1) How would you propose the plan to prepare students in your country to work in different culturally, technologically, and economically context?
Whenever working in a different environment becomes necessary students have to adjust to cultural, technological and economical differences to become competitive in a globalized world. Therefore the question becomes how to prepare students properly. There are many factors that play a crucial role. Such factors that educators have to promote are among other things, critical thinking, independent learning, creativity, multiple languages, technology, networking, social responsibility and awareness, internationalization, practical experience. Critical thinking skills have to be developed by allowing students to question any source of information in order to develop analytical thinking skills rather than following and believing a set of information. Independent learning has to be developed by engaging students and giving them more responsibilities rather than having them being dependent on someone else. Creativity which is so much in demand in today’s world has to be developed by encouraging students to speak out their mind and rewarding them for providing multiple answers rather than seeking for one possible answer. Multiple languages have to be promoted in order to be able to communicate in an increasing globalized world. The use of new technology has to be promoted in order to increase the efficiency in learning. Schools have to build networks with other schools and companies to provide students with more opportunities. Internationalization has to be developed by creating a network with foreign schools and opportunities to study abroad and by using teachers with different cultural backgrounds. Educators should also promote teaching that is relevant to real life and promote more connectivity with companies in order to enable learning experiences in work environments. The availability and effective use of financial resources must be provided in order to enable these conditions in educational institutions. Promoting these factors will prepare students to work in a different cultural, technological and economical environment.
2. What has been done by your country in each context?
Germany has developed a society of critical thinkers over the last decades. Even though the school system is still based on a traditional system and lacks behind in creativity compared to other countries, Germany has developed a highly skilled workforce in the field of engineering social sciences and information technology. Considering the cultural, technological and economical challenges in a fast changing globalized world Germany has put a lot of effort on the education system. An example of such effort was the reform of college institutions with the conversion from diploma to bachelors and masters to have an international standard of measuring degrees among different countries and to ease the exchange of students between different universities across different countries. This political reform was conducted under the umbrella of to the so called Bologna Process which has resulted in a boost of connectivity among universities in different countries. The Excellence initiative is another policy providing private and public funding for universities fulfilling the requirements for outstanding performance which has resulted in more competition between universities in order to receive funding which can be used for investments such as the acquiring of new technological equipment. Talking about education in general federal states in Germany are solely responsible for the investments of their schools and universities and distribute money to their respective cities. Dusseldorf as an example has invested in a lot of technology to improve their education system with the latest example being the ipad which has been introduced in some schools.
Bibliography:
The Bologna Process-Towards the European Higher Education Area. (n.d.). Retrieved Nov.3, 2012, from http://ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/bologna_en.htm
Excellence Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved Nov. 3, 2012, from
http://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/programmes/excellence_initiative/index.html
Kerstin Arzt & Katharina Frick. (n.d.). Mehr Technology an Schulen [More technology in schools]. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2012, from http://www.rp-online.de/region-duesseldorf/duesseldorf/nachrichten/mehr-technik-an-schulen-1.2760022
No comments:
Post a Comment