Alan November, a world authority on education technology, has an interesting way of getting ideas for his publications and courses. He simply places a question on his blog and then a flood of responses pours in.
One of the interesting questions he posed about a year ago was: "What is the most important question education leaders should be asking?" The responses to this question are quite thought provoking. Most of the comments allude to the need to help learners to develop thinking skills, rather than simply taking in knowledge.
The first response that you find when going to this blog posting is from someone called Sue. She feels that the question education authorities should ask is: "How can we transfer ownership of the learning to the students?" (sic)
Now that is an interesting concept: transferring the ownership of learning to students! Many teachers believe that they are not only the owners of the teaching process, but also of the learning process: learners will learn when the teachers decide, what the teachers provide and how the teachers prescribe. The fact that Sue suggests a "transfer" of ownership indicates that, in general, learners do not own this process. Think about the classrooms in your vicinity: she is absolutely right. The teacher who has transferred ownership of learning to learners is the exception rather than the rule.
This is rather frightening. It may not be explicitly stated in any bill of rights, but surely, the right to own the learning process should reside with the individual.
The good news is that technology can make this transfer so much easier: learners can learn how to learn, find information on their own, draw conclusions and become life-long learners.
It is important to give ample access to technology to all our learners to expedite the transfer of ownership of this basic human right to them.
| related link
When the discussion on xenophobia on this blog started on 3 June 2008 the intention was definitely not to get involved in the politics behind the situation.
I am completely neutral with regard to political affairs of this world and endeavour to steer Khanya on an unbiased course. It is true that the current wave of xenophobia has political origins and much has been said about both sides of the issue. The fact is that human governments have not been able to solve the problems, and it is clear that we need higher wisdom to remove the root cause of the crisis.
What every thinking person must object to, however, is the violence which resulted. Many innocent people have suffered severely and, regardless of political convictions that a person may have, one must be repelled by the brutal acts that took place. It is from this perspective that the screensaver initiative was launched.
The purpose of the screensaver is neither to condemn, nor to condone, any side of the argument – it is simply to sensitize learner to the disastrous results of intolerance.
If schools object to load the screensaver, their views will be respected. Schools are also free to delete or replace images that may be offensive to them.
To date 461 schools have loaded the screensaver on their workstations, and 383 052 learners are exposed to it.
The exercise has informed us about the powerful tool we have available to send positive messages to learners (without any cost!). Khanya is already planning a future screensaver – one that will encourage learners to be greater and better readers – to replace the current one once it has served its purpose.
Thank you very much to all who are contributing to the success of this humanitarian effort.
| related link
A total of 98 200 learners in 127 schools are now exposed to the positive message of the xenophobia screensaver.
Khanya facilitators are tirelessly moving from school to school to assist them to load the screensaver on all their workstations.
Even though the closing date of the learner screensaver competition is only 31 July 2008, we have already received 28 entries.
Keep up the energy – how soon can we reach half a million learners?
| related link
Earlier this week the question was posed: " What do we see – the wood or the tree? "
One way in which one could suffer from a can't-see-the-wood-for-the-trees syndrome is when one concentrates so much on activities that one loses sight of the end result.
Consider a few examples of how this may happen in the computer room at school:
A teacher takes a class to the lab. Why? The desired end result is to achieve a particular curriculum outcome. However, so much time is spent on going through the motions – logon procedures, technical do's and don'ts, showing fancy ways to use technology – that the outcome is never achieved. Or it could be that the visit is taking place simply to satisfy the time table; the activity in the computer room is not linked to some activity that took place in the classroom. The activity is there, but no result.
A trainer (facilitator) visits the school to teach the educators how to use ICT as a curriculum delivery tool – that is the end result aimed for. But time is consumed by too many activities: checking logs, performing routine functions, sorting out technical hitches. In the process the main objective may become lost.
Activities are important – inaction will not produce any results. But one must be careful that the activities do not obscure the end result. If there are no results, all the activities are of no value. It is like a salesman who knocks on many doors from morning till night, but does not sell a single product – very active, but no results.
If ICT does not yield results, there is no point in using it in education.
If ICT is not yielding the results we are hoping for in our area of work, could it be that we are focusing too much on the activities, and too little on the end result?
| related link
The past week saw frantic activities around the Khanya initiative to inform learners about the causes and effects of xenophobia.
At first there were some technical hurdles to load the screensaver on some workstations, but these were conquered by our competent technical staff and our technical partners; we now have a screensaver that can be loaded in most schools.
As Khanya facilitators are doing their rounds, the screensaver is made available to schools. To date 48 schools have loaded it, and over 38 000 learners are now exposed to the positive messages on a daily basis.
Nearly all the schools are welcoming the initiative; thus far only one school refused to load the screensaver. Khanya staff members do not want to get involved in political issues, and do not insist that schools participate in an initiative against their will.
The screensaver competition for learners is also progressing well. From one primary school seventeen entries have already been received.
I will keep you informed about the progress of this project and want to urge all Khanya staff, principals and teachers to give it their full support.
| related link
Back Next
Kobus van Wyk - Blog
|
      Copyright © Kobus van Wyk 2008
|
|
Calendar