste of time.

7.  The design of the courseware does not accommodate for
students’ with differing needs and learning abilities.
 Courseware lacks proper guidelines to use.
 Software used in school and MOE is causing problem:
 to key in data
 cannot be used by school’s computer
 the processor takes a longer time and slow.
 the hardware is out of date
 lack of knowledge can cause damage to computer

8. Lack of trainings
 Some teachers cannot teach effectively.
 New teachers lack intensive training.
 Experienced teachers lack of ICT knowledge.
Time constraint
Students felt that learning using computer is very time
consuming.
Teachers have to prepare earlier if they want to use
the computer lab for teaching and it will disturb the
process of teaching and learning.

9. Students
 Students nowadays are passive.
 They hope every material is provided by their teacher.
Don’t disturb me !!!
Parents
 Parents are not involved in this project.
 Busy with their work so that they can upgrade their
life and provide the better environment to their
children.

10. Negative attitude of teachers
 A teacher (especially senior teachers) has been
blended with traditional methods and difficult to
adapt new instructional technology.
Staff development program (courses)
Did not involve every staff.

11. SMART SCHOOL
PROGRESS

12. General academic performance
 Academic performance of Malaysian students
improved across all national examinations in 2009 in
core subjects – Language, Mathematics and Science
 Primary School scores increased by 11.4%, Lower
Secondary scores by 6.4% and Malaysian Certificate of
Education (SPM) scores by 3.4%

13. Smart School Qualification
Standards (SSQS)
 a monitoring tool to measure the use of ICT in schools
 schools are given Star Ranking each year based on
their performance in four areas:
use of ICT
competency of end-users (students, teachers,
administrators)
adoption of applications provided by MOE
(modules and courseware)
IT infrastructure

14. Smart School Qualification
Standards (SSQS)
 As of October 2009, MOE has awarded ‘Smart School’
rating to 7575 schools. This means they have achieved
at least 3 stars
 Dr Norrizan Razali, Senior Manager, Smart School
Department, MDec explains the Star Rankings: “A
three-star school has adopted technology. Its teachers
‘plug and play’ content or electronic courseware
provided by MOE. It merely adopts ICT with little or
no enhancement or customization of the material to
suit its needs”.
 Of the 7575 Smart Schools, 67% are at 3-star ranking,
32% at 4-star and 1% at 5-star

15. Smart School Qualification
Standards (SSQS)

16. References
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