Learning for Life, Work and the Future Initial ... - Unesco-Unevoc

Page 34 Participants’ Papers Learning for Life, Work and the Future
4. Effectiveness of Technology
There is in the research literature a strong consensus
that technology and technology-enhanced programmes
can promote forms of more engaged and active
learning. However, the selection of the type of technology
and its use is critical. Jones et al (1995)
mentioned six indicators for high-technology performance
in education:
• Accessibility of the technology: the technologies
and resources must be accessible to staff and
learners, both within the classrooms and beyond the
school
• Operability of the technology: ease with which the
technology operates, i.e. the technical set-up of the
system
• Organisation of the technology in terms of its
location and distribution
• ‘Engagability’, or the capacity of the technology to
engage students in challenging learning
• Ease of use: user-friendliness; fast, effective help;
etc.
• Functionali1ty, or the technology’s capacity to
prepare students to use a variety of technological
tools.
5. Email in Teacher Training
Email by itself is a low-performance technology
because its sole function is communication. But email
as a tool in teacher training can give student teachers
access to rich learning experiences, such as communicating
with tutors or mentors, consulting experts and
producing collaborative project work.
6. Videos in Vocational Teacher Training
Videos are an effective medium for professional
development (Mateff) when used in an interactive way
that promotes discussion. The traditional use of
videos, whereby the technology is seen as a replacement
for or supplementation of the teacher, can be
qualified as low technology and results in most cases in
passive forms of learning. However, the very same
technology can be used to create a much greater
involvement of the learner in the learning process.
Effective use of video material requires interactive
viewing: stopping for reflection, discussion or practice
of what has just been viewed. The actual practice of a
skill just viewed should be as close as possible to the
actual viewing and therefore requires careful planning.
7. Need for (Regional) Video Production
Given government’s commitment to enhance the
quality of education, funds should be made available
for the ‘hardware’ side of creating modern technological
classroom environments. The ‘software’ −
i.e. video production appropriate for teacher training in
the region − is more of a problem. This is not only a
financial but also a human resource issue. A combined
team consisting of video production experts and
teacher training facilitators would be needed. To make
such an enterprise worthwhile, a regional approach is
to be preferred over a local endeavour. Expert advice
and support from outside the region might be needed,
but should be related to capacity building in the region
for educational video production.
CTVE proposes that a project to produce videos for
teacher training is started in the region and funds are
found for such a project.
Although the above concentrates on the use of videos
in the training of teachers, a similar need for good
instructional video material exists at the Technical
Colleges when offering the Botswana Technical
Education Programme (BTEP).
8. Interactive Videos (CD-ROMs)
Videos as described above, both interactive and promoting
discussion, are extremely useful tools in the
training of teachers when viewed in a group. However,
they have one specific weakness. Teaching is a
decision-making activity. Teachers take decisions
continuously during the facilitating of the learning of
their students. Modern technology allows the production
of interactive videos (tape or disk): a decision
is required and the viewer/s is/are asked to take it.
Based on the choice, the video continues. One can
now go back to the decision point and view what
would have happened if another decision had been
taken.
Interactive multimedia allows the learner to interact
with the information provided through the computer.
For teacher training, face-to-face or distance, this is a
powerful learning tool. Interactive multimedia
resources are also extremely useful for vocational
education as they allow learners to gain experience
through simulations of situations that would normally
be inaccessible to them because of safety factors,
security factors or costs. It has been established that
the appropriate use of interactive multimedia resources
reduces the time needed for training to the order of
30%-60% (Hosie, 1993).
Looking at the effectiveness of professional-quality
resources to enhance learning, the advantages
mentioned above and the vision for education for the
(near) future, these resources should be developed.
The development should be on a regional basis and −
like the proposed video production − involve training
of technicians and producers in the southern African
region. External financial and expert support is needed
to develop interactive multimedia resources.