Vocational education is becoming an important part as to skill up and be future ready.
It is career oriented and is traditionally non-academic. Often it is the manual or practical activities related to a specific trade or occupation. Vocational education is sometimes referred to as career education or technical education. Technology is one of the key building blocks in education today and vocational education is no exception. Integration of technology in this sphere has given some recognizable output and so the importance of the same is valued across the globe. Just like in other academic areas integration of technology in vocational education is of great use and comes around almost the same reflecting efficient outputs.
As we can already see technology taking the lead in education let’s see what edtech does for students when it supports vocational learning.
– Technology assisted instructional learning provide ample opportunities for students to broaden their learning skills and for teachers to develop better multimedia and interactive courseware. Also, technology competency is one skill that will be needed in all professions so working along with tech is a good way to make the learner work ready along with all the needed skills.
– Integration of technology into vocational instruction can provide schools with potential access to the world of work outside of the school and allows teachers to design useful learning environments that emphasize learning in the context of real world activities for vocational students.
– Teachers’ perceptions are very important to the success or failure of integrating technology into instruction, and they play a significant role in this process. Teacher has been the change agent and plays a critical role in the success of teaching and learning in vocational programs. Vocational teachers should model the appropriate uses of technology in the workshop and classroom to help equipping their students with the necessary knowledge and skills to use these tools effectively in their working life.
– To ensure technical and vocational programs are relevant to the society, vocational teachers must be able to use these new technologies that are continually changing the ways how people live, work, and learn. Therefore, vocational teacher should keep pace with changing technology in order to assure their roles still relevant to produce tomorrows’ labor. Because their competency in ICT is essential if they are to be successful instructional leaders as they transfer this competency to their students
We see that the needs for vocational education around the world are enormous because of the changes occurring in the world of work. And since, Technical and Vocational Education is concerned with the preparation of learners for employment, providing them with knowledge, skills and attitudes desirable in the world of work. It would be logical to state that vocational education must include technology deeply as the working world already is ruled by ICT and hence should include training in ICT applications as a part of the vocational education.
What is your opinion on the same?
