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African Education Week

Technology the key to addressing crisis in SA schools

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:45

South African educators are becoming increasingly eager to use technology like open source learning and e-learning in the classroom. The advent of the internet has created a world of information available to all. By breaking down international and even cultural barriers, students are afforded access to fresh ideas and thought processes from around the world - allowing our education system to compete on a global stage.

Professor Johannes Cronje, Dean, Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology comments, "Open source online learning allows students and teachers alike to gather information freely, use it, change it, customise it - it is the ultimate teacher tool and teachers need to harness this available resource. It's like having access to all the libraries in the world.

There is a crisis in South African schools and we need to realise that the days of textbooks are behind us. Particularly in a South African context, textbooks are not as freely available as web access, so let's harness the web and make use of technology in the classroom."

There are hundreds of websites dedicated to online learning. One great example is the WikiEducator, which is along the same lines as the WikiPedia online encyclopedia, but tailored for the education sector. "This Wiki is a collaborative, community effort of educators focused on generating free online content. Content areas include early childhood, primary and secondary education, teacher education, professional development and more."

Another example of an education program is Siyavula, a specific South African initiative. Since the introduction of outcomes-based education (OBE) in South Africa, teachers have been under increasing pressure to deliver and the Siyavula Project offers freely available open educational resources (OERs) to teachers across the country. It aims to help teachers to find and adapt resources, runs professional development workshops and provides social networking tools.

Professor Cronje cites the age-old cliche, "The teacher who can be replaced by technology should be replaced by a teacher!" and goes on to say, "This is one of my favourite quotes because it sums it up so well: the role of the teacher is to motivate and no longer to present information. Teachers must create an environment in which learners want to learn.

The information is already out there on You Tube, on Twitter, on Google and the learner who is interested and wants to understand will go and download the lesson he missed or did not understand and watch and re-watch until he does understand. What's important is the will to do it."

Professor Cronje continues, "A good teacher these days can teach independently of the subject. Think of the internet as the school library - the teacher is the librarian who points the student in the right direction and helps and motivates him to find and use the information. The teacher's role remains crucial, but it has changed."

"I will add though, we need to question if the extra cost of a laptop is really worth it. Most learners these days have access to a cell phone and an MP3 player. Cell phones can be used to download text files and MP3 players to play back lessons. We need to make more use of the technology which already exists in the classroom rather than assume that expensive equipment must be purchased. If we can use what is already there, this will improve access for all students, not just the privileged. Open source learning is there for the taking. "Let's make the most of it."