During her budget debate, the National Minister of Education said on Tuesday (29 May 2007) that levels of mediocrity in the education system had reached unacceptably high levels, while many people were hiding behind excuses.
Her speech was themed: “Affirming excellence and challenging mediocrity.”
The Minister was quite bold to admit that the education system must come out of the doldrums of mediocrity and rise to a level of excellence.
The definition of mediocrity is “ordinariness as a consequence of being average and not outstanding” and “of second-rate ability or value.” One may argue that, in view of this definition, being mediocre is not too shabby; but one has to admit that it is not so wonderful either. The problem with mediocrity is that it has an insidious influence on one; it makes you believe that it is in order just to plod along.
This seems to be the problem in education. Many teachers are going through the motions of teaching. They believe that, as long as learners pass their examination, they have achieved their purpose. It is no wonder that the Minister lamented this sad state of affairs and ordered a movement towards excellence.
Where does Khanya stand on this issue? We believe that ICT can play a major role in moving towards excellence. Of course, just having hardware and software will not produce excellence in itself. The use of these facilities should not be just average. Educators must be helped to see how ICT can elevate them to a new high level of teaching and thus be encouraged to use these facilities optimally.
It should be clear that if the ICT facilitator in a school is mediocre, one can hardly expect excellence from the educators. The Minister’s speech should be a wake-up call to all of us who claim to be making a difference in schools.
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A Crab said to her son: "Why do you walk so one-sided, my child? It is far more becoming to go straight forward."
The young Crab replied: "Quite true, dear Mother; and if you will show me the straight way, I will promise to walk in it."
The Mother tried in vain, and submitted without remonstrance to the reproof of her child.
The moral of this fable of Aesop is that example is more powerful than instruction.
If one finds that ICT instruction in schools is not getting prompt results, perhaps one should examine the example that is being set. Consider the following instances:
At the start of the project the implementation project manager must set a good example in paying attention to detail. When writing the project plan, seemingly unimportant items such as vacuum cleaners must be included. Why? The project manager must, by example, show that it is important to keep the facility clean. This will set the scene for staff to maintain a high level of cleanliness in the laboratory.
Once the facilitator starts to engage with the school, a good example could be set by the way communication takes place. Why not start using email from the start, showing that this is the way one communicates in the e-world. Another powerful example is for the facilitator to arrive promptly for meetings and never cancel an engagement lightly; this will indicate the value that should be attached to training sessions.
The principal of the school wields great authority over their staff members. If principals set the example in using (and insisting on the use of) computer technology for communication, storing information, administration tasks, as well as teaching, the staff are bound to follow.
What other instances of exemplary conduct, worthy of imitation, can you think of?
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A state of digital equity in education is achieved when all educators and learners in our schools have equal access to computers, other technology tools and the internet.
The way in which digital equity is usually measured is in terms of available technology and the degree of internet connectivity. For true digital equity to exist, however, more is required. Expertise and other resources are also needed. One can compare this to providing a car to a person who does not have transport. The car will be of little value unless there is provision for the new owner to learn to drive the vehicle, obtain a driver's licence and to have enough money to purchase fuel.
True digital equity in schools will therefore only be attained if the emphasis is not solely on provisioning of equipment and connectivity, but if proper training and the availability of digital learning resources are likewise addressed.
Equity also implies that an equalization process is taking place. Khanya strives towards such a state by giving priority treatment to poor schools. It is a slow process since the project is dependent on available funding, but there are ways in which it can be accelerated.
Could educators of privileged schools, where a high level of digital proficiency has already been reached, share their skills and expertise with others who are less experienced? It is heart warming to note that many educators are doing just that.
An easy way to share such knowledge is by means of a blog (as yet completely underutilized in the Western Cape). A good example is the blog of Pam Miller, a Computer Studies educator of the Pinelands High school. Her blog contains postings which give tips and techniques for both teaching and learning the subject.
Pam's contribution towards digital equity must be applauded. Please view her blog at http://www.studyopp.blogspot.com and website at http://www.compmat.wcape.school.za/PHS/ and encourage all Computer Studies and CAT teachers and learners to visit the site regularly.
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One of the policy statements in the National White Paper on E-Education reads as follows:
5.58 Community-based SMMEs
Government will facilitate the establishment of training programmes and small business incubators to develop community-based computer repair and maintenance businesses and other ICT enterprises. This will require co-ordination with government departments and the business sector, as well as higher education institutions and institutions providing further education and training programmes. These SMMEs will provide technical maintenance support to GET and FET institutions on an ongoing basis.
Khanya takes pride in the fact that it supports this policy to the greatest extent possible. Many of the awards that it has won to date were received on the basis of exemplary community involvement.
Wherever possible, small business (the so-called SMMEs), are encouraged to participate in Khanya activities. Right from the infrastructure preparation stage community based companies are invited to: participate in minor renovation tasks; tender for electricity upgrades; and hand in quotations for creating security mechanisms. Over the years over 3 000 contracts have been awarded to such SMMEs.
During the implementation phase small companies are increasingly used to take care of IT installation, laying network cabling and even providing basic LAN administration orientation to prospective LAN administrators. Now that the number of schools on the project is growing, and facilitation resources are stretched, SMMEs are contracted to provide basic ICT training to educators.
We are currently looking for more small companies to come forward to render an ICT maintenance service to schools. In general, schools do not have resident IT skills, and to date the state has not provided posts for full-time technicians.
There is thus an opportunity for entrepreneurial ones to create work for themselves by providing IT skills to schools to enable them to enjoy uninterrupted usage of their technology facilities.
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Have you heard about the "One Laptop Per Child" project (commonly known as the OLPC project)? This ambitious non-profit project was launched in 2005 by Nicholas Negroponte, then-director of the media lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The idea is to provide a low-cost laptop to every child in the developing world. The laptop is supposed to cost $100 (US), which is about R700 at the current exchange rate, but so far the cost has been $175.
The laptop is made of a durable plastic, looks like a toy, and comes with an opensource operating system. Get the picture?
Some interesting features are that the machines have batteries that will allow learners to work for twelve hours but that they also have pulleys for hand-generated power.
The following news article of 19 May 2007 announced the first delivery of these laptops to a school in Uruguay.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/edu ... -headlines
It is interesting to note that it is reported in the article that the kids started playing Tetris immediately after they received their laptops. It is the intention that they will start exploring the opensource operating system soon. One must admit, this is quite a jump (from Tetris to operating system) and can only hope that they will be able to cross the divide.
This is indeed a wonderful project with noble intentions. It is essential, however, that education authorities ensure that enough resources will be devoted to training educators to use these tools to enhance teaching and learning. Otherwise the laptops may end up being nothing more than electronic toys.
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