Outline-1

1.Main Topic Area:
Digital divide among high school students from urban and rural areas in Malaysia, for example, Kuala Lumpur which has the highest penetration rate(119.4) and Kelantan which has the lowest penetration rate(43.8).

2.Main Problem Identified:
The disparity in the accessibility of educational information causes high school students from rural areas to have comparatively lower performances in studies. Thus, they have disadvantages in competing with high school students from urban population to get into more prestigious universities.

3.Proposed Solutions:
To narrow the gap of internet usage between high school students from urban and rural areas, the Ministry of Education should allocate more budget in increasing broadband penetration in rural areas by providing adequate facilities such as computer rooms in schools to improve internet connectivity.

4.Proposed Thesis:
As high school students from rural areas are comparatively less competitive than students from urban areas to have better tertiary education as a result of disparity in the accessibility in educational information, the Ministry of Education of Malaysia should speed up the actions in narrowing the digital divide among high school students by allocating  more budget in increasing broadband penetration in rural areas so that fair competition among high school students to get into more prestigious universities occurs.

Reader Response - Draft 3

             Picardo(2012) proposes that the significance of "fostering global awareness and international collaboration" among high school students is getting clearer in this modern era to nurture open-minded, informative and creative students. Realizing that “people with different languages come different ways to interpret the world”, he agrees with Marcel Proust, a French novelist, that "the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new lands but in seeing with new eyes". In addition, he comments that students who are aware of the world and diverse cultures are equipped with practical skills and are capable of deciding knowledgeably. It is undeniable that the goal of "fostering global awareness and international collaboration" can be easily achieved as students nowadays are bombarded with information through various means such as travelling and accessing internet. According to Picardo (2012), students have more opportunities to go overseas by the age of 16 and get information easily through the internet. However, the effectiveness of such means is doubted and it is regarded that guidance is needed through this process of discovery.

            Thus, Picardo elucidates that various "contextualized learning" methods, which can be generally classified into traditional and modern one, have been introduced in schools. Exchange programs, foreign languages studies and global partnership between schools are the examples of the former while social networks such as Twitter, Skype and Google Maps denote the latter.

            In my opinion, both traditional and modern "contextualized learning" methods have certainly broadened my horizons about the world and helped me to understand one's culture better when I was a high school student. The memorable experience of welcoming students from Japan as a student ambassador of my high school two years ago deepened my insight of Japanese culture as well as my homeland's. Before the arrival of my Japanese friends, besides contacting them via Facebook, much time and effort was spent on useful websites such as YouTube and travelers’ blogs to learn basic Japanese language and understand their culture so that I could communicate with them with no offence. These efforts prepared me well with knowledge of Japan. Indeed, modern contextualized learning allowed me to "experience foreign cultures with unprecedented ease"(Picardo, 2012). I came to realize that without modern contextualized learning, the languages and cultures barriers among us might cause unfavourable problems throughout their visit.

            During their stay in Malaysia, we did various activities like trying out local spicy dishes, "batik" painting and historical sites visits to widen their cultural and historical knowledge of Malaysia. As the host, I benefited as much as they did through our daily conversations and sharing. I was astonished to know how great the impact of China's culture is on Japan when I was invited to join their mini Japanese Tea Ceremony. Despite the fact that my legs were numb after kneeling down on the tatami in the seiza-style for hours, I was impressed by their attention to details and compliance with the meticulous rules of this ceremony. This contextualized learning was effective as I realised the far-reaching effect of culture to a nation. I uncovered the crucial reason that strengthened Japan’s power in the international arena, which was the disciplined and polite culture of Japanese. Also, I consented that modern contextualized learning helped us in developing ourselves to better ones (Picardo, 2012).  I honed my soft skills, for instance, communication skills, adaptability to new culture and problem-solving skills and furthermore discovered my weaknesses. I transformed into a confident individual and I could easily adapt to new situations which I believed I could perform better in the future

.

            In a nutshell, I strongly agree that “global awareness and international collaboration during the formative years results in more rounded individuals” (Picardo, 2012) who have both hard skills and soft skills to compete with others in their future. I believe that a graduation certificate of university is the key to own a better job, but without these useful “tools”, an individual can easily be eliminated very soon in the intense competition in nowadays careers.

Reference:

Jose Picardo (2012, September 25). Why students need a global awareness and understanding of other cultures. Retrieved 17 September 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/sep/25/students-global-awareness-other-cultures

Reader Response - Draft 2

Picardo(2012) proposes that the significance of "fostering global awareness and international collaboration" among high school students is getting clearer in this modern era to nurture open-minded, informative and creative students. Realizing that “people with different languages come different ways to interpret the world”, he agrees with Marcel Proust, a French novelist, that new thoughts are often discovered when multicultural society cooperate. In addition, students who are aware of the world and diverse cultures are equipped with practical skills and are capable of deciding knowledgeably. It is undeniable that the goal of "fostering global awareness and international collaboration" can be easily achieved as students nowadays are bombarded with information through various means such as travelling and accessing internet. However, the effectiveness of such means is impugned and it is regarded that guidance is needed through this process of discovery.

Thus, Picardo elucidates that various "contextualized learning" methods, which can be generally distinguished into traditional and modern one, have been introduced in schools. Exchange programs, foreign languages studies and global partnership between schools are the examples of the former while social networks such as Twitter, Skype and Google Maps denote the latter.

In my opinion, both traditional and modern "contextualized learning" methods have certainly broadened my horizons about the world besides understanding one's culture better. The memorable experience of welcoming students from Japan as a student ambassador of my high school two years ago deepened my insight of Japanese culture as well as my homeland's. Before the arrival of my Japanese friends, besides contacting them via Facebook, much time and effort was spent on useful websites such as YouTube and travelers’ blogs to learn basic Japanese language and understand their culture so that I could communicate with them with no offence. These efforts prepared me well with knowledge of Japan. Indeed, these modern contextualized learning allowed me to "experience foreign cultures with unprecedented ease". I came to realize that without these modern contextualized learning, the languages and cultures barriers among us might cause unfavourable problems throughout their visit.

During their stay in Malaysia, we did various activities like trying out local spicy dishes, "batik" painting and historical sites visits to widen their cultural and historical knowledge of Malaysia. As the host, I benefited as much as they were through our daily conversations and sharing. I was astonished to know how great the impact of China's culture is on Japan when I was invited to join their mini Japanese Tea Ceremony. Despite the fact that my legs were numb after kneeling down on the tatami in the seiza-style for hours, I was impressed by their attention to details and compliance with the meticulous rules of this ceremony. This contextualized learning was said to be effective as I realised the far-reaching effect of culture to a nation. I uncovered the crucial reason that strengthened Japan’s power in the international arena, which was the disciplined and polite culture of Japanese. Also, I consented that modern contextualized learning helped us in developing ourselves to better ones (Picardo, 2012).  I honed my soft skills, for instance, communication skills, adaptability to new culture and problem-solving skills and furthermore discovered my weaknesses. I transformed into a better individual which I believed I could perform better in the future.

In a nutshell, I strongly agree that “global awareness and international collaboration during the formative years results in more rounded individuals” (Picardo, 2012) who have both hard skills and soft skills to compete with others in their future. I believed that a graduation certificate of university is the key to own a better job, but without these useful “tools”, an individual can easily be eliminated very soon in the intense competition in nowadays careers.

Reference:

Jose Picardo (2012, September 25). Why students need a global awareness and understanding of other cultures. Retrieved from The Guardian database at

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/sep/25/students-global-awareness-other-cultures

Reader Response - Draft 1

Picardo(2012) proposes that the significance of "fostering global awareness and international collaboration" among high school students is getting clearer in this modern era to nurture open-minded, informative and creative students. It is undeniable that this goal can be easily achieved as students nowadays are bombarded with information through travelling and internet access. However, the effectiveness of such means is impugned and it is regarded that guidance is needed through this process of discovery.

Thus, Picardo elucidates that various "contextualized learning" methods, which can be generally distinguished into traditional and modern one, have been introduced in schools. Exchange programs and foreign languages studies are the examples of the former while social networks such as Twitter, Skype and Google Maps denote the latter.

In my opinion, both traditional and modern "contextualized learning" methods have helped me in broadening my horizons about the world besides understanding one's culture well. The memorable experience of welcoming students from Japan as a student ambassador of my high school two years ago has deepened my insight of Japanese culture as well as my homeland's. Before their arrival, besides contacting my Japanese friends via Facebook Messenger, much time and effort was spent on useful websites such as YouTube and travelers’ blogs in order to learn some basic Japanese language and understand their culture so that I could communicate with them with no offence. These preparations has equipped me well with knowledge of Japan from various aspects and also removed the language barrier among us. Indeed, these modern contextualized learning allow me to "experience foreign cultures with unprecedented ease" (Picardo, 2012).

During their 2 weeks stay in Malaysia, we did various activities like trying out local spicy dishes, "batik" painting and historical sites visits to increase their cultural and historical knowledge of Malaysia. However, as the host, I benefited as much as them through our daily conversations and sharing. I was astonished to know how great the impact of China's culture is on Japan when I was invited to join the mini Japanese Tea Ceremony conducted by them. Despite the fact that my legs were numb, kneeling down on the tatami in the seiza-style for hours, I was impressed by their attention to details and their compliance with meticulous rules throughout this ceremony. I realised that it is the disciplined and polite personalities of Japanese that contributes to the formation of a better and more competitive nation in the international arena. This contextualized learning was said to be effective as I honed my soft skills, for instance, the consciousness of world issues, communication skills, adaptability to new culture, problem-solving skills and so on that will help me to perform better throughout my university life and my future career.

In a nutshell, I strongly agree that “global awareness and international collaboration during the formative years results in more rounded individuals” (Picardo, 2012) who have both hard skills and soft skills to compete with others in their future. I believed that a graduation certificate of university is the key to own a better job, but without these useful “tools”, an individual can easily be eliminated very soon due to the intense competition in nowadays careers.

Reference:

Jose Picardo (2012, September 25). Why students need a global awareness and understanding of other cultures. Retrieved from The Guardian database at

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/sep/25/students-global-awareness-other-cultures

Summary 2(Global digital divide)

In a Euromonitor blog post entitled “Global Digital Divide Persists But Is Narrowing” (2011), it is asserted that the gap in internet accessibility between developed and developing countries is getting smaller. Even though consumers in developed countries have a greater access to internet connection than those in developing countries, the number of consumers with access to internet in the latter is increasing over the past few years. This blog post has also noted that internet usage and access have significant implications on the internet users. -By Janelle and JiaNing

An important event in my life

  

          Shy and introverted-- these were the adjectives that my best friends used to describe me in the past. Indeed, I was. I preferred being alone to talking to strangers as I was not brave enough to do so. Therefore, I had only a few friends in my class and I spent most of my time with them. When all of my friends are were arranged to different classes when we were 15 years old, I was sad, thinking that I would be alone for the rest of secondary school life.

          Realizing that I was always alone, my class monitor tried to help me to mingle well with my classmates. She introduced me to the class to be the leader for the coming interschool choir competition. I was worried as I did not even dare to speak to others, nonetheless not to mention leading the class to practice for a competition.

         At first, I was unwilling to be a leader and I tried to avoid from this responsibility. However, with the help for of my class monitor, I started to communicate with my classmates and led them for every practices. As days past, we knew each other more and our friendship was built up.

        We eventually won in this competition. The vivid memory of my classmates hugging me with joy and thanked me for leading them well is still in mind. It was a fruitful experience to me as I turned out to be more cheerful and outgoing besides gaining some leadership qualities. Without this important event in my life, I might still be timid and shy.

*edited*

Summary 1

Leake and Warren (2009) state that addictive Facebook users have worse results. In comparison with university students who seldom use Facebook, they score lower marks as they have bad time management. Students subconsciously spend much time once they start surfing it, causing them to study less for exams. These has resulted them to have lower Cumulative Average Points.

*edited*