Educators need to adapt to reality of globalization

Mark Conners, Global Partners Education Consultant, Bandung
markconners295@hotmail.com

The world is struggling to adapt to the reality of globalization. In this new era, national borders are blurred by instant interaction and information sharing. If the ASEAN economy collapses, it impacts western countries. If there is a terror attack in New York, the rest of the world instantly feels the effects.

If there is a bombing in Bali, it's not only Indonesia's tragedy; it is the world's problem. Political instability this morning influences decisions a potential investor will make this afternoon.

How does all this affect the role of the Educator in Indonesia? In a profound and dramatic way.

These new levels of interdependence have huge implications for the future workforce of Indonesia, currently being prepared in our schools. Will they be able to meaningfully participate in the global economy of the 21st century? Or will they be sidelined, limited by lack of skills to fill the role of "cheap labor" for kids in other countries who are also currently being prepared for the 21st century?

The world sees and shares an incredible amount of information through the Internet and in the West this has transformed and profoundly effected how business, politics and education are conducted. The internet has introduced new modes of learning that have revolutionized how, when and where people can access information.

The IT (information technology) industry itself has even in its relative infancy created incredible new opportunities for employment and development. The nation of India has tremendously benefited from globalizations' IT needs, training and educating its youth for skills needed in this new world economy. But for every success story, there are many countries that are on the wrong side of the "digital divide." These countries are missing out on many of these incredible new opportunities, still struggling to "get into the game" of globalization through a workforce well skilled in IT and its' mode of communication- the English language.

So, here are two big questions: Are teachers currently modeling and teaching the kinds of skills that are needed to take advantage of Global opportunities? It's at this very basic point of contact: Teacher and student -- that require serious attention by Indonesian educators and administrators. Also -- what are some practical steps educators in Indonesia do right now to move forward?

All agree that basic IT skills will be essential, but more important are skills that are able to meaningfully interact with and synthesize vast amounts of available knowledge, and bring it to bear on current problems or challenges.

With the development of the WWW, a growing network of instant information sharing and access has introduced a New Paradigm for interacting in our world.

Any discussion about increasing teacher effectiveness must take into account these powerful forces of change present in the world today.

The relationship between teacher and student takes a dramatic twist in the new paradigm, namely, immediate access to information is now offered to both through the Internet. A treasure chest of knowledge has been opened to all educators and students that were previously accessible only to the lucky few, and this dynamic alone changes the relationship between teacher and student.

Under the old paradigm, knowledge is in the hands of a relatively small proportion of society. Handled like bars of gold, knowledge has been kept secure in universities, by governments, businesses, (and yes even teachers).

The challenge for teachers in the old paradigm is simple: How do I communicate the small amount of information that I have to the students effectively?

In the old paradigm, the teacher is the source of information to the kids, for better or worse. If the teacher doesn't know their topic very well, the kids suffer. If the teacher is a bad communicator, the kids suffer. The role of Provider was the key word in this paradigm.

In the new paradigm, through the Internet, knowledge can be in the hands (and on the monitors) of anyone who is interested. The latest research from great universities around the world, on any topic is ready to read and ponder right now, through your computer.

Almost all cataloged information known to mankind about history, geography, economics, medicine, science, politics and basically anything else can be accessed with a minimal amount of effort. Suddenly, knowledge is no longer a scarce commodity, now it's able to be interacted with freely, for better or worse!

Now the challenge is: How do we interact with all this information, these vast resources of knowledge in such a way that it positively contributes to making Indonesia a better place?

Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft has a goal: A computer, hooked up to the Internet, in every classroom, as soon as possible.

Already, the role of the teacher has been changed forever: There is a better source of information for our kids, about many, many more topics, and this source is always available: The Internet.

What is its implication on teachers? in many ways, the basic job is the same: Prepare kids for the future. Our kids need basic skills to become good citizens, responsible contributors who can make our world a better place.

The current generation of educators was prepared for life in the old paradigm, and the system of education that we use now is developed for the old paradigm.

We must be able to see the future well enough to know what kind of preparation, skills, basics our kids need to be good citizens, productive in the new paradigm.

Get a vision for how your kids can interact with vast amounts of information in productive, creative, useful ways.

We need to develop a positive, powerful vision for our kids.

Many Teachers are intimidated and scared by the new paradigm. "It's too much! I can't change now! The world of computers is beyond me!" This attitude results in a tragic irony: The very ones that should be modeling how to learn become irrelevant in promoting the desire to learn among their students! Tragically, it's the kids that are suffering because of our fears and inaction.

Yet our kids desire to interact with the world through the internet is gaining momentum and strength with each passing year.

The proof? Warnets (small kiosks providing Internet connections) are full of kids! Every time they log on to the internet, they have access to incredible riches of information that can dramatically change Indonesia -- if they learn to interact, and apply what they learn.

And forget the belief that Indonesian kids don't want to learn how to speak English, the currency of global youth culture. There may be no other country in the world which has so many kids who truly want to learn how to communicate in English! Unfortunately, educators often have no idea how to promote speaking skills in schools, resulting in a discouraging, boring, irrelevant approach that leaves students demotivated.

These questions and challenges are difficult to answer well apart from the collective effort of a local school community. Yet this is where the challenge is placed: not on the administrators, parents, principals, teachers or students alone, but the whole community.

Together, facing tough questions about change may be the best catalyst for real change in our schools.

Perhaps the profound scope of this topic and its implications were best summed up by CEO Jack Welch when he asserted at the General Electric annual report that "GE's only competitive advantage is its ability to learn.

Indeed, learning how to learn in the new paradigm may be the most productive and strategic activity Indonesian educators can do.

The opinions expressed above are personal.