During her speech at the Multimedia and e-Education Conference held on April 6 this year, Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, said: ‘Our goal is to equip every manager, teacher and learner in general and further education and training with the knowledge and skills to use ICT confidently, creatively and responsibly by 2013.”
ICT is short for information and communication technology. ICTs include devices that help us interact through passing on, receiving or storing information. We use ICTs every day, without even thinking of them as technology.
Examples of ICTs include televisions, computers, cellphones, the Internet, videos and DVDs, calculators, video games and cameras, as well as ATMs, data projectors and interactive whiteboards. How many of these ICTs do you use? How many of them do you integrate into your lessons?
ICT is not a magic solution to all problems, as Pandor stated at the conference. ICT requires effective integration into the day-to-day activities of learners and teachers so that it can and will make a difference.
In April 2000, the Dakar Framework for Action identified the use of new ICTs as one of the main strategies for achieving the Education for All goals. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation awards high priority to the use of ICTs for a fair development in education.
The idea of engaging in technology may be frightening; however, once you start feeling comfortable with technology, you will find it is a marvellous tool. Integrating ICT into your teaching does not mean you have to ignore all your other teaching resources. Integrating ICT is merely another way of improving the teaching and learning environment.
Teachers should develop learners’ ICT skills so that they profit from technology and are able to compete in the job market.
The government recognised the importance of the ICT sector to development by implementing a national ICT strategy. This plan proactively addresses ICT access, mainly for disadvantaged sections of society. The government has put into practice a number of frameworks for policies, infrastructure, partnerships and task forces that will help South African communities play a role in the global economy. The State Information Technology Agency encourages the provision of information technology, information systems and related services in a managed and protected setting.
Ten tips to intergrate ICT
- Visit the national education website Thutong at www.thutong.org.za — it provides high-quality resources and communication and collaboration facilities for managers, teachers and pupils.
- Try to ensure access to Internet connections and to use the Internet in lessons for research.
- Identify and read (and even collect) newspaper and magazine articles about information and communication technologies and their use — be informed! Remember, one of the seven roles of an educator is to remain a life-long learner.
- Use videos or DVDs to ‘show and tell” learners about an aspect of your learning area — the opportunities are endless! Consider the variety of programmes on television and available video/DVD material about animals, plants, travelling, human behaviour, etc for use in all learning areas.
- Allow learners to use the calculator function on their cellphones in the mathematics and natural science classes.
- Listen to recordings of stories and watch television programmes as a framework for/introduction to discussions, debates and writing assignments in languages, life orientation and economic and management science.
- Allow learners to use word processing programmes to complete portfolio work, assignments and presentations.
- Organise a photo competition for your learning area, for example: close-up shots of insects for natural science or portraits of community elders for life orientation or social science.
- Use spreadsheets instead of a marks book or a class list. Doing different calculations is so much easier and faster when using a programme designed for that purpose!
- Digitise your learning content by developing interactive lessons saving you preparation time, printing and copying — learners and educators could access the lessons via your school’s intranet or CD Rom.