This year, the award was presented to the recipients by Mr. Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry & Ministry of Education, during the Singapore Economic Policy Forum held at Regent Hotel on 24 October 2019.
The winners were selected based on their contributions in the following four areas:
- Passion for and Mastery of Economics
- Pedagogy & Assessment
- Student Development
- Professional Development
The two recipients of this year’s OETA are Mr. Gilbert Ng Ying Fong of Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) and Mr. Koh Weining of Temasek Junior College (TJC). The two finalists for this year’s OETA are Ms Anne Yip Oei Lin, HOD/Economics of Victoria Junior College (VJC) and Ms Maggie Quek Liling, HOD/Curriculum of TJC.
Here are the details of the two OETA winners:
Mr. Ng’s passion for both Economics and technology has led to the incorporation of technology in teaching and learning to further the engagement and learning of economics by students. He collaborated with the National Institute of Education (NIE) to create a Gamified Flipped Learning (GFL) app, which allows students to learn at their own pace and encourages them to take ownership of their learning. This app has been in use in HCI for the past few years and has received positive feedback from students.
Mr. Ng’s contributions to the innovative use of ICT to enhance students’ learning experiences are not confined to HCI. In the 2017 MOE Buildathon, Mr. Ng worked with Economics teachers from different schools to develop the MineGap app. This app provides timely and quality feedback to students’ written work and was subsequently chosen by GovTech to be developed. This year, MineGap has been piloted in six different junior colleges with approximately 120 students. The pilot results have been positive with students showing an appreciation for the clarity and quality of the feedback, which allowed them to better understand their learning gaps.
Mr. Ng’s contributions to the teaching and learning of Economics through the use of technology has been recognised by MOE when he was awarded the MOE Outstanding Innovator Award in 2018 and by HCI where he was awarded the Best Teaching Practice Award and HCI Innovation Gold Award in 2017.
As a curriculum leader, Mr. Koh has incorporated the use of blended learning to utilise technology for more effective learning and greater engagement with Economics. In TJC, he redesigned the traditional lecture-tutorial system and focused on the effective use of MOE’s online learning platform, the Student Learning Space (SLS). By leading through example, Mr. Koh has inspired his colleagues to explore ways that technology and the effective use of pedagogy can develop their students’ joy of learning.
Mr. Koh’s dedication and commitment to ignite a passion for Economics in his students is evident in his daily lessons where the use of current affairs and contemporary issues are used as platforms to showcase the workings of economics concepts and principles.
In collaboration with Mr. Ng and another Economics teacher, Mr. Koh has been actively involved in the piloting and refining of the MineGap app. Through the app, this has helped his students develop a greater sense of ownership of their learning and allowed them to be more aware of how they can move their learning forward.
