Digital technology is the essential tool for thinking and learning. It extends our minds. We cannot talk about phenomenon-based learning without digital technology. Technology is the tool for making learning processes visible for reflection and evaluation, documenting learning, processing information and searching information. It should be as natural a part of learning and teaching as paper and pen.
Learning happens by the processing of information and by problem-solving
In the new school culture, digital technology is integrated with learning processes in pedagogically meaningful ways, enriching the processes and enabling new pedagogical solutions. Learning happens by the processing of information and by problem-solving. Use of digital technology becomes a systematic and everyday activity at schools.
Electronic learning materials replace traditional schoolbooks.
Electronic learning materials replace traditional schoolbooks. Traditional classrooms give way to multi-modal working environments, in which students no longer sit in rows. Learning environments expand from the school building to other institutions in the surrounding society. Learning is no longer organized into traditional classes only but can happen in workshops, in projects and on-the-job in vocational education.
Pedagogical change is needed for the school of the future
Pedagogical change is needed for the school of the future, because the skills the learners will need in the society and working life of the future have changed. Our knowledge of how hum beings learn has also greatly increased in the last few decades – but pedagogy, teaching practices and school structures have not really developed accordingly.
The school of the future is not a building
The school of the future is not a building, it is a culture of competence development, a pedagogical culture that has an active role in the development of the society. Schools and educational institutions need a systemic change of operational culture and a new pedagogical leadership. A change can only be made by ensuring that pedagogical leadership is actively oriented towards the future. This is a great challenge to education leaders – they have to rebel and go against old schooling traditions that persist very strongly among teachers. Educational leaders have to lead teachers to the new profession to be activators and facilitators of student’s personalized learning processes.
(From eGOV innovation)