Abstract

Malaysian schools witnessed another major reform in the creation of Smart Schools. The Malaysian Government has established Smart Schools to capitalize on leading current ICT technology by transforming Malaysian schools into technology enablers. This study is trying to understand the views of Islamic Education teachers and students regarding the emergence of this new technology as they endeavour to improve learning and teaching in Smart Schools. In examining the new initiative of Smart Schools, qualitative methods was applied to gather the data needed from Islamic Education teachers and students. The teachers and students were interviewed using focus groups and one-on-one in-depth interviews. The results show that the teachers and students were completely aware that the use of the computer was the obvious instigator of change in the Smart Schools. From the beginning, its widespread use appeared to be the main factor that affected the works of both students and teachers. This new phenomenon clearly was influenced by the emergence of new technology. The emergence of new technology in Smart Schools was clearly indicated by the obvious and sudden arrival of new technologies in schools and classrooms. However this study also found barriers in implementing this new initiative such as lack of computers availability in some schools and the problem of access to computer labs.