In United Arab Emirates (UAE), education is witnessing a major paradigm shift. Schools are more focused on the learning process and on raising their students’ achievements. Students are involved in international competitions. Students are taking part of international benchmark standardized tests such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Educators are becoming more aware of the demands of globalization should plan differently. Schools have to start aiming to improve the teaching and learning process at all different levels.
But the question is: Are all factors which have a direct impact on the learning process taken into consideration?
A major concern about today’s education is the impact of the world’s continuous state of change on the learning process. The demands of the workplace is adding so much pressure on educators to design the education process differently. To shift from standards-based curriculum to skill-based curriculum, to embed ICT in education instead of integrating it, to design student-centered learning environment instead of teacher-centered learning environment….what else? Students need to be up to date with what is happening globally. Content knowledge remains a necessity but not the only target.
Let us focus on one issue which is technology…………..
Students are born nowadays with smartphones in their hands. They have personal emails, personal accounts on social media and devices to access all different forms of technology. Before they go to school they use those tools and the minute they leave the school they catch up with what they have missed out on social media. The walls of the schools are blocking them from using those equipment to learn. The only message that we are sending to students when doing that is telling them:
“Technology has nothing to do with education, technology is only for fun, gaming, chatting, posting.”
Is this really what we want students to believe? Is this the message that we want to pass out to the 21st century generation. Think carefully of the damage that you are causing by blocking technology in schools. Technology is a major component in this generation’s life. It has to become a major component in the education systems everywhere. Technology is a tool that was discovered to improve our lives and to serve us as human beings. But if technology is not integrated properly with curriculum it ca become a dangerous weapon that can fire back on everyone.
Show students how they can use the different applications and websites to enhance their literacy and numeracy. Teach them how they can design their own website. Discuss with them the ethics of using public information. Engage them in conversations that will draw their attention about validating the data they see online. Teach them how to critique what they read, analyze what they see online and write valid comments.