THE USE OF INTENSIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS

Abstract

Along with technological advances, related learning technologies have also evolved, from simple forms of material distribution to more complex tools for communication, knowledge sharing, or forums. This rapid shifting of learning technologies raises the question of whether postsecondary education institutions are focused on keeping up with the changes rather than examining them for best practices and investigating the affect of these changes on instructors and learners.
Military education is a complex field subject to multiple pressures and competing agendas. One-size-fits-all recommendations are thus unlikely to satisfy anyone. However, a number of points are worth stressing. At a time when armed forces insist that uncertainty is a dominating feature of future operations, education – in the truest sense of the word – has never been more important for modern militaries than it is today. As such, debate about how best to deliver that education is healthy and beneficial, and all of those involved in professional military education ought to be proactively seeking opportunities for improvement and, if necessary, change.
The chances of getting in high quality educators who can offer constructive but critical new viewpoints is thus vastly increased by looking to the civilian sector, and by constituting faculties overwhelmingly from people who have dedicated their careers to teaching and research.
If modern militaries do value the educational outcomes their leaders espouse, what is necessary is greater investment in officers’ development in a holistic sense, and greater trust that their students will engage with and benefit from education outside of a purely military curriculum. Opportunities for such education could be provided at higher education establishments, through online learning, blended learning or a combination of the above.
Two of the most important roles of education are to help students learn how to think, not what to think, and appreciate that learning is a lifetime activity.