Technology in Focus | Not enough teachers embracing ICT

Although several public schools are now connected to the Internet, researcher Dr Paul Golding maintains that most educators are still not leveraging the use of Information and communications technology (ICT) to aid learning in the classroom.

"Teachers are not using it in their classes as they ought to," charged Golding, who is professor of management information systems at the College of Business and Administration at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica reported in the 2017 Economic and Social Survey that the Government, through the Universal Service Fund, has invested some $770 million in education to improve connection.

In addition, Ruel Reid, the minister of education and information, has indicated that all high schools have computer labs and access to the Internet while work is in progress to equip primary and early childhood institutions.

 

INEFFECTIVE USAGE

 

But Golding argued that although the Government's rollout of Internet access to the nation's schools has not happened at the pace that it should, in schools where the Internet is available, educators are still not using it effectively in their classrooms.

"You can only have success in this if the teachers are using it," declared Golding. "Just having the infrastructure there is no success. What it's saying is that you have spent all this money and it's not being used."

Data from a study titled 'Young Jamaicans in a Hyper-connected World: Life Online', which Golding and his team at the UTech recently conducted, showed that 60 per cent of students from grades seven to nine are given limited access to the Internet.

They are not allowed to use electronic devices in class, compared to 64 per cent of grade 12 students and 70 per cent of grade 13 students. The devices include tablets, computers, and eReaders.

"Students are told that they should not take any devices to school, which runs counter to the Tablets in Schools," he said, referring to the Tablets in Schools programme piloted by e-Learning Jamaica.

Students who use devices in class do so wholly for learning purposes, with the majority, some 64 per cent, using it for research.

"Even though the Government has done training with a number of teachers, I don't think the teachers have yet embraced the change, and until that happens, you're going to have the technology there, and it's not being used," he said.

Golding, however, acknowledged that change is a process and that it will take educators time to embrace technology.

 

JTC developing programme to appraise teachers

 

Dr Winsome Gordon, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC), which is responsible for the professional development and regulation of teachers in Jamaica, acknowledged the challenge of the underutilisation of technology in classrooms.

She noted that the JTC is reviewing a programme, to form part of the certification and appraisal of teachers, that is being developed in conjunction with the UTech's Faculty of Education and Liberal Arts, led by vice-dean of the faculty Dr Gareth Phillips.

In addition, collaboration is also being sought with e-Learning Jamaica, which trains teachers in the use of ICT for learning.

"I know my teachers have shortcomings, and it's not necessarily the older teachers," said Gordon.

"Very often, because they are older, they are trying to catch up and to see what they can do. There are younger teachers who have not taken up the use of ICT as expected," added Gordon.

"We need to accelerate. An agency like mine should be further ahead."

According to Gordon, the JTC should be able to coordinate the implementation of an improved ICT programme within another year and a half. However, that would [be] dependent on the expertise it can assemble to carry out the training programme.

"We need to develop the core capacity to reach teachers. By now, I thought I would have an online technology programme that leads to certification so that I can say to teachers, 'If you don't go online and do that programme, then we are going to have some sanctions'," said Gordon as she argued that there is a dearth of ICT skills locally to shore up the capacity of the JTC.

"We need to strengthen ICT capacity in Jamaica. When I compare competencies here (in Jamaica) with competencies in Asia, we are way behind," Gordon opined.