Dokumen Analisis

The Ministry of education was created laws of Smart School concept in early 1996 which is teaching and learning based on creative thinking. Nowadays, learning institution and school management are reconstructed systematically to prepare children for Information Age. Smart School had become one of the seven flagships of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). Technology is one of the most important components in implementing the Smart School concept. A Conceptual Blueprint of Smart School is produced by officials from the Multimedia Development Corporation, the Ministry of Education and industry representatives. The team drew on various kinds of resources. Team members made study visits to Smart School in various parts of the world and reported on their findings.

The special feature of Smart School will be a teaching and learning environment built on international best practices in primary and secondary education.  This teaching and learning concepts involved curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and teaching and learning materials. According to Smart School concept, the curriculum must be technology-based learning, open-ended, holistic, global, meaningful, socially responsible, reflective and multicultural. Therefore, the curriculum will be designed to help students achieve overall balanced development integrate knowledge, skills values and correct use of language, state explicitly intended learning outcomes for different ability levels, offer multidisciplinary, thematic and continuous learning, also foster the knowledge skills and attitude appropriate for success in the Information Age.

Undeniable, the Smart School are going to make learning better to prepare children for greater challenges over time and show capabilities among the students. However, the pedagogy shall use an appropriate mix of learning strategies to ensure mastery of basic competencies and promote holistic development, accommodate individual different learning style, so as to boost performance. In addition, a classroom atmosphere that is compatible with different teaching-learning strategies must be introduced. In the other hand, the Smart School assessment systems are created to help realise the National Philosophy of Education. It shall be element-based and criterion-referenced to provide a more holistic and accurate picture of a student’s performance. Hence, teachers, students and parents must adept with technology to be able to access on-line assessment items, for example by using multiple approaches and instruments.

New teaching strategies need materials that will accommodate students with different needs and abilities, resulting in fuller realization of their capabilities and potential, and allow students to take greater responsibility for managing and directing their learning. The resources of Smart School management should be manage efficiently and effectively, and to fulfil the objectives, it need a strong, professional administrators and teachers who can articulate school goal’s clearly, lead teaching at the school, and elicit strong parental and community support. Students ready for higher education or active and productive participation in the work force if the system is well designed, providing appropriate inputs and yield the desired outputs.

Technology alone will not make a school smart, only advanced teaching-learning strategies, well train people with enthusiasm for their work, management and administrative processes and capable can do that. However, traditional school are able to transform into Smart School by information technology. School-level technology helps in classrooms with multimedia courseware and presentation facilities, library centre with a database for multimedia courseware, computer laboratory for teaching, multimedia development centre, studio for centralized audiovisual equipment, teacher’s room, administration offices and server room. Likewise, parents, students and teachers can stay connect with the school and use the school as a centre for continued learning.

Challenges in technology that should be curb in organizing Smart School concept is by distributing sufficient teaching materials and technological infrastructure in every school either in cities or rural areas. By contrast, the problems arise due to lack of chance to be exposed to technology as well as limited internet connectivity especially in rural area. In order to succeed this concept, government should include a technology package, which must be technically feasible, economically viable, socially acceptable, environment friendly, consistent with household endowment and relevant to the needs of rural people.

In a nutshell, students need to be alert and up-to-date with the advanced technology in this century so that they can enhancing their ability and do not miss any necessary opportunity to show their potential. Either in Smart School or ordinary school, students should adapt well and encourage a healthy rivalry among them.

In our opinion regarding the Smart School concept, there is not much democratization in education. Students have no choice on what to learn and when to sit for the examination. The present assessment system does not allow learners to sit for the examination. The present assessment system does not allow learners to sit for the exam when they are ready but exams are scheduled.

Other than that, we hesitate on how well a teacher carries out in the Smart classroom. To make the best use of new ideas and tools, teachers must understand the relevance, usefulness and usability of those ideas or tools. Learning skills, creative and critical thinking, facilitating, assessment and evaluation and also technologically competent are skills that must be acquired wholly for teachers to be able to facilitate Smart classrooms. Teachers also need help and support when things go wrong or technology does not function. Under this system, teachers are not trained to create and implement teaching materials themselves. Some teachers see the courseware as a replacement for pedagogy. A common misconception among teachers is that using the courseware simply means assigning a topic for students to learn or search. At the end, students do not gain the knowledge.