Background Information on on the Internet

A Brief Report on Collaborative Projects on Internet There are 3 distinct phases in the Singapore-UK Collaborative Projects on Internet. 1: Project OceanWave In February 1997, ETD/MOE collaborated with the British Council in the Singapore-UK collaborative project called: "Project OceanWave" which culminated in the launch on 11 Apr 97 of the British Council web site for the project on board the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious which stopped in Singapore. Minister Teo Chee Hean was Guest-of-Honour for the launch. In this project initiated by Dr John Grote, Director of the British Council, 2 schools from Singapore (Xinmin Pri School and Crescent Girls' Sec) were personally visited by the Birmingham Delegation leader Mr Doug Brown of the Birmingham City Council Education Department and the Head and Deputy Head Teachers of the 2 UK schools (Robin Hood School and Selly Park Technology College for Girls). Subsequently, the schools emailed one another and the aircraft carrier to elicit information from the schools and the aircraft carrier on its way from UK to Hong Kong for the official hand-over of Hong Kong to China. The information gathering exercise of the Singapore schools expanded to include visiting the Port of Singapore and the RSN. The following is a list of what the schools came up with and that which was published at the British Council web site as well as on the individual schools' web sites: Robin Hood School, Birmingham: Portsmouth port Lovely grub! Xinmin Primary School, Singapore: Xinmin's welcome Facts about the ship Port of Singapore Route of the ship Singapore Gallery Selly Park Technology College for Girls, Birmingham: Technology Communications Power and Propulsion Hydraulics Women in the RN Crescent Girls' School, Singapore: In the course of duty Admittance to RSN Women in the RSN Job nature Benefits Training in the Navy Requirements 2 : The Second Visit to Singapore by the Birmingham Delegation In October 1997, the Birmingham Delegation returned for another visit to Singapore and their partner schools. This time, the collaboration expanded to include another 2 UK schools (St Peter's Pri and St Paul's High) and 2 Singapore schools (Rosyth and St Nicholas Girls). The 4 UK schools' representatives and the 4 Singapore schools' key personnel had a 2-day conference to work out their arrangements for the next Collaborative Project on Internet. They made proposals to each other as to how they were going to carry out Curriculum-based projects which were beneficial for both sides. During the week the delegation was in Singapore, ETD arranged visits and briefings for them. These included visits and briefings at the ETD, NIE, NJC, RGS , Singapore On-line and Singapore One. In addition, Mr Broadfield and Ms Aston, the Head and Deputy Head Teachers of Robin Hood School gave a talk at ETD to principals of primary schools, while Ms Wendy Davies and Mr Mel Tennant of Selly Park Sec School addressed principals of secondary schools at the Teachers' Centre. The delegation's visit to Singaporet concluded with a Summing Up Conference with Director /ETD at ETD Conference Room in which the UK and Singapore schools representatives summarised what had been achieved during their visits, briefings and discussions. 3 : Martin Tibbetts' Involvement in the Singapore-UK Collaborative Project During the ITELL conference in Singapore in September 1997, Dr Grote suggested a meeting with Mr Martin Tibbetts, a Head Teacher presenting a paper at the ITELL conference. As a result , a meeting was held in which Mr Tibbetts , Dr Grote, Mr Albert Ong (Sr IT Instructor i/c Collaborative Projects on Internet) and Mrs Cheng Huey Teng (AD/Special Projects) participated. The meeting called for an expanded involvement of UK and Singapore schools. Subsequently, Mr Tibbetts sent ETD a list of 28 UK schools interested in having Collaborative Projects on Internet with partner schools in Singapore. To date, all the schools have been twinned with their Singapore counterparts. In addition, 6 other UK schools, sourced from the "Window on the World" web site in Dec 97/Jan 98, have agreed to participate in the Collaborative Project on Internet, thus bringing the total number of UK schools involved to 34. 4: Mt Everest Project During the period Feb - Jun 98, a team of Singaporean climbers were climbing Mt Everest. Schools in Singapore were invited to email the mountain-climbers at the base camp at Mt Everest. Likewise, all UK schools participating in the Singapore-UK Collaborative Project on Internet were invited to participate in this exciting adventure. The names of participating schools from both Singapore and UK are listed in the official MOE web site set up for the purpose of publicising the Mt Everest Project. 5: OceanWave 2: HMS Grafton The British frigate HMS Grafton docked in Singapore for a week from 15 - 22 September 1998. The British Council had arranged with ETD to have schools in Singapore, namely Cedar Girls' Secondary School and Tampines Primary School, to email to the crew of the frigate via satellite about their voyage to Singapore and the complexities of life on board the battleship. Steps were also being considered to twin UK schools with the Singapore schools for this project. (Report updated: Nov 98)

This Web Site was set up by a Sr IT Instructor for the purpose of serving the needs of Teachers
who may want relevant information or help in carrying out Collaborative Projects on the Internet.