Classes start next week and most parents are worried about stretching their budgets to buy all the material and stationery that their children will need. However, I read in El Comercio on Monday that Education for children should no longer be based on pen and paper. The writer of this article (La Educación en un mundo cambiante) quoted Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, who was one of the lecturers of the Seminar: Curriculum del siglo XXI: Educacion Esencial para un Mundo Cambiante held last year in Lima. The quote was: "The world is constantly changing and the enemy is the pencil" since, in his opinion, once something is in writing,it becomes static and outdated.
The writer of the article (Lea Sulmont, Facultad de Educación UPC) said she was worried about the curriculum and its effectiveness at integrating the necessary competences for this changing world. The writer´s concern was that the curriculum (contents, skills and evaluation) should be revisited so as to make sure we offer our students real opportunities of development in the global world.
It is true, she said, that the web and the technological applications allow access to updated content in real world and that evaluation could be done now with ppt, prezi, animations or simulations anytime and anywhere. However it is not only resources we should focus on but also the skills the students need to develop to access information, as well as to communicate, produce, collaborate and live in the XXI century.
I am confident that we, teachers, the most important resource an institution has, will do our best to incorporate technology in our classes and to organize activities that will allow students to develop the necessary skills for this century. So I wish my colleagues a Happy School Year full of interesting challenges, projects and success.
