BANGKOK

BRUNEI has aimed at accelerating the productivity of learning through a teaching method of helping teachers to design quality learning experiences for students in an early age.

In a bid to accelerate the productivity of learning, a metric structure is needed to measure the student’s improvement by developing teacher’s capacity to become designers of learning experiences, said Brunei’s Minister of Education.

Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Awg Abu Bakar Hj Apong was sharing the country’s e-Hijrah Whole School Approach to ICT Development (WSID) project during one of the special ministerial session in the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) Congress which convened yesterday.

“We (Brunei) embarked on a project designed to bridge the gap between the 21st century skills agenda and classroom impact called WSID.

“It was designed to achieve continual school improvement and sustained adaptive change in the adoption and use of ICT, digital age literacy and 21st century pedagogies in all schools,” added YB Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Awg Abu Bakar.

The WSID project was initiated last year with the aim to engage teachers to become “designers of learning” and develop world class standards across the system, he added. The minister underscored the skills which will be developed for teachers in the project.

“The skills developed include solving real world problem, knowledge construction, collaboration, skilled communication, use of ICT for learning, self-regulation and Brunei Global Citizenship,” said the minister. The key drivers for WSID project in Brunei focus on innovative teaching to encourage the use of ICT into the practice of teaching to produce the 21st century learning outcomes, said the minister.

YB Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Awg Abu Bakar went on to stress the importance of developing teacher capacity.

“The WSID project was designed to develop teacher’s capacity to engage in different approaches to teaching which includes knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing and developing knowledge communities. How are we helping our teachers to develop these modalities?”

YB Pehin Dato (Dr) Awg Hj Abu Bakar shared that the WSID project allows the emergence of new teaching trends in classrooms. One example is students doing collaborative research in small groups using technology and reinforcing their understanding by using traditional approaches, the minister explained.

“This shows how a teacher can create a learning environment enhanced by a good learning design process,” added the minister.

The SEAMEO in a statement said that over 450 policy-makers, education and development practitioners, academics, scholars and other stakeholders from Southeast Asia and beyond attended the two-day congress session at the Amari Watergate Hotel.

The congress topics focus on workable human resources development models and strategies to bridge skills gap within the SEAMEO Member Countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Discussion was on practical experiences and success stories of governments as well as the industry and business sector.

The Brunei Times