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Digitalisation. Everyone's talking about it. The Government is talking about it. My colleagues are talking about it. Heck, even my grandfather's talking about it. So what exactly is digitalisation? How did such an unaccustomed word appear from near-obscurity to become one of the most talked-about topics in Singapore, and even the world? In this article, we will be exploring the current state of digitalisation in Singapore, similar efforts in TaF.tc, and how it would affect your life as students at TaF.tc.
So what is digitalisation? Personally, I think of it as the adoption of new technologies intended to adapt, streamline, and even improve the current processes that we have in daily life. A simple example would be how Grab has digitised the process of flagging a cab, and we can now do that through our phones with the Grab application. In fact, by shifting this process onto a digital platform, they’ve made an entire ecosystem of services that prioritises the customer’s convenience - from keeping digital records of one’s invoices for easy reference, to allowing the customer to even order food while on the commute home.
Singapore currently ranks second in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking for 2019, with only the USA ahead in terms of readiness and adaptability to new technologies to help improve the country's economy.
In Singapore, the government is pushing for digitalisation through different initiatives such as the Smart Nation project - that envisions a nation that uses technology to serve businesses and citizens better. This includes the SingPass mobile application that allows you to access online government services, and the MyTransport.SG application that allows you to plan your journey with real-time traffic information.
With all the efforts made by the government to push for digitalisation, TaF.tc has also followed suit to work towards enhancing the learning experience for students. This includes the implementation of Online Payment, e-Attendance, e-Learning, and e-Books.
To enrol for a class, students can now make all their payments online - with the exception of payments through withdrawals of Post-Secondary Education Account, or PSEA. This can be done either through the SkillsFuture website if you wish to pay with SkillsFuture Credits (currently capped at $500 for each Singaporean), or through Stripe for debit or credit card payment. By doing so, the whole process has become seamless and cashless. More information on the different modes of payment can be found here.
Our e-Attendance system is used to mark attendance for our students without having to sign on a physical sheet. This allows the whole process of taking attendance to be more efficient.
For selected courses, e-Learning is available for students through videos, activities & online quizzes to ensure that they are well prepared before attending the class. Both of these initiatives would be explained in future articles to better guide you through.
e-Books, or e-Course Notes, is a new initiative introduced at TaF.tc in early 2019. We started this paperless way of learning so students can bring their notes around with them at their convenience. This reduces the items that you have to bring for class especially if you need to bring you own materials. For example, your sewing toolkit for the Basic Drafting & Sewing course.
Our e-Books are also published with colour compared to the previous black & white notes. This ensures that all pictures and diagrams are clearly displayed for our students' viewing pleasure.
As the e-Books are on an online platform, TaF.tc can always update it to improve the content or to ensure its relevance through time, and you would be able to receive those updates even after completing the course. In future, we may need to charge a nominal fee if you wish to receive new updates to the notes.
With the e-Books initiative, TaF.tc and students would also be doing their part in going green to conserve the environment, and reduce the amount of paper being used in printing. As TaF.tc takes the Intellectual Property (IP) in our course notes seriously, they cannot be printed or downloaded separately.
The infographic below is a summary of the advantages of using e-Books.
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With so many benefits in using e-Books, we hope that our students would enjoy using it, and have a better overall learning experience with us at TaF.tc. TaF.tc is also providing iPads for students who would prefer a bigger screen to refer to the e-Books in class.
Digitalisation is quickly affecting every aspect of our lives, and in particular, the education sector cannot lag behind. Which is why TaF.tc is striving to ensure that all our learning materials are digitalised, whether it be through e-Learning or e-Books. We hope that both our e-Learning and e-Books would be an invaluable tool in your learning journey. If you are keen on experiencing how TaF.tc adopts digitalisation into our classes, check out these courses:
We hope that with this new knowledge about the importance and relevance of digitalisation, especially at TaF.tc, you would embrace it so that it could be beneficial to you too. If you have any queries, do drop our friendly customer service team a call at 6011 8066 or WhatsApp us to find out more!
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