eLearning holds key to innovation of tomorrow
A new report from the Learning 2.0 conference of European education experts has concluded that more needs to be done to encourage e-learning and computer literacy amongst schoolchildren to drive innovation in the information society of the future. The event, held in Västerås, Sweden, in May this year, was hosted by the Swedish Ministry of Education and the Swedish delegation for ICT (information communication technologies) in schools. Key educational projects were invited to present their work in the wider context of the European Commission's e-learning action plan. The conference found that schools need to make greater use of new technologies in order to equip children with the skills they will need as the workforce of tomorrow. The report says that a change in social and educational outlook driven by key decision-makers is necessary in order to achieve the goal of a truly democratic and progressive information society. The report suggests the use of networking and augmented reality technologies to enrich and broaden learning. Interactive television, the Internet and mobile phones are also highlighted as potential learning tools. Ulf Lundin, director of European Schoolnet, one of the projects participating in the conference, said: 'New models for education are emerging, for example...online learning communities and new forms of schooling like the mobile upper secondary school in Sweden. In all of them ICT is moving from the margins to the centre of the activity.' Professor Wim Veen, from Delft University in the Netherlands, said: 'Technology is creating a generation for playing and having fun, a new generation of media-savvy 'homo zappiens,' able to chat in three rooms at a time with different electronic personalities.' He warned, however, that schools and decision-makers were slow to take this new generation into account: 'There is little evidence of the first steps towards this in schools. Most implementation is within old structures: replacing textbooks but retaining the old curriculum structure, assessing old skills, rewarding the traditional teacher. In how many countries is the official policy to build communities of learning and empower schools?'