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EditorĄ¯s Notes
Special Theme Issue: Status and Trends of Cybereducation in the Asia-Pacific Region
APCJ was established as a vehicle for promoting knowledge and understanding of the tremendous potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve education, particularly among the APEC economies. This special theme issue provides an extraordinary snapshot of the progress that has been made in the realization of that potential.
To capture fully the scope of cybereducation activities in this region would require a very large book, or even two large books. In fact, those very books are reviewed in this special issue! The UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education has accomplished an amazing feat in researching and reporting on the status of ICT in virtually all of the UNESCO affiliated countries of Asia and the Pacific. These companion volumes, Meta-survey on the Use of Technologies in Education in Asia and the Pacific 2003-2004 and Integrating ICTs into Education: Lessons Learned are reviewed respectively by Jose Ochoa-Alcantar and Jaesam Chung, who recommend these books as invaluable guides to the lessons learned over the past decade.
Our own survey is more selective and deeper. It begins with Rongliang WangĄ¯s report on the rapid progress being made in China during its tenth five-year plan, from the developed areas of the country where access to ICT is nearly ubiquitous to the outlying areas where technology penetration is just beginning. In an observation that is echoed in nearly all the other articles, Wang points out that China sees technology as a lever for fundamental change in teaching-learning processes, necessary for any economy that expects to compete in the future global marketplace.
In contrast, Indonesia, with its extreme geographical dispersion, is starting from a lower base of technology penetration and use. High Internet connection costs are hampering the wider availability of this important tool, according to Mohammad Ali, requiring a broad plan of government support for infrastructure development as well as cybereducation promotion.
Jun and Kim report that in Korea ICT is seen as an important tool in a national effort to supplant private, out-of-school tutoring programs that impose a heavy burden on parents of lower income status. Cybereducation is viewed as a viable option in Korea, being one of the most wired nations in the world, thanks to its compact geography and high economic status. ICT is expected to play a role in another national strategic effort—developing creative, self-motivated human resources.
Southeast Asia includes a wide diversity of cultures and economies, from the highly developed Singapore and Brunei, to the more moderately developed Malaysia and Thailand, to some economies still at earlier stages of development. Priscilla Cabanatan reports that in that region SEAMO INNOTECH is playing a leading role in creating the conditions for effective ICT implementation, from infrastructure building to teacher training.
On the other side of the Pacific Rim, Canada and the United States have more decentralized education systems, so it is more difficult to characterize briefly the progress that is being made in exploiting the potentials of ICT for education. There, infrastructure is not a barrier, but deeply institutionalized teaching practices are proving formidable obstacles to tapping the potential of Web-based learning to create more learner-centered environments. Milton and Bichelmeyer both note that maturity of the infrastructure does not automatically lead to its effective use in education. Consistent with the stories coming from other countries, they point out that true transformation of education requires systemic change in the innermost processes of teaching and learning.
Rounding out this snapshot of educational progress is the Field Report, in which Somjai Theeratith tells the story of the APEC Sister Schools Network, a project with the aim of providing an opportunity for students and teachers to learn more about APEC and APEC economies and cultures, to make personal linkages, and to promote cooperation and interrelationship among the APEC youth and teachers while getting involved in preserving the Pacific coastal ecosystem. It is an uplifting reminder of the value of trans-national cooperation.
Michael Molenda
Editor in Chief
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