Log on to e-learning
Local schools are adapting technology to suit their curricula.
The new school year will see major changes in many classrooms around Hong Kong as wide-ranging initiatives are introduced to embrace the use of e-learning and all it entails.
Technology and computer skills have, of course, long been part of the standard curriculum. But the new moves, which are the result of extensive planning, consultation with parents, advice from external experts and extra training for teachers, will lead to students using laptops and relevant links to a far greater extent.
“The changes are organic and evolutionary,” says Brother Steve Hogan, principal of La Salle College, which is making e-learning an integral part of the teaching and learning process as from September. “The resources and tools are there and, clearly, it is good pedagogy to use them to improve outcomes. Schools have always been ‘catching up’ when it comes to technology, but we have to be on the same boat as netizens in the wider community and sailing in the same direction. In some ways, students now arrive at the school gate and re-enter the Industrial Revolution in a factory-like educational environment. That is not preparing young people today for what the adult world requires of them, so we must change the paradigm.”
New ‘air’ in La Salle
Citing the example of a typical chemistry lesson, Hogan explains that teaching from the textbook will still be central to each class. However, with all 1,400 students from Form 1 to 6 now required to have their own MacBook Air, teachers will also be able to refer them, perhaps, to a YouTube video showing what scientists have recently discovered from experiments with the Large Hadron Collider.
“Something like that won’t be in the textbooks for the next 18 months,” Hogan says. “Also, teachers will have software with algorithms, allowing students to put in codes and see what happens if you move certain atoms around.”