The OU is at the centre of three major research projects to determine what an ideal education system should be like and how ICT can play a role in helping achieve this vision.
“New technology potentially enables the transformation of education,” said Peter Twining, the Head of the OU’s Department of Education. “But the first questions have to be ‘what is our vision of what education should be like?’ and ‘what role could ICT play in helping us achieve that vision?’”
The three related projects – the Schome Initiative, dICTatED and eSIR – all reflect and aim to inform Government strategy to create an education system that suits the needs of learners in the 21st century.
The Schome Initiative – with its tagline “not school, not home, schome – the education system for the Information Age” – is looking at how our changing world and its new technologies can improve educational provision. The current focus is on the use of virtual worlds to extend our thinking about what education systems could/should be like.
dICTatED examines why the considerable investments in ICT in education around the world does not seem to be having proportionally great impacts. Both SCHOME and dICTatED are rolling research projects that will continue to work to shape and inform government policy and educational practice.
Vital importance
The third project, eSIR (the eStrategy Implementation Review) was commissioned from the OU by Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) with the aim of providing advice on the implementation of aspects of the DfES eStrategy (DfES 2005). The findings of this funded research highlighted that despite 30 years of work in this area the most difficult issues are still to do with people and management of change within complex systems rather than the technology.
The issues raised by these three research projects are of vital importance to developments in our own teaching within the OU. Peter explained: “In developing programmes and designing courses we continually have to think about how best to use new technologies to enhance our students’ learning – always balancing our learning objectives with practical considerations and an understanding of the contexts within which our students operate.”
Exciting
This is reflected in the use of ICT within the Foundation Degree in Early Years, in which students taking the first work-based learning course, Personal Professional Development: Early Years Settings, are supported in learning how to engage in asynchronous online educational discussions. The students are then provided with ongoing access to the programme website and conferences for a period of five years (whether or not they are registered for an OU course). This provides them with continuity and enables them to form a community of early years professionals who support each other in their academic study and their day to day practice.
“One of the most exciting things about working for the OU is the extent to which we are able to make links between our teaching and research in this area,” said Peter. “I have learnt so much from my teaching that has fed into my research and vice versa.”
Useful links
Comments
I am so glad that OU has a strategy on education. The educational system definitely needs a change and with this new technology potentially the transformation has to be easy. I have an online teacher certification and I will be more than happy to participate in this program and share my ideas with others.
An education sector strategy was last prepared in 1999, with an update finalized in 2006. So, it takes a long time to prepare and implement an educational strategy. I have masters in engineering management and I know how hard is to implement something and to make it also work. I hope that until my children will go to school this new educational system will work