The latest technologic, industrial and social changes in the society caused by the new information and communication revolution mark the features of the new Information Society. Europe is getting ready to meet the challenge of this society and a number of professionals and experts are trying to answer the multitude of questions in this connection. You can see this impact in an essay, written by Maria Stoyanova Todorova, Management Information Systems, FEBA: INFORMATION AS A STRATEGIC RESOURCE, IMPACT ON COMPANY’S STRATEGY . Particularly considerable changes are expected to take place in education where the printing technology gives up more and more territories to the multimedia, hypermedia and communication technologies. This trend can also be observed in the field of distance learning where the tools and services of the Internet become preferred technological platform.
The major technologic background of the Information Society are the digital multimedia and global communications. The digital coding and global computer networks make possible the use of a universal presentation of all kind of information, to copy this information (without the threat of mistakes) at extremely law prices, to provide practically unlimited computer memory and to convey any kind of information to any user at any time. In his book Being Digital Nikolas Negroponte, the director of the laboratory of advanced information and communication technologies Media Lab at Massachusetts Technological Institute in the USA, clearly outlines the trends and dimensions of the social and economic changes in connection with the Information Society. As soon as the computers left the air-conditioned laboratories they approached the people, entered their work places, their homes, powerful notebook-sized, even pocket-sized computers appeared. The idea of Alan Kay raised back in 1971 for creating a notebook-sized computer playing the role of a dynamic book - dynabook, as well as a telephone, credit card, post box, drawing tool, music synthesiser, typewriter, tape recorder, interpreter, etc. becomes reality. As a consequence of the fact that people are able to get in touch with each other via Internet from their work places, from school, from their homes, even while travelling, a number of small or larger electronic societies appear. People in these societies seem to rise over the realities: they exchange information, study and work without being dependent to distance and time, create their own laws and rules. Following the history of the computer, today we can say that the main attention of the researchers and professionals in this area has gradually moved from the hardware problems to the software ones, today the problems of human computer interaction are in the highlights, and in the near future - to clearly social problems caused by the new information and communication technologies.
Some of the priority trends of the European science-research programmes and projects are:
Among the most important changes today is the huge information overload of the people and organisations because of the law prices of the multimedia products as well as their distribution. and delivery through the number of available information channels. The problem with the information overload begins to transform itself into a new problem - the problem of the loss of too much valuable information. Only a small part of the ocean of available information can become useful knowledge. The success of the separate individuals and organisations in the global economic and intellectual competition, possible thanks to the new technologies, depends on their skills to quickly and exactly in the right moment to transform the available information into useful knowledge that can be used for learning, to take important management decisions, and so on. The search and filtering of a huge amount of information is not an easy problem and it is still not possible to use optimally the new technologic achievements.
The above indicated changes in society inevitably lead to thorough changes in the educational system, in the tolls and methods for education. The telecommunications and digital multimedia create new possibilities for acquiring knowledge because they activate more human senses. The latest research results show that people acquire about 80% of the available information if at the same time watch, hear and work with it. The new reform in education will be determined by the changes in the technology - the dominating in schools and universities printing technology gradually will be replaced by the digital multimedia technology and telecommunications. More and more a new kind of literacy will be necessary - multimedia literacy, i.e. the ability of people to read, write and communicate through digitally coded multimedia materials containing text, graphics, animation, video, sound. In order to use the new technologic resources more thoroughly, the educational system must be reformed completely. According to some experts the education in the Information Society will be based on: asynchronous in time and place, interactiveness and virtual restructuring of the school environment. These principles are at the root of the projects and elaborations of the Information Technologies department at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, the University of Sofia "St. Kl. Ohridski" .
The Information Society categorically forces the move from the instructor-centred educational model to student-centred educational model. The main characteristics of this model also reflecting the specifics of the Information Society are:
The above listed principles uncover great perspectives and the pedagogic theory and practice obtain the unique chance to fill the presently existing precipice between them. The new information and communication technologies and the instrumentality of the distance, open and flexible learning are in the root of these opportunities.
The development of the methods and tools of the distance learning via Internet is synchronous with the overall trend for globalisation of the education in a world scale as well as the use of new forms of international co-operation. The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) is responsible for the tutoring of over 325, 000 students. A great number of these universities move from the classical form of distance learning based on printed materials and postal services to new flexible forms of education with effective use of the new technologies.
At a press conference on April 4, 2001, MIT announced its commitment to make the materials from virtually all of its courses freely available on the World Wide Web for non-commercial use. This new initiative, called MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), reflects MIT's institutional commitment to disseminate knowledge across the globe. OCW is also demonstrating the tendency for turning from the distance education paradigm to that of the distributed learning, based on a knowledge web and communication infrastructure for distributed access to experts, resource materials, virtual learning environments, co-operative search for resources and others. The development of new models for mobile learning based on the mobile communications can be expected.
The workers and clerks in their work need a constantly changing portfolio of knowledge and skills, therefore distance learning via Internet and Intranet has huge application in vocational training at different organisations and institutions. It becomes obligatory in some dynamic areas such as computer technologies and business where the conditions, the method of working, products and tools are changing extremely fast. In vocational training the computer learning systems become popular because of their allowing collective work (groupware, hypergroupware, computer supported collaborative work systems), learning while doing, just-in-time and just-in-place learning, electronic performance support systems, etc. The trends in vocational training show orientation to creating computer environments for distance and co-operative learning.
Though slowly, different forms, technological tools and models for distance, flexible and open education find their application at schools. From the international register of the schools having access to Internet and actively using WWW we can judge about the avalanche growth of their number. For instance one could mention that more than a half of the registered schools are in the USA and that a Bulgarian school is not yet registered, although there are already several local experiments in this direction. Well known are the concepts for global classroom, cyberspace school, etc.
The success of the separate individuals and organisations in the global economic and intellectual competition depends on their skills to quickly and exactly in the right moment to transform the available information into useful knowledge that can be used for learning, to take important management decisions. Employers demand that their workers should be able not only to memorise facts, but rather to learn new methods, new programs, new skills. The search and filtering of a huge amount of information is not an easy task and it is still not possible to optimally use the new technologic achievements.
In the student-centred educational model the education is based on electronic libraries and object-oriented multimedia resources rather on printed learning materials. Students can study on their own using aesthetically formatted and dialogue multimedia materials. They have to construct their own knowledge, to study individually according to their skills, interests, preferences and cognitive characteristics, to learn how to learn. Students can control their learning process, work in a team with the other students, take part in discussions and search for effectiveness of the learning. The tutors are students’ class-mates, that help them find how optimally to cover and traverse the rich in information resources global information systems and to find the most suitable learning materials. The achievements of the students are assessed on the end result (product) basis, which can be presented, defended and published both locally and globally. The self assessment is encouraged. Co-operative learning and work are dominating over the competitive learning. The tutors can work individually as well as with small groups of students. The student can work in a dynamic and interactive multimedia learning environment where aside from the tutor and the other students he/she can communicate and work with his/her virtual friends from all over the world.
World-Wide Web could support teaching and learning in a number of ways:
Our efforts to incorporate World-Wide Web into instruction are aimed at using it both as information resource and as a basis for organizing long distance collaborative learning.
The Virtual Environment for Distance Education and Training (VEDET) combine the basic characteristics of both the evolutionary and the revolutionary models for distance learning via Internet. It consists of several kinds of virtual educational institutions, places and services, e.g: virtual university; virtual school; virtual enterprise; virtual language learning centre; virtual library; virtual publishing house; virtual market for educational goods and services; virtual meeting place (virtual cafe); virtual post office; virtual service for express delivery of electronic materials and software; virtual office for international exchange and co-operation; virtual exhibition halls and entertainment centres.
For some of the components of VEDET there are already working prototypes. Experiments are also being conducted for distance learning with the following courses:
Since the distance learning is one of the three forms of learning approved by the new laws for higher education together with the full-time and extramural education, the Information Technologies Department intends to broaden the sphere of the offered courses for distance learning as well as the potential teacher and student auditorium inside and outside the country. The first step in this direction is the creation of the International Consortium "Education without Boundaries" which head office is in Sofia as well as prototypes of university centres for distance learning.
Virtual Organisations
can be considered as the educational institutions of 21st
century. Through pedagogical re-engineering and virtual
reconstruction of the educational institutions we can achieve
combination of the advantages of campus learning with distance
learning via Internet. The globalisation of education and the
competition concerning the offered educational products and
services put Bulgarian education and economy to new provocation.
Many countries including Bulgaria, are endangered to lose their
national and cultural identity. It is necessary a programme for informational
ecology to be proclaimed under the aegis of the international
institutions which will help to preserve the variety of national
cultures on the Earth the same way the ecological programmes
preserve the biological variety. Many Bulgarian universities,
schools and business organisations soon will de forced to go out
in the global cyberspace. Perhaps this would be our chance - the
cyberspace is subject to intellect, and in this difficult for our
country transitional moment this is the most valuable (and
perhaps the only) national capital which we would no more be
forced to export at a knock out price abroad.
Assessment Remark: The completion of the assignments
included in this module (test, essay and participation in
discussion) will form 5% of the final assessment.
The Pro's and Con's of joining the European union -
discuss the strong and weak points for the Bulgarian Economy.
Write a two-page essay that address the following question and send it to the tutor: