The Executive Yuan has allocated NT$20 billion (US$641.64 million) for enhancing digital education in elementary and junior-high schools over the next four years.
The “Internet for All Classes, A Tablet for Every Student” plan seeks to enable children to study more effectively. The plan has received significant media coverage, with focus on hardware improvement at schools and teachers’ readiness.
However, parents are fundamental to the success of digital education.
In the past few years, government agencies and non-governmental organizations have made every effort to develop and improve e-learning platforms.
The government’s Taiwan Adaptive Learning Platform and the privately owned Junyi Academy are free for students, and each has its own merits in promoting digital education.
In theory, these platforms could solve some problems, particularly in rural areas where there are no after-school centers or cram schools. With these platforms, students are able to learn by themselves.
However, the platforms are not widely used.
First, children’s eyesight is a cause of concern for parents. When children use a tablet computer, a laptop or other electronic devices at home, it is hard for them to follow the “30/10” rule of 30 minutes device use and 10 minutes rest.
At the same time, parents have found the e-learning platforms difficult to use. The design of reward and feedback systems, as well as recording and playback functions, on these platforms needs improvement.
After parents experienced online teaching during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the hardware most of them have at home should meet the needs of e-learning platforms, so the main focus should be improving the platforms.
For instance, there should be a function that forces users to take a 10-minute break every 30 minutes — or even have the computer automatically shut down.
There should also be a function that prevents users from surfing the Internet. That way, parents would not have to worry about their children’s eyesight.
Parental education
According to my research, parents seldom use e-learning platforms with their children, because they do not know whether the platforms are beneficial to their children’s performance in school.
About half of parents whose children are in elementary and junior-high school wonder whether using technology truly helps their children.
The other half, who usually have their children use e-learning platforms, recognize that their children’s education have become less of a financial burden and less time-consuming.
Some people say that when children use the Internet, parents play on their smartphones.
However, if that was truly the case, it would be meaningless for parents to accompany their children while studying, otherwise children might lose motivation to study or even end up playing on their phones, just like their parents.
The digital education plan is well-intentioned, and it corresponds well with the most commonly accepted principles of learning.
However, after a few years of practice, it is obvious that parents need to be educated and the existing platforms must be improved.
In so doing, the platforms would perform much better in schools and at home, and help children achieve the goals of self-learning.
Liu Yung-chien is an elementary-school principal.
Translated by Liu Yi-hung
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