Teachers and Technology If you are a principal or teacher, you would probably be able to rattle off a dozen reasons for banning the use of cellphones during school hours. And you would probably be right. But you would also be wrong. And if this sounds confusing, read on…. Outside the classroom environment, have you ever watched the relationship between your learners and their cellphones? Don’t they look amazingly comfortable manipulating those tiny keys that unlock the magic of Mxit, Facebook and any number of games? Don’t you sometimes wish they would display the same nimbleness of mind and finger to tackle classroom tasks in English, mathematics, history and geography? Cellphones are banned in South African schools – well, sort of… Yes, they are seen as the devil in disguise. And yes, they are often used by their owners to disrupt classroom activity … to bully classmates … to cheat with during exams … and to disseminate photographs or videos of inappropriate behaviour. But they do offer some enticing positives. Recently, tentative steps have been taken in some parts of the country to embrace the educational potential of these intriguing, and often misunderstood, mini-computers. Late last year, the national and provincial education departments, cellphone company Nokia and schoolbook publishers Pearson put their heads together to promote an exciting mathematics project using cellphones. The key to its success is the instant messaging programme, Mxit. According to education specialist Henry Kavuma, Imfundo Yam Yethu was set up to enable Grade 10 learners to access mathematics content and assessment exercises using Mxit software on their cellphones. Thirty schools around the country were chosen to pilot the project. And each school from the 30 that were chosen was provided with a kit that included 10 cellphones and training. The schools were also expected to have general packet radio service network coverage in their areas, access to the internet for maths teachers, and GPRS-enabled phones for most of the pupils. Teachers were required to be able to use e-mail programmes, word processors and spreadsheet programmes. ‘It will be a great success,’ Kavuma predicted at the launch of the project. ‘Nowadays, learners spend hours of their free time on programmes such as Mxit.’ In a way, he was supporting what Lisa Nielsen, a New York City-based educator, has been saying for a long time: ‘We must prepare our students and teachers for the world of today, not the classrooms of yesterday.’ How can teachers in South Africa build on Imfundo Yam Yethu? Here are just a few possibilities: they can use cellphones for finding definitions, converting currencies, finding maths equations and for translating languages. They can also use cellphones to browse the internet, to carry out research, to read books and to download educational material. Of course, nothing stops teachers from using their cellphone to access the myriad educational opportunities. It is even easier to access than a laptop. And as they get into it, they can share their new-found knowledge with their colleagues – and dare it be said, with their pupils. The possibilities, in fact, are endless… #teachers.org.za
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:45:22 +0000
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