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SECTION
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The University of Fort Hare, Open University Digital Education Enhancement
Project (DEEP).
New forms of teaching and learning
The DEEP project is known locally in the Eastern Cape as Inkanyezi, which
in Xhosa, one of South Africa's twelve official national languages and
the home language of the project participants, means 'glow worm'. This
research and development project is exploring the ways in which information
and communications technology (ICT) can improve teaching and learning
in developing contexts. It works with primary school teachers in urban
Egypt and the Eastern Cape. Most of the teachers in the project are women
and fall into the 35 - 45 age group. The majority within the Eastern Cape
had never used ICT prior to the DEEP project; indeed many were working
in isolated communities with no conception of what a computer might be.
In the South African context, poverty is at its severest in rural locations
and data shows that the country’s poverty gap is greatest by far
in the former homelands of the Eastern Cape. The project teachers work
in schools that are representative of the region as a whole: half have
no telephone, one third no electricity and the majority have few if any
resources and certainly no ICT provision.
Each project school was provided with a single, new laptop manufactured
in South Africa, and all-in-one printer, scanner, photocopier together
with a small budget for ink and connectivity. They were also given an
operating system and 'Office' software appropriate to their equipment,
a range of web-sites on CD-ROM, and other software utilities. Every teacher
received a powerful hand-held, state of the art 'pocket pc' [206 MHz processor]
and a small digital camera add-on to the pocket-pc to facilitate their
individual professional learning. Teachers worked in pairs, using the
shared lap-top to study a range of professional development activities,
as well as to try out new approaches to teaching and learning with their
pupils.
In establishing the programme the Fort Hare/Open University team identified
the following elements as fundamental to the structure implemented in
the project.
Provision of school and classroom
based activities
The school was seen as the main site for professional learning; the programme
design was built around school and classroom focussed tasks; support mechanisms
integrated local, school-based support. In this sense the programme put
teachers’ contexts at the centre of the training: providing opportunities
for school and classroom based activity; involving experienced teachers
in course design and preparation; and focusing on learning processes,
as opposed to techniques and strategies.
The involvement of school principals and the introduction of peer working
Schools were selectively sampled in line with criteria jointly drawn up
by the project team and project advisers from Fort Hare and the OU. The
school principal had to endorse the project and be clear how it would
benefit the school; each school nominated a pair of teachers willing to
work together. Participating teachers had to be:
• motivated and dedicated to teaching and learning;
• enthusiastic about new teaching methods;
• keen to find out how computers can help learners;
• willing to undertake basic computer training and invest up to
30 hours of time over a one year period to the project (some of this time
in the classroom).’
High quality programme Resources
A variety of resources were developed to support the generic framework
including:
• a short print based teacher guide;
• activity cards
detailing professional activities to be carried out by the teachers, reflecting
progression and development across ‘10 Steps’; these also
summarised teacher and student outcomes;
• specially designed CD-ROM
resources including
the core professional development activities, each incorporating a range
of related lesson plans, stories, video clips and web sites
• A programme web site providing
the CD-ROM resources on-line and also incorporating a discussion area
• A school portfolio,
comprising folder and blank floppy disc for gathering evidence (including
electronic files) of teacher and student outcomes
A cycle of professional activities
approach
This was important within the programme to avoid the artificial division
between theory and practice, whilst the provision of a common framework
for teachers in the programme ensured both consistency of experience and
clear progression. This gave a strong focus to outcomes for students and
teachers alike; presenting pointers to the way other teacher professional
development programmes might evolve.
Development of context specific programmes
– Language medium.
The material developed included some Xhosa elements, and the programme
itself was called Inkanyezi, which means ‘glow worm’ in Xhosa;
– National references.
Local imagery and references were introduced (e.g. quotations from Nelson
Mandela speaking about ICT) to ensure that the programmes fully reflected
national settings;
– Curriculum relevance.
Curriculum specific documents were referenced where relevant. Endangered
animals specific to the South African heritage are provided for study
and so forth. Local resources, e.g. Xhosa ‘intsomi’ (folk
tales) common in schools were introduced as supporting resources for literacy
activities.
Community ownership/mobilising
the community
Inkanyezi is predicated on the view that professional learning, including
learning to use ICT, should be planned with the learner, with the learner's
context and the learner's needs at the centre.
A stated aim of the Plan of Action that resulted from the World Summit
on the Information Society was to “Develop and implement policies
that preserve, affirm, respect and promote diversity of cultural expression
and indigenous knowledge and traditions through the creation of varied
information content and the use of different methods, including the digitization
of the educational, scientific and cultural heritage.”
This has been a crucial aspect of the DEEP project and led to the decision
that the pedagogic approaches which best meet learners' needs should first
be determined by the educators themselves, and that they should also learn
how to choose the appropriate technologies/tools for supporting that learning.
To be able to do this, however, the use of different technologies must
not only be considered, but also experienced by educators themselves in
order to establish the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of different
kinds of ICT, and how it can best be used. Educators need to be empowered
not to be mere consumers of technology- or to be told that a particular
technology is or is not appropriate to them in their situation. Rather,
they need to have the freedom to:
• understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different available
technologies and how they can be used to support either teaching and learning
or the administration and management of the teaching and learning environment;
• understand how to integrate technologies into the teaching and
learning environment.
This approach helped lead to a full `buy-in’ from the communities
who were able to participate in this investigation, and ensure that any
use of new technologies would honour their needs and culture:
‘With the arrival of the laptop everyone
in the school was overjoyed. The first time I introduced it to my learners,
they were so curious and wanted to use the computer right away. Using
the computer makes teaching and learning more enjoyable...Animated stories
like 'HARE AND TORTOISE' enhance learners' curiosity…I allow learners
to translate these stories into isiXhosa, in which they showed great creativity.
I'm proud to say that a number of learners have showed tremendous improvement
in reading and writing and are more confident with using a computer.’
Mandla Mngqibisa (Project Teacher)
Appropriating state
of the art technologies for use in resource challenged settings
The DEEP project is premised on the view that ICT can make some aspects
of teacher professional development more efficient,
and that it also has the potential to extend
and transform the
very process of teacher development itself. The project team was aware
in making such assertions, of past disappointments with technologies.
However, the potential reach and range of affordances offered by new forms
of communication technology is formidable when combined with knowledgeable
teaching and pedagogy.
The DEEP project partners share a common
commitment to introducing participating teachers to ICT only where it
has the potential to make the teaching/ learning process itself more efficient,
or where it can be argued that it extends and/or transforms the learning
process. ICT is used within the DEEP project as:
• a scaffolding tool
, to support teachers' construction and understanding of new professional
knowledge;
• an environment and context for learning
, enabling teachers to experience new situations, practices and people;
• a communicative tool,
facilitating social participation structures (e.g. collaborative tasks);
• a metacognitive tool,
enabling reflection on the learning process, both at individual and group
level. (e.g. Conferencing; joint products such as electronic self assessment).
DEEP’s primary concern is not with developing teachers' ICT skills.
Its main purpose is to research the development and implementation of
ICT enhanced and transforming strategies for teaching and learning in
numeracy, science and literacy. The project's research questions therefore
centrally focus on the impact of ICT on (a) learner achievement and motivation
and (b) on teachers' pedagogic knowledge viz:
What is the impact of ICT-enhanced and transformed
strategies on pupil achievement and motivation?
How does ICT transform the pedagogic knowledge
and practice of teachers and the communities in which they work?
Both research questions place educational content, processes and outcomes
at the heart of the investigation. Both questions provide the basis on
which long-term benefits of the research can be built, focusing thinking
about improvements in the quality of learning in schools and communities.
An interim review only three months into the project showed that not only
had every educator already been significantly developing personal and
professional ICT skills, but in addition all, with one exception, had
also been using ICT with their learners in the classroom under very challenging
physical circumstances [e.g. no electricity, class sizes of 40 minimum;
dirt floors and windowless classrooms, very poor quality furniture and
lighting]. Educator’s confidence blossomed even further as the project
progressed as the findings show.
Findings of the project
Confident users of ICT
• Project teachers quickly developed confidence
in using desk top / lap-top and hand-held computers for a range of purposes.
The development of basic computer skills was largely unproblematic and
the majority learnt to use a variety of digital softwares and other peripherals
(e.g. Word, Calculator, PowerPoint, Internet, E-mail, Games, Scanner,
Printer, Photocopier, and Camera) in a short time frame.
Teachers quickly learnt to use ICT for a range of personal, professional
and pedagogic purposes. During the lifetime of the project teachers grew
significantly in confidence in ICT use generally. In exit questionnaires
all (35:100%) respondents reported “medium” to “high”
confidence, and made extensive additional comments e.g. “The
project had a high impact on me”, "the project has removed
my fear in using various communication and information resources”,
“using computers gave me high confidence to release hidden abilities
inside me and teach pupils using modern methods”, "my use of
computers gave me full confidence to produce educational materials that
serve our curricula and to leave traditional methods of teaching behind”,
"I love to use the computer, I use with no fear”.
Developing subject knowledge
• ICT use enhanced teachers’ professional
knowledge and capability by extending subject knowledge.
“In poor communities, the scarcity of trained local personnel and
the impediments they face in accessing vital information and enhancing
their skills, perpetuate the low educational attainment and poor health
of these communities and makes them less able to cope with new challenges.”
The development of subject knowledge was the most frequently cited purpose
for teachers’ own professional use of ICT, both in interviews and
questionnaires. Subject knowledge was also the aspect of professional
knowledge that teachers deemed the project to have had the highest impact.
The DEEP had a great effect on my abilities
in teaching my subject and made me enjoy it more.’; 'I have started
to use computers in a way that is related to my speciality’.
(Exit questionnaires).
Developing school knowledge
• ICT use enhanced teachers’ professional
knowledge and capability by enabling planning and preparation for teaching
to be more efficient.
“I can’t go into a class now
without having planned activities thoroughly.”
Teacher questionnaire, South Africa, March 2003
In addition to subject knowledge, the majority of teachers reported that
use of ICT had had ‘some’ impact on the ability to plan lessons;
a majority reported ‘high’ impact.
Developing pedagogic knowledge
• ICT use extended the range of teachers’
existing pedagogic practices: all teachers introduced ICT into planned
lessons with their classes. There was evidence of this in students’
outcomes from these lessons.
“We are writing our own African story.
…We even made drawings….I’ve learnt how to sketch…
I learnt to scan…I have learnt how to improve a picture on the computer….
I find it very interesting to work with a computer…I’ve learnt
how to print and type on the computer…The story is about how the
giraffe got its long neck. We will share the story with all of you when
it is done….”
E-mail from Grade 7 students, Uxolo School
The majority of teachers reported that they considered ICT to be ‘important’
or ‘very important’ for teaching and learning; 90% of teachers
considered it to be ‘very important’.
Although the project team expected the DEEP professional activities would
stimulate new classroom practices, classroom application was not expected
until the second term of project. It was therefore an unexpected finding
that all the teachers had begun to use ICT in the classroom by the mid
project review. Most teachers had been integrating ICT into some lessons
as early as March 2003, only two months after project launch.
Teacher to Teacher Co-operation
• ICT use enhanced teachers’ professional
knowledge and capability by permitting new forms of teacher-to-teacher
cooperation.
The support model within the project was constructed, in part, around
the potential that the ICT offered for teacher-to-teacher collaboration.
The lap tops were set up (using XP) with three discrete areas: one for
each partner plus a shared area for joint work. These approaches proved
important in modelling collaborative uses of ICT. Findings show the project
pairing, together with ‘school visits’, to have been the most
highly valued element of support within the programme: the majority (81%)
rated it ‘very helpful’.
• There was no correlation between teachers’
prior use of ICT and the ICT-enhanced classroom practices they developed
during the programme.
Some of the most sustained and effective practices were developed by teachers
with no previous experience of ICT and/ or no prior experience of using
ICT for teaching.
• There were more women participants than
men; highly successful outcomes were equally visible across both genders.
UFH has a commitment to gender equality, and there are a higher number
of women than men participating in the project.
Project teachers were seen to bear this responsibility to equality out
in classrooms. The confidence and positive engagement of girls was particularly
striking.
• The use of ICT impacted on the work
of members of school staff, school principals and in some instances was
used significantly by the communities in which project teachers lived
and work.
Teachers reported helping colleagues with basic IT skills, showing them
how to produce CVs, working collegially with them to plan lessons and
use ICT in their classrooms – and for recreation. Use with family,
especially children, was also common:
‘I’ve helped other teachers,
made certificates with borders; school sports timetable, made agendas
for meetings and even typed an assignment for a colleague’;
‘we had to ask my 6 year old son’s friends what word he might
have used as a password to lock us out of the computer [laughter]’
’of course we use solitaire, we want
to get more games, everyone likes them’.
Whilst project activities encouraged teachers to introduce parents and
the local community to the project, it had seemed impractical for one
small lap-top to be shared much beyond teacher partners and their classes.
Yet community response was so consistently voluntarily reported at interview
and within questionnaires, that impact on several of the local communities
within the project has to be judged as significant.
One project teacher explained: 'We are working
to develop our schools- everyone wants to know more.’; ‘This
computer promotes the school- even the community know about it’.
We have called the community…we explained how the educators gave
up their time in their holidays, they sacrificed…. we do it for
the learners. It has raised my standards and dignity. Our school enrolment
has increased’ [Principal].
‘My family were very happy, they knew
it was a great achievement. They honoured what I did’.
The degree to which members of school and local community had shared and
used the lap tops was greatly unexpected; school and community lap top
use was greater than teachers’ personal use. Uses ranged from an
application for a wool shearing shed from a community woolgrowers association,
the constitution of a local sewing project, enquiry on an unpaid death
claim, all the local administration for a local AIDS awareness rally and
the obituaries of local residents.
Technical proficiency
• Students quickly developed confidence
in using desk top / lap-top and hand-held computers for a range of purposes:
o development of basic computer skills was largely unproblematic;
o the majority learnt to use a variety of digital softwares and other
peripherals (e.g. Word, Calculator, PowerPoint, Internet, E-mail, Games,
Scanner, Printer, Photocopier, Camera) in a short time frame;
o students used ICT to carry out a range of literacy, numeracy and scientific
activities and there were outcomes;
o students showed high levels of motivation in using ICT both within and
out of lessons;
o Teachers, school principals, parents and students themselves reported
on a range of student related achievements including enhanced learning,
improvements in literacy and scientific literacy, greater confidence,
increase in school attendance.
Interviews with school principals provided additional data on pupil learning.
Many responses focussed on pupils’ increased motivation towards
learning ‘learners are inquisitive’
was a frequent response, ‘learners
have become more curious’, ‘they
ask about the computer when it is not there’,
‘it attracts pupils’,
‘ the pupils will even sacrifice not
going to physical education’. Comments
sometimes referred to the development of specific skills: ’it
encourages learners to know spelling, sentence building, science awareness’;
‘parents are pleased that their children
are taking literacy seriously’ as well
as the broader skills: ‘My learners
have had an opportunity to see, touch and use the computer for the first
time in their lives; it widens their knowledge, they are willing to speak
and willing to attend the classes, it widens their knowledge.’
It is worth noting here that unlike developed countries, where there is
a significant literature on the barriers between home and school use of
ICT, in a context where home use is virtually unknown, no distinction
was made between fun, play and learning. Teachers enjoyed using the hand-helds
to play games such as solitaire, listening to music and taking photos
and encouraged learners to have fun too. Students reported that their
learning experiences had changed. 98% said the project had changed their
lessons ‘a little’ (15.8%) or ‘a lot’ (82.5%).
Hand held computer use
• The majority of teachers reported using
the hand held on a regular basis for a variety of functions, including
classroom activities. Its small size and weight meant teachers could have
the device with them wherever and whenever they wished.
Using a hand held computer was a completely new experience for every teacher
in the project. The majority of respondents to the hand held questionnaire
reported that they use the devices on a regular basis.
Teacher Identities
When the project was conceived and implemented, notions of identity had
not been uppermost in the project team's minds, and were not in the research
design. But field notes from the first research visit showed that a transformed
identity was very much on the minds of the project teachers, their schools
and communities.
In all the case studies, project teachers provide testimony to the way
in which their self esteem, dignity and professionalism has been raised.
The Ikanyezi teachers' recent comments provide some illustration: '
At first I knew nothing. She [project partner] is cleverer than me. Now
I know how to [...reels off long list..]. I'm doing well. At the end of
the year I'll be a master! [everyone laughs]; 'I have grown up as a teacher';
'It has enhanced and developed my way of thinking. I'm exploring [Inkanyezi]a
lot- I'm always using it- each time I learn a lot; I know something more
than before.'; 'I'm not quite perfect! I'm developing myself at my own
pace.'
Many teachers described how this sense of professional affirmation was
not limited to the project teachers, but to other teachers within their
schools: there was a sense of the whole school, teachers and pupils, being
valued and esteemed: 'Both the kids and the
other teachers were very happy to hear about the computer'; 'The class
was very excited when they heard that they were going to learn from the
computer'; 'Great excitement from parents and teachers...so there has
been great enthusiasm' [principal].
Teachers expressed the view that they were no longer 'in the shadow' of
the 'model school' in the town or city. The DEEP project has increased
the community’s self-confidence and self-appreciation. One of the
key strengths of the project has been the fact that it has been reinforced
and strengthened by the group’s cultural heritage which has itself
been bolstered and reinforced within the community.
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