New technologies for sustainable teaching and learning: A case study from Slovenia on diminishing students' workload and increasing motivation through ICT

Abstract

If education is to become culturally appropriate and improve environmental, societal and economic conditions, it needs to consider that current cultural development across the globe is increasingly connected with the use of new information and communication technologies (ICT). A close analysis of a blended higher vocational education course design and its two annual implementation cycles in different schools shows that careful introduction of ICT can have a positive impact in an educational context from the perspective of sustainability; new-media affirmative teaching and learning methods can increase both the hour-per-credit value of a course and student satisfaction. Current discussions about time management and students' workload and a symptomatic local situation concerning sustainability issues in Slovenian education show that integrating ICT into models and practices of sustainability should not only remain a profoundly disputed topic within reflections about sustainability in education, but also become an important practical method for achieving its goals.