Education Bureau Circular Memorandum No. EDBCM 9/2014
From : Secretary for Education To : Supervisors / Heads of all government and aided primary, secondary and special schools (including caput schools and local schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme)
Ref. : EDB(EID/ITE)/IT/PRO/189 Date 13 January 2014
Support Scheme for e-Learning in Schools
Summary
The purpose of this circular memorandum is to invite schools to apply for the Support Scheme for e-Learning in Schools (the Scheme) and participate in the coming briefing sessions.
Background
2. With a view to facilitating schools to use e-textbooks, e-learning resources and relevant pedagogies in their learning and teaching, the Education Bureau (EDB) has earmarked funding for about 100 schools to upgrade their WiFi infrastructure and to acquire mobile computing devices sufficient for use in schools. These schools will share their good practices in upgrading and utilizing their infrastructure for the use of e-textbooks and e-learning resources.
The Scheme
Objectives
3. The Scheme aims at providing 100 public sector schools with funding to enhance their WiFi infrastructure to cater for the need of using e-textbooks and e-learning resources in class. The funding will also allow schools to acquire mobile computing devices sufficient for use in class by students. With the resources and support from the EDB, both pedagogical and technical, the schools will act as change agent to achieve the following missions –
(a) To work with service providers to build up the necessary infrastructure conducive to the use of e-textbooks and e-learning resources in class;
(b) To act as test bed for the infrastructure build-up process and other value-added service;
(c) To establish pedagogical use of e-textbooks and e-learning resources and to build an intra-school community of practice to facilitate whole-school adoption of
e-textbooks and e-learning resources and hence e-learning; and
(d) To share with other schools the lessons learnt, including setup of relevant community of practice among teachers.
Arrangements
4. Schools may hire a service provider to design, build and operate the whole infrastructure and to pay for the service by subscription hereafter, effectively through a
“subscription” model. Alternatively, schools may use the funding to design, build, own and operate the Wifi infrastructure. To kick start the use of e-textbooks and e-learning resources in the 2014/15 school year, the schools can also use the grant to acquire sufficient mobile computing devices (an average of 50 devices should be sufficient for use on a 2 or 3 students to 1 device ratio for one level of students). In line with the current practice for disbursement of the Composite IT Grant, the rate of grant will be commensurate with the number of classes and each school will receive a one-off grant in the range from $242,500 to $606,400.
5. To help teachers establish firm pedagogical use of e-textbooks and e-learning resources, we will provide tailor-made professional development programmes for teachers of these schools to beef up their knowledge and skills on e-learning. The professional development programmes will also aim to build up intra-school community of practice to scale up whole-school adoption of e-textbooks and e-learning resources. It is envisaged that the process will build up a critical mass of teachers to enable sector-wide adoption of e-textbooks and e-learning resources for e-learning.
6. To ensure the necessary WiFi environment be built up on time for using e-textbooks and e-learning resources in the 2014/15 school year, technical and project management support will be provided for schools. The services will include providing technical advice on the design of the WiFi infrastructure and monitoring the work of service providers.
Application
7. Schools interested are encouraged to visit the website
http://www.edb.gov.hk/ited/supportscheme to learn more about the Scheme. Those who wish to file an application are required to submit the completed application form for the Scheme (available for download at the aforesaid website) together with their Three-year e-learning Development Plan (from 2014/15 to 2016/17) by hand or by post to:
Information Technology in Education Section Education Bureau
Room E420 4/F, East Block, EDB Kowloon Tong Education Services Centre 19 Suffolk Road
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
on or before 6 p.m. on 17 Feb 2014 (Monday).
Selection Criteria
8. Applicant schools will be selected based on their Three-year e-learning Development Plan (from 2014/15 to 2016/17) highlighting, but not limited to the following areas –
(a) Curriculum planning;
(b) Details and schedule for using e-textbooks / e-learning resources;
(c) Teachers professional development plan;
(d) Engagement of stakeholders; and
(e) Plan for buildup of mobile learning environment.
9. One objective of the Scheme is to support schools that will use one or more than one e-textbook or set of curriculum-based e-learning resources in the 2014/15 school year as part of the school’s e-learning Development Plan. This is a mandatory requirement for application.
10. Other factors including the applicant schools’ track record on IT in Education and e-learning will also be considered. Successful applicant schools will be informed of the outcome by mid-March 2014 and the infrastructure build-up, support services and teacher professional development programmes will begin in April 2014.
Briefing session
11. To enhance schools’ understanding of the Scheme, two identical briefing sessions
will be conducted on 18 January 2014 (Saturday) and 20 January 2014 (Monday) to explain the details. Schools are invited to nominate a maximum of two representatives to
attend the briefing session and enroll through the Training Calendar System (TCS) [Course ID:
EI0020140127].
Enquiry
12. For enquiries, please contact the IT in Education Section at 3698 3609.
M SHE
for Secretary for Education
c.c. Heads of Sections - for information
