VIEWS & OPINION
Supporting teachers in delivering learning
Comment by GARY BRYANT, UK manager at ITSI
For teachers, finding educational materials that support them in teaching the curriculum and enhancing the learning experience, at the same time as dealing with increasingly demanding workloads, can sometimes seem like an almost impossible task. However, with the increasing amount of ed tech resources available, how can teachers be supported in delivering a well- rounded and comprehensive education for students? The landscape of education is constantly changing. With
new policies and guidelines come a wealth of new ideas, resources and techniques for teaching and learning, so it can sometimes be hard for schools to filter through these innovations to find something that will truly benefit their students. While there is a temptation to follow and invest in all the latest trends, there is much value to be found in going back to basics. However, English schools have, for some time now, been
averse to using textbooks in the classroom, but this reluctance has started to show in global education reports like PISA, where high-performing nations, such as Singapore and Finland, were found to be using textbooks as the basis for instruction for between 70 and 95 per cent of teaching time respectively. That being said, technology can also have a tremendous
impact on how both teachers and students use this material in lessons and independently. We’re all using technology more and more in our daily lives, and with many future jobs likely to involve digital skills of some form or another, ensuring that students can use technology well is essential. With more classrooms making use of tablet devices in lessons and the increasing amount of published material available in e-book form, we have the opportunity to make the best of both worlds. Digital copies of textbooks can be enriched in several ways.
For example, a teacher may find a useful article or video clip that relates to a passage in the book; rather than simply providing the URL on a worksheet, the link can be embedded in the e-book itself and is automatically contextually added to each student’s device, meaning that all the necessary resources are in one place. Even assessments can be directly linked in to the content for lesson activities or homework. This empowers teachers to deliver high-quality lessons and
also means that students can take ownership of their materials, rather than relying on the school’s textbooks that need to be kept immaculate for the next cohort. We’re seeing an increase in tablet ownership amongst students, and with e-books, they can highlight and annotate sections of the text digitally, meaning that their notes are directly linked to the subject material, and not floating around in exercise books, which also improves the revision process. Textbooks will always have a place in learning; they provide a
wealth of specialised, subject and age-specific information in an accessible way. However, by bringing them into the digital age, we can give both teachers and students the power to really revolutionise the learning experience.
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www.education-today.co.uk
What are the skills we need to be teaching our
children? Comment by KATE ROBINSON, Editor-in-Chief, HundrED
Education is constantly evolving, leaving us to wonder how the next 100 years might look. How it should look though is simpler to answer; it needs to equip students with the right skills in order for them to flourish in tomorrow’s society. As part of the HundrED project, we spoke to a number of education
influencers and not one of them believed that the way we’re currently schooling students is preparing them for the world they live in. Children need a range of skills to adapt and thrive in various environments.
Here are some of the skills our education thought-leaders believe are the most essential…
‘Soft skills’ There needs to be a greater emphasis on ‘soft’ skills. As Anthony Mackay, CEO of the Centre for Strategic Education in Melbourne, says: “It is clear that we need to attend to an expanded conception of skills. “The importance of being an active and informed citizen, is broadly
recognised as paramount. This includes participating in your local, national, and international communities. The sense of being a global citizen is critically important. “It is also clear that we are rediscovering (what generations before us have
understood) that character and collaboration and communication are vitally important. In many ways these three C’s define what is essentially human. And if we are to be sustainable, critical thinking and creativity are imperative skills.”
Passion-based learning and creativity The key to a healthy, vibrant mind is creativity, says Orlando Bloom, actor and a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador. He believes that: “Children who are creative and happy in the classroom will ultimately learn more and retain that information better”. He explained how his son’s school focuses on passion-based learning, such
as his project based around costumes: “He created a whole project where he drew everything and then stood in front of the entire class and explained why he likes to dress up, and what each drawing meant to him. It made learning a fun thing.”
Problem-solving Sumitra Nair, head of the Youth Division at the Multimedia Development Corporation of Malaysia says: “I think we need to understand how technology can be integrated into education in a way that is going to cultivate problem solving and critical thinking. Otherwise we run the risk of just creating more users upon users and not necessarily ever thinking: ‘how do they use these rich tools and resources that are given to them to actually solve real problems?’ “The shift needs to happen from merely using technology as a tool for
teaching and learning, to using it as an integral tool that encourages creativity and innovation.” Ultimately, the next 100 years of education needs to empower students.
As Pasi Sahlberg, visiting professor at Harvard University, explains: “As the world keeps changing, education should provide young people with the necessary skills to create work for themselves and others, rather than encouraging them to remain as consumers… Instead, the mentality should be: if you don’t find a job that suits you, you create one for yourself.”
January 2017
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