Making CSI Matter 2013: Panel Workshop 1: ICT in Classrooms #Reflections

"ICT in education has moved beyond computer labs, with digital literacy a key skill for learners at all levels and exciting products to help teachers across all subject areas.  ICT is seen to have the potential to revolutionize school-based education.  It offers corporate the potential of investing in solutions that can then be scaled to make a widespread impact.  But is this really the solution it promises to be? And, if so, what is preventing it becoming a reality?”

The workshop was informative and offered interesting insights around various initiatives, lessons learnt and successes.  The question that comes to mind – is the limited adoption and integration of ICT in education due to the fact that we are trying to use ICT to solve problems in an education system that is outdated and flawed, versus understanding and leveraging the benefits of ICT as an enabler to create more opportunities for learners and educators to be successful.  Why not re-designing the education system for an alternate learning and teaching outcomes instead?  As Sugata Mitra puts it, “The Victorians were great engineers. They engineered a [schooling] system that was so robust that it's still with us today, continuously producing identical people for a machine that no longer exists.”  He offers an interesting perspective on education as a self-organizing system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon; and boldly states, “It took nature 100 million years to make the ape stand up and become Homo sapiens. It took us only 10,000 to make knowing obsolete.”  Salman Khan also sheds light on how the current flawed education system leaves a gap in every student's core knowledge as opposed to unleashing the ability and creative power of learners, while liberating teachers.

The current “one-size-fits-all” prescriptive education system is a breeding ground for failure.  As an example, assume a classroom environment that is conducive of learning (Learning & Teaching Support Materials are available, Learner-to-educator ratio favorable, with a capable and experienced teacher).  The teacher prepares lesson plans to meet the objectives set out in the curriculum, prepares classroom activities along with resources to support the lesson plan.  Learners are then taught, assessed and graded.  The prescriptive nature of the curriculum and time constraints do not allow for much redress and ultimately lead to accumulative core knowledge gaps and inequality, as showcased in the Annual National Assessments and Matric Results.  The teacher in this environment is typically limited to that of an instructor. 

Now imagine a re-designed education system that leverages all the benefits of ICT, eliminating core knowledge gaps and inequalities in the learning process.  Assume the same learning environment as above, enhanced by ICT.  Through dedicated social networking, the teacher has access to a community of teaching professionals, a platform that enables sharing and collaboration with access to peer-generated lesson plans as well as a multitude of classroom activities and resources that cater for different learning styles, thus empowering the teacher to deliver engaging lessons that reach, motivate and inspire all learners.  ICT extends learning opportunities beyond the classroom and allows for a fundamental shift in the manner in which learners are assessed.  Technology enables automation which allows assessing to be an iterative process.  Learners would be able to take a test as many times as possible, the result and subsequent improvements captured; providing the teacher with a report which can then be used to tailor an action plan unique to the learner in meeting core knowledge objectives based on their individual learning style.  ICT in education enables learning environments that are Connected: equitable, social and participatory; Adaptive: personalized; and allows for Big Picture learning: real-world/real-life learning that is student-centered, allowing learners to take ownership of their education.  The role of the teacher in this environment includes that of instructor, facilitator and analyst.

The only question that remains – will we see these changes in our lifetime?

The music and media industries have seen major changes in their business models in the manner in which they engage and interact with customers - thanks to digitization, broadband and community collaboration.  These technological trends are the same disruptive forces bringing change to the education sector...

I believe we will!  

We The Teachers

How do our teachers stay motivated under the current prevailing conditions in the classroom?

Of the teachers that we spoke to at this year's Future Ed expo, many expressed the same frustrations. Top of the list was TIME, or lack thereof. The resulting ripple effects are scary. 

Let's look at time in the context of time spent preparing lesson plans and classroom activities as well as finding resources to support these objectives.

Most teachers say that there is no time to connect with other teachers for sharing and collaboration, and when this does happen, it is within a closed community. If you consider that there are  +400,000 teachers in South Africa, excluding the greater global teacher community - this is significant.  An interesting factor also worth mentioning is the geographic location  relating to urban and rural schools and its correlation to teacher motivation and migration.

Lesson plans are done in isolation.  Teachers are required to teach multiple subjects, some of which they have no passion for.  There is no proactive feedback or rating system relating to lesson plans and classroom activities.  There is also no time and not enough resources available to produce a variety of classroom activities that support lesson plans.  Considering learners have different styles of learning, how engaged and inspired are learners under this one size fits all delivery model?

If lack of time and access to resources are factors impacting our teachers' ability to deliver quality education, what are possible solutions?

What if Teachers had access to a community dedicated and designed to promote sharing and collaboration among fellow teachers, locally and around the world?  What if Teachers from rural areas had access and the support of teachers in the urban areas?  A community that provided FREE access to user generated lesson plans and classroom activities, files and tools, community forums, professional networking and topical interest groups?  A community where teachers are recognized and rewarded for their participation and contributions, a community that supports a teacher's professional development, and a community that connects teachers with other teacher communities giving teachers access to an overwhelming selection of ideas and resources.

We the Teachers is one such community!

All that is required is an access device (PC, laptop, tablet or mobile phone), access to the internet and the participation and contributions of our teachers.

Connect.Share.Find.

@ http://wetheteachers.com/

Sign Up today, visit our showcase section and get access to a 30 day trail membership that includes Big Universe, Curriki, Dynamic Online Learning, Haiku LMS, My eCoach and eTAP

Understanding the Challenges

Education in South Africa gets a large slice of public spending compared with most other countries, usually around 20% of total state expenditure together with about 5.3% of GDP. Despite this overwhelming financial commitment to education, it is apparent that South Africa still has significant educational challenges as reflected in the current numeracy, literacy and matric pass rates.

Government spends approximately R3 billion annually on Learning and Teaching Support Materials. Our analysis is that a large portion of this expenditure is spent on the associated logistics of delivering paper-based textbooks throughout the country. Making sure that every child in every school starts the year with all his/her textbooks have proven to be one of the most intractable obstacles in the delivery of quality education in South Africa. Significant backlogs in the delivery of Learner and Teacher Support Materials (LTSM) have had an adverse effect on teaching time and learner performance.

In 2010, there were 12,260,099 learners who were taught by 418,109 teachers in 25,850 schools. Government has stated that there is a serious shortage of teachers and that we will need 25,000 new teachers every year in order to cope with learner demand. The Learner/Educator ratio (LER) was 29.3 compared to 25.8 for Sub-Saharan Africa and 18.0 compared to the global average according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. LER is an indicator of education quality and is significant as a high ratio makes it difficult for pupils to follow in the classroom and teachers have less time to address the needs of each individual student. Private schools have started to see the adoption of Apple’s iPad in the classroom with interactive learning aids. This trend adds to the widening gap between the rich and poor, urban and rural in education.

If improving learning outcomes and eliminating inequality are the key challenges for South African schools, how can this be achieved? The many different studies and initiatives that have attempted to solve these challenges tend to point to the same underlying problems. In particular, it is clear that in many schools and classrooms the way teaching occurs must change.

The programme of action from government states that ‘teachers are to be in class, on time, teaching and making use of textbooks’. This is echoed in the ‘triple T’ of the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign (QLTC), a multi-stakeholder campaign, which underlines the importance of ‘Teachers, Textbooks and Time’ in improving learning. The Textbook is defined as an effective tool to ensure consistency, coverage, appropriate pacing and better quality instruction in implementing the curriculum. While we support this point of view, our belief is that the paper-based textbook is not a sustainable model in terms of its long term cost as well as how it engages the learner in achieving the desired performance goals set by the Department of Basic Education.

Our approach to overcome the limitations associated with a paper-based textbook, the high teacher to learner ratio and the quality of instruction, is to introduce a Mobile Tablet Solution together with digital textbooks and other teaching and learner aids. We believe that this approach will enhance the teaching and learner experience within the current prevailing conditions inside and outside the classroom. From a cost perspective, there is a significant savings in the way that budgets could be allocated and spent. One Tablet device could potentially be used throughout the entire K-12 schooling per learner versus an average of 7 paper-based textbooks per learner per year. A Mobile Tablet Solution will also provide Learner and Teachers with access to a multitude of quality interactive and engaging information and tools. And because Content and Applications are distributed electronically, the backlogs and inequalities associated with the traditional model will be cleared. In addition, Learning Resources will be up-to-date and relevant. 

The shift from a paper to a digital format also has an impact on the environment in terms of our carbon footprint relating to our consumption of paper, printing and logistics associated with the current distribution model.

South Africa has 11 official languages. The unemployment rate in South Africa was reported at 25.7% in the second quarter of 2011. The number of registered individual taxpayers in South Africa was 5.9 million in 2009/10 from a population of +50 million. Taking these numbers into consideration, what are the potential new job opportunities that are created by introducing this technology into the education sector?

The Language of Learning and Training (LOLT) statistics and how it pertains to the 11 official languages presents an opportunity for Translation Services of content to be published into the official languages. It also opens up an opportunity for Local Content Developers to publish and electronically distribute their work. IT Services and Training will be needed to successfully adopt and support these technological changes in the classroom. With a total of 12,227,963 learners, 413,067 educators and 25,906 schools spread across 9 provinces, this will represent a significant impact in the creation of new jobs and opportunities for more citizens to participate in the economy. There are numerous benefits and ripple effects if this vision can be realised.

This is what drives our passion.