NEEDED: CUSTOMISED BLENDED LEARNING
The approach affords learners the opportunity to work at their own pace and teachers to fill the content gaps
MANY well-meaning education benefactors and commentators have expressed that, in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, online selfguided learning could solve some of the teaching problems and address the educational backlog.
What learners need, the reasoning goes, is to get free internet access to educational support materials on offer online.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Self-guided online learning is doomed to fail. Research shows a high drop-out rate. Learners have no incentive to keep at their studies without peer pressure, a teacher at hand or a structured learning environment.
In South Africa in particular, with socio-economic disparities and related problems, the drop-out rate would be higher. More so in key subjects like maths and physical science where prior knowledge, conceptual understanding and selfmotivation to succeed are critical.
The only answer is a customised version of blended learning. Blended learning integrates computer-assisted online activities with traditional face-to-face teaching (chalk-and-talk). The approach can add valuable new dimensions to learning. It can allow learners to work at their own pace and teachers to fill content gaps.
BLENDED LEARNING IN SOUTH AFRICA
In many developed countries, blended learning is well-established. It has enabled these countries to adapt to the demands of the pandemic. Digital remote learning and teaching is backed up by dependable infrastructure and skilled, motivated teachers.
The differences between South African schools have been thrown into sharp relief. The binary system of a privileged minority of schools and the rest remains.
More than 80% of public schools are underresourced. They are illequipped to respond to the teaching and learning challenges of the 21st century – let alone the latest demands of the pandemic.
The lockdown has compelled teachers to adopt predominantly online, blended learning teaching practices. But nearly 90% of all households are without access to the internet at home. Few schools had adapted to blended learning before lockdown and few schools would be able to adopt it during the lockdown. Therefore, the schools that had fewer resources and skills will fall even further behind.
This is especially disappointing since the current cohort of pupils (born after 2000) have long expressed their preference for a blended learning model. Even the recent recognition by the government that science, technology, engineering and maths are important in the Fourth Industrial Revolution has had little effect on the skills development of teachers, infrastructure or modernisation of resources in schools.
Therefore, mainstream blended learning is not the answer. We need to go beyond blended learning.
CUSTOMISED BLENDED LEARNING MODEL
Since 2002, the Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre in Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth has wrestled with the challenges. The bad news is that there’s no way to make the teaching and learning of maths and science easy. But we’ve developed interventions that have lifted the twin burdens of poor training and lack of infrastructure from the shoulders of teachers. Skills development linked to user-friendly and interactive digital resources has allowed teachers to focus on attaining a high quality of teaching.
Over the past decade, the centre has experimented with combinations of online and offline self-directed teaching methods. It has worked specifically on blended learning for maths and physical sciences in secondary schools.
The greatest success has been a blended learning system that uses a combination of online and offline interactive resources with pre-installed apps that are aligned with the curriculum. These can be used as a guide for teaching, home-schooling, after-school study and tutoring. We call it technoblended learning: a structured approach, using mostly offline apps in an integrated way, with the full participation of a trained or experienced adult mentor or guide.
One of the centre’s more recent interventions is a mini personal computer called the GammaTutor™. This’s an offline device pre-loaded with interactive learning material. The resources have been designed for South African school conditions.
THE GAMMATUTOR: A TUTOR IN YOUR POCKET
The GammaTutor™ software package is primarily intended for teachers: when plugged into any data projector, a TV or digital screen, it doubles as a flexible maths and science teaching assistant in the classroom and a learner support resource for after-school hours. It fits in the palm of a hand, requires no data and is navigated by the click of a mouse. Its small size makes the device easy to keep safe and to take where it’s needed.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
The GammaTutor™ application offers maths concept explanations in eight indigenous languages.
The device covers the curriculum for high school maths and physical sciences, presented in video, PDF or animated PowerPoint format – along with glossaries, exam revision support, translations into indigenous languages and many additional teaching support materials. It can be used for interactive teaching online and remotely.
Where the interventions have been applied, in pilot schools in the Eastern Cape, the results have been gratifying. Marks have improved and successful learners have been able to progress to university. The new urgency for remote teaching caused by the pandemic has created an opportunity for the country to adopt policies to accelerate blending learning practices.
The Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre offers lessons learnt through more than a decade of research. | The Conversation
Olivier is professor in mathematics and director: Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre, Nelson Mandela University