The value of information communication technologies and, in particular, learning technologies has been communicated nationally for a number of years, with an emphasis on the importance of creating opportunities for such practices to be integrated into the education curriculum at all levels.
Cases are made for the potential value of such technologies as tools to enhance the learning experience and, in some bold cases, to improve learning. Although approached with caution in some educational spheres, the main impetus remains that educational institutions, and specifically schools, should start equipping both pupils and teachers with the appropriate digital skills required to become critical and well-rounded citizens of the 21st century.
Such cases, of course, are not without merit and constitute what is expected of faculties of education in equipping new teachers with not only disciplinary and pedagogical knowledge, but technological know-ledge as well.
In such a framework, the notion of blended learning is often referred to as the golden thread in attempting to align traditional classroom practices with new pedagogies of engagement and connectedness. Mapped against this background, educational institutions are increasingly equipped with the appropriate infrastructure and resources to embrace such change. This includes internet and wi-fi connections, developmental programmes, devices, and other appropriate hardware and software.
The case is made that to engage appropriately with the new pedagogies, two levels of training are required: the development of technical (or digital) skills and the pedagogical know-how of how to integrate such devices into the curriculum.
Such an approach, however, poses some interesting challenges. In order to develop technological skills, a wide range of resources could be used to train teachers, such as education department training opportunities, school-based staff development programmes, courses (face to face or online) and even self-directed learning by means of the internet and other software packages.
Such training opportunities mainly focus on how to use particular tools with occasional reference to how they could be integrated into the curriculum. At an often superficial level, certain tools are associated with communication, collaboration or assessment opportunities.
In many cases, a “recipe” approach is followed to sensitise teachersto using tools for particular learning activities.
It is at this stage, however, that critical questions should be asked: Before we start to explore the role and potential value of learning technologies, do we really have an embedded, practical understanding of the theory of education and what learning entails? Do we, as teachers, fully comprehend and integrate our theoretical knowledge in our day-to-day classroom activities to an optimal level where clear learning outcomes are communicated to pupils on a daily basis, where learning activities are differentiated and appropriate, where learning is checked regularly with appropriate methodologies in place and where prior knowledge is built on to create new knowledge?
If the answer is uncertain or no, it is unlikely that any form of technological knowledge building or the development of digital skills will provide a platform for well-developed and conceptualised sustainable learning practices within the classroom.
So, how can educational institutions deal with these challenges? The faculty of education at Stellenbosch University is starting to address this challenge through a digital literacy short course offered to education students at the faculty.
Lizette Visser, the course facilitator and a full-time teacher experienced into the integration of learning technologies in the school curriculum at a national and international level, contends that this short course aims to develop participants’ technological and pedagogical knowledge.
Furthermore, it helps them engage critically with the practical nature of an outstanding lesson that is closely aligned with supportive learning resources – in this case, learning technologies. To expand this developmental opportunity, pilot courses are planned for 2016 and, for the first time, practising teachers are invited to enrol.
To be engaged critically is essential in this transformative educational process. School management should ask whether not only young and new teachers, but also the entire staff complement, are equipped with the appropriate foundation in understanding the different educational approaches, what enables and constrains learning and what constitutes an outstanding lesson.
Only if a common understanding has been established, the route is paved for the next level of teacher development: the alignment of disciplinary and pedagogical knowledge with technological knowledge.
Dr Sonja Strydom is a senior adviser at the Centre for Learning Technologies at Stellenbosch University and a consultant to the university’s faculty of education. Inquiries about the pilot course may be directed to Melissa van der Vyver at 021?808?2122 or [email protected].