IT is the start of the school year and a parent of a hearing-impaired student has an annual ritual.
Even though her child is in an inclusive education environment, the mother takes the extra step to meet the form teacher and requests that he accommodates the young learner’s special needs. |
| Participants of the Maxis Cyberkids National Challenge 2011 together with the senior management of the company and representatives from the Ministry of Education |
Some of these projects involved the development of e-learning content via open-source applications, e-learning curriculum for hearing-impaired students and a Learning Management System, among others.
Maxis Cyberkids is a flagship programme of the integrated communications service provider to enrich the community.
The initiative, which was launched in 2002 in partnership with the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture, has covered 1,500 schools, equipping more than 8,500 students and teachers nationwide with a basic knowledge of Information Communications Technology applications and Internet tools.
The Cyberkids Camp syllabus imparts familiarity with Internet exploration with the use of email and public multimedia services. The training also includes familiarisation with the Cyberkids Portal, which is now accessible on mobile devices.
The portal is constantly evolving in its integration of interactive applications, making it easy to blog and to take part in a forum or to manipulate media. It also provides a resource of games and other engaging e-learning materials.
Last year, the programme held its camp activities for 15 selected schools in July. These participating schools were then given the opportunity to develop and promote projects, which they worked on during the Cyberkids Camps, at the National Challenge 2011.
Six schools qualified for the finals at Maxis Academy. The schools were SMK Air Putih, Pahang; SMT Bkt Mertajam, Pulau Pinang; SMK Tengku Mahmud, Terengganu; SMV Sg. Buloh, Selangor; SMK Bukit Rambai, Malacca; and SMK Jelai (Felda), Negri Sembilan.
SMV Sg. Buloh was named the winner of the National Challenge 2011 at the recent event closing ceremony.
It bested the other schools with its interactive, online learning website consisting of programming and development tools which offer a classroom environment in the form of a syllabus, notes, forums, quizzes and assessments.
It won a prize worth RM15,000, comprising RM5,000 cash and the Maxis Cyberkids @ School Programme worth RM10,000 which consists of Maxis Cloud, training and e-learning to help the school further develop its project ideas and integrate technology into learning.
The first and second runners-up were SMK Air Putih and SMK Jelai (Felda) respectively. Both schools received cash prize of RM4,000 and RM3,000 respectively, together with Maxis Cyberkids @ School Programme.
Speaking at the event, Azmi Hj Ujang, Maxis’ Senior Vice President of Human Resources. Said, “As Malaysia’s leading integrated communications service provider, we believe in harnessing leading-edge technology and innovation to create value for the economy, society and the environment in which we operate. With our education initiatives for the community, we aim to contribute towards building a knowledgeable, skilled and innovative human capital, and encourage lifelong learning. Our award-winning Maxis Cyberkids programme, which will enter its 10th year next year, continues to spread ICT knowledge to all corners of Malaysia, supporting the Government’s call to bridge the digital divide in the country. Our hope is that the participants of Maxis Cyberkids will go on to share what they have learned during the Camps with members of their community, hence making the programme self-sustainable with a multiplier effect.”
An interesting aspect of this year’s National Challenge was the fact that students developed projects that were relevant to their school’s environment, which have the potential to change the way the students learn. Some of these projects involve the developments of e-learning content via open-source applications, e-learning curriculum for hearing-impaired students, and a Learning Management System (LMS), among others.
The remaining three schools won consolation prizes worth RM1,000 each.
Credit URL: SCHOOLS: Interactive learning website is tops - Top News - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/schools-interactive-learning-website-is-tops-1.29218#ixzz2nDhP2TW
