He said the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was quite extensive if compared to those of other countries in the region.
“I look at a lot of (education) blueprints in the region and find that the blueprint that the government produced here (Malaysia) is quite extensive.
“It is a very strong vision … of where to go and where they see themselves, which is great because it all starts from there,” he told Bernama in an interview.
The blueprint suggests 11 strategic and operational shifts, including to provide internet access and virtual learning environments for all 10,000 schools by 2013 and access to 4G networks for all students in the near future.
Input for the blueprint came from education experts at Unesco, the World Bank and local universities among others.
Carlson said among the interesting parts of the blueprint was the plan to connect all schools with 4G connectivity, something many countries were striving for.
“I think given the vision, it enables us to work with them very closely to help envision and enable that,” he said.
He stressed the most exciting part for Microsoft was that internet connectivity would subsequently enable the procurement of data analytics, the next “big thing” in digital learning to be put in place. This in turn will enable for a thorough assessment of students, teachers and schools.
“It’s happening now (implemented in other countries), how we are enabling technology to help students and teachers learn more effectively, understand students, understand how we can make them succeed more in education (via data analytics).
“The 4G network, as far as I know is already a work in progress (here), if you enable that, you will enable infrastructure like this (data analytics) to be put in place,” he said.
Carlson said the company was working with the Malaysian Education Ministry on several aspects of the education blueprint.
These include the training of teachers, developing teaching content and materials and transforming schools into Microsoft Showcase Schools that offer learning with Microsoft’s products.
“In Malaysia, we have six showcase schools that may not necessarily have the best technologies, but they have the strongest leaders who can adapt to changes quite strongly. We are working with the ministry on how we can expand the school, probably in the next couple of years.”
Carlson said Microsoft had placed several key people from the company to engage with the Education Ministry regularly to help the country envision the blueprint, and assist them in fulfilling the requirements in education to achieve developed nation status as targeted by 2020.
“We have a number of people in the country who engage at different levels within the ministry and in different departments.
“We have some who work weekly with the teachers development department and we almost have an office there, it’s not like (we are) flying in and out,” he added.