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| Sunday, 9 October 2005 |
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E-Learning:
towards a proactive culture by Ranga Kamaladasa "I never try to teach my students anything. I only try to create an environment where they can learn". - Albert Einstein
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me, and I'll understand" - Confucius When Graham Bell first brought up the concept of the telephone someone was heard saying, "who on earth will want to talk in one of those". E-learning has suffered the same kind of criticism throughout its introduction to this country. Even some professionals in the education sector neglect it by saying that the way they learned was quite sufficient and that there is no need to spend unnecessary.
But today one of the ADBI's factors in categorising least advanced nations is to see whether the political leaders are sensitive to the global developments in ICT. E-learning which is considered a branch of ICT is not implemented the way it could be, not because of the unawareness to ICT, but because of the lack of action and performance. To quote William Loxley, 'In Sri Lanka there's very strong commitment [toward e-learning and ICT] but the jury is still out on the implementation." Why E-learning? Life in the Information Age is not what it used to be in the Industrial Age. We no longer have to rely absolutely on books or other printed material to find what we want. The most updated facts, news, and knowledge can be acquired from just a small visit to a cybercafe for just Rs. 40 per hour. There is interactive media as well as multimedia that can give a great deal more than the conventional blackboard and chalk. For the teachers, they can design their own material. They can coach and animate instead of boring the students with lectures the students hate so much. They can check if the information provided is correct or otherwise, and ultimately can gain enhanced prestige inside the class as well as outside in the community. From a students perspective; they can quickly become self-empowered. They can access unlimited information resources. They can learn current knowledge rather than focusing their effort on studying outdated facts by decades. Their learning experience would be fun and fullfilling rather than rigid and delibarate. There are many definitions of E-learning but mostly it's about expressing ideas easily and naturally, interacting with others, exploring and discovering the world, and managing the learning process. "Most people think that e-learning is putting everything we have in books to the electronics form," says Mr. Ranjith Kumarasiri, Business and Curriculum Development Manager of the DLC Ltd. "Rather it should be pedagogical. The learning methodology should change from subject to subject, and from various age groups and etc.""For example, transpiration should not be taught in the 4th floor of the school building using computers when it's easier to show the real example to the students just by going outside. But when it comes to teaching wave propagation or something similar, it's best to use an animation or interactive media." Technologically speaking E-learning is achievable via educational software, Video conferencing, e-classrooms, wireless technology and virtual school systems. In some countries where virtual school systems are present web servers, media servers, content editors, and content management systems (where content is always accurate and up to date) are all synergised to let the students dwell in a highly informative atmosphere. Taking into consideration the economical feasibility of a virtual school project, it would definitely be hard to implement it here. But rather than teaching programming to A/L students who have no whatsoever interest other than scoring a good Z-score, the computers allocated to them could be used to serve as Information servers.The current attitudes in our country should also change if we are to implement E-learning, says Ranjith. "According to the present education system the role of a facilitator is not expected from a teacher. Rather they are expected to be transmitters of the curriculum so that most students can memorize everything they say and get 3 A's for the examination." Cultural aspects There is also a traditional gap between students and teachers which was clearly seen recently when the whole-island Teachers Association wanted to create a social debate on whether physical punishment of children should or should not be permitted. So in our culture, whether the conventional teacher would be satisfied with the role of a facilitator instead of the all powerful stern-schoolmaster role should also be taken into questioning. "Parents are also responsible," Ranjith further adds. "Even at an early age students are trained to go for tuition classes even for the year 5 scholarship and study like mocking birds. So the attitude should be the first to change (in both students and parents) if E-learning is to be productive." Even the project that the Education Ministry started with the help of several Universities to enhance the secondary educational systems of schools have been focusing on caged software which are only limited to the curriculum. No extra reading, no interacting with others and no discovering the world. Another major question in relevance to E-learning is whether it's cost effective? Traditional belief is that ICT is not the contributing factor to the wealth building and that only agriculture is the basic foundation of a civilisation. That was probably true, some thousand years ago. But today we value intellectual knowledge that cannot be regenerated by machine or equipment rather than raw labour which can be achieved by different means. In the 19th century the economic growth was built upon Capital (including land, etc.) and labour alone. When we come to the 20th Century education also played an important factor in economic growth. But in the 21st Century not only do we need capital, labour and education, but technology is also considered a major factor of development. As shown on the charts (courtesy ADB) the higher income countries have strengthened their service sector to boost the agricultural output they make. In doing so they have not only made more capital but also they've reinforced the efficiency and productivity of their agriculture so they can take the maximum harvest with just a small input. Future Another main advantage of E-learning is that students learn to question their sources. From just a mouse click they can email and make contact with the content providers or have their own say if something doesn't feel fitting. This might be a huge blow to the blind-obedience learning culture that is present in the country but it will definetly make the students stand up on their own feet and do what they believe is righteous. This will also build up the creativity, imagination and the ability to innovate new concepts in the minds of these future leaders. It will create engineers that can mold society in the way that they desire, not technicians who blindly transmit some collective technology that has already been invented. At present the attitude towards a perfect student is work hard, get a degree, then work hard again and get something better like a Microsoft Certification. Little do they know that recently a 9 year old girl also recieved the title as a Microsoft Certified Professional. The youngest was an 8-year-old boy from India several years back. Education is something much more than a degree or certification. Even if the conventional education system, is unable to give the desirable output E-learning may change those ideals if implemented correctly. And hopefully we will see a new breed of future leaders emerging from this country rather than blind followers. |
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