The last posting (Lean Turkeys) drew an unexpected rapid response. Some very valid and interesting observations regarding teacher ICT training were contributed.
A phone call from a friend informed me that the custom of force feeding turkeys is not unique. "How do you think they produce foie gras (pronounced 'fwa gra')?" he asked.
To compensate for my ignorance on this subject I consulted the internet and made the horrific discovery that in this day and age it is still common practice to push large amounts of corn mash though a tube placed in the esophagus of a goose or duck. This is done a few times a day for about two weeks before the bird is slaughtered and has the effect of enlarging the liver enormously. The liver also takes on a distinct texture and delicate flavour, ideal for making a special paté, called foie gras. This practice is outlawed in many countries today but it is legal in France where foie gras is produced commercially in large volumes. (Foie gras is the French for "fat liver".)
Getting back to our educators: think about their feeding programme when we are preparing them for using ICT as a curriculum delivery tool. Have we considered the volume of software products we are trying to push down their esophaguses (or is it esophagi?) in order to help them along toward ICT maturity? Is it possible that we are trying to force them to master too many different pieces of software at a time when they are still battling to come to grips with the basic principles of e-learning?
Should we not rather introduce teachers to a limited array of educational software products until they are comfortable with it and then allow them to forage for more on their own? Like free range ducks?
It may be true that here and there an educator is taking to ICT like a duck to water, but we must be careful that his goose don't get cooked in the process.
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There was a small cage outside my grandmother's kitchen door in which a turkey was kept. The turkey was separated from the flock for the sole purpose to be fattened and be ready for the slaughter if any special occasion came up. When one turkey was gone another one took its place to be prepared for the next feast.
The fowls never wanted to cooperate to be fattened. They either did not have an appetite for the tasty morsels they were given, or had a premonition that being fat was not in a turkey's best interest.
I can clearly recall how my grandmother, after every meal, sat on the steps leading out of the kitchen. She opened the cage, coached the bird out, locked it between her knees and then stuffed leftover food into the beak of the unwilling feeder.
The mental picture of a turkey being force fed still haunts me to this day. Not only because of the inherent cruelty, but also because it is reminiscent of other current practices.
When ICT is introduced to schools it is important that the educators receive adequate training. Some of them are unwilling to undergo such training; it could be that they do not have an appetite to master yet another new skill. Or perhaps the teacher may have a presentiment that if she comes to grips with ICT, she would be expected to pay the ultimate price: sacrifice the old ways of education and embrace a different way of teaching.
To what extent are we pushing ICT down their unwilling throats without regard to whether they are ready to swallow?
How does one teach a turkey to eat, without force feeding it? It is not suggested for one moment that teachers are like turkeys, but the analogy does make us question our training methods.
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One of the prime lessons Khanya has learned to date is the value of community involvement when executing ICT projects in schools. Even poor communities are eager to get involved. They are willing to contribute to the project and when there is no cash, they are willing to make in-kind contributions. These non-cash inputs often take the form of labor which would, if converted into financial terms, result in considerable savings.
On Saturday night, 17 February 2006, Khanya was honored for the effectiveness with which such community partnerships are established. A gold award was presented to the project in the Cape Town City Hall during the annual prestigious Impumelelo Awards ceremony.
An extract from the citation reads:
"A comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to the educational experience in classrooms across the Western Cape is the driving force behind the installation of computers … in the last five years. Computers are not installed in isolation, teachers are given training … Schools are required to take a 'partnership' approach to the project by providing at the very least sweat equity to demonstrate their commitment. The support provided by surrounding communities has resulted in a decrease in the incidence of theft, as communities have taken ownership of the schools."
It is the term 'sweat equity' that grabs one's attention. If schools and their communities do not have cash to contribute to their project, they always have sweat and toil and tears to give. And that is just as valuable as the cash that more affluent bodies can pump into the project. When providing sweat equity, poor communities are placed on an equal footing with those that are flush with cash; it affords them the dignity of becoming full partners in the project.
Khanya salutes those communities that are contributing towards making a success of the ICT projects in their schools. The gold award is as much theirs as it is Khanya's.
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Teachers were trained to teach. Through experience they have learned to deliver curriculum, to develop the minds of young people and to do all the things that one would expect to take place in a school.
Project managers were trained to manage projects. Through experience they have learned to develop project plans, to manage the execution of these plans and to ensure that all the deliverables stipulated in the project plan are completed to an acceptable level of quality.
Project managers were not trained to teach and therefore they are often not good at teaching.
Likewise, teachers were not trained to manage projects and therefore they are often not good at managing projects.
The fact that one group of people can perform some tasks better than other groups does not imply that any group is superior to the others. They are merely different.
Some race horses are better suited to certain types of courses. Some excel in running on hard surfaces, while others are better on softer turf. There are horses that run faster on a wet course, whereas other horses do better if it is dry. These differences explain the meaning of the idiom “horses for courses”.
The fact that project managers will not be too comfortable in a class room does not make them lesser individuals. It is simply not the right course for them.
Schools need to keep this fact in mind when starting an ICT implementation project. It is possible that none of the school’s staff members has the experience to complete a complex, multi-disciplinary project successfully. The course of wisdom is to acquire the services of a professional project manager to oversee this project.
One of the reasons why Khanya has assisted schools to complete over 800 successful ICT projects in the Western Cape is their use of a team of dedicated, professional project managers.
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Have you ever purchased strawberries in a container from a supermarket or a street vendor on the basis that they looked so nice and ripe and fresh? When you get home you discover that it is only the top layer that meets your expectations; the deeper you go in the container, the more inedible the fruit are.
This illustrates that things are not always what they seem to be. Sometimes one suffers from an illusion of what one wants to believe. (I feel like strawberries and those that I can see look so nice; I therefore want to believe that the rest are of similar quality.)
Is it possible that we could sometimes suffer from e-lusions? An illusion is defined as a misapprehension, a false impression or a fantasy. An e-lusion is when we have such fantasies about e-matters, and like in the case of the strawberries, it frequently relates to things that we want to believe.
When we look at a few well-resourced schools and get excited about the way in which they use technology it is like seeing the strawberries at the top. This may create an e-lusion that all other schools in our region, province or country are similarly e-mature. One may even proudly showcase such schools and be applauded for the apparent success that has been achieved. But is it real? What about the bottom of the barrel?
It is good to showcase best practice. Others can certainly learn from a good example and be encouraged to follow it; as long as we are not deluding ourselves by mistaking the few good schools as representative of all our schools.
When we buy strawberries, it is the course of wisdom to throw them out of the container and inspect them carefully and individually. We must examine our schools similarly to get a fair assessment of what is really happening on the ground.
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