Background: Information and communications technologies (ICT) are often characterized as offering new and exciting possibilities for changing and enhancing the way people work and play. Similarly, ICT-based learning environments offer opportunities for new types of learning and cognitive activity that have not been previously available in formal educational settings. Lessons from business reveal that technology can be a powerful accelerator of change, however it must be focused on productive applications.
Focus of discussion: In education, there have been calls to more closely examine some of the claims for ICT and to re-think the ways it has been used to date. This paper argues that at the school-level, the form ICT will take and the functions it will serve for teaching and learning are still yet to be determined.
Argument: It is clear from studies of highly successful organizations that that they think differently about technology and work hard to develop thoughtful and creative applications. The continuing challenge for Hong Kong schools is to demonstrate that ICT has a credible place in the development of collaborative learning environments that emphasize knowledge production over knowledge reproduction.
Conclusion: The educational leadership that is required for the new millennium is to look for smart uses of technology that are designed to foster knowledge creation and productive learning.
眾所周知，資訊與通訊技術給人們帶來新的機遇，並且改變著人們工作與休閒的方式。同樣，基於資訊通訊科技的學習系統也向人們提供了傳統教育所無法提供的新的學習與認知方式。實踐經驗表明，技術可以成為促使改善認知方式的強有力的催化劑，但是選擇技術時必須注意這種技術是否的確可以提高效率。已經有人呼籲要密切關注資訊通訊技術在教育領域的應用方式。筆者認為在中小學階段，資訊通訊技術服務於教學的方式還有待於研究。香港中小學目前所面臨的挑戰是如何證明在開發側重於知識開發的協作學習環境時，資訊通訊科技佔有重要的地位。我們對一些在這個領域內取得成功的機構作分析的結果顯示，這些機構對技術的認識與其他機構有所不同，並且這些機構致力於開發出富有創新的應用系統。教育領域領導階層需要尋求合理利用技術來服務於知識獲取及高效率學習的新方法。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]