“The best digital tools inspire us,
often to use them in ways the designer couldn’t anticipate.”1
Digital Pedagogy will
bring forth the new age of teaching. We will not be able to teach in five years
without the use of technological methods. It is booming like the industrial
revolution, popping up in schools with an alarming speed.
When it is applied, students
who are above average will be able to do more online exercises in class, thus
moving at a faster pace. Average students will receive more help because the
teacher would not be worries about the whole class falling behind in order to
explain work over. We will have free learning periods where children can
explore subjects that they find interesting, in order to know more about the
world and about themselves.
But is South Africa ready
for it?
Stellenbosch Primary
school started implementing tablets into their school at the start of 2016.
There is a school High school in George that gives children tablets as soon as
they enrol.
Firstly Digital Pedagogy is great in cities
that have the foundation for it, since
parents should be able to assist their children with homework and assignments.
Nothing demotivates a child more than struggling with school work. Imagine the
frustration when they start struggling with technology and no one able to help.
If the parents have some understanding of technology then they could help when a
problem occurs. We do not live in a country where everybody has the background to
work on computers.
Another reason why a foundation
is required is because the children that grew up further away from the cities,
with little to know background, will fall behind very quickly while the rest
will excel. Asking a competent child to type a simple essay, will not take much
of their time. What about the child that has never typed anything in his life?
This can be equalised by
starting children from Grade 1 with computers. Give them the tools to learn the
basics. If they have to use the computer each day, they will grow more
confident. At the end of Grade 12, they will probably write their own programs.
Secondly if the Grade one
class started with tablets, this will cause a generational divide between the
Gr1 and Gr2 age groups. Why would you hire a person who is adequate in the use
of technology when there is a whole generation that is majorly advanced in it?
I’m naming all these
problems without solutions. To implement the use of digital pedagogy all these
problems must be solved. Technology will
largely be used in our classrooms one day and we need to search for a balance.
My solution is this:
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