I was asked by my professor to revise and extend my reflection paper 3. The fact was that all the students were asked either to rewrite or to extend all 3 reflection papers again and I was the only lucky one who just needed to extend one paper among the 3!
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In this revise paper, I would elaborate more on what kind of new learning framework that we should has for 21st century education system. As mentioned before in my reflection paper 3, in my opinion there is no one definite learning theory that we can 100% sure that it should be applied in 21st century learning environment but instead I will say that we need a new learning framework which includes all the above learning theories. I gave some examples where ET scholars should not just focus on which theory is the best to use but instead we should try to apply the learning theory based on different context, learners and environment such as in elementary education, behaviorism and cognitivism should be applied whereas in high school and university all the learning theories can be applied based on different situation and context. I believe that there are lots of scholars and researchers in ET fields had conducted lots of experiments to prove and validate different models or theories in different learning condition and learning situation but I found out there is one issue which is to date, there is still no proper guideline for both instructor or teachers on how we can apply the new learning framework in 21st century teaching.
Future of Educational Technology
So what is the future of educational technology? Many ET experts are publishing books on how to integrate technology into education, and last year, the United States, announced their latest National Education Technology Plan which title is Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology[1]. Besides, according to Dr. Charles Reigeluth from Indiana Univeristy, United States, a new paradigm should be developed and introduced for the current education change and Dr. Charles even suggested that a new platform should be developed to adapt into the transformation of education. But to date, we only see there are lots of “presentation”, “talks” and “proposals” on how to change or transform our education but not many success cases/proofs or guidelines are published.
Well, I was asked to provide some guidelines or elaborate more on what is the new learning framework should be looked it. For me this is really not an easy task. Since I am in my 1st semester in ET even though I am a doctoral program student, but then I am still filling up the gaps that I have in ET with my IT background. So I might not be able to give a proper guideline now on how to develop a new learning framework, but then if I am the one who would like to develop a new learning framework, first I will understand the details of all the education technology history, theories and evolution. Then I will suggest a new Instructional Design model which should include not only the senders (instructor/SME/teachers) and receivers (learners) but also parents. Besides, at the same time, I would also look into the learning theories, communication theories, and media theories that can be fitted into the ID model and explained in details. Finally, besides models and theories, the most important things that should be included are real cases either success of failures should be given so that instructors could get a better idea on how to use the new learning framework. For me, most of the ET models or theories books are too “difficult” for teachers or people not from the field to understand so easier version without much jargon should be included.
For the new learning framework, ET experts should do a proper analysis on the use of different technologies or Media in teaching & learning process. Everyone is talking about technology these days in education even most of the national education plan in most of the countries around the world, want to stress technology as one important factor in the coming future for education because the most influence country such as U.S.A is talking about this too but then the problem is if we simply blindly adopt technology into education without considering others factors then I am for sure the newly education system will fail no matter how.
As for the new learning framework that is in my mind, it should be a dynamic model that could suit all people. Or maybe it should not be a framework nor model but instead it should be the combination of all current models and current theories and instructors should just choose based on their knowledge and experience. Instructors should not be boned in a “box”. They should be creative, and should be able to try and use different models and theories in designing instruction and not just bond to the theories or the trends in education. In this case, then I would say, the current teaching system should be change! Current teaching system which is just feeding all the knowledge and information (theories) to the students in the classroom should change to provide and supply more case studies regarding real world to the students so that they could “learn” from the real world cases. Maybe ET department courses should be taught like Business schools where lots of real cases or case studies are studied during the semester and real world situation are simulated in the classes. With this, only the students could learn better and have better understanding on how to apply different models and theories base on different situation and context.
Conclusion
In conclusion, for me, the new learning framework should be the combination of all the current models and theories in Educational Technology field whereas instructors should use them creatively and effectively based on different context, environment, learners, and contents!
References
DanieA. Craig. (2008). Changing Theories of learning. Retrieved May 20, 2011, from http://www.slideshare.net/danielcraig/learning-theories-presentation-826427
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