Stephen Asunka

Becker: Findings from the Teaching, Learning and Computing Survey.

I find this article quite interesting as it discusses findings in a survey that was seeking to answer questions raised by Larry Cuban when he proclaimed that "computers are largely incompatible with the requirements and conditions of teaching."

Becker states that Cuban could have been perfectly right at the time (mid-1980's), considering the fact that the capabilities and functionalities of computers at the time were severely limited, and their use was very tedious and frustrating. However, in 1998 (when computers had become fairly sophisticated and email and the WWW etc. were available), a national survey of Teachers, Teaching, Learning and Computing (TLC) revealed that Cuban's argument was still quite relevant. An in-depth analysis of the survey results however pointed to the fact that, given the right conditions, computers can become valuable and well-functioning instructional tools.

Becker mentioned these conditions as:
1. Where teachers are personally comfortable and moderately skilled in using computers
2. Where the school's class schedules permit allocating time for students to use computers
3. Where enough equipment is available and convenient to permit computer activities
4. Where the teacher's learning philosophies support student-oriented constructivist pedagogy.

Looking at these conditions, I have now come to understand why in my country (Ghana), the use of computers as tools for instruction has been very difficult if not impossible to implement. This is because, the fourth condition - teacher's learning philosophy should support student-oriented constructivist pedagogy - is very often overlooked. Policy makers and school administrators are of the view that providing all the necessary equipment and training teachers to use computers is enough to ensure that computers are effectively used in the classrooms. Thus so-called model schools were established and supplied with state-of-the-art computing resources. Teachers were also "trained" (by computer programmers) to use these computers.

The results of all these efforts…? A casual visit to any of these schools reveals that all the computers are placed in a special room and locked. This room is only opened to each class for a period of about 45 minutes, and once the students get in, all they do is to send personal emails, engage in online chats etc. The teachers on their part mostly use the computers for record keeping purposes, after all they still practice the age-old philosophy of rigidly covering the required content and conducting exams at the end. Given this situation, it can be clearly seen that the technology is not serving its intended purpose, but is rather distracting the students from their normal academic activities.

With all the other conditions in place, Becker's survey results provide a strong platform for one to argue for the adoption of constructivist learning philosophies by teachers if we hope to get them use technology effectively in the classrooms. The ICT revolution is here and if we all hope to benefit from it, then we better make sure all children come out of school ready to take up the challenges and opportunities that ICTs offer. We can only realize this if we get our teachers to use these technologies effectively and efficiently in the classrooms, and one way of achieving this is by inculcating in them (teachers) a technology-compatible learning philosophy i.e. constructivism.

posted by Steve @ 3:30 PM