A laptop makes subject knowledge available to you at the press of a button.
There are different circumstances under which teachers may feel that a need to improve their subject knowledge.
• You may be a new, inexperienced teacher and still have to grow in the depth and breadth of knowledge of a particular subject.
• Perhaps your teacher training did not equip you with sufficient content knowledge.
• It may be required of you to teach a new subject – one that you have never taught before. You need to bring your knowledge of this subject to an acceptable level.
• A change in curriculum may result in gaps in your subject knowledge that you would like to fill.
• The world changes all the time. Phenomenal advances in knowledge and understanding of some subject areas, such as natural science, take place. For your teaching to remain relevant you must keep your own knowledge up to date.
• You may simply have a desire to grow beyond your current knowledge level.
Do you relate to any of these circumstances? If your answer is yes, a laptop could be a great help to you.
• A wealth of subject information is available in electronic format on the internet. If your laptop is connected to the internet you can do research on any topic.
• Much subject information is available on CDs and DVDs; these too can be accessed by means of a laptop.
• National curriculum statements are available in a format that can be put onto the laptop and will then be available for you to study.
• When you take a laptop with you to subject specific meetings, you will have all your information with you and you could also obtain information from others.
• Discussion forums, portals and blogs cover all conceivable subject areas and your laptop will give you access to these.
A laptop will only help you to increase your subject knowledge to the extent that you are willing to use it.
It is up to you.
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Administration is such an unpleasant mouthful that we tend to soften it by using the term admin when we refer to that part of our job that relates to administrative duties.
Admin is, without question, the least glamorous part of teaching. The good news is that a laptop could help you to ease your admin burden. It is particularly useful when dealing with repetitive and time consuming tasks. Time saved in this way allows you to focus on the more enjoyable and rewarding aspects of teaching.
There are many types of admin tasks for which you can use a laptop.
A laptop, with the aid of a word processor, could be used for preparation of examination papers, test papers, worksheets, lesson plans and similar documents. The documents you create can be saved for later use. A laptop also makes it easier to share these documents with colleagues. The beauty of this is that you can receive resources created by others and thereby speed up your own work.
You can use your laptop to keep records of test results and class attendance by means of a spreadsheet. A great advantage of this tool is its automatic calculation ability. This means that if one figure is changed, no manual recalculation is required. A spreadsheet is a time saver and ensures accuracy.
A computer has powerful filing capabilities – all your lesson plans, notes, lists, reports and other documents can be filed and stored in one place. This results in an orderly system and saves searching time. It also saves a lot of space – when all your documents are stored on your laptop, you may get rid of all your paper files.
If you take your laptop along to a meeting you will be able to take minutes while the meeting is in progress. Just imagine how much time you could save if you prepare and issue the minutes on the spot.
A laptop can help you to automate routine tasks and take the slog out of admin. As you use your laptop you will discover more ways in which it will save you time and effort.
Please share the ways in which a laptop helps you with admin tasks.
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In times past white elephants were regarded as sacred in Thailand. They could not be used for work purposes but owners had to feed them special food and provide access to those who wanted to come and worship the animals. It might have been fashionable to own a white elephant, but it brought no material gain and could be a nuisance at times.
The expression white elephant is used today to indicate a nice but useless possession, one that could even be a burden owing to the cost of maintenance.
Sometimes we buy an item which seems like a good idea at the time; perhaps we are overawed by its potential. This is frequently the case with gadgets. However, as time goes on we discover that the gizmo is not fully utilized and so it becomes a white elephant.
Could that happen to computers and Interactive Electronic Whiteboards (IEWBs) we install in schools? It may seem so attractive to have technology in the classroom that teachers may grab the opportunity when it comes along.
Yet, when a classroom is visited some months after installation, we often find that the equipment is not used regularly. Has technology become an idle idol kept as a status symbol?
There are various possible reasons for this:
• Did the education department not allocate enough training opportunities to ensure that teachers understand the value of technology in their classrooms?
• Did the principal fail to make time available for teachers to receive necessary training?
• Did the trainer not train at the appropriate level?
• Did the teachers not avail themselves of training opportunities?
It is important to identify the reason(s) for the presence of white elephants. Not all classrooms have them – grey elephants are found in many classrooms where technology is used to great effect.
In the spirit of political correctness and equity, let us not discriminate against white elephants – their colour is not the problem.
The first step towards making technology work in our classrooms would be to look beyond the whiteness of the elephant – put on lenses to change its colour to see the true potential of technology in education. Then take steps to ensure that all teachers are empowered to use this magnificent tool.
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A laptop will make you a productivity powerhouse.
Some teachers may object to the mere suggestion that they should become more productive.
"How can already overloaded teachers be expected to produce more?" they may ask. "You can't squeeze blood from a stone. It is unreasonable to expect us to do even more than we already do."
This reaction is understandable. We all agree that teachers carry heavy loads. But productivity does not necessarily mean working harder.
An analogy may help to explain productivity and how a laptop could help a teacher to achieve a higher level of productivity.
Imagine a rural area where there is no piped water. A woman takes her family's washing down to a river. There she laboriously draws water with a bucket to wash and rinse the clothing. When she is done, she hauls the wet washing back home to hang up to dry. This process may take up most of her day.
If water were to be piped to her house, half of her work is saved. She neither has to trek down to the river, nor does she have to perform the backbreaking task of drawing water from the river with a bucket. When running water is available from a tap she has the flexibility to work in her own house, in her own time, at her own pace.
The time and energy spent walking to and from the river and drawing water can now be used for more meaningful tasks, such as earning extra money or spending the time with her family.
Think what it would mean to her if she were to get a washing machine! She would have even more time for other productive activities.
This woman can now accomplish more: she can be more productive. Does that mean that more burdens are put on her and that she has to work harder? Not at all. In fact,she gets more done in less time, with less effort. This is a good example of working smarter, not harder.
The same principle applies to a teacher and a laptop. A laptop can do for a teacher what running water and a washing machine can do for a housewife: it can help to get more work done in less time.
Any tool that can lighten the load of a teacher should be considered seriously.
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If you are a teacher, would a laptop be of any use to you? Some teachers are already using laptops and may have views on their usefulness.
Others might have been teaching for a while without owning a laptop. "I got along just fine without this gadget," they may say. "How will one help me now?"
A laptop has many uses. Please consider the following:
• A laptop can make you more productive. This means you will be able to do more meaningful work in less time.
• Administrative tasks are so painful that we soften it by using the abbreviated term "admin". A laptop can take the slog out of your admin tasks.
• It can help you to improve your subject knowledge, leading to improved classroom teaching.
• A laptop can be a valuable aid to Life Long Learning. It makes learning easy as it promotes whatever-wherever-whenever learning.
• You can use a laptop as a teaching tool. It will open new ways of teaching to you.
• Laptops can also be used by learners to enhance their learning (this, of course, implies that the learners also have access to technology).
• Assessment becomes a pleasure when you use a laptop.
• A laptop performs a great function as a communication tool . It eases and speeds up communication.
• Laptops empower. They will expose you to twenty-first century tools and thinking.
Are these reasons enough to make a laptop attractive to a teacher? Are there any additional reasons you can think of?
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