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MyForum - Online Feedback Platform Enabling Greater Staff Engagement
Ministry of Education (Corporate Communication Division
Singapore

The Problem

MyForum represents a very new strategy through which the Ministry aims to win greater involvement from its over 30,000-strong staff, and strengthen two-way internal communications with staff of all levels – be they teachers, school leaders, policy-makers, or senior management.
As an Internet-based online platform secured through a password login, MyForum provides management and policy-makers with an efficient and secure internal platform to solicit ideas and views directly from staff in the policy-formulation process.
There are four modules in MyForum to engage staff:
 Discussion Forum – users are free to create new threads or take part in existing discussion threads on various education-related matters, using nicknames;
 Survey Module – for HQ divisions and policy-makers to conduct questionnaires targeting the MOE community for feedback on specific processes or policy-related issues.
 Consultation Paper Module – for HQ divisions and policy-makers to gather feedback from staff on new policies and initiatives.
 Ask Senior Management (ASM) – a feedback channel for staff to write letters to HQ division directors on education-related matters. All replies to letters received through this channel are signed off by division directors, and selected letters are published in ASM for staff to view.
Through engaging staff especially during the policy/ initiative-formulation process, MyForum helps to achieve greater buy-in when the initiatives are implemented on the ground. The wider implication is that at the school level, where interaction with public stakeholders (parents, members of the public etc) is greatest, teachers and school leaders can also more persuasively help them understand the rationale and benefits of these initiatives.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Since its inception in Sep 2005, MyForum has been visited by more than 25,000 members of the MOE community. Of this number, at least 11,000 are repeat visitors. These consist of survey and consultation paper creators, staff logging in to respond to surveys and consultation papers, moderators from HQ, or simply staff of any level taking part in the discussions in MyForum’s discussion forum.

On average, staff spend 11 minutes per visit to MyForum going through the different pages. On a monthly basis, the website is accessed by more than 6,000 staff members at least once, with more than 1,500 them returning to the website within the same month.

In its first year, from Sep 05 – Sep 06, HQ divisions ran 50 surveys and 6 consultation papers ranging from processes to policy issues in MyForum, which had received a total of more than 15,000 responses.

In the Discussion Forum, users have created numerous threads with over 25,000 posts. Making use of ASM as a channel to clarify their doubts and to contribute feedback on ways to improve the profession, staff submitted 285 letters in total (as at Oct 06), out of which 26 letters have been published within the platform for staff to view. All letters were responded to and signed off by the division directors.

Qualitatively, the creation of MyForum has provided the MOE family with a virtual online community to “gather” and exchange personal experiences in the classroom, and in dealing with school management. For many users, My Forum offers them a form of support and freedom of expression. As administrators, we have observed some development in the climate of discussions. We are seeing more constructive feedback, different perspectives, and the beginnings of a respectful debate culture. Some users that began with quite a bit of cynicism and distrust have also begun to express more open and positive views after interaction with others.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
1. Mar 04: Environmental scan of channels in MOE for solicited and unsolicited feedback, through informal surveys with school superintendents, branch heads and teachers.
2. Sep 04: The MOE Internal Communications Planning Team was formed.
3. Sep 05: MyForum, MOE’s online internal feedback application, was rolled out.
4. Sep 05 – Sep 06 (Aggregate): MyForum received more than 25,000 unique visitors, at least 11,000 of whom have since visited the site more than once.
5. Sep 05 – Nov 06 (Monthly): About 6,000 users access the platform each month, with more than 1,500 repeating their visits at least once within the same month.
6. Sep 05 – Nov 06: Average time per user in MyForum is 11 minutes.
7. Sep 05 – Sep 06: 50 surveys and 6 consultation papers run by HQ divisions, eliciting more than 15,000 responses in total.
8. Sep 05 – Sep 06: More than 25,000 posts made in various threads in the Discussion Forum, 98% of which are user-generated as opposed to moderator-generated, signalling a willingness on users’ part to lead discussions in various topics.
9. Feb 05 – Oct 06: 285 Ask Senior Management letters submitted to division directors, all of which are replied to and personally signed off by senior management. Of this number, 26 have been published within MyForum for staff to view.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The creation of MyForum came about as part of a changing culture in MOE. Effective internal communication and buy-in from staff was increasingly seen as valuable in order for the Ministry to be dynamic and seamless in movement, especially in responding to rapid changes in the global economy.

Led by this shift in culture, Corporate Communications Division (CCD) undertook two key initiatives to gather feedback between March and November 2004. These events helped us better understand the avenues through which MOE received both solicited and unsolicited feedback from its over 30,000 staff, and their perceptions of gaps in communication between and within schools and MOE HQ. Subsequently, MyForum was conceptualised, and endorsed by senior management, as a strategy to counter these gaps.

In March 2004, CCD conducted an environmental scan to better understand the existing feedback processes between teachers and MOE HQ, using informal surveys conducted with Branch Heads, Superintendents of schools and teachers. The scan showed that several Divisions had already built up some resources and expertise to solicit feedback from teachers, mainly through channels such as focus group discussions and pen-and-paper surveys. Teachers, on their part, were not always aware of the appropriate communications channels, which had contributed to a sense of helplessness or at times, frustration that they were unable to influence policy. They also cited their workload and the lack of time as obstacles to giving feedback. However, they were generally interested in contributing feedback on MOE policies and initiatives, and would like their feedback to be valued and given due consideration.

To crystallize these findings, CCD then formed an MOE Internal Communications Planning Team in September 2004, and set out to review the internal communications processes, and develop strategies to address the gaps identified in these processes. The team conducted email surveys and focus group discussions, including workshops and brainstorming sessions to identify systemic, ability, and mental-model gaps in communications, and then to develop strategies to address them. Consistent with the earlier scan, the team identified three major areas for improvement:
a) HQ’s heavy reliance on principals and branch heads to cascade information; lack of time for officers to absorb new information, lack of time for principals and divisions to package and tailor information for different target audiences; and lack of closure of the feedback loop;
b) Lack of training and resources for principals and branch heads on how to cascade and tailor information for greater clarity; and
c) Lack of awareness and interest among staff in understanding HQ initiatives and providing feedback; a lack of trust due to fear of breach of confidentiality, and fear that negative feedback (including “whistle-blowing”) would affect an officer’s career.
The team noted that strategies needed to be in place to address the gaps in order to establish, communicate and sustain a new environment for engagement with our internal audience. These included a need to improve communication channels, and MyForum was created as a key platform to achieve this. The platform was conceptualised, developed, and rolled out in September 2005.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The chief priority and purpose of MyForum was to develop a suite of mechanisms that could be used for either quick polls of ground sentiment or more in-depth qualitative and quantitative analyses. Although the mechanisms might not yield representative or scientifically significant results since staff participation would be mainly voluntary, they would nevertheless illuminate new and different perspectives on the ground.
As a start, online mechanisms would be the preferred mode as they would be more resource-effective for reaching out to the large population of teachers and for collating and analysing the feedback gathered. Online mechanisms would also appeal to younger teachers, who tend to be more vocal. Moreover, our environment scan showed that Divisions have not yet made extensive use of online systems; hence, these mechanisms would not duplicate existing processes.
A second priority in setting up MyForum was to signal to staff that we are keen to listen to staff opinions and suggestions, and demonstrate readiness for two-way communication between HQ and staff. In time, the objective is to create a culture in which all members of the MOE community are valued for their views and ideas on how to improve the community.
The team was aware that the new feedback channels for HQ divisions to solicit views may inadvertently generate unsolicited feedback (e.g. complaints, appeals or requests for information), and raise teachers’ expectations about how MOE handles feedback. In particular, as the nature of discussion on online forums is free-flowing, it is likely that some teachers may choose to air complaints or grouses on the Discussion Forum. It would not be tenable to prevent users from airing such views, as that would stifle the spirit of give-and-take, and it would be more helpful that they can give vent to their opinions internally rather than air them publicly. Divisions must, therefore, be prepared to receive and follow up on all types of feedback, not only those pertinent to the policy being discussed.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The chief strategies within MyForum are modules catering to both divisions soliciting feedback, and giving staff an avenue to freely give vent to their personal negative experiences, as well as engage each other in debate and contribute “unsolicited” feedback:
a) Survey and Consultation Paper modules – where divisions host questionnaires and run preliminary initiative-ideas by staff, to consult either the whole MOE population or selected members for their views and feedback;
b) Discussion Forum – where staff can take part in free-flow discussion, using their nicknames; and
c) Ask Senior Management (Feb 06) – where staff can directly engage HQ directors on issues they need clarification for and/ or to provide feedback on.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Since the start of Sep 05, more HQ divisions have made MyForum the choice platform to engage staff on issues pertaining to work processes and new initiatives. Fifty surveys and 6 consultation papers have been put up since September last year, eliciting a total of no less than 15,000 responses for various groups of the MOE community, mainly school leaders and teachers of different subjects areas.

HQ directors have also replied to 285 letters that staff submitted through the Ask Senior Management channel, as at October 2006. While many of these letters came from officers seeking clarification and intervention in matters pertaining to their personal careers, we are now seeing more letters shedding new perspectives on how the organisation handles its policies and staff.

In the discussion forum, over 250 regular users who come from schools are now taking the lead in discussion topics, ranging from venting about mismanagement in schools and performance ranking, to seeking others’ views about work-related ideas on handling parents, difficult students, or simply new ways to enhance their Co-Curricular Activities.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The MyForum team is taking a two-pronged approach to sustain the activities of MyForum over the next few years. The first involves promoting MyForum to new staff and sustaining a high awareness among existing staff. To achieve this, the team makes regular presentations on MyForum at key platforms such as the induction programmes for each new cohort of teachers and to newly-inducted executive and administrative staff.

To sustain higher awareness of MyForum among existing staff, the team has also made regular presentations as well as held workshops and focus group discussions with school teachers and divisions. We have also recently begun to conduct MyForum briefings for school leaders to encourage them to actively engage the issues raised within MyForum, or to discuss them at their meetings with staff.

The second prong aims to promote a culture of consultation within HQ divisions. The team will continue to work closely with HQ divisions and senior management to create more consultation opportunities to engage staff in formulating new initiatives and policies.

To help make MyForum an attractive platform to HQ, the team has undertaken two rounds of enhancements to MyForum. The first round saw the development of a new Ask Senior Management module in Feb 06 and a redesigned Graphical User Interface. The second round, following feedback from both users and divisions, will see an enhanced reporting function to make mining feedback data from the survey and consultation paper modules easier, as well as increase the ease of closing the feedback loop. This is set to roll out by Jan 07.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The activities within MyForum have yielded considerable comment among both HQ and school users, with some groups still expressing doubt that it was possible to build an open and consultative environment. In particular, unsolicited feedback from staff in the Discussion Forum has been observed to be mainly negatively-slanted, with users mounting criticisms of issues such as ranking, performance bonus and mismanagement of school. For some school leaders and senior personnel, this represents a cause for concern as they believe that beginning teachers joining the online community will feel disheartened by reading these posts. The other implication of this is that HQ divisions might be dissuaded from running consultation exercises within the MyForum environment, believing that the responses they get would be skewed and unconstructive.

The team had anticipated these obstacles – and taken steps to brief staff, divisions and school leaders on the rationale for internal communications, and how to use the medium effectively. At these briefings, as well as in postings and replies on MyForum, the team stresses respect for user confidentiality as in the terms of use. Many regular users of MyForum also help to reassure new users that administrators indeed do respect user confidentiality.

With regards to negative feedback, the team has explained to the divisions and school leaders that such “unsolicited” feedback is expected to some extent, and reflects the free-flowing nature of other Internet online forums where the views of a small group of regular users tend to lend greater weight. As mentioned earlier, it would be less tenable to prevent users from airing such views, as that would stifle the spirit of give-and-take. Instead, it is far more helpful that they can give vent to their opinions internally rather than air them publicly.

This is why we advise that moderators take a “light touch” to monitoring the discussions. One way the team works to improve the balance in the more negative discussion threads is to monitor when it would be appropriate and timely for moderators to intervene – especially when users ask for clarity, or when there is a series of posts displaying a misconception about policies and practices in MOE HQ. Negative discussions are often effectively balanced out when other users post differing perspectives.

Another lesson learnt has been with regard to Ask Senior Management. With initial ASM replies, teachers found them to be impersonal and bureaucratic in tone. After conveying this feedback to the Divisions, responses are now more candid and personal.

At the same time, we are cognisant that for MyForum to be a credible platform representing the different voices of the MOE family, greater “speaking space” must be created for different groups of staff such as curriculum experts, guidance counsellors and more experienced teachers who can lend valuable advice and perspectives. To create this space, the team is currently building a weblog module as a new community feature, where assigned writers can contribute their personal thoughts and experiences to blogs catering to different interests. This will be rolled out in 2007.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Ministry of Education (Corporate Communication Division
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Lisa Poh
Title:   Corporate Communication Executive, CCD  
Telephone/ Fax:   +65 68796023
Institution's / Project's Website:   +65 67750276
E-mail:   lisa_poh@moe.gov.sg  
Address:   MOE Building, Level 20, 1 North Buona Vista Drive
Postal Code:   138675
City:   SINGAPORE
State/Province:   SINGAPORE
Country:   Singapore

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