T
oday learners pack their ipads into
a pocket sized bag for the “back
to school” experience; and cringe
in class when they realise that the
charger is still plugged in at home.
Welcome to the new school! A true digital
experience that would’ve been hard to fathom
12 years ago – a time when the idea of pupils
using gadgets in the classroom would’ve made
a good joke. But today, schools are looking
to exclusively divert to digital methods of
teaching and interaction.
Yael Marx, an educator at St Mary’s all girl
school in Johannesburg, explains how the
ipad can be utilised for extremely beneficial
purposes, “St Mary’s has moved their whole
library system into a digital library where
learners can download a book onto their
tablet.” She also adds that programmes such
as Limu can be added to submit assignments
and how the same programme can be linked
to plagiarism sites to monitor work.
According to an IschoolAfrica study, 120
primary and secondary schools in South
Africa use ipads. There’s growth in the usage of
digital instruments in schools, with more than
4000 devices reaching students and teachers
in rural developments and townships. So
it comes as no surprise that a school like St
Mary’s has a goal for a paperless system by
2015. They have already purchased 60 ipads
to incorporate a floating library.
Today, it allows teachers to use software such
as ActivInspire to load images, videos, graphs,
maps and illustrations for collaborative
teaching methods in the classroom.
Yael Marx gives an example on how she
uses the software in conjunction with her
smartboard, “ActivInspire allows the teacher
to present a learner-based lesson to the class
whereby the learner can lead. The teacher
prepares the lesson in advance and guides
the lesson in the correct direction – instead of
becoming the instructor of the lesson.”
Although Marx would recommend the use of
technology as a way to encourage interaction
in her classroom, she stresses that a medium
should be found in order to keep the traditional
culture of interaction.Her main concern is that
her students will lose the skill of writing and
one can’t help but meditate on that thought. Is
total exclusion of traditional methods a good
idea?
As Paulo Coelho eloquently puts it, “Do
not confuse the teacher with the lesson, the
ritual with the ecstasy, the transmitter with
the symbol itself”. The learning process does
not lie in the technology but in the essence of
a valuable lesson and I fear this new school
era - will miss this golden rule. Whatever
the perspective may be, IMBO can definitely
agree on one thing: Children are the best
investments a country can make.
By Lebogang Morake
Although Smartboards are not a new concept
to teaching methods, over the years they have
undergone much digital enhancement.
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IMBO/ ISSUE 31/ '14