Flights of Innovation: A New Kind of Learning

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Information systems and technologies offer tremendous potential for innovation training in education. The digitization of content (text, voice, video) have transformed teaching and learning. They can make provisions more flexible, giving access to learning resources and information at the time, place and pace to suit individual needs.

Specifically, the presentation shows an innovative approach in science education: its design, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the effective use of e-based resources for teaching science to primary school students in China.

The curriculum issues investigated were selected from the Chinese National Science Curriculum. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed e-based approach, the uptake and impact of using the science resource in schools will be considered. The presentation will evaluate the extent to which e-based learning by students matches the objectives of the National Science Curriculum.

This innovative educational module allows young students to explore and experiment on scientific concepts through a process of self-inquiry and independent learning. This study is all the more important as research on the impact of using educational technology in the context of learning and teaching of science, particularly in China, is still relatively limited.

Educators in general and instructional designers and technologists in particular will benefit from this presentation as such learning model promise big increases in productivity and better learning at the same time. More importantly, the study raises several pedagogical issues such as to what extent will such radical re-thinking of teaching and learning methods change the nature of academic jobs.

Stream: Technology in Learning; Maths, Science and Technology Learning

Paper: , , , Flights of Innovation

Christian Bernard Tan has worked as an art director of an advertising company in China for several years. As a designer, he strives to produce work that is inspired and original. Bernard’s design solutions are a synthesis of innovation, revelation and communication. In recent years, Bernard has moved from crafting advertising campaigns to designing learning interfaces for academic institutions. He has been involved in designing computer-based user interactive interfaces for used by school students for blended learning. As an educator, he continues to challenge students to produce work that is inspired and original. Understandably, he is interested in the process of idea generation and creativity. Bernard is currently a full-time doctoral student in education. His primary area of research is in future learning landscapes and emerging instructional revolution.