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CULTURAL CHANGE NEEDED TO EXPLOIT ICT IN SCHOOLS
DR ALISON ELLIOTT, INFORMATION AGE 16/4/2004


This is an interesting article highlighting Dr Elliott’s frustration at perceived missed opportunities of Australian schools to comprehensively integrate ICT in the daily teaching regime of Australian school practices. The main point in this article for me was that there is no real reason for this not to happen. Although some schools have had early success in implementing ICT programmes in their schools as Ryde East- close to my home. It is the conservatism of the schools to look beyond and over older teaching methods by recognizing that students no longer learn in the same way that the 150 year old model suggests. Australian schools are well resourced and the teachers well trained. Dr Elliott argues that teaching should move more into the facilitation of learning rather than transmitters of knowledge, (although she does acknowledge that this will always be an element in the classroom teaching practice).Parents are now relying on the internet and web pages to communicate with the school about events and administrative matters; they are now expecting to be able to communicate on line to stay in touch with teachers with regards to their child’s schooling.

DIGITAL NATIVES AND DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS
MARC PRENSKY

As a digital immigrant I though it a valid point in comparing teaching the digital natives using old technology with teaching children who speak a foreign language in a language they do not understand. It would be pointless. Marc point quite rightly that teachers should study the next generation and see how they communicate and learn and style their methods of teaching or information gathering and dissemination to the student’s way of thinking. Involving the students in their learning and model methods in the classroom in order to present a subject in ways in which children gather other information. Eg the
Pokomon phenomenon is a good example. We need a total rethink on how teachers present their lessons in the classroom by using the tools and methods that digital natives use in their everyday life to network gossip and stay in tuned with the world around them. Then and only then can the education system seem relevant to the students and keep them interested and focused on learning..