Technology seamlessly in
Areas of their teaching, learning, work, & communication in a
Respectful, responsible and ethical ways.
GOALS - CARE
To leverage on the use of IT to deliver an engaging and relevant Curriculum.
To leverage on IT for Administration excellence.
To develop the confidence and competency to use IT to support teaching & learning and accomplish Real-life tasks.
To promote Ethical use of IT.
Infrastructure
The school has a wireless environment. There are 2 Mac labs & 6 computer labs. There is a New Media Centre where lessons on New Media Literacy Programme is conducted. This centre housed the Campus radio station where the students do their weekly broadcast. Students will experiment the use of the "Blue Screen" in the centre during their vodcasing course in year 3.
Feeling the pulse of the school community is the school intranet portal where the students and teachers can interact with one another through messaging and NLS reflection. There is also an on line forum where students provided real time feedback for teachers to further refine the lessons. The Staff Pupil Interaction enables the community to have zero gap in information. Teachers reflections of the lessons using the PETALs format can be easily accessed by every staff besides the school leaders. This portal has been an effective platform for the students to put what they have learnt in cyber wellness into practice.
Curriculum
AIMS AND PHILOSOPHY
The ICT literacy programme is one of three programmes under the Foundation Education domain of the curriculum at NorthLight School. Students follow a formal course of study in Years 1, 2 and 3 of the programme and apply the knowledge and skills acquired in other areas throughout their stay at NorthLight School.
The programme is to provide opportunities for students to function effectively in school, community and workplace through developing:
a. Competence in ICT knowledge and skills. (Through Skills, IPOD)
b. Confidence and an attitude of lifelong learning in ICT. (Through Skills, IPOD)
c. Character Education - be aware of the value and impact of ICT and put this knowledge and skill into action. (CW, Values)
STRUCTURE OF PROGRAMME
The ICT programme comprises four components, values, cyber wellness (CW), skills and emerging technologies. The Values component will include video clips on technology which bring across the SEL and NE messages. The Skills Component will cover the use of word processing software, spreadsheet software, and multimedia presentation software.
There are 4 pillars STARStreet Smartness,
Touching and Transforming Lives,
Alive vs Addiction,
Respect & Responsibility
under cyber wellness component and 4 pillars IPOD
Interact, (Learning with Communication)
Probe, (Learning with Searches)
Operations, (Basic Operations of Computers, IT Devices)
Data collection (Learning with Data Collection Tools)
under emerging technologies component.
The total curriculum hours for Year 1 and 2 are 150h. The total curriculum hour for Year 3 is 50h. As part of A New Interactive Media Experience (ANIME) @NLS, students in year 2 will do a 7 hour podcasting course and the students in year 3 will do a 7 hour course on blogging and a 14 hour course on vodcasting.
By MOE Cyberwellness Committee
Chairman
Ang Pow ChewMembers
Ms Lee Sai ChooMrs Ong-Ooi Giok Tin
Ms Au Na-Chuang
Ms Fong Boon Yean
Gerard Yee
Mdm Hon Sok Foon
Poon Wai Seng
Ms Wong Mai Ling
Dear colleagues,
At DOS (Director of Schools) Meeting in October this year (2007), it was highlighted that Singapore is one of the most wired cities in the world with Internet connection reaching 71% of all households in 2006. This figure is likely to be higher today. With increased connectivity and with our pupils exposed to both the good and bad in cyberspace, a cyberwellness programme is necessary to help them to be discerning prosumers (both producers and consumers) in this space.
Our schools have already embarked on cyberwellness programmes to help pupils know how to manage themselves in cyberspace. The production of this starter/resource kit is a further attempt to synchronise the efforts of schools and to assist schools to put together a cyberwellness package. This kit focuses on the key challenges of the cyberworld, and is designed in the form of lesson plans on key cyberwellness topics. The lesson plans here are not intended to be definitive and all-encompassing, as they are meant to support the ongoing efforts of schools. Schools are free to evolve their own programmes while keeping in mind the key principles of the cyberwellness framework.
The principles of "Respect for Self and Others" and "Safe and Responsible Use" are meant to emphasize the rules of personal conduct that all Internet users should adhere to while engaging with the Internet. The underlying belief here is that self-management must be the final and most critical element in personal conduct. The process of Sense, Think and Act serves to highlight the stages that a pupil should undergo to prepare himself/herself to self-manage in cyberspace. The process could serve as a heuristic device to help teachers organise lessons on cyberwellness topics.
As mentioned earlier, schools are actively encouraged to plan, produce and execute their own cyberwellness lessons with the above principles and process in place. The ideal situation is for our schools to evolve their own unique approaches in addressing the needs of their specific school population and profile. MOE will continue to support this initiative in the form of training, updates and resources as the schools´ programmes mature and move ahead. As successive new technologies appear, we have to continuously keep abreast and keep ahead of the accompanying effects, be they good or bad. Together, we can keep our pupils alert to the promises and problems of the cyberworld, and most importantly to keep themselves safe.
Best Regards.
MOE Cyberwellness Committee
November 2007
To increase both the media literacy and EL proficiency of NorthLight School (NLS) students.
New Media aims to highlight the importance of good communication using the latest media technology tools. Platforms like Broadcast@NLS, podcasting, vodcasting and blogging provide opportunities for the students to improve their English Language proficiency. Through the provision of such platforms and opportunities, the self-esteem and confidence level of the students are also raised.
Students take ownership of the broadcast of school news, interviews and live transmissions in an interactive and real-life setting i.e. in a Media booth. They collaborate and work as a team to produce a 10 to 15 minute broadcast. Students work on projects individually or as a group in the podcasting, vodcasting and blogging components.
It is envisioned that positive character values and improved language proficiency can be reiterated through this New Media medium. Students will be able to internalize positive habits with continued reinforcement from the teachers. Moreover, the current affairs knowledge of NLS students’ is heightened with readings on latest news, updates and happenings from the student DJs in Broadcast@NLS. This pre to post production of the entire Broadcast@NLS, podcasting and vodcasting programmes allows students to be creative and innovative in a real life context. The blogging platforms allow the students to showcase their works and present their ideas creatively and concisely.
Teachers are key for the sustainability of the Broadcast@NLS programmes. A wide array of expertise from both teaching and non-teaching staff with representatives from EL, ICT, NLP and IT Support is required in the areas of post production, content provision, language instruction and technical support as well as to oversee the planning and running of the radio programmes. Specifically, teachers in the EL department will work with the students in the areas of scripting, diction and pronunciation. The ICT teacher together with the representative from IT Support will assist in the recordings, equipment handling and post production. Teachers from the NLP committee will provide content that is aligned with the character focus of the school and work closely with the EL teachers so that the message can be concisely delivered.
Podcasting, vodcasting and blogging lessons are part of the ICT curriculum where the students learn to use the technology to improve their language proficiency. An interdisciplinary approach is in the pipeline where teachers from EL and Aesthetics will lend support in areas like scripting, storyboarding and dramatization.
Selected NLS students in the Broadcast@NLS would be able to direct, produce and host a campus radio show. They will undergo a 2 part radio production course which will cover the following areas:
- Vocal assessment, breathing techniques, delivery and presentation.
- Style and use of language
- Scripting, recording and production of a 10-15 minute transmission.
The seniors will share their experiences and takeaways from the entire learning journey in Broadcast@NLS with the juniors and handhold them in the respective focus areas required for a good broadcast.
All students in Year 2 will go through the Podcasting lessons and all students in Year 3 will go through the Vodcasting and Blogging lessons.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Student DJs will have opportunities to contribute to the school and can be deployed to cover school events like National Day and Sports Day or to conduct ‘live’ interviews with teachers or with VIPs visiting the school. This exposure will allow the student DJs to be acutely aware of the importance of speaking well and hone their language ability.
The student DJs forms the representative voice of the student population and they will be the ambassadors of NLS. They will be given opportunities to share at various platforms on how they have developed holistically from this programme especially in the areas of media literacy and language proficiency.
Upon completion of the podcasting, vodcasting and blogging courses, students will be able to
- script, produce, edit and upload a Podcast or Vodcast.
- storyboard, plan, shoot and edit a short video clip
- effectively present their ideas and get their points across to the audience
- harness the world of multimedia and visual communication in storytelling.
- understand the importance of cyber-etiquette in relation to the use of these emerging technologies.
- develop a greater understanding of vocal presentational and communication skills.
The mentoring aspect in Broadcast@NLS comes about when students have to collaborate together. They gain valuable interpersonal and teamwork skills as they work towards a common objective. The juniors will benefit from the guidance, instruction and support from their seniors as they think through and produce a radio programme for broadcast.
The New Media Framework will be reviewed on a semestral basis. The success of this entire suite of programmes is reflected through the end products from the Broadcast@NLS, podcasting, vodcasting and blogging components together with the feedback from both the students and teachers involved in these programmes.
Both language and media literacy are included in the assessment component where rubrics are used to gauge the proficiency level of every individual student. Selected students are also required to give an account of their learning journey during assembly. The assessment is also measured by the realization of an individual portfolio through personal blogs that captures the student’s learning journey or work samples in a CD portfolio. A New Media Exhibition Day will be held in the school in 2009 to showcase the students’ works where parents, schools and media professionals will be invited.
Approach
To inculcate these principles to create cyber awareness among the pupils. Pupils should be street smart, able to use technology to touch and transform lives, know how to be "alive" vs the danger of being addicted, to be respectful and responsible in the cyberspace.
To develop pupils´ ability to respond to situations in the cyberspace, ie to analyse, evaluate and reflect on the issues and their consequences.
Pupils to translate their understanding into action that will keep them safe while online.
Pupils to make it a habit to do what is right each time they are online.
Deployment
Newspaper articles and video clips are used as content for the lessons. These articles and clips are grouped into the different principles : STAR to bring across the importance messages of being street smart, using technology to touch and transform lives, being alive rather than addicted and to be responsible and respectful in their online activities. These materials are used as discussion points in the lessons. (Aware)
Assessment & ReviewAt the end of the discussion, the pupils will complete an AREA worksheet. AREA - Actions, Results, Effects(Awake), Application (Act). Students are to surface the actions mentioned in the materials, the results of these actions and how these actions affect self and others and how the students will apply what they learnt. When students use the school portal, surf the internet during lessons, their actions will show if they have internalised what they have learnt. (Apply)
- IT Club Adobe Training RI.doc
- LEAD ICT SCHOOLS PROJECT.doc
- Oracle-RI Infocomm NorthLight Project.doc
- SMA Collaboration.doc
Hatch
Write up on Cyber wellness Programme
NorthLight School collaborated with NTU to pilot a CyberWellness programme. This programme was unique in nature as it used a mentoring platform to impart CyberWellness values.
Selected group of Year 3 students were paired with mentors to discuss on topics pertaining to Cyber wellness. Some topics discussed were as follows:
• handling inappropriate content
• cybercrime abuses and prevention
• internet etiquette
• copyrights laws and intellectual property
• protecting personal and private information
The programme included ice-breaking activities; hands-on sessions and group discussions. Students were made to reflect after each session on the CyberWellness values learnt and how they can translate into daily life.
In summary, students found the programme meaningful and beneficial.
| Date | Target | No. of Parents | Venue | Staff incharge |
| 7 Mar 2008 | For Year 3 Parents | 10 | Lab1 Campus 1 | William Chew |
| Date | Target | Sign Up | Venue | Staff incharge |
| 16 May 2008 | Year 3 Students | 15 | Lab1 Campus 1 | April Yew |
| 19 July 2008 | Year 2 Students | | AV Room | April Yew |
| Date | Workshops, Seminars, Conferences | Materials | Staff | Venue |
| 30 Jan 2008 | Learning Journey for Schools | | | NorthLight School |
| 14 Mar 2008 | E5 Organisational Excellence Seminar 2008 by E5 Cluster | Slides | Li Ling | Tanjong Katong Sec |
| 19 Mar 2008 | EZ ICT Extravaganza by East Zone Centre of Excellence | Slides | Sundram, Jali | Victoria Sec |
| 15 April 2008 | Learning Journey by School | | | NorthLight School |
| 29 May 2008 | Teachers´ Conference by Teachers´ Network | Slides | Li Ling, Sundram, William, April, Yusri | Suntec Convention Centre |
| 25 June 2008 | ETD , CPDD | | | NorthLight School |
| 4-5 July 2008 | MOE Excel Fest | | | Suntec City |
| 21 July 2008 | Learning Journey by School | | | NorthLight School |
| 24 July 2008 | E5 Cluster Ps and VPs | | | NorthLight School |
| 07 Aug 2008 | Visit by US delegates | | | NorthLight School |
| 05 Aug 2008 | ICTLT Conference | | | Suntec City |
| 23 Sep 2008 | Sharing with ETD | | | |
| 14 Oct 2008 | Learning Journey by Schools | | | NorthLight School |
| Date | Workshops, Seminars, Conferences | Materials | Staff | Venue |
| 06 Feb 2009 | LEARNING JOURNEY FOR SCHOOLS | | Sundram Yusri Ko-Tan Li Ling |
NLS |
| 09 Feb 2009 | SHARING OF NEW MEDIA PROGRAMME WITH RED SWASTIKA SCHOOL | | Sundram Ko-Tan Li Ling |
NLS |
| 16 Feb 2009 | Learning Journey for participants in the Management & Leadership in Schools Programme | | William Tan | NLS |
| 25 Feb 2009 | Learning Journey for MOE CPDD | | William Tan Ko-Tan Li Ling |
NLS |
| 11 Mar 2009 | Learning Journey for Senior Teacher | | Sundram Vincent Tham |
NLS |
| 23 Feb 2009 | Share New Media Programme with Prime Minister on his visit to NLS | | William Tan | NLS |
| 05 Mar 2009 | Share New Media Programme with First Lady on her visit to NLS | | William Tan | NLS |
| 31 Mar 2009 | Share New Media Programme with Manjusuri Secondary English Department Teachers on their visit to NLS | | Sundram |
NLS |
| 08 Apr 2009 | Share New Media Programme at the East Zone ICT Extravaganza | | Sundram Vincent Tham April Tay Ko-Tan Li Ling |
Ngee Ann Secondary School |
| 09 July 2009 9-10:30 AM | Senior Teacher Learning Journey | | Sundram | NLS |
| 09 July 2009 2.30-5 PM | Senior Teacher Learning Journey | | April Tay | NLS |
was officially declared open
by
Dr Ng Eng Hen
Minister for Education
and Second Minister for Defence
on 3 Oct 2008
