The Gauteng education department's paperless classrooms project is an important step in the right direction, but will require some sharp moves from government to be implemented at a provincial level, say e-learning experts.
Seven no-fee Gauteng schools started the school year in mid-January with WiFi in classrooms and a tablet for every learner. The Gauteng education department aims to roll out these "paperless" classrooms to all township and rural schools in the province by the end of the 2017/2018 financial year, according to MEC Panyaza Lesufi. The project will cost the department an estimated total of R17 billion.
"We can only applaud the government's efforts to improve education delivery," says ICT veteran Adrian Schofield. "This move [could] be a big step towards addressing the failures of education policy and delivery of the last few decades."
However, Schofield warns, there is a risk of widening the digital divide if paperless education is not effectively and consistently implemented in all schools.
"The additional resources required to scale up from a pilot project to a major rollout are enormous and will require dedicated project management over several years," says Schofield. The greatest risk in implementing such a massive shift is the long-term commitment required from politicians and administrators to ensure the project is sustained through several budget periods and possible changes in political leadership during its life, he explains.
Teachers make or break
Beyond government accountability, teacher commitment and know-how are vital to the success of this project, says Moira de Roche, MD and learning specialist at Aligned4Learning. "Teachers will be the make or break, but must not be allowed to derail the process," she warns.
Teacher training is a key proviso in the success of digital learning, says Murray de Villiers, GM of the Africa and Middle East regional academic programme at SAS, an analytics company involved in education improvement initiatives.
It is important for teachers to be literate not only in using devices like tablets, but in new methods of instruction that deal with the increased flexibility of learning processes afforded by online learning, says De Villiers. They must be equipped to deal with the distractions presented to learners by their devices, and learn to operate under a different engagement model.
It will be a massive undertaking for government to provide the teacher training needed to uphold this project, says De Villiers. ICT industry players could donate their time and resources to assist this process, but the industry's involvement is likely to be limited by the general lack of communication and co-ordination between different players in the ICT industry, he speculates.
Teacher training "has more to do with willingness than skills," De Roche argues. Those who are interested and willing will learn the skills they need, provided the digital systems adopted are intuitive, and they have the online resources to help them, she says.
De Roche suggests the government implement a live helpdesk for teachers, whereby teachers can send in queries online and receive a response within minutes. If the digital education systems put in place are intuitive and well-designed, providing this kind of help will not be too massive a task, she says, but will play an important role in ensuring teachers are not halted by hiccups or too intimidated to explore.
Many teachers will see these adjustments as just more work expected of them, and we must help them realise that with time this will not be the case, says De Roche.
A thorough change management process must be implemented to lead teachers, learners and parents through the thought processes of why the change is needed, what consequences there will be if this change does not take place, and what is expected of them to make this change successful, De Roche elaborates. Teachers and learners are unlikely to embrace this process if they do not feel confident and informed about it.
Security concerns
Anton Jacobsz, MD of Networks Unlimited, adds paperless education and school administration can pose huge educational risks if exam papers, results and learner information stored digitally are not properly protected.
The education department is co-ordinating with school communities and the South African Police Service to mitigate theft of devices, which have been equipped with "sophisticated tracking devices", says Lesufi.
Jacobsz continues that network security is of paramount importance to schools, just as it is in business environments. "The [school network] environment must be continually managed, it must be protected by an effective firewall, and an IT administrator must stay on top of the changing threat landscape."
Learners can be taught network and Internet safety practices and imparted with awareness about how children can be taken advantage of online, but it is ultimately the school's responsibility to adequately protect its students, Jacobsz concludes.
Share