Fiji academic says advances in tech dampen critical thinking

Transcript

An academic has warned Fiji educators not to rush into using technology as a dominant teaching tool because it may adversely affect critical thinking.

The Director of Research Office at the University of the South Pacific, Jito Vanualailai, says the ability to think critically has declined in the region and advances in technology may be to blame.

Dr Vanualailai recently addressed a Fiji Principal's Association conference and underlined his concern.

He told Koro Vaka'uta his concerns come from research out of the United States.

JITO VANUALAILAI:  Basically they are saying that yes, technology seems to have an impact on critical thinking and they came out saying that technology really is a source of a decline in critical thinking.  From that context, therefore I was saying that the use of technology in Fiji could lead to a decline in critical thinking or may have already led to a decline in critical thinking because we had a mandate from the university's council in 2010 where they basically said the university, we need to do something about critical thinking.  We need to produce graduates with research literacy and skills to help address the environmental, the economic, social and cultural changes that face the Pacific region.

KORO VAKA'UTA:  So in terms of the technology, how is it impacting?

JT:  The research is saying basically that the visual skills have improved.  The advent of the internet, social media, games, these have improved the visual skills of kids, of children. But however they are saying the critical thinking has declined because of limited reading opportunities.  The students or the children are not reading a lot, they are not writing a lot.  Of course they text but these are not reading for pleasure as it were.

KV:  Has it manifested itself within Fiji?

JT:  It's kind of anecdotal evidence that we've got but we have seen that some of our graduates, they cannot write proper English.  They have difficulties in basically numerical analysis, how to interpret data, whether that information is correct or not, they cannot really make sense of it.  That is part and parcel of critical skills, where you need to have the ability to critically analyse information and come up with a conclusion that is concrete and that is objective.  We do not have that capability among our students and our graduates and that is the worrying bit.

KV:  I guess your presentation was a warning.

JT:  Yes it is actually as a warning as well.  Fiji is actually one of the best internet accessibility in the region.  We've got internet that is accessible now from villages and very, very cheaply actually.  Now, with that level of accessibility, that is a really worrying aspect.

KV:  So how can this be addressed?

JT:  The easiest solution, because we don't have the resources of having students to use laptops or tablets yet in school.  Just hold on for a while, don't do that.  Let's go back to the best solutions, the easiest solutions and that is to increase the reading level among our students, build libraries and let them write essays and do assignments because in that way we do not need a lot of resources.  We don't need a lot of money.  In the meantime, what the university could be doing is looking at what are the critical thinking skills and then how to teach those.  

Dr Jito Vanualailai says USP is working with the University of Adelaide to create a programme to improve critical thinking.