Building an Internet Learning System for All

02002/7/9

Abstract

In new information era societies, the development of a nation depends on its digital learning environment and its citizens’ knowledge and ability to utilize information. Currently, schools of all levels in Taiwan have already completed the infrastructure development for Internet learning. However, for teachers and students of elementary and junior-high schools to utilize Internet resources for teaching and learning, the substance of Internet learning must be reinforced and constructed. Furthermore, information literacy and Internet utilization knowledge and ability have already been included and implemented into the capability index of the 1^st-9^th Grade Curriculum Alignment for elementary and junior-high schools, whereas Internet learning and content development participation in high school and vocational high school students have yet to be improved.

During recent years, the Ministry of Education has joined the efforts of scholars, experts, elementary and junior-high school teachers, the industry, the Social Education Hall, and civic groups, to promote the development of constructing high-quality digital content and website content, and will continue to promote such goals and plans for development on this basis. In addition, the recently passed Lifelong Learning Act views “learning via websites” as one of the channels for lifelong learning. Therefore, there is no doubt that we should now establish a lifelong learning website platform, and integrate or connect related resources for efficient utilization.

In 1996, Taiwan set a goal to “promote Internet services, and reach 3 million users in 3 years”. The content of this plan was focused on increasing the “quantity” of infrastructures, but due to insufficient understanding of social issues, it also resulted in the imbalance of urban and rural resources, and created a digital divide. It is crucial that we integrate the resources of information education (such as teachers, curricula, and funds) and establish an evaluation mechanism, improve the teachers’ abilities to utilize information technology in teaching and encourage teachers to learn continuously, promote the advantages of digital learning and information utilization in everyday life, create friendly learning environments and tailor personal needs, in order to effectively enhance the effects of computer and Internet access, increase the motivation and will to learn, and alleviate the issue of digital gaps.

This project aims to accelerate the promotion of 3 major tasks, namely “building digital learning content”, “bridging the digital divide between elementary and junior-high schools in urban and rural areas”, and “building a lifelong learning website platform” in accordance with the implementation of the 1^st-9^th Grade Curriculum Alignment, to provide detailed educational learning substance and in-depth information that is whole, systematic, rich, and related to the aspects of life, to construct a “People-centered” Internet learning environment, to establish related measures to provide multi-channel learning spaces and high-quality digital learning content via the Internet, to bridge the digital divide so that every citizen may enjoy the same learning resources and make their own plans for lifelong learning, and to create learning substance and establish cooperative learning mechanisms (through sharing, discussing, and improving) within organizations (such as learning groups, teachers’ workshops, and student information clubs) to promote culture and creativity and improve Taiwan’s overall competitiveness.