MALAYSIA: Meeting the Needs of New Learners
By Dr. Theva Nithy, Malaysia Star (Opinion)
2/21/10
The current evaluation system in schools does not measure a dynamic learner’s capabilities. To be globally relevant, we need to encourage innovative thinking.
The Internet’s effects on education have been vast. Neither governments nor education stakeholders foresaw the extent to which it would revolutionise educational systems, educators, learners, educational delivery and research platforms and mechanisms.
Today, at the beginning of a new decade, events are repeating themselves. The same cohort of controlling players, especially governments, still do not acknowledge that the Internet is again transforming learners’ demands – and the very concept of learning.
UAE: Adapting Classrooms to the 21st Century
New Learning Environments Mean Keeping Up with Technology; Changing Learning Methods
By Rania Moussly and Amelia Naidoo, GulfNews.com
2/21/10
Although youngsters have been exposed to a range of multimedia and interactive learning methods at a young age, classrooms of today still resemble those of 25 years ago.
This has led to student "disengagement" which has led educators and institutions to realise the need for engaged teaching environments and faculty development to keep up with the pace of technological change.
To maximise learning, the 21st century classroom must adapt to students' preferred learning styles, technology and creative teaching methods that work.
US: Virtual Charter Schools Aren't Going Away; the State Should Adapt
The (Eugene) Register-Guard (Editorial)
2/13/10
Oregon is having a hard time deciding how, or even whether, to integrate virtual charter schools into its systems of funding, standards and accountability — systems developed when few imagined schools as anything other than places where students gather each day in a classroom led by a teacher. Oregon's attitude should be one of openness and experimentation, because one of the few certainties about this matter is that virtual learning won't go away.
Part of the state's difficulty stems from a commendable determination to be careful with taxpayer funds and protective of children's educations. Part of is rooted in a less-commendable desire to protect the established model of education.