the integrated media and technology education...

THE INTEGRATED MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY

EDUCATION COURSE AT WCE: CONTEXT,

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES OF ICT

INTEGRATION IN NAMIBIA

A Lecture Presentation by Erkkie Haipinge for EDGlo

Program on 27 April 2011,

University of Oulu

Objectives of the Lecture

To share experiences through creating an awareness about Namibia‟s educational context

To illustrate the context of ICT integration in education in Namibia

To show the objectives of the ICT integration course at Windhoek College of Education (WCE)

To share opportunities and challenges involved in the teaching of ICT integration in Namibia

To highlight challenges involved in shared global vision and agenda

To raise issues for discussion and pondering

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Windhoek College of Education

Lecture Outline

Introduction: Namibia in a nutshell

Theories, policy and pedagogical context of ICT integration in education in Namibia

The Integrated Media and Technology Education (IMTE) course

Rationale

Course content

Opportunities & challenges in teaching ICT integration

Globalisation: Common goals – different challenges

Immerging solutions

Group Discussion and Feedback

Conclusion

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Namibia in a nutshell: Location in

Africa

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Namibia in a nutshell: Location in

World

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Our pride

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Namibia in a nutshell: Facts in brief

Geography and Size

South-western Africa; 824 268 km²

Political

Got independence on 21 March 1990

Political system

Multi-party democracy

Population size

2.1 million (2001 census)/ 2.3 million (2010 est.)

Culture

Multi-cultural society with 14 ethnic groups and over 20 spoken languages

Literacy rate (2006)

92,3% for under 15 years of age

85 % for over 15 years of age

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Namibia in a nutshell: Facts in brief

Human Development Index (HDI) – (UNDP, 2010)

The average of life expectancy (long & healthy life), education (knowledge) and income (decent standard of living) indices

0.606 (medium human development)

Rank: 125th in the world of 177 assessed countries

Rank 1: Norway; Finland: rank 16

ICT Development Index (IDI) – (ITU, 2010)

The average of ICT Access (readiness/infrastructure), ICT Use (user intensity) and ICT skills (literacy & school enrolment) indices

1.95

Rank: 114th in the world out of 159 indexed countries

Rank 1: Sweden; Finland: Rank 12 2011/04/27

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Global Context of ICT Integration in

Education in Namibia

The 2003 World Summit on Information Society

Summit declare common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge

Namibia was signatory to the Summit declaration

Millennium Development Goals

Recognition that MDGs will not be reached without effective and efficient utilization of ICTs

“Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) offer enormous potential to help achieve development goals” (ITU, 2010)

Globalisation (global agenda)

Drive towards information and knowledge societies

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Development Context of ICT

Integration in Education in Namibia

Education for all (EFA) goals

At independence, government EFA goals guided by

goals of access, equity, quality and democracy

ICT plays a crucial role in their achievement

Vision 2030

Use equitable and sustainable development to drive

Namibia towards a developed country status and be a

knowledge-based society by the year 2030

Investment in ICT required to achieve Vision 2030

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Learning Theory & Pedagogical

Context

Constructivism

Learning takes place through active participation of learners in the learning process

Learners need access to authentic learning experiences

Teacher‟s role is that of a mediator of knowledge and facilitator of learning

Learner-centred approach

Based on constructivism

Ministry of education adopted the learner-centred teaching approach to replace teacher-centred approach & rote learning

ICTs as tools play an important role in enhancing teaching and learning

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Policies Informing ICT integration in

Education in Namibia

National Professional Standards for Teachers

Professional competencies that all teachers need to have, including ICT integration capabilities

National ICT Policy

Offers a regulatory framework for the development of ICT in all sectors of the economy, including education

ICT Policy for Education

Articulates the relevance, responsibility, and guidelines for integrating ICT in education with a view to meeting the learning needs of the 21st century

Translated into an implementation plan called Tech /na!

ICT Standards for Educators (ICTED)

List of ICT literacy and integration performance standards that all educators need to meet

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ICT Policy for Education: Goals

The goals of the policy are:

Produce ICT literate citizens;

Produce people capable of working and participating in the new economies and societies arising from ICT and related developments;

Leverage ICT to assist and facilitate learning for the benefit of all learners and teachers across the curriculum;

Improve the efficiency of educational administration and management at every level from the classroom, school library, through the school and on to the sector as a whole;

Broaden access to quality educational services for learners at all levels of the education system

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ICT Standards for Educators/Teachers


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All teachers need to be able to:

Operate ICT applications in an education context

Design and deliver lessons using ICT applications

Assess and evaluate lessons using ICT applications

Apply ICT to apply continuous professional

development in an education context

Use ICT for learners with special needs

Comply with social, ethical and legal requirements of

ICT use in an education context

The Integrated Media and

Technology Education (IMTE) course

The rationale of IMTE:

It aims to quip future teachers with the basic knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to integrate media and information and communication technologies (ICT) in instruction and assessment.

Students will learn: How to infuse information (library) and technological literacy skills

into the basic education curriculum

How to effectively use media and technology to engage learners and enhance pedagogy as well as meet the needs of learners from diverse social classes, gender, race, ethnicity, language, age and special needs

Students will explore the use of technology for their own professional development.

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The IMTE Course: Learning

Opportunities Offered

In the IMTE course, students learn the following:

Basic ICT skills linked to ICDL/ECDL

Operating a computer, using office applications, managing files, using the Internet and mail, etc

Create teaching aids and learning objects using computers and other ICTs

Integrate ICTs in teaching

Prepare lessons integrating web (e.g. Web-quests), audio/video tools, computer software & hardware, mobile phones, etc

Create assessment tools, record & analyse assessment records

Use the web for collaboration and sharing

Google groups, blogs, wikis

Use relevant ICT tools to identify learning needs, identify CPD opportunities & record professional development activities

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Challenges Experienced in the

Teaching of ICT integration in IMTE

Poor access to facilities:

Computer labs

Computers

Internet connectivity

Limited and varied ICT/computer skills for students

Poor ICT integration across the curriculum

Lack of subject content software

Limited support from administrators

Limited ICT facilities at schools

Low credits/time allocated to IMTE

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Computer lab setup at WCE

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Light at the end of the tunnel:

Immerging Solutions

Maximising benefits – gaining more from less

ICT cost trend

Lowering prices of ICT equipments will increase access

Improved bandwidth

West Africa Cable System (WACS) will enable access to broadband connectivity, increase Namibia‟s bandwidth and lower cost

Use of mobile phone solutions and wireless internet

Students have better access to mobile phones and wireless internet than computers and wired internet due to lower cost

Integration of mobile phones in teaching and learning needs to be explored

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Group Discussion

Questions for group discussion

1. What can be the best approaches for integrating

ICT in teaching and learning in environments with

limited access to ICTs?

2. What kind of collaborative activities can be forged

between the north and south in the area of teaching

and learning?

3. Does globalisation narrows or widens the digital

divide?

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Feedback Session

Question 1: What can be the best approaches for integrating ICT in teaching and learning in environments with limited access to ICTs?

Increase of access

Creation/provision of cheap devices (e.g. Through one laptop per child initiative)

Adjustment of goals according to resources (or will it increase the digital divide further?)

Need for different standards & different priorities for different countries (How can equality be achieved?)

Proper analysis of the problem: e.g. Is access a problem or a symptom of another problem?

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Question 2: What kind of collaborative activities can be

forged between the north and south in the area of teaching

and learning?

Creation of teacher education online space for sharing

resources between North and South teachers

Sharing of practices and approaches to ICT integration

Carrying out of joint projects that can attract funding

Development of open source applications for free

sharing and use

Acquicision of equipments through donor agencies

Feedback Session


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Question 3: Does globalisation narrows or widens the digital divide?

Use of common standards to measure success for all countries, unfair since they have different priorities

Need for differentiation of standards

Digital divide linked to income divide: one can‟t be addressed without addressing the other

Need for efforts to attain equality between and within nations

ICTs facilitate contact: the more people learn about each other, the better they relate. But who benefits from globalisation?

Is it not just the elite with access to means of communication and the poor remain left out?

If so then globalisation probably hardly affects the digital divide – it may either maintain the status quo or it widen it

Feedback Session

Conclusion – inspirations from class

discussion and feeback

Namibia is one of the top countries in world in terms of acute income disparity, which has led to inequality

Access to education in general and quality education in particular, was and still remains a challenge

ICT integration in education would not solve all problems but will alleviate some of them, access in particular

Investment in affordable ICTs such as open source-based software and initiatives like „One laptop per child‟ should be embraced

ICT literacy and integration skills for teachers has to continue being a priority, while better approaches for teaching such skills need to be explored

North-South collaboration can be effective in areas of resource sharing and joint project collaboration

Countries with limited resources need to adjust their priorities and develop standards relevant to their immediate developmental needs

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End of Lecture

Thank you

Other Namibian languages:

Baie dankie

Tangi

Okuhepa

Ke a leboga

Gangans

Nalitumela

Niitumezi

Mpandu

Dankeschön

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