Page 273 - DEDU501_DEVELOPMENT_OF_EDUCATION_SYSTEM_ENGLISH

Unit 28: Globalization of Education

The rise of a global society, driven by technology and communication developments are shaping Notes
children, the future citizens of the world into ‘global citizens’, intelligent people with a broad
range of skills and knowledge to apply to a competitive, information based society. The future
of countries often lies within their ability to compete in a global market where industrial based
economies are giving way to knowledge based industries, realising the importance of
"knowledge, skills and the intellectual capacity to meet the challenges of accelerated change
and uncertainty"6. Education is becoming a lifelong learning and training process, developing
transferable skills and knowledge that can be applied to competitive markets where knowledge
and information is being traded as a commodity.
28.2.1 Use of Technology Under Globalization

The introduction of technology into the classroom is changing the nature of delivering education
to students is gradually giving way to a new form of electronic literacy , more programs and
education materials are made available in electronic form, teachers are preparing materials in
electronic form; and students are generating papers, assignments and projects in electronic
form". Video projection screens, books with storage device servers and CD ROMs as well as the
emergence of on-line digital libraries are now replacing blackboards. Even exams and grades
are gradually becoming available through electronic means and notebooks are starting to give
way to laptops. Also, students can be examined through computer managed learning systems
and do tutorial exercises on a computer rather than in a classroom. Such developments in
education portray that there has been a shift from industrialisation to information-based societies.
Subsequently, technology is foreseeing a change in the education environment towards a reliance
on electronic sources to deliver material. With such changes and the emergence of video
conferencing and the Internet, the barriers of distance are being broken down at a rapid rate,
due to the key aspect of globalisation. Children and adults can now learn in a variety of ways
and no longer have to be physically present in an education institution in order to learn, a
definite advantage of flexible delivery systems. It allows for exploration of new areas of learning
and thinking. The rapid growth of television services, with their immense influence as media
of mass communication, has been very relevant in the technological shift. Other large
contributions to this shift include the transistor and space satellites. Communication and
information based technology over the years is the Internet, which is a massive network of
computers located throughout the world.
Computers maintain libraries of text, images, computer software, and other forms of data that
can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, at any time. This implementation of technology and
communication to be successful and to educate a society, both the students and teachers need to
be technologically literate. Communication technology is offering new challenges for students
of all abilities as they can discuss issues of concern with their fellow students from around the
world, thus developing communication and interpersonal skills, fostering a mutual understanding
across countries and cultures. Developments in the delivery of education is allowing for
individuals to explore new areas of learning and thinking that could not be done with pen and
paper. They are discovering knowledge through inquiry and experimentation rather than
memorizing facts in a teacher dominated classroom setting. In fact, students no longer need to
be physically present to learn as education material is becoming readily available over the
Internet, through video conferencing, and tape recordings. Institutions are now turning towards
the use of the Internet to deliver courses to students. A shift in education is becoming evident
where more responsibility is being placed on the individual for his or her learning, instead of
solely on the teacher. Subsequently, the teachers themselves also need to be highly
technologically literate, needing the competence and confidence to prepare students for a global
information society.
A global education should teach about issues that cross national boundaries, and interconnected
systems on ecological, cultural, economical, political and technological grounds such as the
Globalisation program which draws upon expertise in many areas such as humanities, social

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