Volume Two - Academic Conferences

Fortunate Gunzo and Lorenzo Dalvit
the potential of mobile labs is an important initial step in this regard. The findings presented here can
serve as a basis for further research on the efficacy of mobile computer labs.
3. Methodology
3.1 Data collection and analysis
We used a qualitative research approach to gather data for this paper. Data collection started from
the beginning of the ACE-ICT course. Teachers were asked to write down and submit their
expectations of the course. Later, they were asked to fill in a questionnaire that had seven open
ended questions. It was from this initial questionnaire that we learnt of the various challenges
teachers were faced with in their schools. The challenges which are outlined in the findings section
were cited as the reasons teachers found it impossible to undertake one of their assignments-
designing and implementing a research project involving the use of computers in their schools. Then
we got the idea of using a mobile computer lab. We realised that using a mobile computer lab would
provide the same well maintained computers to all teachers and give them an equal opportunity to
fully integrate ICT in their schools/classrooms. Since the teachers we were working with had no prior
experience using the netbook and a mobile computer lab, we devised a model that would allow them
to use the netbooks during the entire design phase which we report on in this paper. We did this so
that the teachers would become familiar and comfortable using the netbook before using it for their
research projects in their schools/classes.
Teachers worked in groups to brainstorm on how the mobile computer lab could enhance teacher
experiences within their schools. After this, each teacher had to prepare and make a presentation on
what they thought would be the advantages and disadvantages of using the mobile computer lab in
their schools. All this was done as a way of preparing the teachers to write an individual proposal of
what they thought a mobile computer lab could be used for in their own school. In the proposal,
teachers had to outline the context of their school, paying attention to the resources and
infrastructure. They also had to articulate exactly what they would do with a mobile computer lab. In
this paper we present findings from these proposals. Data was analysed by grouping the responses of
the teachers into different themes/categorises. We found that the model we employed for the
research was useful and effective. We realised that teachers struggled to use the netbooks at first
mainly because of their size. After using it for few times they started to feel confident and comfortable
using the netbooks. A challenge that we faced as we undertook this project was the limited number of
netbooks-we had 12 netbooks. The 20 teachers had to share these and this sometimes meant that
some of them could not finish the work they had to do. We resolved this by identifying teachers who
were reasonably comfortable with the netbooks and so worked faster and asked them to use the
netbooks first. Also we allocated more time to the work that had to be done on the machines. This
was all important for teachers as they planned their own projects with their learners.
3.2 Profile of the schools
Teachers who participated in this study were from marginalised schools located in townships, farms
and rural schools. In the South African context, the term township usually refers to “the urban living
areas (often underdeveloped) that during the apartheid era were reserved for non-whites i.e. blacks,
coloured and working class Indians (Bond, 2008). Townships were usually built on the periphery of
towns and cities. On the other hand, farm schools were created as a way of providing cheap labour to
farm owners (Wilson, 2002). These schools depended on the farm owner heavily. Today, farm
schools still exist, and the government is now involved in the running of such schools (Herskovitz,
2010). Farm schools usually have very low student enrolment and as a result a few teachers who
usually teach across grades and subjects. Rural schools have similarities with farm schools both are
characterised by underdevelopment and poverty (Herskovitz, 2010). The number of teachers that
came from each school is represented in the table below:
Table 1: Research participants
Type of school Number of teachers
Township school 12
Rural School 5
Farm School 2
District official 1
Total participants 20
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