DOHA: Education for all can only be achieved through the use of information and communications technology (ICT), says a renowned educator at the 20th iEARN International Conference and 17th Youth Summit at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).
"The problem is our current educational system does not help us provide education for all. There is therefore a need for a paradigm shift in education. The use of ICT is the answer, the only solution to provide education for all," said Dr Mohamed Ally, Professor in Distance Education and a researcher in the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University in Canada.
Dr Ally, known for his book "Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training" which won the Charles A Wedemeyer Award for significant contribution to distance education, said radical advocated a radical shift from a classroom-based learning through the use of ICT which caters to different types of learners with various types of learning styles and needs.
"Each learner has a peak time of the day to learn best. With ICT they can learn anywhere anytime," he explained, adding the cost of education is very high because it is expensive to build and run schools.
"Education is human right and learners should not pay too much money to get educated," he said, stressing the need to educate all including the homeless, the underprivileged in both developing and developed countries, indigenous people and nomads.
Information explosion, the fast-paced development of technology and new generation learners who quickly adapt to them were among other factors he mentioned to veer away from the traditional classroom-based education paradigm.
In addition, use of ICT to deliver education is "green learning" because of less travel and reduced use of paper, he added.
He also emphasised the need to educate students with 21st century skills which include communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, ICT, teamwork, globalization, research and critical thinking among others.
To transform the educational system to that which implements ICT, he said there should be change of attitude among educators towards ICT, lobby for free connectivity globally and work with hardware and software developers to build ICT infrastructure for education.
He lauded Qatar as one of the few countries who uses ICT in education sector through Supreme Education Council's e-Education initiative, ictQatar's leveraging ICT for education and Qatar Foundation's research funding on innovative studies on ICT and mobile learning.
"The digital divide is getting smaller because students are getting access to computers but we are experiencing the learning divide," he said.
Learning divide, he said, stems up from a lack of available content so curriculum experts should develop content which should be made available for everyone.
"There is a need to develop a new pedagogy for flexible learning so students can acquire skills required in the 21st century and there should also be training for teachers to deliver education using ICT," he said.
Dr Ally described the ultimate schools in the 21st century as the ones which use digital media and with digitized courses, utilize games as learning strategy, and with mobile devices and online access.
© The Peninsula 2013
