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Communiqué

 

The Global Summit 2006: Technology Connected Futures was hosted by education.au in Sydney from 17 October to 19 October 2006. There were 240 delegates across all education and training sectors and industry from 11 countries in attendance.

The purpose of this communiqué is to inform you of the significant findings that emerged from a large group of national and international education experts who discussed education and the use of technology to benefit teaching and learning.

Significant findings

Our digital age

The Global Summit 2006 began from the premise that we are all now part of a “digital age” and that the shift to this new age is involving massive cultural, social, economic and educational changes.  

The Summit highlighted the many ways in which educational policy-makers and practitioners are taking full advantage of information and communication technologies (ICT) for the benefit of teaching and learning. It moved well beyond the debate about whether ICT should be in schools, vocational institutions and universities because this debate is no longer useful. It is clear that ICT should be and will be in primary and secondary education, vocational education and training, tertiary education and other forms of adult and community education.

The basis for changes which are necessary in education and training should be contemporary concepts of ‘learning to learn’. More than ever before, educators need to focus strongly on building knowledge of learning for the future. The skills which are useful in the contemporary world differ substantially from those which were relevant and useful in the recent past. Increasing complexity in today’s world means a different core skill set is required to develop discerning and resilient students of the future.  The necessity for a sound foundation of skills for lifelong learning in preparation for a future where information and technology is rapidly expanding and developing was a prevalent theme.

New practices

New practices in education must be supported by strong, creative, well-informed and insightful leadership. Leaders are required to lead by example. In the demonstration of innovative practice, educators will develop an appreciation of the power and application of ICT and have an understanding of how it can be integrated across curriculum and discipline areas. 

Existing educational structures which may have been appropriate for filtering and control, are not appropriate for today’s students. Students of the 21st century learn in parallel spaces including their networked worlds and a formal learning environment. Rethinking traditional structures for learning is essential. 

The evolution of ‘spaces’ for learning is multi-dimensional. It encompasses physical (classrooms, libraries, home) to non-physical spaces (blogs, wikis and online group games) to individual and group learning. For example, an individual with a desire for learning and access to ICT tools can create and publish in their personal online learning space. Spaces must be open, flexible and mirror the individual’s social environment. Collaborative learning spaces need to acknowledge context, pedagogy and learners. Such spaces allow seamless access to learning from home and school, enabling portability of learning and assessment. They must provide access to ideas, knowledge, other learners and experts (including teachers) and present opportunities to communicate, collaborate, reflect, create and share knowledge.

Learning in a networked world means greater connectedness between society, learners and educators at a local, state, national and global level, through online learning communities. In essence, there must be a sufficient level of infrastructure to allow any learner to connect to any source of learning material, community or communication by any technical method that produces the best outcome for them. The key concepts in this infrastructure support equity, ubiquity, adequacy and affordability; they foster interaction with a wider audience of potential supporters and contributors.

Collaboration allows for connectedness, leading to a network of knowledge creation. Consider the use of wikis to create a network of knowledge, rather than relying on copy and paste functions, or ciphering of 'knowledge' easily obtainable on the web. Learning today is less content driven. A networked environment focuses on developing a range of skills including information collection, synthesis, critical thinking and problem solving. Developing creativity through the design and construction of one’s own learning also lends to the relevance and importance of meaning-making, context, and engagement of the individual.

Conclusion

Teachers have never been more essential than in the current age. However, the focus needs to shift dramatically from imparting content knowledge to empowering students with the fundamental key processes to enable them to conduct their own learning. This should occur within the conventions of a discipline, including those disciplines that are yet to emerge.

In understanding our current environment and the necessity for leadership in new practices of education, the time has come to challenge the forces that constrain education in a world that is fast disappearing.

This communiqué will be followed up by the full conference report and is supported by the online record of the summit at http://globalsummit.educationau.edu.au