SBI 3013

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN BIOLOGY

ASSIGNMENT 1:
THE ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN INTEGRATING ICT FOR
TEACHING AND LEARNING IN OUR MALAYSIAN SCHOOLS.
LECTURE GROUP: A
LECTURERS NAME: MR. AZMI BIN IBRAHIM
NAME

MATRIC NO.

MAHIRAH BINTI ZAINAL ABIDIN

D20141066919

MERINY JOREEN ANAK MATIAS

D20141066915

PROBLEM STATEMENT
ICT application have become an important part of teaching and learning. The Ministry of
Education has invested a huge effort in terms of funding and training to equip teachers and
students with ICT skills.
In your opinion, what are the issues and challenges in integrating ICT in teaching and learning in
our Malaysian schools.

Information and communications technology or also known as ICT is an umbrella term

that include any communication device or application, for instance computer, cellular phone,
television and network hardware and software, satellite systems as well as the various services and
applications associated with them such as videoconferencing and distance learning. ICT
application have become an important part of teaching and learning. The advancement of
technology has transformed conventional teaching and learning into a more fresh and uptodate
way of teaching and learning in the classroom.

\
A good teacher will try use available ICT equipment or software to enhance the teaching
and learning process, thus attracting students attention and interest toward the subject. Indeed eLearning has been described as the use of electronic technology to deliver, support and enhance
teaching and learning (Learning Technologies, 2003). The Ministry of Education has invested a
huge effort in terms of funding and training to equip teachers and students with ICT skills
starting in 1986. However, there are issues and challenges in integrating ICT in teaching and
learning in our Malaysian schools.

New initiatives and innovations have been introduced to elevate the Malaysian
educational system to fulfill the national aspirations as well as to meet the international
challenges. The emergence of ICT in Malaysia started from the Teaching and Learning of
Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI), the program introduced in 2003. The sprouting of
mobile computing in schools started when the government introduced the PPSMI program. As
part of the program, every Science and Mathematics teachers were granted laptops as a means to
enhance the delivery of both subject areas in English. The issues is started when government
spend a lot of money to provide the facilities for this program such as the teachers CDROM and
the laptops. In the 2003 Budget, the Malaysias former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad said that the government provided an allocation of RM 5 billion for a period of seven
years from 20022008, to implement the PPSMI program.

CD-ROM

The other common issue for integrating ICT in Malaysian schools is Notebook 1
Malaysia. Government have spent almost 1 billion to supply the laptops under the Universal
Service Provision (USP) fund. The main objective of USP is improving usage of ICT in the
community towards a knowledgeable society. Although the government spend high cost for this,
still the students use it in the wrong way. They did not use the facilities wisely for learning
process but surfing something they should not do.

Human factor such as lack of skillful teachers in ICT could be the challenge in integrating
ICT in teaching and learning. Not all teachers have advance knowledge in ICT, thus it will cause
difficulty for some teachers to apply ICT in their lessons. This could be a problem when teachers
are not able to enhance thinking skills in students if the ICT application is not included in
teaching and learning. Students nowadays are tend to learn by using technology. So, each of
teachers and teacherstobe have to prepare themselves with ICT knowledges and skills. Teachers
must be trained intensively for ICT application in teaching and learning to enhance their
creativity for lesson plan. This will increase their confidence level to apply technology in class
and to ensure the ability of learning using technology in every students.

Last but not least, lack of infrastructures provided to teach and learn using ICT in school
is the physical factor that make the ICT application in school become more challenging. The
facilities such as computer is the most basic device to introduce the technology usage in study to
students in every school, especially in rural areas. However, this problem has decreases the
chances for each students to handle computer by themselves since they have to share the devices
during class session. So, the knowledge of ICT is not fully applied in learning for some students
because of lack of experiences in handling devices such as computer. Government should take
note about this issue and find out on how to overcome this problem so that students can apply
ICT in their study.

It is such an undeniable fact that ICT application has become a trend and an important
part of teaching and learning. However, a lot of issues and challenges arise from this idea. So, the
government, especially the Ministry of Education has to open their eyes widely to see these
issues and take serious on these matters to find the ways to overcome the problems in order to
create such an excellent education system in Malaysia.

REFERENCES
1)

Professor Dr Noraini Idris, & Zulaikha Nurain Mudzar. (2012). Usage of ICT in
instruction. In Aznita Ahmad Pharmy (Ed.), Malaysian Teacher Quality: Perception By
Various Stakeholders (p. 10). Kuala Lumpur: Pearson Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

2) Selamat , Asri, Esa, Ahmad, Saad, Shamsaadal Sholeh, Asliaty. (2011). TEACHING
AND LEARNING MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE IN ENGLISH IN PRIMARY
SCHOOLS IN THE STATE OF JOHOR, MALAYSIA. Journal of Education, 16, 6173.
3) Ahmad Fauzi Mohd Ayubb, Wong Su Luan, & Mas Nida Md. Khambaria. (2010).
Technology in Mathematics Teaching: The Pros and Cons. Procedia Social and Behavioral
Sciences , 8, 555560.
4) NATIONAL BROADBAND INITIATIVE: SKMM ALLOCATES ONE MILLION
1MALAYSIA NETBOOKS FOR DISTRIBUTION. (2010, July 30). Kenyataan Media
Press Release, pp. 15.