Learning has to move away from classroom and teacher directed orientations to one where peer learning and collaboration comes to the forefront.

In today’s technology-centred paradigm, its use in teaching is not merely preferable but necessary to ensure continued relevance for the modern student. This was one of the key areas of discussion at the International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology (iCTLT) held at the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre on 4 March 2010.

The theme for iCTLT 2010 was “Advancing Learning with ICT: Innovate. Collaborate. Transform.” Speaking at the Conference on the ubiquity and importance of infocomm technology in enhancing Singapore’s economic landscape, Guest of Honour Mr S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education, noted that education and the development of the workforce must similarly keep pace.

“To maintain our value proposition as a compelling business centre for international corporations, our hardware and infrastructure must be complemented by a 21st century workforce that is ready for the challenges and opportunities of this globalised environment,” he said. “In this respect, the continual development of our students in the use of ICT for learning is a significant endeavour.”

Mr David Warlick, Owner and Principal Consultant of The Landmark Project and the event’s keynote speaker, noted that the challenge facing educators was that the future is not clear. “We know almost nothing of the environment that awaits us,” he said, referring to the rapid pace at which the world is changing as a result of technology. “We are preparing our children for a future that we cannot fully describe.”

However, Mr Warlick noted that it will be an environment where children will be steeped in video games, social networks, and connected mobile devices. In such an environment, he points to how learning has to move away from classroom and teacher-directed orientations to one where peer learning and collaboration comes to the forefront and where learning tends to be autonomous, self-directed, and interest-based.

“With a new generation of learners, in a new information landscape, and an unpredictable future, perhaps the best thing we can teach our students is how to teach themselves,” said Mr Warlick. “It is not just literacy, but learning literacy, literacy habits, and a literacy lifestyle.”

According to Mr Elliot Soloway, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoKnow Learning, and one of the speakers at the iCTLT conference, a key catalyst to such an education paradigm shift is mobile learning.

“Mobile is bigger than the Internet,” he said. “The mobile computer revolution hasn’t even begun yet. We need to use 21st century tools to reach out to the mobile generation and prepare them for the 21st century global marketplace.”

One school that has already made a headstart on mobile learning is Nan Chiau Primary School (NCPS). NCPS, incollaboration with the Learning Sciences Laboratory (LSL) of the National Institute of Education (NIE), last year set up a Centre for Educational Research and Application (CERA), for using ICT in teaching and learning in a primary school.

Under CERA, a mobile learning environment was set up where handheld devices are used as an essential component of teaching Science to a Primary 3 class in 2009. The end result was that that particular class had big improvements in examination scores as well as better attitudes towards learning in general.

So successful was the pilot programme last year that NCPS is rolling it out to all Primary 3 classes this year, as well as two Primary 4 classes. In addition, the subjects taught for the two Primary 4 classes will now include Mathematics and English, in addition to Science.

“The mobile learning environment is very successful,” said Mr Tan Chun Ming, Principal, NCPS. “Not only has it impacted student’s exam scores, more importantly, they have picked up skills which will prepare them for the 21 ^st century.”

iCTLT 2010 was jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and the International Society for Technology in Education, and supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. It attracted a total of 1,800 local and overseas delegates, including school leaders, educators, academics, researchers and classroom practitioners, and industry leaders.