Teaching an Learning Anywhere- Globalisation and ICT’s

An eight year old boy is planting a tomato plant in his school’s kitchen garden; a fifty year old mother of three is studying for her first bachelor online whilst waiting for the water to boil, a sixteen year old French student in Melbourne is chatting online to her French friend in Paris.

These students are representative of where learning is today. The classroom of the future is no longer contained to rows of desks in classrooms. With massive advances in technology and communication education has developed from the traditional class setting to a global classroom where information and learning is shared internationally.

So what role do teachers play in this modern, tech savvy world? This movement towards greater use of ICT’s in classrooms is “indicative of a wider move in society” where there are “changed expectations from teachers” (Townsend & Bates, 2006). Even in the last decade there has been a recognisable shift from learning ‘about’ computers in IT to learning ‘with’ computers, integrating them into all aspects of existing curriculum.

With the amount of information and knowledge available at the click of a button teachers are no longer required to hold ‘all the answers’. Their role has significantly changed whereby they are now responsible for giving students the tools, inspiration, curiosity and knowledge to become lifelong learners.

New technologies have altered the “organisation and structure of schooling itself” (Townsend & Bates, 2006). Traditional models of set timetables and classrooms have been challenged by the introduction of ‘virtual schools’ whereby learning can be both face to face and via other technologies such as the internet.

This “rapid free flow” of communication, technology, capital and employment has led to a “global village effect” (Cumming et al, 1999). This move from local to global is reflected in the classroom whereby multicultural understanding and sensitivity is a critical element that needs to be taught for the future. In these collaborative learning societies one of the challenges facing future teachers will be relating to students from diverse cultures. Study and work abroad programs such as ‘Teachers Across Borders’ have been recognised by a number of resources as being a “highly valued” experience which gives teachers “increased efficacy” (Roane, 2008)and “global awareness” (Young, 2001).

As teachers of the future generations we have the responsibility of preparing our students to work, live and succeed in a society with greater communication, connection and knowledge than any other generation previously.

References

Cumming, G., Okamoto, T., Gomez, L. (1999). Advanced Research in Computers and Communication in Education. The Netherlands; IOS Press.

Teachers across Borders. (2009). http://www.teachersacrossborders.org/

Townsend, T. & Bates, R. (2006). Handbook of Teacher Education: Globalisation, Standards and Professionalism is Times of Change. The Netherlands; Springer.

Roane, W. (2008). Home Culture, Host Culture, and Identity: Student Teachers' Understanding of Self and Others. Online Submission, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association(New York, NY, Mar 22, 2008)

Young, R. (2001) Assessing the Impact Areas of an International Study Tour for Teachers