Three things to incorporate in the education system
Lecture based education system is not at all useful in terms of learning and this has already been proven by a lot of researchers and educationists worldwide
Khondker Mohammad Shah – Al – Mamun
World is moving fast, faster than we can perceive. Every now and then new things are being introduced to our lives. We, as the citizens of this moving world, are also gaining some momentum with these new changes but what about our education system? Is it moving with the same pace? Are we incorporating what we practice in our education system? The answer is a truth, known to us all and its a negative. This article will focus on three things that we need to incorporate in todays education system immediately.
Instructional design in preparing lesson plan
Lecture based education system is not at all useful in terms of learning and this has already been proven by a lot of researchers and educationists worldwide. Therefore, many of the educational institutions are trying to adopt technology to ensure interactivity in delivering lessons to the students. Now many of those institutes apply multimedia contents likes, presentation, audio and video. Some even got further by adopting forum discussions, peer review etc. Still one element is missing that is absolutely necessary and it is instructional design. Using multimedia and interactive contents is OK but without instructional design they will not be effective. Instructional Design determines which activity and content is to be used where and when to ensure that the learning happens. It requires a lot of in-depth knowledge on the subject matter and planning simultaneously to link up the activity design with the learning objectives. Some educational institutions are starting to introduce instructional designers but in that case teacher and instructional designer are two separate body. This saves a lot of hassle but to get the best output teachers themselves need to play the role of instructional designer for they have adequate subject knowledge and know the learning objectives better. Therefore, educational institutions should train their teachers on instructional design so that they can ensure the effectiveness of their courses and students learning.
Digital citizenship Course
We live in a world full of technology. Students are the true citizens of this world. They are fully exposed to technology after their birth. So, their technological adaptation is far greater than their teachers. They can accomplish tasks in minutes for which their teachers might need several hours using technology. Students are becoming experts when it comes to handling electronic devices, using internet and different applications and web services, computer programming etc. They maybe are litter experts in using technology but they still lack knowledge on how to behave, have control and avoid themselves from danger in this world. So, it is a great challenge for both parents and teachers to teach these experts how to use their knowledge and skill on technology properly to survive and become effective citizens of present world. There comes the importance of digital citizenship course. This course is needed to ensure that students know how to respect each other when communicating through different social media sites and apps, how to protect themselves from cyber bullying, how to secure their electronic properties and data, how to avoid being hacked, understanding copyright policy and how to avoid copyright strikes while creating their online contents, how to properly declare credits when using someone elses electronic material or content etc. Therefore, it has become an immediate need for educational institutions to incorporate digital citizenship course to their curriculum as they are committed to develop their students as effective citizens, effective citizens of this world full of technology.
Computational Thinking Course
In todays world, knowledge is everywhere. One just needs an internet connection and they can literally find almost any knowledge they search for. As a result, teachers and students are no longer needed to memorize knowledge.
This world now demands that they would be able to find the exact knowledge from a limitless knowledge ocean and use that knowledge to craft solutions to a particular problem. They need to have the ability to identify and carefully analyze a problem then use the knowledge they have or can find to critically think and plan a solution out of them. It is like thinking like a computer. Computational thinking course is designed for students to do exactly that. So, to meet the need of todays world, educational institutions are required to incorporate computational thinking course in their curriculum immediately.
The combination of the above mentioned three elements would rocket boost the performance of an educational institution as it will be able to produce effective and able citizens to cope up with the world we are living today.
The writer is Assistant Director of Daffodil International University
