Upon reading about the history of technological developments, someone is bound to apply the latest development, app or gadget to a classroom setting. Undoubtedly I ask myself if this perception is true or merely a personal view shaped by my own experiences.
I recall seeing a copier for the first time in primary school - my teacher had turn a handle. Our teacher wrote neatly on special dark blue paper, cranked up a machine, filled a tray with bright purple methylated spirits (the smell was awesome) as if there was an endless supply... and yippieee. we all had notes a few moments later!
Mass -- speed, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and ease of use. The magic of devices when applied to educational settings usually seems to offer limitless opportunities to address "the problems in education". I sometimes think whether to change this to "the problem of education" or "the problem with education", or even "the problems because of education". But that's just on the side... Lets get back to technology and its education's flirtations with it.
Take radio as an example - a mass communication device, nearly magical! Someone was bound to consider its application to educational environments, especially schools. Of course the introduction of radio raised some important questions: Were children going to sit and listen to radio programmes hour after hour? Were they going to become too passive? And what about the teachers? What was their role going to be? Mere loudspeakers or merely schedulers who had to switch radio devices on and off at a given time?
In America the use of radio took a different path than what some European countries were doing with this magic device. Sweden is an example in case, as is Britain. Despite the concerns, educational material in some cases augmented textbooks. But there are also examples of radio programmes that could go beyond textbooks by offering a particular 'here and now' focus. Classroom based radio in the Age of Totalitarianism during the first part of the 20th century made a lot of sense. This is of course an extreme example of the application of broadcasting technology in schools.
All in all radio offered a magical world for scores of children across the globe. During school breaks our education could continue via the radio - my mother with her creative approach to our upbringing made sure of that! I recall how we were made to sit in front of the radio in the morning around tea time to listen to "Siembamba" - a children's programme in Afrikaans. Until the early 1970s radio was our only true companion in deep rural areas of South Africa.
If radio didn't quite cut it in education, TV was perhaps a different kettle of fish. TV surely posed greater risks for corrupting the youth than did radio. The projector and film before TV was at some point considered in America as a possible replacement for teachers. Was Educational TV going to try and replace teachers too? In time, this proved to be an unwarranted concern.
TV did indeed offer applications to educational content that no other medium could. A whole host of people jumped at the opportunity to create exceptionally good content aimed at "educational TV". But unlike the mistakes made with radio, in some cases educators became involved with content creation for TV. Every classroom in every school across the globe might not be equipped with a TV today, but together with video recorders, CD and DVD players, TVs continue to be used by teachers.
The question invariably arises: what is the true state of technological infusion in "normal" public schools in South Africa? And in other comparable countries? Indeed, the world? Are we, in the Age of Googlification at the same point as previous generations when it comes to 'technology in the classroom? Perhaps it is necessary to consider the following: as long as technological solutions remain overly complex and costly, it will be a divider resulting in exclusion - in this case digital exclusion. Do we dare to read in this: Technology as Beast. In a country like South Africa where the divide is very real, less complex solutions like TV and radio should perhaps be explored with more vigour since these devices are already well integrated into all layers of society. The same cannot be said of computers, and other digital devices such as tablets and smartphones. For one, cost of ownership and cost of bandwidth, together with limited content in SA's eleven official languages must be mentioned as possible inhibitors.
Well, just to widen the gap a bit more and to give teachers another jolt... we now combine TV with computers -- enter the world of Apple TV used in conjunction with other Apple devices such as IPads. Once again, the classroom is set to change - as it should, since continuous innovation ought to be a given for schools, not a curse! The saga of technology and educators' flirtations with it continue unabated. However, the question remains: How do we ensure relevancy of classroom-based teaching? One way is to continue to adjust our approaches to teaching and learning. We have to explore ways to teach as effectively as humanly possible with the tools to our disposal. Schools thus have an obligation to ensure that classrooms are not digital deserts. In the past schools offered more than most homes in terms of technology. I am afraid for many that is no longer the case.
