A new paradigm in teaching and learning is emerging in the midst of all technology being created. Research findings over the past 20 years provide evidence as to the positive effects of the use of information and communications technology (ICT) on pupils' learning.
Technology has created a change in all aspects of society, and is seen to have positive effects on education too. Teaching cannot be successful if learning does not take place. ICT and constructivist approaches not only place the learner at the centre of the learning process, but consider the learner as a contributor.
Undeniably, today's children are growing up surrounded by shifting multimedia landscapes. Television and video are stimulating, and the audiovisual potentials offered by computers are infinite. Children love to use microphones, hear their own recordings, make fluent presentations, pretend to read the news while being taped, do research, browse and chat on the internet. They can handle photography quite well and can build up a lot of enthusiasm in project-based learning methods and field trips.
The young generation growing amid new technologies represent its most confident users. We are all experiencing a change in teaching roles and it is possible that children tutor us and their teachers in technology, hence blurring the learning tradition and enhancing student-teacher or parent-child bondage and communication.
Creating interesting, collaborative and rich learning environments and having supportive and stimulating teachers will encourage learning. Vygotsky (1978) noted that students learn best in collaboration with peers, teachers, parents and others when they are actively engaged in meaningful activities and hands-on experiences. Learning is not only individual; it is also a social process. ICT can contribute to making learning a more collective and collaborative process.
As a mother and educator, I can say that parents often crave for more involvement in their children's school life. Wherever parents have been involved, the child's attainment has always improved. The home-school link can be enhanced through ICT.
ICT can also be used as a tool to bridge communication between subject teachers across schools. Becker and Riel (2000) state that teaching is better when teachers collaborate and share ideas. The same authors find that teachers who regularly participate in professional interactions and activities beyond their classroom teach in different ways than teachers who have minimal contact.
However, even though research is showing the positive benefits of ICT, there is still a slow uptake of ICT in schools and by teachers. Schools need to invest more. Logistic problems or lack of equipment and technical support often make it difficult for a subject teacher to utilise ICT in the classroom. In secondary schools, very few classrooms - apart from the computer lab - are equipped with computers or have internet access. Initial teacher training may not have given enough skills to teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. To take advantage of the web, educators must be properly trained. (Jones et al, 2000).
In many cases we may still be at an early stage of equipping classrooms with the necessary technology and supporting teachers to use ICT and constructivist approaches. Once this is done, teachers will need further support to create innovative learning pedagogies for pupils. This cannot be done without adequate training, professional development courses, equipment and resources. Dias (1999) states that technology is integrated when it is used in a seamless manner to support and extend curriculum objectives and to engage pupils in meaningful learning. Camilleri (JMER, 2005) argues that "the learning process is optimised only if the learner feels no external threats brought about by the natural use of the learning tools in the learning environment the same way as the ball pen calculator and pencil are used."
Collaboration and sharing of good practices and ideas is paramount to the integration of new pedagogies and ICT in the curriculum. Bearing all this in mind, my research aims to investigate the process of how online interaction among Home Economics teachers and student-teachers can help in the integration of ICT, primarily in nutrition (an important aspect of the Home Economics curriculum), and eventually in other areas.
Through an online Community of Practice, which will soon be launched, Home Economics teachers will be able to contribute, discuss and reflect upon the role of ICT in their subject. It is hoped that teachers will recognise the potential that ICT and new pedagogies have to contribute to improved learning, and then follow a strategy for the integration of ICT in nutrition.
My main objective is to make the learner central to the learning process through the innovative pedagogies shared. This is a challenging task, as without the necessary technological equipment in classrooms, only activities utilising low-tech equipment can be created. One hopes that through the exciting ideas being prepared with all the logistical problems taken into consideration, the Home Economics curriculum will be enhanced and suited for pupils with a vast range of learning styles.
Ms Mugliett is home economics lecturer at the University of Malta. She is reading for a doctorate in Innovative Pedagogies in Home Economics at the University of Sheffield.