Shifting the Focus
from Teaching to Active Learning
Ramirez and Bell (1994) discuss the importance of using technology to focus on the learner:
"Using technologies effectively in education requires shifting our focus from teaching to learning, with more and more of the learning coming under the control of the learner. . . . A learning environment in this sense emphasizes the following qualities:
- Interaction rather than isolation: Knowledge and expertise develop when students have a chance to interact with resources that include their peers, teachers, experts from various fields, and print and electronic text and databases.
- Individual learning styles: Learners are most successful when they can use a learning style suited to their needs.
- Adequate professional development: In order to implement and adapt alternative learning strategies, teachers must be helped to become models of active learning.
- Learning as the main consideration in decision making: Curriculum planning and scheduling should focus on using time according to learning needs, rather than on conforming learning to divisions of time.
- Cognitive research: Students learn best when the tasks involve meaningful contexts, activities, and problems so that they can actively construct their own knowledge and develop the ability to apply what they learn to new situations.
- Explicitly stated performance outcomes: Accountability can be ensured if progress on assessment measures reflects skills learned in classroom activities.
It is our belief that telecommunications and information technologies will play an important role in reforming how we educate our students and how we train our teachers. As we apply technology to learning tasks for students, we will change the way teachers teach and the way students learn." (pp. 26-27)
