voyeurism

the eduLab programme 2010 - 2018

in August 2008, the then Minister for Education in Singapore - Ng Eng Hen - announced that the ministry would "support the establishment of a network of educational labs where innovations can be prototyped and tested."

the initiative that evolved from this became known as eduLab, and was conceptualised to be a mechanism to develop Singapore as a 'living lab' for Interactive Digital Media (IDM) in education, funded by the Singapore National Research Foundation's IDM strategic programme.

the objective of eduLab was thus to be a "major conduit through which ideas can be brought in to practice, of which selected practices can be subsequently scaled within the education system".

in order to achieve this objective, it was made explicit at the outset that eduLab projects "would differ from traditional R&D projects, in that while the latter tend to be predominantly led by Principal Investigators, eduLab projects will seek to be true collaborations among various stakeholders and practitioners in which all parties involved work in significantly co-equal partnerships".

in this, teachers in the eduLab programme were supported by access to a physical space at the Academy of Singapore Teachers, access to experts, brokering for partnerships, and funding; these were all under the oversight of a joint office comprising members of the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Education.

with this vision, eduLab was pretty powerful and unique.

it was launched to teachers at an event at Jurong Junior College in November 2010, with the first networking and brainstorming sessions held shortly after.

today - seven and a half years' later - funding for what was known as the eduLab programme has come to an end.

my team and i are very grateful to the eduLab programme, and to the members of its Programme Management Office (PMO), for their unstinting support and patience these seven and a half years.

the Disciplinary Intuitions / Six Learnings programme has benefitted greatly from the support provided by the eduLab programme.

we would like to take this opportunity to wish all past and present members of the PMO the very best as you chart the paths ahead.

:-)

Disciplinary Intuitions / Maker Motes: keynote at the International Conference on Educational Innovation (ICEI) 2018

i was very humbled to receive an invitation to present a keynote address at this year's International Conference on Educational Innovation (ICEI) 2018.

the conference is hosted by the Hsinchu Teachers' College of the National Tsing Hua University, and will take place on the 16th and 17th of November.

the theme for this year's conference is the present and future of interdisciplinary education.

i am really grateful to the Dean of the College, and her staff, for the trust they have so graciously extended to me.

it would be great to be able to interact with some of you during the conference :-)

 

 

Redstone Jammin' - collaborative music making with Minecraft: Gold award from the Nanyang Research Programme

my team and i would like to express our heartiest congratulations to our friend and intern - Lionel Lim - for being awarded Gold for his effort in conceptualising, designing, building, and enacting Redstone Jammin’ - collaborative music making in Minecraft.

Lionel’s Gold award comes from the Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Research Programme 2017.

i’ve blogged on several occasions prior about Redstone Jammin’, but the most effective way to learn about it is from Lionel himself :-)

celebrating Temasek's tenth anniversary in Second Life :-)

today is a very happy day for me - ten years’ ago, some friends and i opened the island of Temasek in Second Life to the general public to visit :-)

it’s fantastic to know that of the original team of architects, Derekcsy Cortes, Sanspareil London, and Lim Pikajuna are still active builders in Second Life.

God has blessed us with a lasting friendship and brotherhood, for which we will always be grateful.

to God be the glory!

Chairing the 'interaction design in collaborative and learning environments' session at HCII 2018

back in April, i shared that my intern’s work on a learning environment for collaborative music-making in Minecraft will be shared at this year’s international conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII 2018).

i have just been invited to chair the session, which will be under the Learning and Collaboration Technologies track of the conference.

our session is entitled ‘interaction design in collaborative and learning environments’, and will take place from 4 pm to 6 pm on Wednesday the 18th of July at Caesar’s Palace.

do join us, if you happen to be in the neighbourhood :-)

Disciplinary Intuitions / Maker Motes: behind the scenes of NTU / NIE unrestricted elective AGE08D

last December i shared about a new NTU / NIE unrestricted elective my team and i are able to offer :-)

we’ve been busy preparing for AGE08D Designing learning environments: a focus on the Internet of Things.

here’s a sneak peek :-)

the heart of education

through God’s grace, my team has gone through thick and thin together over the past six years.

as our work with schools has evolved, we have collectively come to realise that there is more to life than just securing grants and getting published.

over the past year especially, we know it is high time we widen our understanding of what learning and education are truly about.

the photo below is a simple one, but it is one which gives us a great deal of satisfaction.

it represents a collaboration which demanded a great leap of faith, of vision and trust from the staff and students / wards of the NUS High School of Math & Science, and of the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home.

to God be the glory.