Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge
Table 9: Limitations affecting ICT utilization
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- No safe rooms No security Untrained learners and staff No radio
- Total 65 8 40 39
- 6. Conclusions
- Stranger - Queens: a discussion of some aspects of the ritual and executive roles of women rulers and court officials in pre-colonial empires in East and Southern Africa
Table 9: Limitations affecting ICT utilization
6. Conclusions Although many of the schools are relatively well-equipped with ICTs, access seems to be the biggest detractor in their utilization. If the Department of Education is serious about exposing all learners to ICTs by 2013, accessibility needs to be urgently addressed. This would have direct implications on schools, in the sense that extra staff might need to be hired to man computer labs on a permanent basis and/or after school. Alternatively, the existing staff would have to bear the brunt and take on even more responsibilities despite already overloaded programmes. A solution would be to train Grade 12 learners as assistants who could oversee computer labs, or as operators of fax machines, televisions or video machines. In this way, the learners would gain valuable work experience. The cost of implementing and maintaining ICTs, especially computers, the Internet and electronic databases, can place huge financial strain on most schools budgets, particularly since technology ages rapidly and needs to be upgraded or replaced often. Commitment from the government in the form of an ICT subsidy could alleviate some of these problems, but whether this would make much of a difference in the poorest schools is debatable. Other pressing needs might result in the funds being committed elsewhere. Despite the general lack of access to ICTs at schools, it would seem as if the learners were quite informed about the advantages of using ICTs for knowledge acquisition and communication. While the respondents lamented the lack of skills and opportunities available to learn to use ICTs, especially computers, many have already mastered some of the skills on their own, and are already using ICTs for a variety of purposes. These abilities need to be enhanced and fostered, and where possible, applied, in order to prepare the learners for the working environment and for life-long learning. Most employment opportunities are linked to the knowledge of ICTs, and therefore the school authorities’ most considerate attention and focus should be on equipping all schools with the necessary tools. Only when all learners exit the school environment as ICT literate individuals, can schools judge themselves as having succeeded in preparing them for the global environment. Most of the staff members in these high schools had no proper ICT qualifications to teach subjects like computer science. This is largely because teacher training institutions do not include technology in their curricula. The fact that many of the teachers currently in the profession are not computer literate, not only hampers their own efforts to retrieve and utilize this information resource for teaching purposes, but also prohibits them from assisting or teaching the learners where necessary. Often when the teacher is not computer literate, the learners are barred from using the available computers, thus rendering them useless as educational tools. Teacher education and training modules should take this shortcoming into account and develop the necessary skills either during the teachers’ training years, or through short courses and hands-on workshops. The fact that communication is still the most prominent use of ICTs shows that information seeking skills - using tools like the Internet and databases to actually find information - are still lacking. This needs to be addressed because the global world expects individuals to be able to retrieve and use information for problem solving. Failing to do so can lead to failure in the work and social environment. Reference
Stranger - Queens: a discussion of some aspects of the ritual and executive roles of women rulers and court officials in pre-colonial empires in East and Southern Africa Yüklə 2,6 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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