>> MIM Speaks
A PARADIGM SHIFT FROM THE CLASSROOM
MARCH 12, 2000 -
THE STAR
KNOWLEDGE is, in a long-term perspective, the single most
important resource of a country in the global competition for
employment and economic growth.
In the age of globalisation, companies succeed by their
competition and co-operation. New competence and knowledge are
required.
New technologies, such as the Internet and global data
networks, are having a great impact on the development of
education.
These innovations bring with them not only new possibilities
but also challenges for the social and economic development of
regions and countries.
The Information Society is creating new realities. It makes
human knowledge the most important resource.
The need for modern communication technology and human
resource development is, therefore, a basic prerequisite.
IT and telecommunications are important tools to support
developing countries in their efforts to build up a viable and
efficient industry that is internationally integrated.
In most countries, the need to develop basic education is
obvious. At the same time, the need for further education
might also be of great importance for some well-educated
groups.
IT and telecommunication give us new tools to reach more
students and to enhance the quality of educational courses and
examinations.
The world population in 2015 is expected to be approximately
7.5 billion people. There is an enormous need to educate the
population of the world, Current strategies and resources for
education of the growing population are not sufficient.
Despite great wealth in the world, there is still great
poverty and suffering.
The economic gap between developed and developing nations, the
wealthy and the poor widens each day and creates deepening
social and environmental tensions.
This is a serious phenomenon and must be addressed. Hence, the
Youth Global Knowledge II Forum (www.globalknowledge.org.my)
which was held this month in Kuala Lumpur was an excellent
opportunity for the youth to brainstorm and discuss this
issue.
To use IT in human resource development is a challenge for
developing nations.
Access to information, communication and knowledge via global
*networks gives new opportunities to build effective
educational organisations and creates opportunities for
individuals to continue learning.
Major obstacles such as cost, poor Infrastructure and a
shortage of educated "thinking" people must be tackled.
The challenge is to develop real world solutions by using
political will for action, transforming institutional policies
and by increasing global co-operation in many fields.
Technology gives us new tools to do this, but does not solve
the problems.
Distance education in developing countries is evolving
rapidly, often by employing a combination of different media,
printed material, computers, video and television (e.g.
Shanghai TV University), which is sometimes combined with
self-study exams.
Some of the important current issues are:
* The need for new distribution channels for information,
education and competence leverage. Internet/www will become
increasingly important, mainly due to the comparatively low
cost.
* More education in IT and the impact on society and economic
growth is required by many professionals in managerial posts,
political leaders, teachers and others.
* A need for further infrastructure investments that promote
economic development and enhance competence.
* A need to take advantage of the new business opportunities
that evolve from electronic commerce and marketing (e.g.
tourism).
Generally, it is those who graduate from colleges and
educational programmes who have taken part in the latest
knowledge and technological breakthroughs.
All of those who are already working professionally keep on
working with old and, sometimes, obsolete knowledge.
In technological areas, new knowledge is required every two or
three years.
In that perspective, education has to become something more
than an inflated phenomenon during a person's youth; education
has to become a lifelong learning process. In the future, it
will be possible to subscribe to the latest knowledge in the
key areas of one's interest.
A cardiologist, for example, will be able to acquaint himself
with new diagnostics and treatments as soon as they appear,
regardless of where he lives.
Lifelong learning is necessary in the new society. New
streaming technologies combined with smart interfaces will
help prevent the student from suffering from information
overload. Distance education will develop to be an important
element in continuing education at the workplace.
This development has just started. New attempts are called for
to launch appropriate concepts and approaches, for instance,
for technological and skills transfer.
International training programmes are being developed in many
countries, often by using technologies like the Internet as a
distribution and communication medium.
Many schools and universities around the world are developing
open distance courses, accessible via the Internet.
The Malaysian Institute of Management (www.mim.edu) has the
online Diploma in Management Programme (DIMP), and recently
launched its multi-media-DIMP.
Parents and students become more and more aware of the
importance of education in a world characterised by global
competition. Corporations become more aware of the need for
continuing competence development.
There is a paradigm shift from the classroom to distributed
learning. The development steps are as follows:
* Person to person communication
* The use of written documents
* Audio and video supported lectures
* Computer-based Training (CBT) Interactive Multimedia, e.g.
on CD-ROM
* On-line systems - Web-supported training or, Web Based
Training (WBT)
* New technologies emerge, such as Virtual Reality, VRML.
It is more like an evolution than a revolution.
|
