Volume Two - Academic Conferences

4. Possible scenarios
4.1 Computer literacy
Fortunate Gunzo and Lorenzo Dalvit
Thirteen (65%) of the twenty teachers said they suggested learners because they believed that they
deserved to be introduced to computers as they would need computer skills to make it in the world
despite of their backgrounds. Six (30%) teachers had learners who had never been exposed to
computers in a school context but expressed confidence that learners would be able to cope. One
teacher from a rural school said, “What children lack is not capacity, it is opportunity and resources”.
While teachers agreed that learners in any grade deserved to have access to computers, there was
special mention of learners in the final grade- 12. A teacher said “I am mentioning grade 12 because
they are going to tertiary institutions next year and most except for Computer and Applications
Technology (CAT) students, know nothing about computers. It will be very difficult for them to cope at
tertiary level if they don’t know how to operate a computer”.
Five (38%) of the thirteen teachers who suggested targeting learners for their intervention, said that
they wanted to do an introduction to computers. Though computer literacy was deemed particularly
important for learners in the lower grade (3 to 7) it must be noted that depending on the school the
teacher was from and the resources available at the school, basic computer literacy was suggested
even for learners up to grade 12. An example was a teacher from a rural school, which did not have a
computer. Learners at the school had therefore never used computers within the school context and
an introduction to computers for all grades was therefore appropriate. Another five (38%) of the
thirteen teachers suggested conducting a computer literacy course with their learners. These were all
teachers from schools that had computer facilities and whose learners were in the senior phase
(grades 8-12) and had been exposed to computers before.
4.2 Teaching across the curriculum
Three (23%) of the thirteen teachers wishing to target learners suggested integrating computers into
the subjects they were currently teaching. The key dimensions emerging from the data was the use of
ICT to avoid duplication of effort and to access existing resources. One teacher said:
“In my school, we still make use of chalkboards for teaching. For instance, I have five
grade nine Natural Sciences groups. When they come to class, I have to write on the
board over and over again. By the time group 3 comes, I am exhausted and doing
disservice to them- sometimes, leaving out some important stuff which I have already
mentioned to others. In this instance, I will have 1 well prepared presentation for all the
groups and they will have it too in their netbooks”
Teachers also suggested using the mobile computer lab to access online resources. Teachers
suggested teaching learners basic web searching/browsing techniques for learners. This suggestion
was made since teachers were aware that the netbooks that we used to populate the lab had wireless
internet connectivity and made it possible to connect to the internet. Suggestions to cut on the costs
of connecting to the internet included that the teacher could make a list of websites for learners to visit
and monitoring that they were not downloading anything else during the class time. A teacher said “I
think that online resources available on Thutong and educational software such as Encarta would be
very useful for me and also I can show my learners how to search for information on Google for the
activity that I would have given them”. Thutong Portal is an online resource that provides information
about Education in South Africa including the curriculum (http://www.thutong.doe.gov.za ). Encarta on
the other hand is a digital multimedia encyclopaedia. More information about Encarta can be found on
(http://www.microsoft.com/uk/encarta/default.mspx).
4.3 Skills development for colleagues
One participant suggested that the mobile computer lab should target teachers. This participant
works for the district Department of Education as e-learning subject advisor. Since the beginning of
the course she expressed interest in the intervention as it is in line with her work. As she is not based
in a school, we asked her to make a proposal based on a nearby school if she felt she wanted to
target learners or school teachers. She was also free to choose to work with her colleagues at her
place of work. The proposal she prepared was part of her job. She stated in her proposal that they
visited a particular rural school to assess whether it was e-ready, i.e. whether or not a school is ready
to implement ICT. This participant stated in her proposal that while they found the school met all the
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