Digital Literacy Programme
Zhonghua Secondary School’s commitment to equipping students with digital literacy skills seeks to prepare our students well for the challenges of a tech-driven world.
Equipping Students with Digital Literacy Skills
As the educational landscape, the working world and our personal lives become more intertwined with digital platforms, Zhonghua Secondary School finds it essential to equip our Secondary 1 students with the necessary digital literacy skills for them to be confident and responsible digital learners.
Building Confidence in Using the Personalised Learning Device (PLD)
The school identified problems that teachers and students commonly faced in class when using their PLDs, such as difficulty in logging in, network problems and challenges with file navigation. Students within a class also demonstrated varied levels of familiarity when it came to the use of software applications like Microsoft in the classroom.
Hence, the school identified a common set of baseline skills so that students can use their PLDs effectively for learning. The ICT Department teachers help our students acquire these essential knowledge and baseline skills. This will empower students to become tech-savvy learners, as they can independently troubleshoot common problems when using their PLDs.
Baseline Skills
- Typing Skills
Students go through typing skills practices in class via learntyping.org and play typing games on typeracer.com to further hone their skills. Students can improve on their typing speed and accuracy with more practices, especially during Self-Directed Learning (SDL) on Home-based Learning (HBL) days.
- Digital Literacy Skills
Teachers demonstrate how students can navigate their student iCON email accounts and Google Classroom, how to use an online calendar and take notes via appropriate applications on their PLDs. Students will advance to learn how to use digital tools (e.g. Microsoft Office, Google Suite apps) to create digital artefacts. Students also complete self-paced Digital Literacy lessons on HBL days.
- Basic Troubleshooting Skills
Teachers go through a set of troubleshooting skills that cover password log-in issues and commonly-encountered network issues.
Providing Platforms to Apply and Demonstrate the Skills Learnt from the Programme
Students apply their learning by completing mini projects in small groups after each lesson to consolidate their learning from the programme. For example, students use Google Slides to present their work on a given topic. They then provide feedback to their peers by commenting on other groups’ presentation slides.
The school promotes student agency by including tasks for students to create self-help videos to help other students learn. The videos are shared on the school’s social media platforms and NDLP micro-site for students to explore in their free time. These “how-to” videos cover usage of the stylus, Google Calendar, and OneNote.
Application of the digital skills learnt are then infused into the curriculum of various subjects, providing students with opportunities to collaborate with one another to create digital artefacts such as presentations and infographics.
Code for Fun Programme
As part of the Digital Literacy Programme, the Secondary 1 students also go through the Code for fun programme (sponsored by IMDA) for one term. This programme exposes the students to computational thinking and also the opportunity to explore the use of micro-controllers through a series of practical activities, fostering creativity and problem-solving skills.
