Education in the New Milieu

Education in the New Milieu Change is a constant thing in this world. While the world is changing for progress it requires education to increase its power to educate people because the world nowa-days is demanding for greater abilities, knowledge and skills to its people. Changes occurs every where and any where; it can happen with just a blink of an eye or a snap of your fingers. There is progress when there is change the two always come together like no one could live without one whether the progress is for good or for bad. When it comes to education, change is also present; from the Spanish period where men only are sent to school to the present period where both men and women are in school learning, from the tree sheds to brick classrooms, and from the teacher centered to learner centered approach of teaching where acquiring exciting and relevant.

Information and Communication Technology and Education How does technology affect education? Technology has given us the opportunity to obtain, analyze, assemble and communicate information in more detail at much faster than before. Technology enables us to do things we never imagine that could happen. One consequence of this benefits that technology has given to us is to increase the demand of education to help the learners acquire high-level skills that allow them to be globally competitive. Learners must level up his skills in order to go with the progress of the technology and not to be left behind. There are several of techniques, methods, and technologies for helping learners to acquire new knowledge. There are times that the teacher engages the student in lower-level rote learning using drill and practice techniques for basic level learning. However, if the teacher wants to emphasize higher-order skills, methods as simulations, discovery, problem solving and cooperative learning will be employed for learners to experience and solve real-world problems. In these cases you will notice a shift in which the learning experience is carried out. Instead of the teacher’s total control and manipulation, the importance of the learner’s role in planning, implementation, and self-evaluation will be emphasized.

Comparison of Teacher-centered and Learner-centered Teacher-Centered Paradigm

Learner-Centered Paradigm

Knowledge is transmitted from professor to students

Students construct knowledge through gathering and synthesizing information and integrating it with the general skills of inquiry, communication, critical thinking, problem solving and so on

Students passively receive information

Students are actively involved

Emphasis is on acquisition of knowledge outside Emphasis is on using and communicating the knowledge effectively to address enduring and emerging context in which it will be used issues and problems in real-life contexts Professor’s role is to be primary information giver and primary evaluator

Professor’s role is to coach and facilitate Professor and students evaluate learning together

Teaching and assessing are separate

Teaching and assessing are intertwined

Assessment is used to monitor learning

Assessment is used to promote and diagnose learning

Emphasis is on right answers

Emphasis is on generating better questions and learning from errors

Desired learning is assessed indirectly through the use of objectively scored tests

Desired learning is assessed directly through papers, projects, performances, portfolios, and the like

Focus is on a single discipline

Approach is compatible with interdisciplinary investigation

Culture is competitive and individualistic

Culture is cooperative, collaborative, and supportive

Only students are viewed as learners

Professor and students learn together

TEACHING-CENTERED versus LEARNING-CENTERED Concept

Teacher-Centered

Learner-Centered

Teaching goals



Cover the discipline



Organization of the curriculum



Courses in catalog



Course structure



Faculty cover topics



How students learn

 

Listening Reading





Independent learning, often in competition for grades



Pedagogy



Based on delivery of information



Based on engagement of students

Course delivery



Lecture Assignments and exams for summative purposes



Active learning

   

Assignments for formative purposes Collaborative learning Community service learning Cooperative learning Online, asynchronous, self-directed learning Problem-based learning



 

Students learn: o How to use the discipline o How to integrate disciplines to solve complex problems o An array of core learning objectives, such as communication and information literacy skills Cohesive program with systematically created opportunities to synthesize, practice, and develop increasingly complex ideas, skills, and values Students master learning objectives Students construct knowledge by integrating new learning into what they already know Learning is viewed as a cognitive and social act

Course grading

 

Faculty as gatekeepers Normal distribution expected



Grades indicate mastery of learning objectives

Faculty role



Sage on the stage



Designer of learning environments

Effective teaching 

Teach (present information) well and  those who can will learn

  

Engage students in their learning Help all students master learning objectives Use classroom assessment to improve courses Use program assessment to improve programs

Teacher vs. Learner-Centered Instruction Teacher-Centered

Learner-Centered

Focus is on instructor

Focus is on both students and instructor

Focus is on language forms and structures (what the instructor knows about the language)

Focus is on language use in typical situations (how students will use the language)

Instructor talks; students listen

Instructor models; students interact with instructor and one another

Students work alone

Students work in pairs, in groups, or alone depending on the purpose of the activity

Instructor monitors and corrects every student utterance

Students talk without constant instructor monitoring; instructor provides feedback/correction when questions arise

Instructor answers students’ questions about Students answer each other’s questions, using instructor language as an information resource Instructor chooses topics

Students have some choice of topics

Instructor evaluates student learning

Students evaluate their own learning; instructor also evaluates

Classroom is quiet

Classroom is often noisy and busy

The shift from the teacher centered and the learner centered approach in teaching is shown in the above paradigms. (see figure 1,2 and 3)

Generally the new approaches of teaching presented in the new milieu are the fruit of the growing and progressing technology. The people’s willingness to progress is unlimited. The world demands for education is increasing and as a response education is upgrading it’s curriculum and learning strategies.

References: -

http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/goalsmethods/learncentpop.html http://assessment.uconn.edu/docs/TeacherCenteredVsLearnerCenteredParadigms.pdf