E-learning: Part B

The possible future of the educational landscape as presented by Big Picture High School, EdisonLearning and the videos ‘Did You Know?’ and ‘Singapore’s iN2015 Vision’, shows the possible educational opportunities that can be provided for the students to better prepare them for jobs that did not exist in the past or do not yet exist. Big Picture High School promotes self-directed learning with teachers facilitating the learning process and prepares the students for survival in the real world. EdisonLearning allows for differentiated learning to cater to students of different needs through the use of advanced technologies. The video on Singapore in 2015 shows the futuristic possibility of enhancing teaching and learning with the use of technological gadgets.

However, these give rise to numerous concerns. If such futuristic educational landscapes were to be realized, what would happen if technology fails to function? Will everything come to a standstill? Using technologies in classes would require students to be equipped with the gadgets and the knowledge to use them. Would all students be able to cope with handling the use of technologies on top of digesting academic knowledge? Would all students be able to afford such advanced technologies? These questions need to be addressed and solved in order to advance into the future.

The first step to all of these would be to introduce students to existing technologies and make them understand the teaching and learning potential of these tools and widen their exposure. NIE aims to equip teachers with this skill through courses such as ICT for Meaningful Learning. It is crucial to ensure that the use of ICT tools complements the topic that is taught. It would be useful for teachers to familiarize themselves with these technologies so that they would be able to relate better to the digital natives whom they will be teaching through their lessons.