22 March, PUTRAJAYA – The need to use ICT in scaling up higher quality learning has been highlighted in Malaysia Education Blueprint. In accordance to this, UNITEN through its Yayasan Canselor UNITEN had introduced Confirm A; online learning software created for students in primary and secondary schools.
“To reduce the digital gap among students in rural and urban areas, we have to provide them with the skill and knowledge to learn effectively and live productively in a global and digital world”, said Y.B. Datuk P. Kamalananthan, Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Learning II in his key speech during the launching of Confirm A @ UNITEN and prize giving ceremony of UPSR and SPM Challenge 2015 in UNITEN today.
Saying that this program had complemented the 7th key shift in the Malaysia Education Blueprint by providing an ICT learning environment in schools, he also stressed out that the involvement of parents and community with the school in a learning environment is vital and this can be achieved through Confirm A@UNITEN.
“Confirm A@UNITEN is an online software created based on SUKSES@UNITEN (Student Knowledge and Skills Enhancement System) which is a computerized homework system used in several subjects in UNITEN. Looking at the efficiency of SUKSES@UNITEN in university students, UNITEN had adapted this system for primary and secondary schools through School Partnership in Harnessing Innovation and Nurturung Excellence (SHINE@UNITEN) as part of the corporate social responsibility through its Yayasan Canselor UNITEN (YCU)”, said Y.B. Tan Sri Leo Moggie, the chairman of Tenaga Nasional Berhad about the background of the system.
According to him, the system is actually a public-private partnership between UNITEN and SK Jalan 3, Bangi, where UNITEN provides the expertise in software programming and server networking and the school provides the input in learning method for the students.
Led by Prof Madya Dr. Mohd Azree Idris, a team from UNITEN had initially developed a system which uses Minimal Adequate Drilling Exercise (MADE) formula but somehow realized that the students whom had passed Level 10 and above had automatically developed Higher Order Thinking Skills from the questions generated.
“Upon every progress of the students, the parents will be notified via SMS. This real-time tracking phase will somehow allow competitions among students” said Dr. Mohd Azree. “It will also boost their confidence in answering the questions”.
When asked about the real-time access for students, Nahzatul Ain (the mother to Amira Afiqah, one of the award recipients during the ceremony) commented that this creates focus to the student through its interactive interface.
“This allows them to do more questions and to constantly learn from the mistakes done in answering” added her again. Amira Afiqah had improved from 7-8 A’s to 14 A’s in just 1 year, an impressive achievement among others during the prize-giving ceremony.
Commenting on the method of presentation, Puan Nor Hainie Abu Bakar, the principal from SK Jalan 3 whom had been with the program since 2012 said that this system is against the traditional question spotting system whereby it allows the students to equip themselves with all the knowledge needed to score the papers by doing questions, which will be calculated in total to be used to compare the progress of one school with another which allows competition among schools too.
“This system is expected to be implemented in many other schools apart from the current 188 schools consisting of more than 10000 users; a possible goal since this program charges nothing to the school and students”, said Prof. Ir. Dr. Ibrahim Hussein, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of UNITEN.