Broadening our horizons

Education is a lifelong process that is not solely linked to the knowledge acquired from the classroom and textbooks. Whether we learn through face-to-face interaction, through communication, through hands-on experiences or through other fora, education is a holistic process that includes both formal education as well as non-traditional pedagogies.

It is with this vision in mind that the new Dean of the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta, Valerie Sollars, has embarked on a mission to continue raising the standards of the Faculty and its graduates, and to broaden the educational perspective which the Faculty imparts to its students. Extending the understanding of what constitutes educational contexts is one of her top priorities during her tenure which started yesterday week.

Dr Sollars, the first female Dean at the University of Malta, sees her role of a dean "as being a catalyst".

"Somebody has to coordinate things but that doesn't mean that the members of the Faculty don't have a responsibility. For logistical reasons there has to be a person to whom you refer to but otherwise I would expect everybody in the Faculty to pull the same rope and give a contribution. My role is about bringing together all the expertise through think tanks, for example, making sure the strengths of different people are maximised especially when groups are brought together for specific tasks. Also, the role of the Dean is to liaise with stakeholders within and beyond the University thus making the faculty visible with a voice which is influential in decision-making."

The promotion of ICT is also an important sector Dr Sollars wishes to focus on. "Apart from the availability of ICT resources, as educators we need to be convinced ourselves in using them and we need to know how they may be best deployed to make our work more effective and efficient. For example, if a lecturer is going to speak to a group of students by merely going through material which can be obtained from printed articles and books, then the lecturer can use time more efficiently, through tutorials where students can meet and discuss the issues drawing on the readings they would have shared."

One use of technology is the flexibility offered through virtual learning environments (VLE). As an example of how a VLE can be used, Dr Sollars referred to the new Joint European Masters degree in Early Childhood Education and Care which is starting in September 2007. Students from six countries who will be registered for this Master's course will meet for an introductory study unit, after which teaching will take place almost exclusively through a VLE.

Despite the emphasis on the online environment, Dr Sollars believes that face-to-face interaction is still important: "It's much easier for communication to be continued following an introductory face-to-face study unit. Once students/participants from different countries go back home, it's much easier to communicate with fellow colleagues and students whom you have met. The VLE allows communities of scholars, researchers and practitioners to share reactions, reflections and experiences around a common field of practice."

Dr Sollars recalled a previous experience which proved that prior contact facilitated later on-line interaction: "In another web-based project, in which eight to 10-year-old children were invited to use the net to learn English and French as second languages, it was difficult for teachers involved at the pilot phase to launch and develop an on-line community because they hadn't met initially. With the project itself, when teachers from 22 European countries were involved, we made sure that these teachers met for a four-day workshop and this facilitated subsequent communication, both at a teachers' level as well as at getting the children from different parts of the world to respond to each other's work".

The advantages of an online course are probably experienced mostly by mature students, most of whom have family or job commitments and may not necessarily be in a position to leave their family and their job to travel to a foreign university or country for a substantial amount of time.

Dr Sollars believes that if ICTs are to be successfully used with students, educators need to be fluent with the technologies. "Within the Faculty, we need to be ahead of things for the simple reason that children nowadays are being born into the technology society which is in constant flux. If doctors, dentists or other professionals stop improving themselves once they graduate, they make themselves obsolete. Educators at all levels need to maintain the quest for personal knowledge, information and education not only to improve themselves but also to be a positive influence on those around them."

This links back to one of the aims of the Faculty, namely teacher education. This needs to be considered within the framework of how society is developing, making sure the Faculty proactively meets the changing needs of society. This can be achieved by being cognisant of emerging policies, by being active participants in on-going research and comparative studies and by considering formal and non-formal education opportunities. In other words, "being more relevant and more visible in the day-to-day education of children, youth and citizens".