18 research outputs found
Impact of MSC on Internet banking in Malaysia.
No full textAn exploratory study was conducted using a randomly selected sample of 120 respondents and 22 corporate bankers to view the MSC's impact on Internet banking in Malaysia.Master of Science (Information Studies
Making sense of knowledge work: Cases from three post-secondary institutions in Singapore
No full textThe missions and roles of post-secondary institutions are expanding and changing. This is especially critical in the context of Singapore, a nation reliant on knowledge work and organised around knowledge for its economic growth and development, social control, institutional creativity and innovation. Yet despite the essential contribution that post-secondary schools make to the society, the issues of how participants in these institutions understand and make meaning of knowledge and their knowledge work have received relatively little attention in the literature.This qualitative multi-case study sought to elucidate educators and students identification on knowledge, knowledge work, and the problems and challenges confronting their knowledge work in three widely diverse post-secondary institution settings in Singapore, hereby named OrgPoly, OrgJC and VocInst. The findings from this research are based on 56 interviews conducted during the 2004-2005 academic years (26 staff teaching Year 1 students and 30 Year 1 students), supplemented by surveys, fields notes and reflections obtained from classroom observations, and document records obtained from educators and students.The literature review provided the conceptual platform for the interrogation of that data. Specifically, the review led to the identification of three epistemic positions in relation to the nature of knowledge: knowledge as object, represented as K1; knowledge as personal, resulting from a process of interpretations and meaning making, represented as K2; and, knowledge as cultural, resulting from the framing of personal interpretations by cultural worldviews that are largely implicit, represented as K3.The three single case studies provided an opportunity to identify and differentiate institutional factors that influence the nature of knowledge work within each setting. The findings clearly indicate the ways in which the values and related educational practices in each site both enable and constrain thinking about and engagement in knowledge work. Specifically, it is apparent that the epistemic positions are embedded in institutional cultures, and hence can only be understood adequately only if they are studied in the context of its carriers (the teachers and students themselves and the processes in the schools) and the interaction of those carriers with the larger social environment.Two major implications flow from this study. First, Singapore’s post-secondary institutions have a substantial impact on their graduates’ readiness for knowledge work, and that impact is well aligned with the mission of the institutions represented in this study. For example, Junior Colleges prepare their students for a receptive type of knowledge work, characterised by K1 epistemic positions, while Polytechnics are more likely to prepare students for learning that relies on K2 epistemic positions that involve personal experience and meaning-making. Second, the strength of the relationship between the mission and culture of institutions and the readiness for knowledge work that graduates achieve, implies that Singapore’s government policies and institutional responses to those policies need to promote both an awareness of this alignment, and a continuous monitoring of the alignment of the socio-economic requirements for different types of knowledge workers and missions and practices of the various education sectors
Future of knowledge management in institute of higher learnings
No full textTo a large extent, higher education research ideas exist in the future structure and have a key role to play in policy and practice. This paper presents a brief review on the importance to identify key themes for higher
education research and sets out to explore the future of KM in institute of higher learning.To grasp the way in which the field of KM is heading in higher education, this paper presents a quick tour of the origins of KM and lays out findings from literature reviews.Some empirical support is provided, although further data analysis would certainly be useful.Then it offers some judgments that flow from an analysis of these.It is hoped this paper will stimulate and provoke researchers to add to the debate on the future of KM in higher education research
An Activity Theory Approach to Characterising How ICT Based Innovations Spread in Singapore Schools
No full textInnovation diffusion is a complex process that is undertaken in various ways. The use of ICT-based educational tools have been mandated through the national policy on ICT Masterplan which is at its 4th iteration currently. In line with this, the edulab funding programme is a structure that is put in place to encourage schools to spread innovations. A multiple case study approach is employed to understand how ICT-based innovations are spread to schools through the ‘spread’ model. This model is observed when multiple schools implement the use of a technology in classrooms. The ‘spread’ model shows that the implementation of the technology appears to be due to individual teacher efforts to incorporate technology use in their classrooms. Such models of innovation spread which are centred on the implementation of technology are typically not sustained as the technology becomes outdated and replaced by other novel methods. This chapter will comment on the activity systems of the spread model for ICT-based innovative teaching and learning as well as the contradictions of the model
Creative and critical thinking in Singapore schools
No full textThis paper attempts to provide some fundamentals to help readers appreciate the conceptions of creative and critical thinking through a broad scan of the literature and findings within overseas and local contexts. The paper further provides a brief overview of the assessments used to assess creative and critical thinking to monitor how our thinking works. It brings to the fore the essential conditions for promoting creative and critical thinking. Approaches favourable to nurturing creative and critical thinking are discussed: classroom environment, teacher competencies and dispositions, and school-wide initiatives for promoting creative and critical thinking in our schools. We then suggest some recommendations for supporting teachers in their continuing efforts to promote this among students. We also make the case for the need for systematic baseline study to gauge our intervention developments so that we might better inform the Ministry of Education Singapore on recommended future directions
Adaptivity in the Singapore Education System: Policy Developments Relating to Low Achievement
No full textFostering knowledge building among low achievers through technologies: A perspective from Singapore
No full textThis study explores knowledge building amongst low achievers using Knowledge Forum (KF), an electronic asynchronous discussion medium. A case study was conducted at a government-aided school in Singapore. It was expected that low achievers would be less capable of constructing knowledge independently. However, there was indication of a partial success in fostering a spirit of independent collaborative learning. This could challenge the practice of labelling students according to how well they performed in traditional paper-and-pencil tests. The aim of this case study is to explore the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in shifting the learningpattern of these lower achievers from the diferent ways the students experienced the process of collaborative knowledge construction using KE Through analysis of the postings and interviews of students, the shift of views about learning for this group of low achievers in the following major area was identified: perception of knowledge acquisition, process of knowledge construction and the patterns of communication and collaboration.Published versio
