Reflecting all the lectures, readings and workshops that I had been through for 3 days, I come to think about the situations in Myanmar, my home country, which is still developing. I have come to compare the situations of Australia and those of Myanmar. Reflecting so, I feel extremely dissatisfied with the conditions of my motherland for many reasons.
First, the Internet is an essential part of schools and university students' learning and the lecturers' instructions here. They can take full advantage of the Internet. For example, instead of paper-based assignments, online-based assignments are always used. In Myanmar, however, even universities, let alone schools, do not have internet access for academic purposes. There has been an increasing series of complaints from the public concerning the very slow internet connection. In my opinion, one of the most important reasons for being such outdated in schools and universities is that the Myanmar government does not provide enough financial support for them. All the universities in Myanmar are administered by the government; there is no private university yet except one or two private international colleges. Although there has been some vague news that universities in Myanmar will be privatised soon, they are still under the government. I believe that privatisation of our universities will help provide infrastructure required for them with their autonomy, and improve teaching-learning situations much more. Second, our universities and schools use the traditional teaching methods and simple teaching aids most of the time without using multimedia. As teachers mostly use teacher-centred approach such as lecture method, and the texts are exam-oriented, most of the students only do rote learning without any critical thinking and creative thinking which are not required for the exams. Therefore, educational reforms are now underway in Myanmar but not very successful yet.
Taking into account the above situations in Myanmar, the use of multimedia for learning in my country is still very far away. Still, I hope that the current educational reform will help improve Myanmar education sector with many good educational policies and modern infrastructure for educational institutions in the country. However, although multimedia are useful tools, teachers will be the most important change agents of the education system of Myanmar. Therefore, our teachers should be well-qualified for such a positive change to take place. As a teacher educator, I am convinced that I will be able to equip my student teachers with the modern knowledge of using multimedia for learning, which I believe to be one of the most important 21st century skills for them. In this way, I intend to contribute to the development of education sector in my country Myanmar, as well.
First, the Internet is an essential part of schools and university students' learning and the lecturers' instructions here. They can take full advantage of the Internet. For example, instead of paper-based assignments, online-based assignments are always used. In Myanmar, however, even universities, let alone schools, do not have internet access for academic purposes. There has been an increasing series of complaints from the public concerning the very slow internet connection. In my opinion, one of the most important reasons for being such outdated in schools and universities is that the Myanmar government does not provide enough financial support for them. All the universities in Myanmar are administered by the government; there is no private university yet except one or two private international colleges. Although there has been some vague news that universities in Myanmar will be privatised soon, they are still under the government. I believe that privatisation of our universities will help provide infrastructure required for them with their autonomy, and improve teaching-learning situations much more. Second, our universities and schools use the traditional teaching methods and simple teaching aids most of the time without using multimedia. As teachers mostly use teacher-centred approach such as lecture method, and the texts are exam-oriented, most of the students only do rote learning without any critical thinking and creative thinking which are not required for the exams. Therefore, educational reforms are now underway in Myanmar but not very successful yet.
Taking into account the above situations in Myanmar, the use of multimedia for learning in my country is still very far away. Still, I hope that the current educational reform will help improve Myanmar education sector with many good educational policies and modern infrastructure for educational institutions in the country. However, although multimedia are useful tools, teachers will be the most important change agents of the education system of Myanmar. Therefore, our teachers should be well-qualified for such a positive change to take place. As a teacher educator, I am convinced that I will be able to equip my student teachers with the modern knowledge of using multimedia for learning, which I believe to be one of the most important 21st century skills for them. In this way, I intend to contribute to the development of education sector in my country Myanmar, as well.
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