FOR INFORMATION
April 28, 1998
Konet Plan Promotion Council
Singaporean Government and Schools to Participate in
NTT's Konet Online-Education Program
Japanese schools participating in NTT's Konet online education project were joined by schools
in Singapore for an interactive virtual class via the Internet starting April 22.
The Konet Plan, under the direction of the Konet Plan Promotion Council*1 with the support of
the Ministry of Education and 1,000 elementary, middle and high schools throughout Japan, is
popularizing the use of the Internet and other multimedia for education by setting up multimedia
systems in schools and conducting joint projects among schools in Japan and overseas.
In view of Singapore's advanced information technology and strong emphasis on its use in education,
the Konet council invited Singapore's Ministry of Education and Information Technology Institute
to cooperate in the Konet Plan, which resulted in the formation of a cooperative relationship
between the council and the Student and Teacher's Workbench (STW)*2, a national education project
in Singapore. This is the first time the STW has worked with schools outside of Singapore.
Twenty schools from Singapore and 11 middle and high schools in Japan took part Wednesday in
the first joint virtual class, which was created on the Internet using SpaceALIVE!*3, an interactive
communication technology developed in Singapore. Over the next 12 months, topics such as
environmental issues*4 and differences in values of Japanese and Singapore students will be chosen
by both sides for study in the virtual class. The participants will enter the virtual classroom to
learn information about the subjects and share ideas by real- time 'chatting' and e-mail.
The classroom is based in the SpaceALIVE! Web site (URL = http://tintin.iti.gov.sg:6666/), which can
be accessed without a password, but is closed during joint class hours. The results of the virtual
class will be released on the Konet Plan homepage at http://www.wnn.or.jp/wnn-s/. The English version
can be seen at http://www. wnn.or.jp/wnn-s/english/english.html. Japanese schools not participating
directly in the Konet Plan can contact the Konet council to participate in this project.
Notes:
*1 Konet Plan Promotion Council was established by NTT and other organizations and individuals in
July 1996. Fifty-nine organizations have donated resources, technical support and educational
materials to the Konet Plan.
*2 The Student and Teacher's Workbench (STW) was set up under the IT2000 national education project
by Singapore's Ministry of Education and Information Technology Institute to promote the use of
multimedia in middle school education. Six middle schools are currently using multimedia for science
study under the project.
*3 SpaceALIVE! was developed by Singapore's Information Technology Institute as an educationally
oriented program that enables students to chat interactively via the Internet. Science studies can
currently be viewed at its Web site (URL = http://tintin.iti.gov.sg:6666/). Ten projects, covering
subjects such as science, solar energy and math, have been conducted so far.
*4 The World Environment Research Project, with support from the Konet Plan, has conducted researches
on environmental subjects and has promoted discussion of the environment on the World Wide Web.
Results of the project can be viewed at its Web site (URL =http://www.wnn.or.jp/wnn-s). Projects were
conducted by 1,500 schools in 53 countries.
# # #
Participating Schools
Participating Japanese Schools
- Kasukabe City Yawara Middle School (Saitama Prefecture)
- Ureshino City Ureshino Middle School (Saga Prefecture)
- Kobe City Tsutsuidai Middle School (Hyogo Prefecture)
- Ayabe City Toyosato Middle School (Kyoto Prefecture)
- Osaka Prefecture Sumiyoshi High School (Osaka Prefecture)
- Tokushima Pref. Tokushima Commercial High School (Tokushima Pref.)
- Ooita Prefecture Ogata Technical High School (Ooita Prefecture)
- Nagasaki Prefecture Oomura Technical High School (Nagasaki Prefecture)
- Kanagawa Prefecture Daishi High School (Kanagawa Prefecture)
- Marynoll Girls' Middle and High School (Mie Prefecture)
- Hiroshima Girls' Commercial High School (Hiroshima Prefecture)
Participating Singaporean Schools
- Bartley Secondary School
- Bukit Panjang Govt High School
- Dunearn Secondary School
- Bukit View Secondary School
- CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School
- CHIJ St Joseph's Convent
- Crescent Girls' School
- Jurongville Secondary School
- Riverside Secondary School
- St Andrew's Secondary School
- Tanjong Katong Girls' School
- The Chinese High School
- Upper Serangoon Secondary School
- Victoria School
- Zhonghua Secondary School
- Jurong Junior College
- Nanyang Junior College
- Raffles Junior College
- St Andrew's Junior College
- Temasek Junior College
