Well, I’ll be darned! I put out a post on October 6 about ‘A Peek Into The School Of The Future’ and postulated if Singapore could follow suit; and to my amusement – Singapore is. Channel NewsAsia broke the story on October 11, ‘Education Ministry to partner foreign institutions to develop Schools of the Future‘.
The similarities to Philadelphia’s school of the future is uncanny, but then again, it shouldn’t be of any surprise, considering Microsoft is one of MOE’s industry partners. I can’t lie to you. I would have loved, to have taken credit for seeding the idea (nothing wrong with the occasional ego stroking), but it’s quite obvious that MOE had already set its sights on such a move, way back, as maybe, last year. Express IT! IN2015, seems to indicate so. iN2015 is a blueprint to get Singaporeans technologically savvy in probably every aspect of their daily living. It’s a grand vision. But, impressive and exciting nonetheless. Even more consequential, is MOE’s master plan for IT in education. And going by the ideas that some students are proposing, it’s fairly obvious they’re more than ready to embrace technology in education. Take this as a barometer to gauge the level of excitement students place in technology.
If you’ve been having your doubts about using technology in education, I hope the above is proof enough of technology’s significance in Singapore’s future educational structure.
Radio took 38 years to seduce an audience of 50 million Americans. Television took 13 years. But the Web has taken less than four years from the moment Netscape’s Mosaic browser was made available for free to attract the same number. That difference counts for something. The usage growth of the Internet throughout the world between the years 2000 and 2006, has been measured at 200.9 %. Asia witnessed a growth of 245.5%. In Singapore, with our population at around 3.6 million, about 2.4 million of us are Internet users (Source: Internet World Stats). More than half of Singapore’s population is wired to the Internet. It’s a figure I expect to see rising over the coming years.
Let’s not kid ourselves though. The cost of living in such a technology-rich world, with information being exchanged at lightning quick pace, comes at a high price. And I don’t mean in monetary terms. I’m talking about our futures.
The simplistic plans that our forefathers laid out for their futures and for their generation, were and cannot be the same as the future for today’s generation and generations to come. A prime example is job security. A victim of today’s progress, job security, like our forefathers, has joined the annals of history. It’s not something that you should be preparing your students for. Our future is not about reacting to our past. The myth of job security should be shattered, because your students deserve to know what the future really holds for them – opportunity. And that’s what you should be preparing your students for.
A future with opportunities requires the ability to research, communicate and solve problems, skills that some of the age-old methods of learning, such as the 3 Rs, cannot support. You have to retool your classroom to support this new vision of opportunities and grasp the context of technology’s role in this. I mentioned in a previous post about the learning behaviour of kids today. It is vital you take this into consideration when retooling your classroom. To keep churning out stimulated, independent thinkers and learners, understanding their learning patterns is key towards achieving this.
Take a look at Japan. Her schools have been scrapping homework over the last decade. Why? Have Japanese schools discovered something that the rest of the world has not caught on yet? It’s a subject worthy of critical analysis and honourable debate. Lessening the load on homework could create a new path to self-discovery, mining more time for engaging your students rather than enraging them.
In an information-driven economy, information overload becomes a reality. How to manage information, feed information that matters to your students. maneuvering your students attention to focus on pertinent subject matter rather than mundane ones, becomes your responsibility. That means more is required out of you. And that’s one more reason why, you should embrace technology with open arms. It will guide you towards achieving this quickly and efficiently.
Dare I say, as an educational professional, you own the future, and you’re on your way towards helping your students do the same.
