Teaching information technology

All over the world, from Asia to Africa, from Europe to Australia, every school is rushing to adopt Information Technology (IT) in their training programs. In China, the popular slogan is: “No technology degree, No job.” and in India, the slogan is more direct: “No software job, No marriage.” With the high demand and low supply of technology skilled workers in the global job market, it is easy to understand why every education system is enthusiast about IT. The continued declining in cost of computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones make the use of IT more affordable to everybody.

When I was in India last year, a government officer told me: “We will provide ten million tablets to elementary schools and high school in our country. In the next ten years, we will be the “TechnologyCenter of the world.” Later when I was in China, a school principal said the same thing: “We will equip every school in our country with computers and in the next ten years, we will be the top technology country in the world.” I read on newspapers that many countries in Africa also had plans to put more computers in their classrooms. It seems that putting more hardware in class will make students become “Technology geniuses” but there are certain questions that need to be addressed but I have NOT seen the answers.

When I asked: “How will Information Technology helps to achieve the educational goals?”, “Who will teach technology?”, “What will be the cost of implement the technology in your school and the expected benefits? “How do you measure success of implementing technology? The answers given are naïve and dubious. One officer said: “Tablets will help students to access the Internet.” “Teacher will teach students about technology?” Another person explained: “Students will get good jobs because they know computer.” A principal seemed uncomfortable: “The cost is the cost of the computers. What else? And why do you ask?” No one was able to answer the question about how to measure success.

Learning about technology is NOT that simple. You cannot put computers in classroom and expect students to become “Bill Gates” or Steve Jobs”. You need teachers to train them and without the plan to train teachers, you will never realize the benefits. Buying hardware is easy, buying software is also easy but training teachers is NOT that simple. There are teachers who do not want to change and there are teachers who after the training will leave teaching job to work in the industry for better salary. Buying computers is risky, because of the obsolescence factor. Computer technology changes fast and without proper plan in place, in just a short time, all the hardware will be obsolete and the cost of replacement is very expensive. Training software is also risky, because of the obsolescence factor. You may teach students Java programming in elementary school today but by the time they go to high school, programming may change into something else so students will never have a chance to use it. Ten years ago, Window XP was “Hot” than in few years, Window 7 was “Hotter” and today there is Window 8 and Microsoft no longer supports Window XP. Not long ago, Desktop was “Hot” then Laptop was “Hotter” and today you have Tablets and few people even don’t buy desktop anymore.

Learning about technology such as word processing, searching the Web, sending emails, download and upload papers, perform calculation and write simple applications are all the “Basic skills” that can be learned in few days or few weeks but without proper trainings from qualified teachers, it can do more harms than good. For example, a spell checker in the word processing can help check spelling for some words, but does not guarantee the right word is used. This requires writing skills that can only taught by teachers. The Web can provide lots of information, but NOT all materials are correct, different skill is needed to validate this material and that can only taught by teachers. Basically computers CAN NOT replace teachers, as you need to have teachers in every classroom to provide proper training to students. However, as I review all the plans about implementing IT in schools, I have NOT seen a plan that mention teacher training. These is only one answer, in the hurry to buy more computers and technology, many have forget that in education the teachers is the most important. They are more important than all the hardware and software. They are more important than all the servers and internet network that every school is hurrying to put in place. The cost of buying these equipments is huge, in several hundred millions but without the teachers, in a few years they will be all obsolete. And that means there will be no benefits. But if you put that amount into training of teachers, invest in all young teachers who are still learning in universities to develop a new generation of technology teachers, things will be different.

Last year, when a group of government officers from a developing country visit CMU, a high level education officer asked me about how to improve the education system. My answer was clear: “You cannot improve the education system without the teachers. You must start with the teachers then everything will be fine.” He seemed surprised: “What's about all the tablets and laptops? We need that for our students. I would expect a different answer from you as a computer professional.” I smiled: “Do not forget that I am also a teacher.” Later when he visits my office, I show him a poster in my desk: “If you can read this, thanks your teacher.” He nodded as he understood my message and we shook hands.

Sources

  • Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University

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