Education must change to enable us to cope with
changes in society. The qualities that people need
in order to meet the challenges of change are:
- The ability to adapt to changing technology
and circumstances
- The willingness and ability to work in dynamic
teams
- A passion for learning throughout life
- Creativity – public and private institutions
are changing rapidly as a result of economic
and cultural demands and a creative workforce
is required to manage these changes
- The ability to organise and analyse information
If pupils are to have a stimulating learning experience
which leads them to acquire these skills, changes
in learning method are likely too. These include:
- Active learning, individually or in a group,
including information-gathering as well as practical
experience such as doing scientific experiments
- Learning in a context, drawing a number of
ideas together through common themes
- Learning at the individual's own pace (difficult
to achieve if all learning proceeds through
lecture-style teaching)
- Varying the learning experience by means of
different teachers, different co-learners, different
places or different styles of learning
ICT and the way we learn
Learning is also being affected by the extensive
use of information and communication technology
(ICT). Computers are now an essential tool for
learning, and electronic whiteboards, scanners
and colour printers are also becoming valuable
teaching aids. The number of computers in schools
will continue to increase. In addition, it is
likely that all pupils will have their own wireless
hardware in the future.
Used imaginatively, ICT can open up new learning
opportunities. For example:
- Where practical activities are prohibitively
expensive or dangerous, technology allows pupils
to have 'virtual' practical experience.
- Good-quality recordings of speech and music
mean that oral skills can be learnt and assessed
more easily.
- Pupils can learn from and with others across
a network via the Internet or video link-ups,
reducing isolation for outlying schools.
- Multimedia opportunities engage some students
previously alienated from education. Used appropriately,
video, sound, speech, graphics and different
cultural representations can close the ‘inclusion
gap’ dramatically.
- Teachers can create personalised work plans
to encourage individualised learning, making
it easier for pupils of different ages and abilities
to work more easily together.
- Students can be continuously assessed from
a distance and records of achievement can be
kept for a lifetime in a 'digital vault'.
|
