Педагогические науки /2.Проблемы подготовки специалистов
N.O. Jamankulova
Almaty
University of Power Engineering & Telecommunications
Аpplications of ICTs
in adult education
The
rapid development of economy means that concentration of education policy only
on the younger generation soon will lead to limiting factors as with the
transition to more technically complex products there will be a growing need
for skilled workers. Moreover,
as a result of structural change, workers will become unemployed, and many of
them needed their skills to be refreshed and updated in order to obtain new
jobs. The last, the society is ageing as a result of the sharp drop in the
birth rate. This means that further technological and economic change is
increasingly dependent on continuing education and training for those already
in employment. For these reasons, it is necessary begin expanding adult
education [1].
ICTs are revolutionizing education by removing distance from education
and making knowledge more accessible to all. Technology-enhanced learning will
play a decisive role in the development of a lifelong learning and has the
capacity to empower learners by providing them with multiple pathways that
offer choices and channels to meet their education and training needs [2]. It
is not surprising the increased use of ICTs in education and a growing interest
in technology-based learning. ICT may be defined as the array of hardware and
software used in the teaching and learning systems that include computer-based
training systems, multimedia systems, electronic performance support systems,
telecommunications systems and the Internet with World Wide Web systems.
ICT
also provides greater flexibility to adapt teaching and learning in adult
education. Imel S. [3] identified four different applications of ICTs in adult
education, namely: technology as curriculum, technology as a delivery
mechanism, technology as a complement to instruction, and technology as an
instructional tool.
The
evolution and development of ICTs gave some changes on the educational system.
ICTs are changing the way people learn, offering new alternatives to the traditional
classroom. In this new information age, it is essential for learners to have
access to education anytime and anywhere. Main symbols of the information age are
personal computers, telecommunications and entertainment. The globalization and
the widespread use of ICTs are two global trends particularly characterize this
information age.
ICTs
allow to adapt to an individual needs as opposed to having the individual adapt
to how the education is delivered. Education will not be considered to the four
walls of a classroom but to wherever and whenever the learner deems
appropriate. “Education will not be a location anymore, but an activity: a teaching/learning
activity”.
Besides
their potential to providing education to anyone, anytime and anywhere, ICTs
have encouraged new research and development in teaching and learning
techniques. There is some evidence that ICT has the potential to motivate low
achievers, learners with limited literacy skills and poor qualifications.
Potentially, ICTs provides the adult learners with an access to a large
spectrum of learning resources, allowing personalization of learning and
individual control over the learning process [4]. Especially ICT might be a
powerful tool for countries with a priority of learning policies for adult
learners with low skills and qualifications. There are a variety of different
technologies that can be used in education such as using videotapes, using CD
and DVD, Internet/web-based training, wireline and wireless technology and
other modern technologies, web-based training programs. Each of these
technologies has its own redeeming qualities and limitations, and different
situations call for different technologies.
ICT in education as well as in adult education and training is one of
the priority areas addressed all over the world. Adults of today’s world are
living in an age of enormous change. Some of the most profound changes are
occurring with the influence of ICT. UNESCO defines open and distance learning
as an “educational process… which helps learners take responsibility for “what
they learn, where they learn, (and) how quickly they learn” [2]. Open and
distance learning can be used in education to empower those people most
disadvantaged such as the disabled, women, and the unemployed and ethnic
minorities. Open and distance learning can also allow greater participation in
technical and vocational education and training after work hours for those who
can’t afford to take time off from their jobs and who are interested in
improving professionally.
ICT-based
learning technologies offer great potential for innovation in adult teaching
and learning methods. ICT can lead to a widening of educational participation
enabling the reaching to scattered and isolated populations in cost-effective
ways. It can support a diversity of educational provisions and ICT can lead to
better forms and outcomes of adult learning. In developing countries ICT-based
education has been successfully used to change the social lives of people,
raising them from economic vulnerability to economic empowerment and also
successfully used for training workers in many fields ranging from farming to
electronics, health to engineering, and animal husbandry to automobile
engineering.
References
1.
Thematic Review of Adult learning. Korea, Country Note, 2005, from World
Wide Web: http://www.oecd.org
2.
UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE).
The Use of ICTs in
Technical and Vocational
Education and Training. Moscow, 2003.
3.
Imel S. Technology and adult learning: Current perspectives. ERIC Digest
No.197. Retreived March 16, 2003
4.
Образование взрослых как
процесс непрерывного образования. «Перемены в образовании: новые границы и
приоритеты». Материалы межд. научно-практической конференции. –Алматы: АПН
Казахстана, 10-11 июня 2011. –с. 29-31.