An examination of the concept of smart school: an innovation to address sustainability

Abstract

The smart school is a technology-based teaching learning institution for preparing children for the Information Age. To achieve smarts schools educational objectives, these teaching and learning concepts should be covered: curricular, pedagogy, assessment and teaching-learning materials. Information and communication technology (ICT), as second pillar of smart school, plays many roles in a smart school, from facilitating teaching and learning activities to assisting with school management. For instance, some of technologies which can equip a smart school might be classrooms with multimedia courseware and presentation facilities, computer laboratory for teaching, multimedia development center and server room equipped to handle applications, management databases, and web servers. Although in recent years some efforts have been done for developing smart schools, there is not a pre-defined and an efficient solution for establishing ICT environment for smart schools. The main objective of this research is to examine pertinent aspects of smart school’s concept, namely matters pertaining to teacher training, information technology (IT) infrastructure, and curriculum design to ensure that the innovation can successfully nurture a workforce prepared to meet the challenges of the ICT era.