| Foreword: |
Knowledge
explosion poses one of the greatest challenges
currently facing educators at all levels of schooling
for both developed and developing countries. The
rapid accumulation and availability of vast amounts
of information, as well as the scientific and
technological breakthroughs, undoubtedly place
great strain on man's capability to handle and
process such large bodies of knowledge. Nowhere
is this strain more deeply felt than in the classroom.
The
advent of the microcomputer which greatly enhanced
one's ability to organize and access information
offered a deal solution to this problem. Whereas
before, computers were found only in large institutions
and organizations, the introduction of low-cost
personal computers in the market saw the phenomenal
"growth of the PC, both in terms of magnitude
and complexity." Soon other information and
communication technologies appeared - compact
discs, optical cables, satellite communication,
video tape recorders, high density storage devices,
etc. Slowly, but surely, these information technologies
are making their mark in the homes, offices and
the schools which have come to realize their increasing
importance and persuasiveness.
Despite all the technological promise they hold,
a number of issues and concerns surround the use
of these new information technologies in the classroom.
An APEID Report on Preparing ASEAN for the Information
Century cites that the "pressure to examine
the new technologies and to see how they square
against existing curricula is placing stress on
the educational bureaucracy. " The report
also cites the high rate of obsolescence as another
problem. "As information technologies get
more sophisticated, so do educational technologies
which are essentially applications of information
technologies in the classrooms. Consequently,
the speed by which government and specifically
educational bureaucracies can formulate policies,
plan forward or even simply react, is put to test.
" This issue of the INNOTECH Journal discusses
some of these concerns and how they are being
addressed. It presents the growing importance
and influence of new information technologies
on schooling and education, particularly in the
SEAMEO-member countries of Brunei Darussalam,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Viet Nam; in the associate-member countries of
Australia and New Zealand; and in the donor country
of Japan.
The articles presented herein come from two sources.
The first is from the proceedings of the seminar
on the Diffusion of New Information Technologies
(NIT) for Teachers' and Students' Use at Lower
and Upper Secondary Level conducted by the Japanese
National Commission for UNESCO, Japan Council
of Educational Technology Centres and the Principal
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO,
under the Asia and the Pacific Programme of Educational
Innovation for Development (APEID). The seminar
focused on the general theme of APEID's Fifth
P Programming Cycle, "Towards Full Utilization
of New Information Technologies and Development
of In-Source Teacher Training Curriculum."
The second source is Preparing ASEAN for the Information
Century: A Comparative Study of Policies and Programmes
on Computers in Science and Mathematics Education,
a research report of the UNESCO Principal Regional
Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, again,
under the Asia and the Pacific Programme of Educational
Innovation for Development. The report documents
the experiences of the ASEAN countries as they
prepare themselves for the coming information
century. |
