FEATURES
EDUTIMES
HOW ‘BBC’ TEACHERS CAN USE
EDTECH IN LESSON PREPS
applied to classrooms. The first is power point pre-
sentations. A lesson can quickly be transformed
from boring to interesting with a power point pre-
sentation of content. Using a projector to create a
screen in your classroom, you can present content
to learners and motivate them to learn more. Imag-
ine learners watching a video on the inner workings
of the human body or watching a film on the Second
World War! Imagine the excitement on their faces,
as the screen lights up to reveal the day’s lesson!
This can be your classroom and learners will love
you and your subject.
The revised curriculum stresses making teaching and
learning learner-centred and outcome based. Tradi-
tional group work “take it from a teacher” teaches
very little most of the time. Most teachers hate us-
ing the approach because of pressure to finish the
schemes and syllabus. With a projector, more con-
tent can be covered in a short period of time and
pupils will actually learn. It even erases the archaic
idea of writing notes on the board. The effects of
chalk use of the health of teachers and the envi-
ronment, needs no emphasis, thus migrating to the
digital era is a sustainable choice for 2019.
Teaching aids like drawings, maps,
pictures or graphs can now be pre-
sented to learners in lifelike form
and it will be easy for learners to
understand and remember them.
Watching a video helps learners to
digest content at their own pace and
enables them to think critically.
A teacher explaining a lesson to learners on a tablet
By Mutale Mazimba Kaunda
A
s teachers, being asked to use a
computer to prepare minutes, a
lesson plan, analysis or even a
test, fills us with fear and trepidation.
While some teachers are very comfort-
able around modern technology and
have the latest smart phones, iPads
and laptops, others have an aversion
to anything that does not involve a pen
and a paper. Such teachers usually re-
fer to themselves as Born Before Com-
puters (BBC). But there is no need to be
apprehensive about using educational
technology (Edtech) to make lessons
more interesting and more retainable
to learners. The world is now digital
and fast becoming highly technological,
hence, even teachers must move with
the times. Using Edtech can have a real
impact on how we teach and how pupils
learn.
EdTech allows teachers to include technology in
teaching and learning in a way that makes the teach-
ing and learning processes more exciting, innovative
and diverse, to break the monotony of traditional
teaching and learning methods. Learning can be en-
hanced by using appropriate technological process-
es such as e-learning, mobile learning and comput-
er-based learning. Usually, it is very difficult to come
up with fun and interesting ways of presenting con-
tent to learners, year after year. Lessons are boring
not only for teachers but also for learners. As
6
a result, attendance of classes in some schools is
dropping at alarming rates.
Veteran teachers are demotivated and struggle to
wake up in the morning to teach the same topic they
have been teaching for the last 10 years. New teach-
ers tremble at the thought of taking a new class be-
cause they are not yet familiar with the content.
What if I forget some facts? What if I miss a
step in the procedure? What if they don’t listen
to me?
Teachers suffer from different fears related to con-
tent presentation, while learners dread attending
classes they consider boring. Edtech can be used to
get around these hurdles. The wider benefits of Ed-
tech can be enjoyed across disciplines outside tra-
ditional subjects like Computer studies and Infor-
mation and Communications Technology (ICT). You
can use Edtech in all subjects including Art, History,
Geography or Science. It can also be incorporated
from pre-school to secondary school.
If you are a BBC teacher, don’t worry. You can be-
come conversant with modern devices by simply
asking the teacher of Computer studies to introduce
you to the world of the internet.
You need not learn about al gorithms or the cy-
ber world but you can learn simple skills on how to
search for information, how to type, send mail, copy
and paste and in sert pictures or diagrams. If there
is no computer studies at your school, you can seek
the same services from a friendly internet café. If
there is nothing in your locality, then invest
in a
smart phone. Today, tech nology is so advanced
that a mobile phone with internet access can per-
form most functions a computer can.You can also
invest in a laptop or iPad. Once you have secured
the tech devices, you can begin the journey to great
lessons.
There are many ways in which technology can be
Researchers have shown that videos are more ef-
fective in teaching complex processes in science and
biology or bulky and factual subjects like History.
According to the University of Queensland Institute
for teaching and Learning innovation, using digi-
tal content increases learner motivation, produces
higher marks, promotes peer learning and allows
for deeper and autonomous learning. Watching is
more effective in helping learners to remember key
facts and figures. Research by Forrester shows that
visual images are processed 60, 000 times faster
that written words. Forrester found that remember-
ing one minute of a video is equal to remembering
1.8 million written words. What Forrester’s research
shows is that videos and visual aids are better learn-
ing methods than traditional learning.
Of course, using Edtech requires some investment
on the part of both the teacher and the school.
Many schools have invested in computers and pro-
jectors but others are still lagging. Some teachers
who have these devices do not use them to enhance
the teaching and learning process
Yes, it is scary to abandon the pen and paper and
the lesson notes you have memorised for the last
10 years, but if examination results are anything to
go by, we need to do something differently because
clearly, our children are not learning.
The way young people consume information is con-
stantly changing and teachers have to keep up.
Learners have been exposed to tech devices from
a young age and take any digital content as gospel
truth. To reach the learners, teachers will have to
bridge the technological gap between them and the
learners.
One of the ways of determining the learning out-
come is through assessment. When we assess and
find undesirable outcomes, it means we need to
re-evaluate our pedagogical approaches, among
other things. Maybe parroting content worked 10
years ago but it is clearly not working now. So, let
us roll up our sleeves and try presenting content
using power point. I will be very interested to hear
your testimonies, so let me know how this method
works for you this term.