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The use of ICT to access existing educational material

Here below you can find the other main topic of the upcoming CCLE Education in Lusaka Zambia:

Using ICT to access existing educational content and resources online: benefits, challenges and recommendations.

It would be very interesting to listen to your opinions, experiences and ideas. Feel free to comment and discuss.

Location

Lusaka, Zambia
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Comments

Exisiting educational materials vs. national curriculum

Comment Author

Liesbeth Josephin...

Monday, 10th May, 2010

... interesting topic I would say. One question that pops up in my mind is to those of you involved in teaching or in the teaching process.... To what extent can a teacher be creative in using existing educational content? Or, to put it in another way; to what extend is the national syllabus 'dictating' what can, and can not be used? Where would you find really useful online educational content?

Good thoughts. I really do

Comment Author

Yese Bwalya

Wednesday, 12th May, 2010

Good thoughts. I really do not think the teaching process is that complicated. The elements/activities that make up the teaching and learning process curriculum/syllabus, content, assessments etc are very distinct and almost prescriptive in most standard education. What is not prescriptive and therefore an area of creativity is how one (teacher) combines them together in achieving learning objectives. Thats where in my opinion ICT as tool plays a part. It is in fact the non-prescriptive or democratic nature of ICT that it has found use in almost every field including those that are very conservative like education.  
ICT is simply a tool, like a chalk and board, over head projectors etc that a teacher could opt for taking of course into account the nature of content and learning styles of affected pupils. 
The issue in my opinion is that when you take a teacher who has been using educational content accumulated over many years, and who is accustomed to a particular presentation method, how could you help them see the new opportunities presented by new technology and equally assist them make that IMPORTANT transition in a way that does leave them any room to compare old from new ways of doing things.
In my years working with teachers, this is an important area of focus for any ICT Evangelist. Whatever the answer, I would like to propose, must have teachers as part of the solution. Teachers like anybody else take delight in being recognized in whatever they do and certainly need enjoy some reasonable control over what they do. Indeed this is the means by which civilized societies rewards its people. So its important that when discussing ICT we also look the anonymity of ICT and the preservation of identities when it comes to educational content. I have looked at most educational content online and am encouraged by steps that other communities take to ensure that those that make valuable contribution to the body of knowledge online are sufficiently recognized through many ways including just basic attribution. For this to happen, some form of structure/organisation need to be in place to control and protect vested interest of hard working teacher from abuse. If teachers in Africa, like many that have interacted with appear disinterested to you, part of the reason is that they feel their contributions are simply been thrown away. This is not to suggest that educational content should always be made available at a fee. No. 
My last comment which actually stresses my earlier point is that we need to constantly evaluate most technologies carefully to ensure that disruptive technologies, technologies that drastically changes everything for it work, is not introduced into schools indiscriminately. This is particularly true with technologies engineered by profit seeking industries. 
What else..