ICT's Impact on the modern day Classroom
Digital media in conjunction with learning, has become a
critical area for education research. There has been an urgency go design the
curriculum to shape the minds and mentalities of young people, to encourage them
to be able to understand society and act in approved ways within society. Our
society has become one of a “learning society” which technology has enabled us
to be. We now are not restricted in our learning. We learn beyond the
traditional classrooms, into micro localities of home and work places and many
other places allowing everyone, wherever they are to mature and learn (Williamson, 2013).
The dominant style of thinking about society in today’s digital age is saturated with cybernetic. This impacts on the curriculum in schools, as society ultimately dictates school curriculum. The current aspirations for the curriculum are linked together with the global concerns of the digital age, churning the future of the curriculum into a subject of intense debate. This concept of new technology and digital media, are matters of significant interest for a wide range of parties, which extend well beyond the formal organs of education systems structure (Williamson, 2013). The reasoning behind all of this interest merely comes down to the fact that digital media is an important part of young people’s lives and cultural experiences, it offers forms of participation, community, belonging and communication. It also offers that ability to be learning in any setting; increasing education on many elements (Eadie, 2001). This suggested “wikiworld” of new learning encompasses a move away from seeing curriculum as a core canon or central body of content, to viewing curriculum as hyper-linked with networked digital media, popular, cultured through everyday interactions. Although these are all encompassed in the aspirations of curriculum, the critical theory perspective suggests we need to ask how the curriculum actually reflects social power, interests, politics, and ideologies of society (Vooget,2005). This also suggests the need of strong curriculum networks and social interactions between all parties.
With all this taken into account, the modern curriculum needs to be embedded in theories of learning and pedagogy, and assumptions about new technology, in conjunction with media that are all embedded with political, cultural and economic values and obligations (Williamson, 2013). Although we strive for this, many continue to ask why we attempt to consistently renew and change our curriculum. We do this as curriculum is the intellectual center of schooling, and is its main message system. Curriculum links together academic, vocational knowledge and skills in conjunction with personal identity (Vooget,2005). But how do we actually do this?
We move from the factory school setting, where we witness mass students working on sole facts and tests in preparation for life in low skills industrial jobs. Now we need to focus on more educated, flexible, and highly skilled workforce jobs within the school setting (Eadie, 2001). This era is characterised by he plasticity of information’s, the perpetual beta, an open decentralised approach to information, and open-source politics, all powered by the internet’s centrifugal forces therefore, we need to utilise these modern ideas and concepts in ICT within our education systems (Vooget,2005).
The dominant style of thinking about society in today’s digital age is saturated with cybernetic. This impacts on the curriculum in schools, as society ultimately dictates school curriculum. The current aspirations for the curriculum are linked together with the global concerns of the digital age, churning the future of the curriculum into a subject of intense debate. This concept of new technology and digital media, are matters of significant interest for a wide range of parties, which extend well beyond the formal organs of education systems structure (Williamson, 2013). The reasoning behind all of this interest merely comes down to the fact that digital media is an important part of young people’s lives and cultural experiences, it offers forms of participation, community, belonging and communication. It also offers that ability to be learning in any setting; increasing education on many elements (Eadie, 2001). This suggested “wikiworld” of new learning encompasses a move away from seeing curriculum as a core canon or central body of content, to viewing curriculum as hyper-linked with networked digital media, popular, cultured through everyday interactions. Although these are all encompassed in the aspirations of curriculum, the critical theory perspective suggests we need to ask how the curriculum actually reflects social power, interests, politics, and ideologies of society (Vooget,2005). This also suggests the need of strong curriculum networks and social interactions between all parties.
With all this taken into account, the modern curriculum needs to be embedded in theories of learning and pedagogy, and assumptions about new technology, in conjunction with media that are all embedded with political, cultural and economic values and obligations (Williamson, 2013). Although we strive for this, many continue to ask why we attempt to consistently renew and change our curriculum. We do this as curriculum is the intellectual center of schooling, and is its main message system. Curriculum links together academic, vocational knowledge and skills in conjunction with personal identity (Vooget,2005). But how do we actually do this?
We move from the factory school setting, where we witness mass students working on sole facts and tests in preparation for life in low skills industrial jobs. Now we need to focus on more educated, flexible, and highly skilled workforce jobs within the school setting (Eadie, 2001). This era is characterised by he plasticity of information’s, the perpetual beta, an open decentralised approach to information, and open-source politics, all powered by the internet’s centrifugal forces therefore, we need to utilise these modern ideas and concepts in ICT within our education systems (Vooget,2005).
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All of this has been explored by many researchers however, Quest To Learn, trailed in New York, was an emerging open education, that exposes an ideal school type, which emphasises systems thinking. They learn about the world as a set of interconnected systems, which are committed to graduating strong, engaged, literate citizens of a globally networked world (Williamson, 2013). Through this students are engaged in situated and authentic, real-world learning experiences.
In a study conducted in 2000 about predicting the future of ICT’s impact upon curriculum they found that: collaborative endeavors will be normal between schools, greater emphasis upon communication and community creativity and the right connectedness tools for a community will all be within the future curriculum; which we are already largely seeing these three today in 2014 (Eadie, 2001). Although many student attempt to make predictions, no one really knows where ICT and society will go, therefore predictions upon future curriculum in schools is extremely difficult to predict (Vooget,2005). All we know is that ICT is ultimately having a huge impact on schools curriculum today, and that professional development is key for teachers to consistently be up to date with new technologies.
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