The last two decades have been
a period of proliferation of information and communication technology in almost
every aspect of life—from the mobile phone to banking and the remote tracking of
motor vehicles. This technology revolution mostly driven by computer
applications has also affected the education sector. There is ever growing
concern about equipping classrooms with computers and to wire each of these
computers to the internet. Private school TV adverts these days necessarily
include a view of computers, perhaps as a up-to-date institution qualifier.
Technology-enhanced classrooms
are inspired by constructionist theories that propose that learning is an
active process wherein learners are actively constructing mental models and
theories of the world around them. Social justice-inspired programmes like ‘One
laptop per child’ also continue to roll out supplies of computers to developing
world schools in view of what has been referred to as ‘bridging the digital
divide’.
The drive to provide computers is based on the thinking that if these
machines are made available, they will be used; and if they are used, they will
contribute to improvement of learning. Will computers deliver on the expectations
of policy-makers and educational philanthropists? My argument is that the most
needed energy for reviving and improving schools and higher institutions of
learning should be sought in student agency manifested in reliable work habits
and critical thinking skills.
Why bring computers to classrooms?
The social rationale is that
digital technologies have become part and parcel of everyday life, and that
schools should prepare students to be active participants in a digital
age. Similarly, the thinking behind a
vocational, or market-oriented, rationale is that children should learn how to
work with computers and later be able to compete for jobs at front ends of
interview queues. Proponents of this position promote ‘computer literacy’
courses, concentrating on computer programming and the use of popular
application programmes.
The pedagogical
rationale emphasizes a contribution to improving teaching and learning,
sometimes through the use of new computer-assisted learning software in the
classroom, or by using the computer as a tool that can expand and enrich
knowledge acquisition and construction.
Another impulse for bringing
computers to the classroom is from academics and educators in favour of
self-directed learning for children. This coalition, inspired by John Dewey,
Jerome Bruner, Maria Montessori and Lev Vygotsky, seek to transform schools in
which learning comprises tediously absorbing large bodies of non-functional knowledge
unconnected to life. They want schools in which teachers help students
construct their own understanding.
Classroom learning has also been greatly influenced by growth of the
internet and its World Wide Web resource stockpiles. Computer workstations that
give students internet access increase the size of the available learning
resources to consult and also the efficiency with which they can search huge
chunks of literature for relevant references.
Although computers may be
useful educational tools for quicker processing and analysis of information,
they often present an opportunity for students to grow their leisure time and
get away from learning tasks.
Educational tools or toys?
The potential for computers to
facilitate learning is often met by a challenge of choosing what one may use
from several applications on a computer. The standard desktop computer will
come with word-processers, drawing applications and entertainment accessories
like music and games. When the computer is connected to the internet, there are
myriad opportunities for a student to access online games but also to link up
with other people for a chat. When presented with a play arena and an
opportunity to work out mathematics problems, the former is likely to become of
secondary interest. A computer can be a collection of some of the most enticing
distractions that easily overwhelms a teenage student who is still struggling
to develop self-mastery.
Without appropriate guidance,
many secondary (even university) students working away at a computer remain
incapable of assessing the quality of the resources they have access to.
Students using workstations with internet access are also susceptible to
‘pathological internet-use’ that could draw them into pornography or with the
feeling that the internet is my only friend.
When computers are delivered to
classrooms, they usually meet archrivals, the teachers. Teachers are not always enthusiastic about
altering their ways of working to accommodate new technology. Even though some
teachers are willing to undergo training in the use of new learning support
facilities, they rarely acquire pedagogic expertise to help them make the most
effective use of ICT in their lessons.
Instead of new and bigger
investments in computer infrastructure, schools should also invest in giving
students skills that increasingly get neglected: writing and reasoning,
reliable work habits, capacity for concentration and face-to-face
communication. Computers are useless without primary material—ideas and
concepts generated through dedicated study and thought; and this can only be
done by human beings.
I’m of the view that learning mostly
depends on what human beings, rather than computers, do best. The teacher may
be the one to meet a most important need for the student—lighting a fire in the
student’s heart, role modeling and nurturing as these can contribute more to
learning now and in the future than the neatest hyper-linked courseware.
