Gilberto Moreno maintains that ICT knowledge can no longer be considered an option and that the student who arrives at the educational center loaded with books and notes should be “a thing of the past.”
The use of New Technologies in the educational system is an opportunity that should not be turned away. It is clear that issues such as overexposure to information or abuse of electronic devices should not be addressed as a problem, but Technology, in itself, is neither bad nor good. Of course, you have to know how to use it. And that was what Dr. Gilberto Moreno, director of the Elder Museum, said, who showed that 'ICTs' offer an almost infinite universe of tools and possibilities that can be applied to the educational system. The I Reeducation Forum; New Challenges, New Paradigms also wanted to dedicate a space to the use of technology in education: and there is no one better than the director of Elder, a center that has applied technology to education since its foundation and that has become one of the most important 'Science Museums' in Spain. Because you have to start from a base: the museum receives more than 40.000 schoolchildren each year as part of its complementary offer to curricular development. One of the most visited museums in Spain that in recent times has brought new technologies and innovation closer to those who visit it.
Information Technologies and new dissemination models have become part of the usual formats to make the transmission of knowledge reach the center's visitors, and even make them understand the tools used to store, process and recover data through of different electronic media. And that is why they know a lot about the use of technology to support educational programs. In this sense, they have a lot to say. “The use of ICT in educational models has been evolving and it is necessary to reflect on its use, knowing its advantages and disadvantages,” says Moreno. ICTs are instruments used to think, learn, know, represent and transmit the knowledge and learning acquired to other people and other generations,” she adds. And, therefore, we must think about a different school in the near future. A school that knows how to take advantage of these opportunities to increase the effectiveness of the educational system. “What you experience is learned much better than what you read.”
Gilberto Moreno is very clear: “The student loaded with books and folders, who listened to the teacher's presentations and learned sequentially through an effort to memorize extensive handwritten notes, is a thing of the past. Now, he goes to class with tablets and laptops, they want to acquire knowledge through their own experiences solving problems and they do not want to be mere listeners, but rather be an active part of the teaching process, interacting and discovering. For Moreno, these tools are no longer an option: they must be another content of the educational curriculum. And not just for students.
The director of Elder assures that all students and teachers at all levels (from Primary to Higher Education) must have skills in the use of technology and gave as an example the challenge that COVID 19 posed to keep the educational system standing in a confinement scenario. Around 70% of the world's student population has seen its education affected, according to data on the Impact of Covid-19 on education, published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO, 2020).
Now, the importance of ICTs in education, Moreno clarifies, does not lie in the instruments themselves, but in the use to which they are given. ”It is not enough for you to use a tablet to present the content of the class; "There must be a deeper change that adapts teaching practice to the new learning model of the 21st century." And the key to making this a success is the role of the teacher. In this sense, the director of the Elder Museum commented that aspects such as the student's curiosity or commitment to collaboration are crucial to ensure that "the abandonment of more traditional teaching models" leads to "more effective and innovative styles." In this sense, Moreno pointed out aspects such as inverse design, collaborative learning, visual thinking or design thinking as possibilities to precipitate this change.
But not everything is pretty. It is a process that also generates difficulties and challenges. Despite the multiple advantages they present, the use of ICTs in education also entails challenges or obstacles that must be faced as a teacher: the guarantee of digital security, the differentiation of valuable content from inappropriate or false content or the adaptation of tools and methodologies to students based on their abilities, also stimulating critical thinking as one of the most important parts.
