A Washington Post story suggests South Korea may scale back plans to migrate to digital textbooks, a chief element of its plan to transform its education system into the world’s most cutting-edge.
The article cites an editorial from Korea JoongAng Daily from last summer:
The problem we face now, however, is an exaggerated trust in digital education. Some people wrongfully assume that the quality of academic activity will improve with the use of multimedia digital material instead of conventional textbooks. However, without a teacher’s guidance, the impact of digital textbooks may fall short of expectations.
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A digital textbook is merely a vehicle for instruction and cannot be the goal of education by itself. What matters is the content of the book and the way it is taught. Therefore it is up to the teacher to provide students with smart instruction that makes use of, but does not depend solely on, technology.
At the end of the day, it is the teacher, not the technology, that will make the difference for our kids.
Late this week, new budgets will be introduced by the federal government and in Ontario. Both governments were elected last year with barely a mention of digital issues in their campaigns. The budgets provide insights into the government plans for the coming year.
Will increased digital literacy be a part of those plans?
Canada’s national digital strategy will be discussed in a number of sessions at The 2012 Canadian Telecom Summit in June. Have you registered yet?