Earlier this year, education experts cautioned against a rush to provide tablets and other digital infrastructure before a solid strategy and fundamentals have been put in place.
“In the rush to get on board with the 4th Industrial Revolution – a term many are invoking without truly understanding the issues involved – private schools have increasingly been offering coding, robotics and digital learning on their campuses,” says John Luis, Head of Academics at ADvTECH Schools, which has been at the forefront of introducing tech in South African classrooms for several years. “However simply offering content that previously used to be in book or paper format, and not investing time and money in a holistic approach to content and delivery, as well as proper educator and support staff training will render such initiatives futile,” explains John.
Luis says while there is much talk about coding and ICT in schools, the key success factor when introducing technology in classrooms is the development of an appropriate and defined curriculum. And very importantly, tech in the classroom can never replace the fundamental core skills required for academic excellence.
In his State of the Nation address earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government would, over the next six years, provide every school child in South Africa with digital workbooks and textbooks on a tablet device.
While the sentiment is welcomed, there is much work to be done before the time arrives to unbox devices. “It is extremely important to understand that learning is served and not defined by technological tools,” says Dr Neelam Parmar, renowned global tech-ed expert. “All too often we think that the technology will fix our teaching and learning problems in school but what is truly important is that the technology is embedded firmly and seamlessly within the curriculum and lesson delivery in the classroom,” she says.
“There is great potential in creating online learning systems to close the widening educational gap,” she says, “but to get to this point in education, it is vital that the government first understand the relevance of emerging technologies and how to offer the necessary digital literacy skills for the next generation.”
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