Why Every Teacher Should Integrate ICTs in Teaching and Learning.

It is still common to find a teacher who is oblivious of the changing landscape in teaching and learning. Here are a few nuggets to change your mind.

Things and times change, but who knew that a time would come when lessons in Uganda would be conducted on Zoom?For those who have been to university, there was some semblance of remote teaching and learning. But none or few of us thought that even a nursery class could be conducted remotely. Indeed things change and for that teacher who is still living in that past, it’s now or doom.

“Technology might not replace a teacher in the classroom, but the teacher who doesn’t use technology will certainly be replaced.”

More than ever before, everyone in the teaching career ought to embrace ICTs in teaching and learning. ICT has invaded and transformed almost every aspect of our teaching lives. It is therefore prudent for us to understand and appreciate the essence of integrating ICTs in education for the learners, their teachers and other stakeholders. If you still insist on the traditional mode of teaching, below are some thoughts for you.

How in this current situation would the teacher engage learners remotely especially in scenarios where they don’t have to physically be in contact? The recent closure of schools has seen this being effectively done as teachers embarked on the use of the internet with tools like Zoom, Jitsi, Meet, Google Classroom among others to ensure continuity of learning. I

Tr. Robinah (Under the Edify Uganda eClass project) handling a nursery class using Zoom.

What impression does a teacher give when they enter class with notes in a worn out book? Imagine the scribbling in those old notes in an attempt to update them. If these notes where in a Word Processor or Presentation software, the teacher would be able to update them with ease and in real time. You always end up with always updated and clear notes. This even gives the teacher the ability to give handouts whether in print or online. This gives the teacher ample time to prepare, research, edit and update his/her notes to meet the changing learning landscape, which wouldn’t be possible the teacher was entirely relying on hard copy notes from text books.

As the internet becomes more and more available and the availability of internet enabled devices increases, there are more learners searching for knowledge online. As a digitally capable teacher, your influence doesn’t end in your physical classroom. With services like YouTube, a teacher can create a channel where they share their knowledge to all and sundry. This gives a teacher a wider audience through online learning, video recording as the lesson can be accessed by many learners from different schools, at their convenient time.

Mr. Ogwal Isaac is one exemplary teacher who uses YouTube to deliver lessons on different topics.

For students, it improves engagement and knowledge retention because it provides a broader method of teaching a single concept in various ways using various examples from the internet. and this result into efficiency and effectiveness,as the learners retain the information from a broader perspective.

The use of ICT motivates learning,mainly because children are fascinated with the technological way of the classroom environment. There’s enjoyment and fun as learning is going in. This is because there is exchange of ideas through the discussions, curiosity, and discovery, this in the long run removes the pervasive boredom from he class and boosts teamwork.

It promotes high order Thinking skills among the learners as they are able to carry out research solving prevailing problems. This is because they have the capacity to access relevant information From different search engines from the internet and be able to deal with the problem without having to solely rely on the teacher. this in the long run boost their confidence and ability to make meaningful choices later in life.

While times have changed, it is inevitable that every teacher follows suit in order to make themselves relevant.

………………………………………….
Druscilla Nangoma is an ambassador and promoter of Education Technology and currently teaching at Trinity College Nabbingo. Druscilla is an expert in offline EdTech solutions and serves as a consultant on the ITAU EdTech team. Dru is also passionate about counselling. When not in class, Dru will spend her time reading.

Contact Druscilla on +256 757 610 359 or nangomadruscilla@gmail.com
………………………………………….