The contribution of educational technologies in enlarging social-cultural skills of general school pupils Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………..… 2 The contribution of educational technology……………….….. 4
Introduction In today’s world, education is facing major challenges: it is expected to provide children and teenagers with competencies they will need in the future, to consider informal ways of learning, and to apply digital technologies and modern pedagogical methods to answer these challenges. However, schools have not managed to meet all these challenges: e.g. digital technology has not yet been applied much in education, although it is widely in use elsewhere in the society and in work life; students do not acquire sufficient competence at school to undertake university studies (such as collaboration, planning, independent learning, digital competence or working with knowledge and there are major differences between countries and schools in reaching these skill levels such as problem-solving skills. There have been promising results that some pedagogical practices related to student centeredness, real-life activities and group work have increased at schools. Such pedagogical practices are often linked to the use of digital technology.
The actuality of the paper.There is a large body of research about using digital technology in schools, in classrooms and among teachers and students, but often these studies concentrate on only one or two phenomena of education and technology (e.g. classroom cases, or technical competence of teachers and students), thus isolating the object of study from the broader context of a school. Unless a more comprehensive view is adopted in the efforts of developing a school, there is little chance of innovation programmes having any lasting effect. Wong and Li investigated the connection between information and communication technology (ICT) implementation and pedagogical change. They concluded that organisational interventions and pedagogical interventions interacted with each other in effecting changes in student learning. Korhonen introduced an innovative school community model, which addresses the development of four elements: students’ learning and learning environments, teachers’ professionalism, leadership and partnerships, as central to the advancement of educational innovation related to versatile use of digital technology. The model is generic, which leaves considerable room for interpretation in examining how current practices in a school should be evaluated and improved.
