The Connected Learning Community

Second National Conference on the Public Understanding of Science and Technology in Southern Africa

23-24 November 1998, Pretoria, South Africa

Ron Beyers

(beyers@school.za)

Abstract

Microsoft’s vision for the role of technology in education is "a linked educational environment in which network connections allow dynamic interaction between colleges and universities, other educational institutions, homes and information resources throughout the world". This vision is about to become a reality through the development of a Connected Learning Community at St Alban's College in collaboration with Microsoft, Dimension Data and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Existing paradigms in education will be challenged by transforming an institution of instruction to one where learning is given greater focus in a constructavist paradigm. The time is right to employ technology as a vehicle to promote collaboration and cooperation on a level which teachers could only dream was possible. Parents, pupils and teachers will have access to an information hub that will facilitate interactions using web based technologies.

Introduction

If you close your eyes and imagine a classroom, chances are great that you will most likely see an adult standing at the front of a room that contains thirty or more students sitting in straight rows of desks. Chances are also good that they are doing one of three things: listening to the teacher talk, raising their hands to participate in a whole-class recitation, or working quietly and independently on some written exercise. Closely allied with this scene are assumptions about basic organization of schools: text books and courses of study set by a central curriculum office, mandatory attendance, grade levels, bell schedules, and testing. This image, of course, does not just exist in our minds. It is, in fact, what most of our children encounter every day of their school lives. (Jossey-Bass, p 16)

The alternate to this is a different kind of learning opportunity for students. Computers, online systems, video cameras, multimedia, and simulation tools support students' activities, but what is most different is the underlying perspective about how children learn.

This approach will serve as the basis for the introduction of the Connected Learning Community at St Alban's College. Microsoft’s vision for the role of technology in education is "a linked educational environment in which network connections allow dynamic interaction between colleges and universities, other educational institutions, homes and information resources throughout the world", according to Mark East of Microsoft, United Kingdom.

The basic aim of this project is to radically transform the educational process from an instructional model to a learning model while using technology as the vehicle of change. (Boggs) However, technology is only the vehicle that we may ride as we work to engage more children in the process of life-enhancing experience of learning. We will drive along a road that is paved by our public collective will to build a modern, equitable, effective education system (Jossey-Bass p31)

As an educator, I am aware of the possibilities and implications of the introduction of new technologies, especially communication technologies into the classroom. If Christopher Columbus had to be present at this conference he would be overwhelmed by developments, especially technology and communication, and the speed and efficiency of processes developed. The dilemma is that if he entered any classroom, he might be very much at home and may even be able to continue where the previous teacher left off. The bottom line is, teaching and learning paradigms haven't changed much over centuries and definitely not in par with changes in technology.

The greatest dilemma facing all educational authorities today is developing the paradigms of teaching and learning to prepare students for a high-tech society while using low educational methodologies and technologies. With the rapid advances in technology there is very little that cannot be achieved today. Yes, the bottom line still remains the availability of funds in most cases - but the old saying that it cannot be achieved because of the hardware constraints no longer applies. The biggest stumbling block in the implementation of any technological solution is not based on the hardware or software issues but rather on the warmware issues. This refers specifically to the warm bodies that are associated with any project.

History set in a curriculum audit

The seeds for this project were sown some seven years ago when the College established a multi-million Rand high-tech computer centre. Teachers and students were challenged to look at education in new ways and to experiment with innovative approaches using technology. A full curriculum audit was conducted in 1994 to establish a precise point of departure for an educational reform process. This led to the introduction of a number of new courses which challenged students to acquire such skills as lateral and creative thinking, problem solving, collaboration with members of a team, and many others. Full courses such as the River of Knowledge (a cross curricular subject linking Biology and Geography), Design and Technology, Art and Business Skills were introduced. A number of modular courses were also introduced such as Gases, Health, the History of Time and Life Skills. These courses and modules were designed to address the lack of essential skills identified in the curriculum audit.

The College spent an enormous amount of time and resources searching for a system which could manage this ever-growing curriculum content and to manage the learning process, the basic premise being that more students could be exposed to a high quality curriculum at a lower price. This would mean that the same educational material could be made available to students in a distance education mode via dial-up systems. The same system could be used to teach pupils in such areas as Mamelodi more cost effectively than bussing the students to the College.

In the search for a solution, propriatory systems proved too costly, were not-user friendly, were not able to distribute multimedia, or had limited interactivity. The introduction of the internet provided the ideal platform to overcome all previous problems encountered. The visionaries at the College saw the potential of the system and actively sought funding to pursue the ideal of developing interactive, multimedia curricula which would be placed in the public domain. Funds were made available via the World Bank and the IDRC to develop a Standard Seven Biology Curriculum which was based on a national core curriculum of the Independent Examinations Board. This project was termed TECSAS (Technology Education Curriculum for South African Schools) and was to serve as an enabling project. The curriculum material is available at http://www.stalban.pta.school.za/.

This approach to education sparked off a number of other smaller initiatives within the College which questioned the educational paradigms that were being employed. Was it possible to teacher more learners with fewer teachers while improving on the final outcomes of the process? What new methodologies and technologies would be needed to achieve this? What skills would students need to have in their tool bag for life if they are to enter a rapidly changing world?

The project is not an entirely new concept. The original concept stems from a partnership between Highdown High in Berkshire, Microsoft and a number of local businesses involved in Information Communication Technologies (ICT). (http://194.168.36.10/) The partnership relationship can best be understood using a plumbing model analogy. This implies that certain partners will focus on the laying down of the pipelines, others will focus on the development of content to be delivered through the pipes. Others will focus on the training of people to open and close the taps as well as what to do with the water once it leaves the taps. The water must be accessible twenty four hours a day.

In search for solutions the College established a partnership with Microsoft, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Dimension Data (DiData). The outcome of this partnership was to the development a project which was referred to as the Connected Learning Community (CLC). In essence the project is the precursor to a virtual on-line school which aims to challenge existing educational models. In order to achieve this, unique opportunities for educators and learners to interact will be encouraged in a more open-ended and dynamic manner using new methodologies and technology, restructuring of timetabling, development of new curricula material and the introduction of laptops in some classes.

Computers can certainly bring value to education. These values emphasize certain kinds of learning while ignoring or discouraging others. Among other things, the computer encourages an appreciation for efficiency, measurability, objectivity, rationality, progress, and the accumulation and manipulation of data; lots of data. These are all traits noted by computer advocates and their critics. But what promoters never talk about is the learning that is not inherently encouraged by the computer, learning that is therefore less valued in using technology, such as:-

• The pursuit of truth
• The comprehension of great ideas
• The generation of one's own ideas
• The discovery of meaning
• The use of good judgement
• The exercise of emotional maturity
• The development of wisdom (Monke)
• The College will have to take cognizance of this and ensure parallel development and maintenance of programs that address these issues. Learning is a social activity and cannot be simplified to digital systems.

AIMS AND OUTCOMES

The aims of the project are to demonstrate that :-

1. learning can be extended beyond the walls of the classroom by providing access to information twenty four hours a day.
2. pupils can be enabled to work on networked facilities from school and from home to improve their literacy and numeracy
3. students can work effectively without teacher supervision if they are given greater responsibility for their own learning.
4. cost savings can be made to an institutional budget by reducing the major cost of teacher's salaries through innovative time-tabling and the introduction of new methodologies and technologies
5. reduction in teacher-student contact time coupled to the introduction of innovative time-tabling and methodologies can lead to an improved educational outcome over an extended period of time
6. the introduction of laptops can enhance the concept of anytime-anywhere learning
7. parents can access general school information, send messages to the College and participate more fully in the daily program at the College
8. it is possible to share the information stored on an information hub with local communities as part of an outreach program
9. it is more cost effective to teach students in outreach communities rather than bussing them to the College while improving on the output
10. students will be expected to take risks
11. educators will be required to reevaluate the didactic issues and to expand their ideas of how students learn best.

Key Issues

The whole project is based on three pillars, namely Connectivity, Learning and the Community. Each of these will have to be expanded upon in order to make sense of the whole project. It is important that all parties involved in the project have a clear understanding of the terminology associated with the project it hopes to achieve.

The essential components of the Connected Learning Community Infrastructure

Connectivity

Physical connectivity in this project implies that the pupils parents and teachers will be connected either via an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or have direct access via a dial up facility to the St Alban's College Information Hub housed on an Intranet. These two means of access will provide the essential connectivity to facilitate the process of :-

• the ability to view daily tasks and timetable
• email their teacher with questions and responses
• email researchers for details of scientific research programs
• collaborate with fellow students on a common project
• search the internet for information on projects
• print the latest information on sport practice times
• etc.

• to publish student work at any time of the day
• check email for responses from students
• respond to email requests from parents
• search the internet for information on the next section of work
• publish test results into a database
• restructure and publish lesson plans directly onto the intranet
• etc

• interrogate the database for their son's daily test results
• email requests to specific subject teachers
• view the lesson plans for their son's subject
• search the internet for personal use
• assist in the development of curriculum support material
• etc.

The possibilities are endless in terms of what connectivity can provide to the St Alban's community in this project. The tools of the knowledge age provide the capacity to establish unparalleled patterns of interactivity among individuals (Norris)

The notion of anytime-anywhere learning can become a reality if the learners are able to have access to the system twenty-four hours a day. At the same time, it is important to include the introduction of laptops into the learning equation as a step to being able to access and process information at anytime. The personalization of information and education can also be enhanced through this process as students are able to revisit the lessons that they helped to construct.

A possible connectivity scenario

Learning

The overall aim of any education system is to aid and assist learners in the process of constructing meaning, to help learners make sense of their surroundings, and to equip them with the tools to continue to do so long after the process of formal education. (Graff)

In reality less than 50% of secondary school-age children (12-17 years) in sub-Saharan Africa are currently enrolled in schools. The number of girls enrolled when compared to the total female school age population is even lower, with the average being around 25%. The World Education Report (1995) predicts that these numbers will continue to decrease unless some serious, timely and effective interventions are carried out very soon.

Furthermore, job prospects for school leavers are looking bleaker for those who are processed through main-stream educational systems that have not adapted to the changing modern world.

According to Boyett the world that the students will enter will be affected by the following trends:-

These four trends represent forces of truly transformational change in the workplace, destined to dramatically alter the day-to-day content of most jobs, as well as the traditional patterns of lifetime employment. These imminent changes, in turn, pose implications for every individual, from kindergarten to the college campus.

Boyett further looks at the implications for education where lifelong learning will become the norm and educational institutions will become swamped. This will lead to an overwhelming of our traditional instructional systems and methods, requiring technology to play an increasingly important role in the delivery of education. As schools assimilate new technology, the delivery of education at all levels will become less-labor intensive and more capital intensive. Most education resources will no longer be devoted to salaries, but instead to software, computers, multimedia equipment, and so on. Info-com-technology will, among other things, free educational institutions from their current geographical boundaries. He emphasizes the importance of knowledge entrepreneurs and pedagogical info-preneurship and students having a limitless variety of courses to choose from.

In essence, learners will need to acquire skills to be able to collaborate, communicate, evaluate, disseminate, apply lateral thinking, problem solving, and a host of other skills in order to succeed in a future world. One of the ultimate goals of introducing technology into the classrooms, especially information communication technologies, is to initiate students into becoming global citizens who are familiar with modern trends, especially in the use of such tools as the Internet and e-mail.

Phil Christenson, an educational consultant, recognizes the need for a "mass quality education system" but at the same time warns of merely introducing a system that will perpetuate an old paradigm of education. South Africa has emerged from the dark years with an archaic behavioristic education system that was designed to reward only those students who could memorize the right facts to match the examiners memorandum. Even teachers were indoctrinated into believing that they were the only sources of knowledge, which perpetuated a system of feeding a governmental system with people who were not allowed to think for themselves.

There is a huge need to introduce a paradigm shift from one of instruction to one of learning as proposed by Boggs. This notion was also echoed in the middle of Mamelodi, a township on the outskirts of Pretoria, where students had posted a sign on the notice board - DON'T TEACH US, HELP US TO LEARN! These are very thought-provoking words as they highlight the predicament that many students in previously disadvantaged communities find themselves in. The basic premise of the learning paradigm, as described by Boggs, is that the students are given greater responsibility for their own learning.

This should be embedded in a commitment to a flexible, learner-orientated approach that uses whatever combinations of strategies are appropriate to the needs, demands and circumstances of learners, education and training providers, interest groups from the community, industry and government.

This approach to education can also be encapsulated in a model which I term the business model of education. By changing to a business focus; the client, namely the learner, is placed at the centre of all activities and all associated systems are there to ensure that the learner is given high priority. In such a model, the teacher in the classroom will be assessed on how effective they are in meeting the needs of the client they are attending to. This implies that the institution must develop strategies for establishing the learning environment in such a way as to support the learner. It should not matter whether these strategies are old or new, distance education or face-to-face, using 'high’ technology, 'low’ technology or no technology. It is, however, essential that they are appropriate and will achieve meaningful outcomes effectively and efficiently in identified circumstances.

Coupled to this is the powerful concept of peer learning. The teacher does not always have to be the source of all knowledge. Learners themselves can often teach each other more effectively than the teacher can, especially where they work in groups on a common project or problem. This brings me to one of the most important points in teaching and learning. Teaching and learning is a human endeavor, a group sport. Learning cannot take place without human intervention and participation. Technology tools, such as productivity software, the Internet and email, are available to help community members find, evaluate, organize and use information effectively.

The process of learning in the classroom can become significantly richer as students have access to new and different types of information, can manipulate it through the use of technology in ways never before possible, and can communicate their results and conclusions by means of a variety of media to their teacher, students in the next class, or students around the world. Properly used, technology increases students' learning opportunities, motivation and achievement; it helps students to acquire skills that are rapidly becoming essential in the workplace, and it breaks the barriers of time and place, enabling students in any community, no matter how remote or impoverished, to have access to high quality instruction. This poses a huge challenge on technologists to provide these opportunities to learners in every corner of the globe.

To excel, students now must master an impressive new array of technology-driven skills. At the same time they will need the skills to evaluate and organize vast amounts of information. The usual barriers of time, distance, convenience and access diminish as the project reaches its full potential where every learner at the College has access to technology 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This may even include many students from around the country and even beyond the borders who will be able to subscribe to a virtual school campus.

In setting up the CLC, the College will endeavor to establish a culture of learning. This culture demands

1. an understanding of the importance and relevance of knowledge and skills
2. a commitment that each individual is jointly responsible for his own learning and that ultimately each is responsible for his own future
3. a pride in work, books and supporting resources such as technology, buildings, etc.
4. taking and making maximum use of the opportunity of attending St Albans. It is a privilege not a right.
5. respect for the rights of others to learn

Technology in the classroom clearly warrants new ways of teaching. Idit Harel, CEO of MaMaMedia, proposes replacing the three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) with the three Xs (Exploring, expression and exchange). Technology is poised to take up this task but it needs to be facilitated through a structured environment. The Connected Learning Community can go a long way to addressing these issues.

We recognize that learning about technology merely for the sake of knowing an isolated skill is counter-productive to the rich learning experience we want to create for our students. Realizing that technology is a powerful tool that can provide learning opportunities we had only dreamt of previously, we have developed broad-based competencies for the College. These competencies are not specific to any application and will be achieved in a student-centred, curriculum driven, project-based environment where students are engaged as active, purposeful learners. (Siwinski)

Community

The project will focus initially on the immediate St Alban's College community consisting of pupils, parents and staff. Communication and collaboration between these three components is seen as crucial. The introduction of email has facilitated an enormous amount of internal and external communication at the College. It is the extension of this type of communication, coupled to access to information that will form one of the cornerstones of the project.

St Alban's College has an extensive track record of involvement with successful outreach programs involving students and teachers from surrounding disadvantaged communities. The establishment of a dynamic information hub will provide a valuable educational resource to be used in an outreach mode. At present, as many as two hundred students are being bussed to the College on a daily basis to attend lessons in Mathematics, Science, English and Biology. The students are also exposed to some computer literacy through accessing Sergo and CAMI Mathematics programs.

The unfortunate part of these projects is that funds are rapidly drying up and funders want to see more value for their investments. A possible solution is to provide students access to information in a distant education mode. In this case, the long-term plan is to develop the infrastructure of the schools in the Mamelodi area by equipping the thirteen high schools and 28 primary schools with computers and a basic network. Once the equipment is in place, the next phase would be to connect all schools with computers to the CIDS Schools network which will provide direct access to the Information Hub established at the College through the Mamelodi Teachers' Centre local area network (MTC LAN)

The Mamelodi Teachers' Centre has been established as a Community Centre through a project called Adopt-A-Network. This project was established as a joint project of Reach and Teach, the CSIR and St Alban's College, with a number of other projects run in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The centre is reaching the point of self-sustainability and could serve as a model for the establishment of other centres around the country. This has gone a long way to alleviate the financial burdens placed on the community with the introduction of computers. At the same time, the needs of the community have been taken into consideration as it was the community that helped establish the project through involvement from all sectors, and not just the one person. The MTC LAN is a community resource that is available for everyone.

Determining Needs

An essential ingredient for the whole project has been the establishing of the needs. The project was conceived to meet the growing needs of the College and cannot be perceived as meeting the wants of a particular group. The growing needs to apply the three Xs of exploring, expression and exchange, coupled to meeting the needs of a changing society, has led to the desire to adopt new methodologies and technologies

A Group Discussion Support System facilitated by the CSIR will be used to process the needs of the project on a more scientific basis. Focus group sessions will be aimed at the teachers, pupils and parents with the specific aim of identifying specific needs by adopting a process model of facilitation. Three key areas will form the basis of the analysis, namely identifying issues related to :

• Access - including the technical component as well as the changes in mind set
• Interactivity - with the technology and other parties
• Support system - for the technical component as well as guidance and human contact

The outcomes of the three focus groups will help to identify the overall architecture of the project from a macro perspective. This in turn will determine the physical infrastructure that will be employed at the College from the point of view of internal and external access to the information hub. The ultimate aim of this section of the project is to ensure that the right decisions are taken in the implementation of the technological solutions. This reinforces the notion that the warmware issues associated with any project are far more complex than the hardware and software constraints.

General

Some perceived benefits of the project include

• The school's profile will be raised in the community as the teachers, pupils and parents embark on a unique learning experience.
• Improved subject learning
• Improved motivation and attitudes to learning
• The development of independent learning and research skills
• Social development
• The development of network literacy
• Increased parental involvement in the College
• Great social benefits (including increased communication)
• Improved communication between home/school and work/school
• Learning not limited to hours of school day - coupled to the concept of lifelong learning
• Opportunities for Community investment in local schools
• Collaboration with schools from around the world
• Students develop lifelong learning skills and are prepared for an information-based workforce.
• Students and staff have access to a vast knowledge base and rich instruction.
• Teaching and learning are customized
• Business and administrative tasks are efficient and accessible, providing support for the business of teaching and learning.
• Educational Institutions must assign high priority to funding and building the information technology infrastructure

The list will grow as the College takes the calculated risk of placing the final outcomes to the students on the line. We will never know what is possible if we do not capitalize on the existing potential that has been built up over the past few years. There has been no better time in the history of the College to take such a bold step into the future where essential partners are there to help reduce the risk and to enable a truly exciting project. Students must become active participants where teachers actively change and deliver the curriculum in exciting and different ways.

--oo0oo--

Jossey-Bass; 1996 Apple Press; San Fancisco,

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(http://www.stalban.pta.school.za/beyers/stanew/unispaceiii/warmware.htm "Warmware issues in Education"

Bogg, George R: President, Palomar College (http//horizon.unc.edu/horizon/online/6/1/default.asp "Accepting Responsibility for Student Learning")

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University (http//horizon.unc.edu/horizon/online/5/2/social.asp "Meaning in the

Context of Culture")

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(http//horizon.unc.edu/horizon/online/5/3/social.asp "Collaboratories of the Knowledge Age")

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(http://www.ga.k12.pa.us/curtech/techplan.htm " Germantown Academy Technology Plan")

UNESCO, 1995: World Education Report

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