THE 3RD MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES TO

THE KNOWLEDGE BUILDERS OF

ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
 Introduction
Learning , as opined by the leading educators
after the Second World War, need not to be
confined to expensive, difficult-to-maintain
physical plants called schools and classrooms.
Teachers, pupils, books and several other
materials need to not to be in fixed ratios, too
little or too much of which spells lack of quality
in education. Most importantly, the educators
saw the need for a body to look into the
educational problems and concerns and serve
as a regional clearinghouse for innovative
approaches and research-based solutions to
 Introduction
Thirty years ahead of their time, the ideas
expounded then are now gaining adherents. The
environment in which the ideas were initially
aired has now dramatically changed, but the
concerns have remained the same. The
confluence of technological improvement, social
and economic changes, globalization and an
increasingly inter-connected world, and the
quest for better ways of learning have made the
pipe dream closer to reality.
The Asia-Pacific Century
 The developments that were visible in
the Asia-Pacific region demonstrates the
region’s need and its readiness to adapt to
changing realities.

“
Major shifts in countries’ political and
economic environments in the 1970s led to
increased prosperity and social change.
Emergence of the tiger economies and the
newly industrialized countries of Asia
resulted in the reconfiguration of the major
players in the world economy.
 Increasing awareness in the use of
world wide web or trade and commerce has
been very evident in the Asia-Pacific region
as well as the financial crisis and the
contagion effect of other countries it would

“
have on our lives . The region during the
said period has also become a major area
for market expansion. From being
centrally-planned economies to becoming a
driven by free market forces have prompted
the development of the transitional marker
economies label.
 The Information
Society
Globalization, though accelerated and magnified by
technological development, is by itself an emergent
phenomenon. Some decades ago, a number of
countries and even communities operated and
developed quite independently of each other. Now,
the ties that bind countries and societies are not only
limited to the treaties and formal agreements, trade
and information move through the international mass
media.
 The
Knowledge
Builders
The changing role of teachers in the education
process is a case in point. The teacher, once the
walking repository of knowledge, experience and
information, wielding the power to pass or fail
students, must compete with a host of other
information sources.
 Builders
The teacher in the coming information
age should not only be a transmitter of facts
and figures, but rather a guide in the students
quest for learning. Rather than the sole
mediator of information and learning, the
teacher may take on various issues, ether as
an information seeker, guide or information
provider.
In a learning society with an increasingly boundary-
less learning environment, one is hard put to identify who
are the stakeholders in education. Yet, the center of
responsibility for guiding and managing the learning
process must still fall on a given sector.
 KNOWLEDGE
BUILDERS
The term knowledge builders may be
posited to more properly depict the
institution, group or individual primarily
responsible for managing the learning
process. We, the educators, can be
regarded as the knowledge builders in the
region.
The
EMERGING
EDUCATION
LANDSCAPE
The learning continuum is fast
becoming borderless, embracing a
lifelong dimension, with the pace of
the knowledge acquisition described
as unprecedented. The schools and

1
classroom once described as
expensive physical plant serving as
the only proper place for meaningful
learning experience, have been
enriched with information, facts and
figures delivered and receive
through a multitude of means.
Attitudes, aptitudes
and values are
learned not only
through the classroom
as mediated by the
teacher. Various modes can and
will be employed to deliver
the messages, reaching a
broad range of audiences.
 Population growth is fast outpacing the
world’s capacity to provide learning
opportunities to individuals and groups. Mass
participation in education needs to be
addressed by the education sector. One of
the problem that need to be addressed in the
region is the increasingly getting younger
population, with their particular demands and

2 needs.
3
◇
Recognition of
Prior Learning
Recognition of prior learning,
accreditation and equivalency are
approaches that are gaining
substantial focus. Premised on
education taking place anytime ,
anywhere and in various situations,
the learning competencies gained
from the practice of a craft, trade or
provision of service must be given
due recognition and credit.
 Work-specific and beyond-the-
campus strategies deserve the
educator’s attention.
New and different modalities for
learning and acquiring further

4 education are emerging, and they

bear study and evaluation by the
education sector. In-School and
Place your screenshot here

Off-School learning systems,

community-based delivery and
other variants and modalities are
being developed and tried out all
over the religion.
Distance 5
Education, open
learning and
other flexible Place your screenshot here
systems are
now recognized
as having the
capacity to
provide access
to lifelong
education
opportunities.
Open
University Place your screenshot here

usually uses
VTE or Video
Teleconferenci
ng as mode of
learning
Reference:
21st Century Trends, Issues and
Challenges in Philippine
Education by Nilo Colinares
Thanks!
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◇ valezaabby16@gmail.com
◇ Catanduanes State University – Library Services