Budding Writers Project 2009

In its 10th year now, the Budding Writers Project was first initiated to encourage young children to develop their creative writing and artistic skills. The winning entries of the project will have their works printed to a book and sold to the public.

Marshall Cavendish Online is proud to support Marshall Cavendish in this project by converting the winning entries to a digital format available via the web. As we move into the digital age, it is essential for audience to be given a choice of either the traditional physical book or an electronic one for reading at anytime, anywhere with internet connectivity.

Besides just having the winning entries printed onto a book, the authors were also given the opportunity to be attached to Marshall Cavendish and Marshall Cavendish Online to understand the process involved to have their books edited, adding digital illustrations, digitising their books to the final process of printing. The authors visited Marshall Cavendish Online on November 18 to learn how their books were digitised and were later brought to a professional recording studio to have their voices recorded for their narration of the digital books.

The official launch of the winning books was held at Chamber, The Arts House on December 4, 2009. The winners of this year’s Budding Writers Project, The Crying Dream by Anya Lee and Ricky Learns To Fly by Yuli Steffina were both thrilled being the ‘star’ of the evening. Mr. S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Ministry of Education was the guest of honour for the event. His presence certainly played great importance in motivating the winners to continue showcasing their flair in creative writing. Marshall Cavendish Online, supporting the Budding Writers Project for the first time, was on site that evening to showcase and assist guests in navigating the digital books.

With the success of this year’s participation, Marshall Cavendish Online will be looking forward to working with Marshall Cavendish Education again for next year’s Budding Writers Project. All young writers out there, get your pens ready.

• For more information about Budding Writers Project, please visit www.marshallcavendish.com/education/buddingwriters

Marshall Cavendish Online supports Technology Initiative in Education

While the initiative has achieved much success in deploying technological innovations into education, we know there's still much to be done locally and globally.

That is why Marshall Cavendish Online is supportive of any initiative that will help in the advancement of technology to optimise student's potential.

Last 21 to 23 November 2008, Marshall Cavendish Online sponsored the competition Asian Robotics League VEX Championship 2008. The event was organised by Rulang Primary School and the Asian Robotics League in partnership with Millenia Institute.

Held at Rulang Primary School, 84 teams coming from China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore competed for the top spot. In the end, Hong Kong and China teams were announced as winners who will then represent Asia in the upcoming World VEX Championship.

When Education Meets Technology

Fuji Xerox, together with Marshall Cavendish Online, held a seminar on 13 November 2009 for schools on how to streamline administrative processes to achieve higher productivity and efficiency.

Andy shared with the teachers the various possibilities for schools to improve work processes and, at the same time, go green by reducing paper wastage with Fuji Xerox products.

The workshop was then followed by a demonstration by Mookaiah Manomani, HOD IT for Fairfield Methodist Secondary School, on how Marshall Cavendish Online assists her in her everyday teaching in school. Leveraging on Marshall Cavendish Online’s ‘Offline Homework’ tool, she is able assign homework for her students to complete without being connected onto the internet.

This seminar brought the attendees a step closer on the various methods available on how to be environmentally-friendly through the sharing session by Fuji Xerox and Miss Mookaiah Manomani.

LEAD Digital Media Competition 2009

The first LEAD Digital Media Competition (LDMC) finally came to a close and the winners were announced during the Prize Presentation Ceremony on November 6, 2009, at Times Centre Multi Purpose Hall.

Marshall Cavendish Online is hosting this competition for the first time for schools that participate in our Info Comm club. We received an overwhelming 200 over entries all with heart and passion in their work. It was a tough decision selecting the winners for our judges at Marshall Cavendish Online as they were all good entries.

The students gathered enthusiastically at Times Centre’s Multi Purpose Hall for the results and were greeted with a round of games to cool their nerves. Mr Ng Gek Song, Assistant General Manager for Marshall Cavendish Online, was the Guest-of-Honour for the event and gave some advice for the group of talented young audience. “We hope to see all of you continue to be inspired and keep on practicing digital media design either as a hobby or even developing it into your career”. He also added, “With the success of 2009, next year’s competition will be even bigger with elements of video and animations included.”

The time finally came after the names of the merit, bronze, silver and kid’s choice award were mentioned, the highlight of the afternoon for the gold award. Lim Jun Heng from Radin Mas Primary School came out tops among the rest of the contestants and brought home the grand prize of a Hewlett-Packard Mini notebook.

The event ended after some refreshments and photo-taking sessions with the winners. Even as the students were leaving the premises, Mr Jason Lek, their Info Comm trainer, was still heard encouraging the students to keep practicing.

Gold Award : Lim Jun Heng — Radin Mas Primary School

Silver Award : Alexandra De Vera Cabatbat — Farrer Park Primary School

Bronze Award : Jamie Teo Xi Min — St Anthony's Primary School

Kid's Choice Award : Damien Lee Khai Jie —Chong Zheng Primary

MARSHALL CAVENDISH ONLINE AND GENYO: A Growing Overseas Collaboration

October 2008 has been an exciting month for Marshall Cavendish Online as we hosted two visits by Filipino primary and secondary school teachers last 3 and 30 October. Over 50 teachers arrived at Marshall Cavendish Online headed by Diwa Asia Publishing Group Executive Directors Elma Ropeta and Jose Maria Policarpio and Vice President Jun Sayson.

The visit started at the Marshall Cavendish Online office with a presentation of the Genyo e-learning, followed by a school visit at Yio Chu Kang Primary School, a quick lunch and the finale, a tour at the Classroom of the Future (COTF) at the National Institute of Education (NIE).

In April 2007, Marshall Cavendish Online signed a partnership with Diwa Asia Publishing Group Inc. of the Philippines to bring Marshall Cavendish Online's digital content and LMS to the country. This was the birth of Genyo, the revolutionary e-learning program for Philippine schools.

Diwa Asia Publishing Group Inc. is the leader in the educational publishing industry in the Philippines, while Marshall Cavendish Online is the largest e-learning content and services provider in Singapore servicing more than 65% of primary schools.

Marshall Cavendish Online, having established itself in Singapore, receives strong interest from overseas educational providers. Leveraging on Singapore's reputation of a world-class education system and the strength of our e-learning content, Marshall Cavendish Online has started to bring its rich e-learning content overseas.

The feedback on Genyo e-learning portal has been overwhelming. After a year, Genyo now has access to 14 prestigious private schools in the Philippines and is targeting 25 schools by 2009.

Marshall Cavendish Online Grat.i.tude 2009

On 23 October 2009, The Asian Civilisation Museum was transformed into an arena of interaction, laughter and enjoyment for the guest and the Marshall Cavendish Online team.

The focus of the new initiatives presentation was the ‘Buddy Series’, to be launched during the second quarter of 2010. Among it, the ‘Trail Buddy’, that encompasses the use of Smartphones with learning trails. Many schools will definitely be anxiously looking forward to this innovative way of enrichment curriculum for the students.

The ‘Buddy Series’ comprises of ‘Trail Buddy’, ‘Maths Buddy’, ‘Oral Buddy’, ‘Writing Buddy’ and ‘口试满分’(Chinese version of Oral Buddy). The different ‘buddies’ have one common goal: assist and guide students to excel in the respective subjects.

Trail Buddy: Encompass the use of smartphones with outdoor learning trails to enhance effectiveness and efficiency.

Oral Buddy and 口试满分: Gain confidence in oral assessments through exercising organised thoughts and honing oral presentation skills.

Writing Buddy and 写作满分: Sharpen writing skills with crafting skills and
strategies.

N.E.w Author Competition

Organised by KooBits- an interactive digital software, the "N.E.w Author Competition" is a nation-wide digital writing competition open to all students in Singapore.

This competition aims to engage the interest of technologically-savvy young students and connect this interest more closely to the promotion of National Education, through the use of new Interactive Digital Media (IDM) application tools and platform.

Marshall Cavendish Online's Training Manager, Adi Hermawan, took on the role as main project facilitator and trainer for Primary 5 and 6 students of Damai Primary School. He assisted students in developing their own digital story-telling book by making use of graphics, video, animation and sound, and combined then into an interactive e-book.

With Adi's help, a team of three Primary 6 students won a Merit Award with their project titled, 'Rising Above Our Challenges'. Not a mean feat considering there were more than 2,009 entries from 80 schools! According to team member Nor Arinah Samsuddin, the training was "fun and enriching", and also helped her learn more about Singapore and its history.

Another team that clinched a Merit Award was a group of three Primary 5 students from West View Primary School, with their project titled 'Water is Precious'. The Teacher-in-charge, Miss Tan Qiu Ling, was full of praises for Marshall Cavendish Online's Residential IT Trainer, Siti Hajar Jasnee. "I'd like to thank Mdm Siti for training the students on the software. Otherwise, they would not be able to participate in the competition!"

The students certainly enjoyed Siti's training, "She was nice, helpful and friendly. We also learnt that teamwork produces good results", gushed Sneha Joseph P.

South Cluster Animation Camps!

Radin Mas Primary School, together with Marshall Cavendish Online, organised a South Cluster Animation Camp during the June holidays- spread across four days from 2-5 June!

The schools included Gan Eng Seng Primary, River Valley Primary, Stamford Primary, St. Theresa Convent, Outram Secondary and the host, Radin Mas Primary.

Marshall Cavendish Online organised a stop-motion (claymotion) animation camp to give the students  a break from computers. It also gave them a chance to 'get their hands dirty' when they created their own plastic model and to learn how traditional stop-motion animation was done.

After a short introduction on the history of claymation and stop-motion, the students were shown how to create an interesting short story, and to transfer their ideas onto storyboard.

Each student was provided with a box of equipment that included plasticine, wires, beads, paint, etc. They were first tasked to create a wireframe and the students received guidance each step of the way- from basic lighting and video techniques, to editing and completing their animation by using Marshall Cavendish Online Video Studio and Window MovieMaker.

With a chance to experience something so different and unique, there were excited and enthusiastic faces all around at camp!

With positive responses from the students, Marshall Cavendish Online organized another Animation Camp on 10 September 2009!

For this session, students were taught Adobe Flash by Infocomm Club Trainer Jason Lek, where they were tasked to create an e-card at the end of the day. The students were greatly encouraged to use their creativity and imagination.

A Primary 4 student from Stamford Primary, Ariande, commented that although it was her first time learning Adobe Flash, she really enjoyed it as she loved to draw and the class was very fun and interesting.

Primary 4 student Andrew, from River Valley Primary, said that although he had learnt Adobe Flash before, he still gained a lot from the camp as "there are many new things I learnt, and I like Mr Jason as he is very patient."

Learning Trail on the iPhone- Marshall Cavendish Makes Headlines!

Learning trails are a great way to enable learning opportunities beyond the classroom. Besides the chance for students to learn through discovery and experiential learning, learning trails provide a fun environment for students to engage and collaborate with each other.

With the iPhone, mobile learning is set to take on a whole new dimension! At Marshall Cavendish Online, we design and develop Interactive Learning Trails with schools to make full use of the functionality and flexibility of the iPhone.

Unlike the conventional pen and paper method, a whole new variety of activities are made possible with the iPhone:

Virtual keyboard – no more scribbling answers on crumpled sheets of paper!

Photo taking – to bring home memories of a great excursion

Voice Recording – capture the students’ animated voices

Video Recording – for exciting ‘live’ action

… and many more!

Students work in groups and collaborate to solve problems and complete activities on the iPhone. An array of subjects is incorporated into the activities, to ensure a multi-disciplinary approach.

What’s more, after the excursion, Marshall Cavendish Online will upload all the data captured during the excursion, into a BLOG. Students are able to share the entire experience with parents, teachers, and friends!

It was a truly exciting day for 80 Primary 4 students of Radin Mas Primary School – the very first to pilot the Interactive Learning Trail on the iPhone at Jurong Bird Park!

The anticipation was apparent as the students arrived at Jurong Bird Park on a bright and cheery Monday morning. With one iPhone for each group of four, they rushed off to their respective stations once the green light was given.

With children being so tech-savvy nowadays, they took to the iPhone with minimal guidance, and were soon completing activities like taking pictures of the different species of owls, solving mathematical questions involving entrance fees, etc.

The Radin Mas Primary School students certainly enjoyed themselves, as one Primary 4 student, Yassin, made known, “I really enjoyed this learning trail because it’s fun and different. My group was also able to work as a team to complete the activities.”

With such an exciting event, it was no wonder that a reporter from 联合早报* joined in the fun to interview and photograph the students in action as well!

Happy Teacher's Day!

Marshall Cavendish Online and Genyo: A Continued Collaboration

Marshall Cavendish Online also brought the visitors to a tour of Classroom of the Future (COTF) at the National Institute of Education (NIE).

Miss Maria Dayag Bassig, a Subject Team Leader in English, certainly benefited from the visit. "This has been an eye-opening experience; we have much to learn from Singapore. With Genyo, I believe it's definitely achievable."

Marshall Cavendish Online has definitely been very successful in bringing its rich e-learning content overseas. Through our partner Diwa, LEAD is rebranded as Genyo in the Philippines. Genyo- the revolutionary e-learning program for Philippine schools, is now on track to reaching 30,000 students in the Philippines.

In a continued collaboration with Diwa Asia Publishing Group Inc., Marshall Cavendish Online hosted around 10 educators from the Philippines on 28 August 2009.

Here to learn about the ICT integration in Singapore schools, the visitors were brought on a tour around Balestier Hill Primary School by ICT Subject Head, Mrs Harlina Rashid, where the visitors saw Marshall Cavendish Online lessons being held!

10th Design Competition and Exhibition

Jointly organised by West 4 Cluster Schools & Ngee Ann Polytechnic, the 10th Design Competition & Exhibition held this year saw more than 240 entries, from 46 schools.

Aimed to encourage creativity and innovation among students and provide opportunities for them to discover their unique talents and abilities, the competition certainly achieved its objective with Joycelyn Chang from Radin Mas Primary.

Under the training of Marshall Cavendish Online Infocomm Club trainer, Jason Lek, students were taught how to create 2D animation. With her project titled 'Sam and the Travelling Germ', Joycelyn was very happy that she could not only convey the importance of hygiene through her project, but also had a lot of fun creating it!

Educators From Abroad

With Singapore's world-class education system and the pervasive use of Infocomm Technology (ICT) in schools, it is no wonder that countries look to Singapore as a benchmark for achieving international standards of education.

Being the largest e-learning content and e-service provider in Singapore, Marshall Cavendish Online receives strong interest from overseas educational providers.

17 April 2009 was indeed an enriching experience for the 60 principals from Sekolah Bertaraf International (SBI), or International Standard Schools, Indonesia. Led by the SBI Project Coordinator, the delegates visited two Singapore schools - CHIJ Katong Primary and West View Primary School, to gain insight and knowledge on the ICT infrastructure in schools.

The visitors from Indonesia certainly enjoyed the hospitality extended to them by CHIJ Katong Primary and West View Primary School!

VISIT TO ANGLO-CHINESE JUNIOR SCHOOL

3 July 2009 was an exciting day for Marshall Cavendish Online, as we hosted a visit from South African principals, provincial education government officials and education consultants!

Their first time in Singapore, the South African educators wanted to better understand Singapore's curriculum, and to integrate the Singapore education system to enhance teaching and learning in South African schools. There are also plans by the local education authorities to adopt our textbooks and Marshall and Cavendish Online's ICT solutions across more government schools in 2010.

The visitors dropped by Anglo Chinese Junior School, where Principal, Mrs Kathryn Koh, and Vice Principal, Miss Christine Bok, offered their gracious hospitality.

School of Queensland Study Tour

On 29 June 2009, Marshall Cavendish Online, together with Heulab, jointly hosted a visit from Heads and Senior Administrators from 20 independent Queensland schools.

Organised by Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ), the association wanted its members to have first-hand experience on how ICT is being used in Singapore schools.

The visitors first arrived at Furama, Riverfront Hotel, where Mdm Lee Lai Yong, Principal of Radin Mas Primary School- a S4 Cluster Centre of Excellence for IT, gave a presentation on an overview of the school, and how ICT is integrated in the school's curriculum.

They then adjourned to Marshall Cavendish Online's premises, where Assistant General Manager of Sales & Marketing, Jasmond Ng, gave them an introduction to Marshall Cavendish Online. The visitors were definitely impressed with the Marshall Cavendish Online portal and LMS, and many wanted to know how Marshall Cavendish Online could be applied to their local curriculum.

Marshall Cavendish Online definitely looks forward to collaboration with our overseas counterparts in the near future!

Elias Park Learning Journey

Marshall Cavendish Online not only garners interest from overseas counterparts, but locally as well! On 26 June 2009, 40 teachers from Elias Park Primary School arrived at Marshall Cavendish Online for a Learning Journey. Vice Principal, Mrs Han Lee Kwang, attended the session as well.

The objective of the Learning Journey was to learn from organisations on their effectiveness, innovation and enterprise efforts in order to encourage empowerment among the staff, and to foster a spirit of innovation.

Marshall Cavendish Online's General Manager, Mr Chng Eng Leok, gave an inspiring speech on the company's journey to success. He also shared with the teachers on the efforts made to motivate staff.

Save the Big Blue Whale Competition

It is the largest creature to ever inhabit the Earth, but they are facing threats of extinction. National Geographic Channel partnered with Marshall Cavendish Online to organise a "Save the Big Blue Competition" campaign in April 2009, to tell the Big Blue story and urge all of us to protect our oceans and precious marine life, such as blue whales.

The competition ran from 20 April to 4 May 2009 and attracted more than 100 entries, where students took part in a quiz and designed creative posters to promote the idea of "Saving the Big Blue".

Students definitely got to understand the Big Blue and showed their creative minds in spreading the message of saving Big Blue. Jaslyn Chen from Concord Primary School, who won 2nd prize in Category B, spotted this competition from Marshall Cavendish Online portal, as she logs in everyday. She "discovered many interesting facts about blue whales and wanted my friends to help save this precious creature by not polluting the sea."

Singapore Mathematics Textbooks Adopted in the United States

From 2007 to April 2009, the team at Marshall Cavendish Education worked tirelessly to adapt Singapore Mathematics textbooks for schools in the United States (US). They persevered no matter how tough the challenge, working hand in hand with their US counterparts to make the textbooks relevant for American students. It was essentially a labour of love.

Mathematics textbooks published by Marshall Cavendish Education have become popular and widely accepted in schools across the US. At present, both the US Edition and Standard Edition of Primary Mathematics and Math in Focus are in use. (see Our Math Textbooks Timeline)

“We are approved for adoption in California and Oregon (for Primary Mathematics) and Indiana (for Math In Focus). Schools in practically all of the 50 states are using our programmes.” said Publisher and Deputy General Manager Duriya Aziz. Assistant Managing Director Tok Yen Hoon explained the advantage our publications offer, “While traditional US textbooks emphasise definitions and formulae, Singapore textbooks build deep understanding of mathematical concepts.” According to Senior Production Manager Tan Hui Huan, the use of holistic teaching methods, creative illustrations and very importantly - the prompt delivery of products helped boost the popularity of the textbooks.

Designer Mohammad Kamil Bin Rabu echoed Hui Huan’s sentiments, “Our textbooks give students new perspectives and provide a breath of fresh air. Attractive visuals help them better understand Math.”

With such a growing demand for our textbooks, the team has been busy these last two years with adapting Singapore Mathematics textbooks for the US market. It has been a labour of love for them throughout. They persevered no matter how tough the challenge, believing in their product, and worked hand in hand with their US counterparts to make it relevant for the students there.

To sum up, the team can take pride in what they have accomplished, and enjoy the fruits of their labour.(Story extracted from October issue of Timeslink)

Timeline of Our Maths Textbooks in the USA:

2003 Primary Mathematics (US Edition) published with Singaporemath.com

2007 California Department for Education approves

the use of state funds to order Primary Mathematics (Standard Edition) for schools throughout the state

2008 Primary Mathematics (Standard Edition) published

2009 Math in Focus for children between Kindergarten and Grade 5. (the US version of My Pals are Here), published with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt