As mens eers ʼn
blog het sien jy skielik oral berigte oor hoekom ʼn Prof moet tweet en blog. Daar is dalk ʼn mate van self-selection ter sprake, maar oral
waar ek kyk is daar nuus oor die gebruik van tegnologie in onderrig. The Economist het ʼn lekker berig gehad
oor die internet in die klaskamer en mens kan sommer direk na Salman Khan se TED lesing luister.
Op die NWU-Pukke
kampus is ek self betrokke by ʼn loodsprojek waaroor ek baie opgewonde is:
in-klas, intydse elektroniese terugvoer. Die ou grappie is dat op skool draai
die Juffrou by die bord om, om seker te maak dat almal by is. In derdejaars
ekonometrie hoop die Prof dat iemand by is! Maar die dae wat ek ʼn vraag uitgooi
vir die gehoor is nou getel. Met die nuwe Quiz
stelsel kan mens vooraf ʼn klomp vrae op die stelsel laai en studente kan hulle
selfone se web browsing funksie gebruik om daar in die klas vrae te antwoord en
terugvoer te kry.
Die opsies is
natuurlik uiteenlopend. Mens hoef nie net meervoudige keusevrae te vra nie.
Om seker te maak
dat die uitkomste is bemeester word makliker. Die resultate is op die internet
beskikbaar vir die dosent so as jy jou iPad of Galaxy tablet byderhand het kan
jy vinnig sien waar die studente vashaak.
Daar is natuurlik
nog groeipyne: almal se fone werk nie ewe lekker nie en 3G en wi-fi sein wissel
oor kampus, maar ons is besig met die proof of concept. Die toekoms van
onderrig en assessering is op jou selfoon.
Moore’s law postulates that technological capacity grows exponentially. If Moore’s law does in fact hold true, institutions who want to grow a competitive edge rooted in technology, will need to grow a capacity to absorb technology exponentially. This might seem ridiculous, but you will attest that technology is easily absorbed by those willing to learn-by-doing!
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see technology in education indeed being actively pursued by the NWU. I am very interested to see how this will play out. I am however realistically pesimistic. Yes, we should expect growth pains, however, many issues are rooted in the legacy systems employed by the NWU. The NWU is unfortunately not quick enough to absorbed new technology, and will therefore always be backwards in this regards (The lack of Internet Explorer updates on campus computers are a simple example of this).
The benefits of technology will only be realized if people are hungry to use it. For a university to be truly technology centered, we will need people to embrace technological change. The truth is we need technological movers, shakers and rainmakers to drive cultural change. We just don't have those power users at the NWU. Very few NWU-colleagues are as technological savvy as you are. I fear any efforts to drive the use of technology in education will be met my resistance and lack of interest.
Technology-in-education will only be viable if the NWU starts to grow a technology-culture. I don't think this is (yet) addressed on the lecturer- side as well as on the student-side.