~ PoStEr DeSiGn ~

8/8/2007 (Wednesday)

Due to dreams, human beings have created great inventions. The Wright Brothers for instance, thought of making a flying machine because for generations and centuries people had nurtured this impossible dream, had given us the airplane, which was later evolved into other more advanced flying object, such as the invisible jet used for the country defense purposes. On the other hand, by confining ourselves to do what we know how to implement, we then deprive ourselves of participation in the evolution of the future. Thus, history has thought us dare to dream and dare to bring novel changes for the good. Luckily, our Ministry of Education understands this pretty well and that is why we are having the 5 initiatives to bring new changes into the Educational field. None other than this, our fifth lesson for the course on "Technology in Primary Education" starts by Ms. Chin briefly introducing the 5 initiatives in Education—Smart School, ETEMS / PPSMI, School.net, Makmal Computer and TV / Radio pendidikan.

We are brought through the express highway for the brief concept on “Pembestarian Sekolah” and its related information, such as the vision of the Smart School as well as its flagship. Moreover, Ms. Chin has also given us a new link for our further reading on “TV / Radio Pendidikan”— http://www.moe.edu.my/tvp. In addition, Ms. Chin has also again, given us the link on http://myschoolnet.ppk.kpm.my/indexg.htm as only a handful of us have got it during her tutorial session for the previous lesson. Wonder why it is “express highway”? Well, I describe the lesson by Ms. Chin as a journey through the “express highway” as today we have special surprise which would be time-consuming for the lesson. So, out of choice, the only thing for Ms. Chin to do is to rush through it so that we would have time for the coming activity (I guess I understand her way of doing this :p).

After which, our Prof. further (though is still brief) gives us an overview on all the 5 initiatives mentioned by Ms. Chin:

Smart School (Pembestarian Sekolah)

• It is to make all schools smart.
• In order to do this, the teachers should be smartly trained to become the catalysts for the transformation as the schools would not be smart without the smart teachers.
• The Ministry of Education has spent a lot of money for this programme (RM 43 K if I’m not mistaken) and it is aimed that next year, all schools will be the Smart School.
  (Possible? Impossible? Well, by referring back to my introduction, we should dare to dream and dare to bring novel changes, I believe our history will not deceive us. So, let us, the future teachers embrace this dream and work towards reality!)
  

PPSMI / ETEMS

• It has been running for 5 years.
  
  

School.net

• It is a broadband.
• It needs to have a satellite disc for the internet signal.
• It allows the schools – the teachers and pupils to access internet through school.net.
  

Makmal Computer

• The number of computers allocated for each school depends on the size of the school.
• A small school may not have a computer lab but it does have computers for pupils according to the ratio between the pupils and the computers, for instance 5:1 or 10:1.
• For big schools, such as those with 1000 pupils, the school will probably have 4 computer labs while a normal size school will have a computer lab of perhaps 20 computers.
  

TV / Radio Pendidikan

• It is for the pupils in Sabah and Sarawak as to teach them their mother tongue—their “Bahasa Ibunda”.
• Now, this programme in on Channel 9 as well.
• It is seldom being used due to the TV / Radio schedule.
• It has WebTV too where the teachers can upload videos for the use in teaching.
  

Besides that, Prof. also introduces us to a few acronyms which are crucial for our future profession as a teacher:

• BTPN (Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan Negeri) which was previously known as the PSPN (Pusat Sumber Pendidikan Negeri).
• PKG (Pusat Kegiatan Guru).

After that, here comes the long anticipated surprise ~ Poster Design.

One of the Prof. graduated students who is now studying in the Multimedia University, Ms. Nazirah (hopefully I got all the information written down correctly) is now conducting a research on DISC (Designing for interaction and students’ collaboration) which is mainly about poster designing for the coming 50th Merdeka Celebration for the Malaysian Primary pupils. We are told to be the white mouse for this research. After being exposed to all the “must” for designing a poster by Ms. Nazirah—1) A title 2) A picture 3) A caption 4) A logo and lastly 5) The names of the designer(s), in our own groups, we are to design a poster based on the templates as well as the pictures given to us in 45 minutes. Personally, I am satisfied with the process and product of my group though there are rooms for improvements. Below are some of my reflections about it:

Did you face any problem during the session? Why?

Overall, there is no pertinent problem faced during the session as I am able to carry out the poster design fairly smooth. However, there is one thing to be raised, since we are in a group of five, undoubtedly we have to give in and tolerate the opinions of others. Individual preferences are always not that easy to cater to. Hence, a considerably high degree of tolerance and acceptance are needed if the poster design is to be done in group. Moreover, in order to come to a consensus on how the poster should be designed; this takes up lots of time and resulting in time constrains. Other than these two problems, it is perfectly fine for the session.

What do you think of the instruction?

The instructions are clear and straight to the point. There is no problem in getting across the message on what the pupils should do. Basically, the instructions are well structured and the delivery of it is audible since it is clear and loud. However, here is a suggestion…
Since young learners need guidance in completing a task or an activity, perhaps the requirements and the ‘must’ for a poster design can be flashed on the board while they are designing the poster. This will provide a better and more concrete visual support besides audio support to the pupils that help in catering their different learning styles. As a result, this will help to ensure that they will not stray away from the expected requirements for a poster design and helps them to focus their attention during their poster design as they have the written requirements to rely on.

What improvements can you suggest?

The suggestions for improvements, in my point of view would be as follow:

• We are only being exposed to the strategies in designing a poster such as the use of contradicting colours, the font size and the chunking techniques after our poster design. Perhaps the pupils can be pre-introduced to all this strategies so to ensure a better quality in their poster designs.
• Perhaps a brief guidance and ideas on the written text is given. Unless the pupils have considerably high level of proficiency in their language command, they will feel difficult in producing a text regarding the Merdeka celebration for their poster.
• Since creativity is a gift by the God; we shall not kill the pupils’ creativity by restricting them to a particular templates or pictures. Those are just guidance for them. Perhaps more choices can be given to the pupils in terms of choosing the templates and pictures or they may be given the permission to come out with their own pictures or templates as long as they follow the requirements for a poster design.
• In order to bring out the mood for independence and the love for our country, as well as to show a sense of uniformity, perhaps the poster can be restricted to the use of the four colours in our nation flag. Though I understand that this would increase the demanding level in the poster design, however, we shall not under-estimate our pupils’ creativity.

How would you carry out this design session with primary level students?

If I am given the opportunity, I would carry out the design session very much identical to those I have experienced and perhaps, including the suggestions that I have mentioned before. However, I would like to add on something—a trial poster design session prior to this. As according to Piaget, young learners need concrete experience to learn and perform better. Hence, by having a trial poster design on other theme will give the pupils a concrete experience in poster designing. This will help in their poster design session on Merdeka Celebration later. Moreover, the trial session can perhaps reduce their anxiety in poster designing and hence motivates them. We shall not forget the saying that goes like this: Practice makes perfect!

Basically, those are my reflections and suggestions for the poster design session and frankly, I am happy to be the white mouse for it as I enjoy the session much. Oh yes, the session reminds me of the song ~ I feel good, like sugar and spice… (The effect of watching too much on NTV 7, haha!)

The lesson ends with the presentation of our poster and comments on the strategies used that are showered by our Prof., Ms. Ng and Ms. Nazirah, as well as the viewing of the great power point design done by the primary school kids. One word, the power points are absolutely AMAZING! I am stunned by it!