Technology in Education

Many of us think that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is nothing but computers and Internet. If we think that that is true, we are definitely wrong. Computers are just a small part of ICT – or can be referred to as tools of ICT. ICT itself is – apart from using these tools – the answers of ‘what do people do with these tools’ and the ‘how do they do it’.

Take this as an example. To use ICT, we need to switch on the computer – a tool. But that is not all. We need to use the program in the computer, for instance, the Internet Explorer (IE). Then what should we do? Think our own objective of using the IE. Most of our students say that they use the Internet to search for learning materials all over the world – online books, journals, and so much more. This is simply an objective of using the internet – and this answers what people do with the tools.

What about the ‘how’? When we want to find a learning material, we will find it first in search engines like Yahoo and Google. Then we look for the best in the list. We might get what we want right after a click. Sometimes, we have to download the PDF form of the material. Or the worst case for students, we might have to buy the books. It is up to each individual how we get those materials, but the methods that we use to browse the resources explains how people benefit from ICT.

New century is about new life. Day by day, we definitely do not want to stay the same. We want to make life simpler, yet richer. The transformation of life includes everything such as skills and knowledge, things, and ways (or methods). Talking about ICT in education, the use of it simplifies our lives by helping us to get learning resources at your favourite Starbucks while you are drinking your favourite latte or frappucino. Time: 24-7. Therefore, technology has changed our live from the old ‘I have to go to the library’ to the new ‘I have my own library on my PC’.

ICT is widely used in university and college level, where most lecturers and students have their own PC or laptop. But why can we hardly see primary school teachers use this technology in classroom? Is there any ‘firewall’ that does not allow them to change their teaching methods? Or is it difficult to change in schools?

When we talk about changes in schools – related to technology in education – most of us (especially teachers and school administrators) think that budget is a huge burden. I would say that they are absolutely wrong. I remember when I was in my first secondary school – before I transferred to St. John’s Institution – the administrators spent the school budget for useless purposes rather than making changes for teaching and learning purposes. They spent thousands of Ringgit to build a few ‘pondok bacaan’ in which to them, the objective was to increase reading awareness. But after the ‘pondok’ were built, were the students motivated? The answer: NO. There was ‘lepaking’ scenario at the place. And did they manage to obtain their objective? Why did not they upgrade the ICT facilities such as having more PC in computer lab, installing LCD projector, or getting a smart board?

School administrators always blame the government for not providing ICT learning materials and enough budgets for their schools. To me, they need to blame themselves for not spending their budget wisely. When it comes to school budgeting, we make the budget, not the budget makes us.

We can only change our teaching and learning methods if only the school culture and mindset are changed. When we go to Malaysian schools nowadays, we always appraise ‘experienced teachers’ who can be culturally defined as teachers who have served for more than 20 or 30 years. But do we appraise ‘innovative teachers’ who enrich their teaching and learning methods with the use of technology? ‘Experienced teachers’ are conventional – they practice teacher-centred learning, they only use blackboard, and they hold ‘rotan’ in their hands. However, ‘innovative teachers’ make use of technology and other learning materials in their teaching and learning session. Most schools are occupied with the conventionalists. The question is, when will this situation stop? Can the ‘experienced’ become the ‘innovative’? It is all about mindset.

What I learnt this week is 'PLEaSE' - Personalized Learning Environment and Student's Engagement. It is all about what we can do to make our teaching and learning session different and at the same time, we gain students’ engagement. The second theory is Pedagogy of Engagement Integrating Technology (PoEIT). It refers to teachers’ attitude towards using technology in classrooms. If we look at both terms, the word ‘engagement’ is used. What is engagement?

Let us refer back to the topic of ‘experienced teacher’. They practice teacher-centred learning and they use of chalk, blackboard and text book. While teaching is conducted, is learning taking place? Are students engaged in the learning process? Most of the time, teacher give instruction, and students sit quietly and listen to the teacher – no engagement.

There are four keys to students’ engagement in classroom. First, students’ engagement in learning process. Students come to school to learn, not to be tortured. They want activities that they can interact with themselves. They want to be active in class, not passive. Second, students’ engagement with the object of study. When students are learning, they want to experience everything. In a Science lesson, students want to hold conduct the experiments. They certainly do not want to be bordered by rules that will restrict them from learning. Thirdly, students’ engagement with the context of the subject of study. Students want to learn what they should learn. They want to learn things that are practical, useful for their lives. Finally, students’ engagements with the human condition. Students want to learn things that are related to their lives. In an English classroom, they tend to listen to stories about people surrounding them, rather than stories about two African boys living in a rural area in Sudan.

Engagement itself is not enough. A good teacher needs to know whether the teaching and learning session is facilitated. There are 5 essential situations that signal learning session is facilitated.
~ Learners are engaged in solving real world problems – students want to do tasks that are closely related to what happen outside of their school. They want to learn lessons that are applicable in their lives as human, not students.
~ Existing knowledge is activated. Before learning process starts, teachers should know whether students have schema or background knowledge. It is good to plan a lesson that activates previous knowledge.
~ New knowledge is demonstrated. If students have not known or seen something that teachers are going to teach, teachers must demonstrate it first. Students will be motivated to learn when they see real-life demonstration.
~ New knowledge is applied by the learner. Once students have seen the demonstration, it is time for them to act like the demonstration.
~ New knowledge is integrated into the learners’ world. After all of the above is completed, learning process is fully facilitated when the lessons have relationships with their world – home, supermarket, park, etc. Students will make use of what they have learned outside classroom.

So, before I end this post, I would like to wrap up all the things that I have discussed. ICT, new century, engagement. How are these interrelated? We are moving to a new era. This era relies on ICT and ICT will be the life for our children (or students). Are we going to teach them how to use a typewriter when they are to use Microsoft Word in the future? Are the students going to be passive learners, or can they play around while the lesson takes place and at the same time, they gain knowledge? These are questions to ponder. Think what the best is for our children.

The end.