PAPERLESS CLASSROOMS A REALITY
Copying school work from a chalkboard is becoming a thing of the past. Those dusters always seem dusty and always getting lost so teachers send a learner to borrow another class’s duster. At times the very same dust ends up on the tip of your fingers as a disciplinary tool.
School bags have to be big to accommodate your exercise books and all the textbooks in their shapes and sizes. Depending on the school you attend this textbooks become your load to and from school, but also if your school decides to keep the textbooks; they will be lost or ripped apart, it becomes a headache for both the teacher and learners.
All of that is becoming the thing of the past! Whoop whoop!
Plans are in motion to achieving paperless classrooms. Technology is sweeping across the globe, South Africa is no different. Technology has reached us and fast becoming part of our classroom lifestyle through Mwabu. They are an educational technology company that offers services that include development of curriculum-aligned teaching and learning resources, assessment tools, devices and hardware. The method of teaching is designed to move away from the “chalk-and-talk” teaching method to a method where learners explore and learn through understanding, analyzing and solving a range of different tasks individually, in groups or with the teacher.
their emotional lives on the small screen of their phones and tablets.
The amount of peer pressure as is now is at its highest since they have to manage their social network life as well as doing school work. Part of our research reveals that youth today are always faced with problems and they have no way to escape. And part of it is that their lives are on social media, now with tablets as their educational tool this pressure will increase.
Is there a solution? The answer is yes, there will always be a solution in everything. Paperless classroom means a cleaner environment and less pollution. It means that youth in Rural and Township areas can now catch up with their urban and global counterparts.
This educational program will require learners to have tablets and teachers to use overhead projectors to address the whole classroom.
Talking to learners who have used the tablets they have different but positive views about the paperless classes. Understandably their main concern is being mugged of their learning devices as well distractions tablets bring during a lesson. But such distractions have been there from way back, drawing on the desk, chitty chatting while the teacher teaches; now with the tablet learners say that they will be distracted.
But the exciting part about the paperless classrooms is that it is highly interactive and exciting. Lessons and schoolwork already loaded on the device means that learners’ work ethic will improve. They have more places to do their research.
Feelings are mixed and rightfully so because as much as this paperless classrooms present amazing opportunities but equally so with challenges. The biggest challenge here is that young people are already living large part of
By Dumi Mbona
July - September 2017
Tag My School//tech savvy//1st issue
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