Retrieved from Allafrica News
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200203050132.html

Business Day (Johannesburg)
By Tamar Kahn
March 5, 2002 
Posted to the web March 5, 2002 

Computers offer tremendous opportunities, but challenge is to use them to stimulate creativity

JUDGING by the media hype that surrounds each new initiative to put computers into schools, you could be forgiven for thinking that a PC is the ultimate box of tricks, capable of curing all our educational ills. Get the pupils computer literate and connected to the internet, say the zealots, and we can overcome the deficiencies in our education system.
But it is not that simple.

Computers offer tremendous opportunities for teachers and pupils alike, not least of all because computer skills have become essential for most job seekers leaving the school system.

The R500m Gauteng online project, which aims to have 25 computers in every school, and give every pupil in the province an e-mail address by 2006, is just one example of the hopeful investment taking place. All too often people confuse computer literacy with using information technology and communication (ICT) to learn, says IBM's GM for SA, Mark Harris.

For example, there is a world of difference between cobbling together chunks of text from internet sites into what may well be a well-presented essay, and reading and assimilating text to write up an original piece of work. Making sure that computers stimulate creativity, rather than stunting it, is a key challenge for educators, whether they be teachers or parents. So far, most of the debate over computers in schools has focused on the infrastructure requirements, which are not without hurdles.

Assuming that a school has electricity and a telephone line, it will cost about R150000 to secure the classroom designated for conversion into computer lab, says Kobus Van Wyk, manager of the Western Cape education department's Khanya project, which aims to have computers in every classroom within the next 10 years. "You need concrete or reinforced ceilings, double burglar bars, air-conditioning and a means of bolting the PCs onto tabletops or the floor," he says.

Harris says that he believes it is a mistake to regard the upfront investment which is typically between R1,5m and R3m a school as the biggest challenge.
Far more challenging, he says, is the change required of teachers. Teachers are often intimidated by new technology.

IBM's director for public service business in northern Europe, Martin Goodman, says: "Their nintendo-generation pupils take to computers much faster than they do, and often know more about the technology." IBM's involvement in schools in the UK showed that many teachers worry that they will lose face if they do not know what to do when things go wrong. It is critical that support is on hand for when things do go wrong, he says.

SchoolNet CEO Rodwyn Grewan agrees that the success or failure of ICT in education hinges on training teachers. His organisation, in partnership with Telkom, has put PCs into 300 schools.

It is vital, he says, to get teachers who have never been exposed to computers before, skilled and confident before they start using computers in the classroom.
"We have a call centre, mentors, and have also trained two teachers in each school to offer support to the rest of the staff." Teachers who can manage problems as they arise are vital, he says, because without ICT champions in the schools, the projects will simply be unsustainable. Teaching 30 children who are learning at different rates of speed is a considerable challenge under any circumstance.

Computers in classrooms place new demands upon teachers. Their introduction needs to be carefully managed to ensure that they do not simply become an extension of the blackboard. Harris suggests that SA should build on the African National Congress campaign around volunteerism, and encourage people outside the school system to mentor pupils.

It is working well in the US, he says, where teachers can access a database of mentors for their pupils be they ahead or behind the curriculum. The mentors are scattered around the country and make themselves available through the internet.

Volunteerism is all very well, but this concept poses two big challenges. The first is screening mentors to ensure that children are not exposed to inappropriate adult company, or given inaccurate and misleading information.

The second issue is finding someone to pay for the online mentorship. Local telephone calls in the US are free. That is not the case here, where an hour on the internet will cost about R25.

Van Wyk points out that so far computers have only been placed in carefully selected schools those with a strong culture of learning and teaching, a healthy relationship with the surrounding community and sound management practices.

"Our real problem is going to hit us in two or three years' time when we want to put computers in schools which are not functioning well." According to Grewan, the fundamental question as to whether ICT is appropriate in education has not yet really been addressed in SA.

"Why are we delivering skills for education and development via ICT, and can children think logically and critically if they are learning this way?" he asks.

His answer is that there is no answer yet. He describes the multitude of projects under way as "experiments", saying that it is too early to tell whether they have had a real impact on pupils.

That will be determined only if and when pupils who have been educated with computers in their classrooms, outperform those who have not had a similar exposure.