En ny rapport fra KMD Analyse byder på et realitetstjek for de store ambitioner for folkeskolens brug af it. Undersøgelsen viser, at der er store forskelle på de danske folkeskolers brug af it, og at der stadig er relativt langt til regeringens målsætninger om en mere digital folkeskole.
Har man fulgt mediernes fokus på it og skoleområdet, kan man godt indimellem få det indtryk, at iPads i klassesæt, avanceret brug af web 2.0 og andre smarte programmer er en aktiv del af dagligdagen i folkeskolen, men virkeligheden ser mange steder anderledes ud. Hver femte skole er ifølge undersøgelsen sakket decideret agterud, både i forhold til deres teknologiske infrastruktur, it-kompetencer og generelle strategiske fokus på it. Dertil kommer, at yderligere 39 % af skolerne ligger under middel, hvilket sammenlangt vil sige, at 58 % af alle skolerne placerer sig under middel eller det, der er værre.
Derudover fremgår det af rapporten, at, 49 % af lærerne altid eller ofte oplever problemer med de bærbare pc’er, mens 40 % altid eller ofte har problemer med det trådløse netværk og hele 74 % af underviserne har angivet, at de i nogen grad, høj grad eller meget høj grad bruger teknologien mindre end de ønsker pga. tekniske problemer.
Undersøgelsen viser dermed også, at man ikke når langt med store it-ambitioner, når de mest basale it-tekniske ting ikke er på plads. Hvad hjælper en fancy ny iPad, når man ikke kan gå på nettet?
Når 24 % af alle lærerne angiver, at de aldrig eller sjældent bruger it i undervisningen og syv ud af ti angiver, at de savner overblik over udbuddet samt evne til at vurdere digitale værktøjer, læringsuniverser og programmer, vidner det om at inddragelsen af it, ikke bare kan forventes at ske af sig selv. Det kræver en indsats både teknologisk, men i høj grad også i forhold til at uddanne lærerne, og give dem redskaber til at sætte teknologien i en pædagogisk og didaktisk kontekst.
Generelt viser undersøgelsen, at der er store forskelle indbyrdes på de forskellige folkeskoler, mens nogen skoler, som tidligere angivet, sakker agter ud, er der dog også skoler, som er godt med på it-bølgen, det er dog kun ca. hver syvende.
Der er dog også positive aspekter at hente i rapporten, fx er hovedparten af både skoleledere og lærere er positivt indstillede overfor brug af it i undervisningen. Det fremgår således, at 90 % af skolelederne siger, at digitale værktøjer bør indgå som en naturlig del af undervisningen, samt 60 % af lederne mener at øget brug af digitale læremidler kan øge kvaliteten af undervisningen i henholdsvis høj - eller meget høj grad. Også lærerne er positive, og mener, at der kan være en læringsmæssig gevinst ved brug af it og digitale læremidler i forhold til: individuel træning af kundskab og færdigheder (85 %), tværfaglige projektforløb (81 %), tavlebaseret klasseundervisning (67 %) og gruppearbejde (62 %). Dette viser altså, at der, til trods for de tidligere nævnte problemer, alligevel generelt er en rigtig positiv indstilling til inddragelse af it, som det helt er oplagt at bygge videre på.
Der er altså rig mulighed for forbedring i forhold til folkeskolens brug af it også i årene fremover, hvis skolerne skal leve om til forventningerne og forhåbninger om en folkeskole, hvor it naturligt indgår. Men det kræver en indsats og et langt bredere fokus. Det kræver en samlet strategi på området, der ikke blot omhandler anskaffelse af den nyeste teknik, men inddrager langt flere aspekter i forhold til at inkludere pædagogisk praksis, aktivere lærere og ledelse - og det kræver, ikke mindst, at den helt grundlæggende teknologiske infrastruktur er på plads.
Hvordan ser virkeligheden ud på din skole? Er der stilstand i folkeskolens brug af it? Og hvordan bliver it en naturlig del af den danske folkeskole? – Dét kunne det være rigtigt spændende at få nogle tilbagemeldinger på.
Rapporten kan læses i sin helhed på www.kmd.dk/analyse
Rapporten bygger ifølge KMD Analyse på data fra en survey med deltagelse af skoleledere fra 312 af landets folkeskoler fordelt på 89 af landets kommuner, en survey med deltagelse af 606 folkeskolelærere fra Userneeds Danmarks panel samt kvalitative interviews med 14 folkeskolelærere fra 7 forskellige skoler.
Kilde:
”Folkeskolens digitale tilstand: Udfordringer og muligheder”, KMD Analyse. Januar, 2012. www.kmd.dk/analyse
30 januar 2012
19 januar 2012
Accredited Online Colleges on the Rise
eVidenCenter har modtaget dette gæsteindlæg fra Nick Johnson, som editerer siden AccreditedOnlineColleges.net. Siden samler viden og informationer om e-læring på videregående uddannelser.
The Internet is revolutionizing higher education: accredited online colleges are growing in size, traditional colleges are adopting online programs, and all trends indicate that distance learning is not only here to stay, but that it will make an unprecedented impact on the educational systems currently in place today. What kind of change will online college courses provoke in the paradigms of students, professors, and educational institutions in the coming years?
Certain faculty members such as Dr. Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard University, have been instrumental in educating others on the benefits of online learning. He advocates that the “rise of online learning carries with it an unprecedented opportunity to transform the schooling system into a student-centric one that can affordably customize for different student needs by allowing all students to learn at their appropriate pace and path, thereby allowing each student to realize his or her fullest potential.”
Just how significant is personalization in education? Education scholar Benjamin Bloom conducted research in 1984 which demonstrated that students given one-on-one attention reliably performed two standard deviations better than their peers who stay in a regular classroom, the difference between an “average student” and one in the 98th percentile. However, in 1984, the idea of providing personal attention to each individual student was unthinkable simply due to the staggering costs involved. But now with online learning, customizing education for every student is no longer beyond the scope of possibility.
Online learning will enable not only the pace, but also the delivery of the course to be tailored to each individual student in ways that traditional face-to-face education cannot accommodate for. Students have unique learning styles and interests, and increased customization can make the learning process more engaging and effective. One student may learn calculus derivatives faster by walking through numerous example problems; another may prefer to have it explained more visually; and still another student still might better grasp the concept if it is taught within the context of physics.
Will online learning shift the present education system from the custodial, teacher-based format to one that is student-centric? The grand promise of online learning is that it will one day deliver to every student personalized content, tailored to each individual’s learning style and contextualized to the individual’s interests, at a pace determined by the individual’s proficiency and according to the individual’s availability. Online learning promises to make education more engaging, more accessible, and more effective, so that anyone can learn from anywhere at anytime and master the material better than if they were to attend a brick-and-mortar institution.
Whether such a grand promise can be delivered is surely a topic that will be laboriously tested and debated over the next few years. However, what is certain is that ever since the arrival of the Internet, more academic information continues to become more readily accessible to more people at a lower cost, and that pattern is not about to change.
More professors will offer their courses online. More education institutes will offer degrees online. Even while people debate over whether distance education is better or worse than traditional classroom education, more and more people are using the Internet to teach and to learn. For this reason, accredited online colleges and courses are here to stay. What is taught will inevitably become free (if it is not free already). How it will be taught will make all the difference.
Over the last 15 years, the Internet has revolutionized countless industries including retail, music, publishing, and communication. In a similar way, it will continue to revolutionize how we view education.
The Internet is revolutionizing higher education: accredited online colleges are growing in size, traditional colleges are adopting online programs, and all trends indicate that distance learning is not only here to stay, but that it will make an unprecedented impact on the educational systems currently in place today. What kind of change will online college courses provoke in the paradigms of students, professors, and educational institutions in the coming years?
Certain faculty members such as Dr. Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard University, have been instrumental in educating others on the benefits of online learning. He advocates that the “rise of online learning carries with it an unprecedented opportunity to transform the schooling system into a student-centric one that can affordably customize for different student needs by allowing all students to learn at their appropriate pace and path, thereby allowing each student to realize his or her fullest potential.”
Just how significant is personalization in education? Education scholar Benjamin Bloom conducted research in 1984 which demonstrated that students given one-on-one attention reliably performed two standard deviations better than their peers who stay in a regular classroom, the difference between an “average student” and one in the 98th percentile. However, in 1984, the idea of providing personal attention to each individual student was unthinkable simply due to the staggering costs involved. But now with online learning, customizing education for every student is no longer beyond the scope of possibility.
Online learning will enable not only the pace, but also the delivery of the course to be tailored to each individual student in ways that traditional face-to-face education cannot accommodate for. Students have unique learning styles and interests, and increased customization can make the learning process more engaging and effective. One student may learn calculus derivatives faster by walking through numerous example problems; another may prefer to have it explained more visually; and still another student still might better grasp the concept if it is taught within the context of physics.
Will online learning shift the present education system from the custodial, teacher-based format to one that is student-centric? The grand promise of online learning is that it will one day deliver to every student personalized content, tailored to each individual’s learning style and contextualized to the individual’s interests, at a pace determined by the individual’s proficiency and according to the individual’s availability. Online learning promises to make education more engaging, more accessible, and more effective, so that anyone can learn from anywhere at anytime and master the material better than if they were to attend a brick-and-mortar institution.
Whether such a grand promise can be delivered is surely a topic that will be laboriously tested and debated over the next few years. However, what is certain is that ever since the arrival of the Internet, more academic information continues to become more readily accessible to more people at a lower cost, and that pattern is not about to change.
More professors will offer their courses online. More education institutes will offer degrees online. Even while people debate over whether distance education is better or worse than traditional classroom education, more and more people are using the Internet to teach and to learn. For this reason, accredited online colleges and courses are here to stay. What is taught will inevitably become free (if it is not free already). How it will be taught will make all the difference.
Over the last 15 years, the Internet has revolutionized countless industries including retail, music, publishing, and communication. In a similar way, it will continue to revolutionize how we view education.
Etiketter:
e-læring,
fleksibel læring,
internettet,
netbaseret uddannelse
Abonner på:
Opslag (Atom)