Things and times change, but who knew that a time would come when lessons in Uganda would be conducted on Online? 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.”
ICT has invaded and transformed almost every aspect of our teaching lives here at URDT schools. It is therefore prudent for us to understand and appreciate the essence of integrating ICTs in education for the learners, teachers and other stakeholders. If you still insist on the traditional mode of teaching, below are some thoughts for you from URDT Girls Teachers.
Tr. Agaba Hillary (Geography/ICT) handling Senior Five lesson using ICTs in class
What I gained as a teacher when I started using ICTs here at URDT Girls school. 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, I would be able to update them with ease and in real time. Currently at URDT schools we have enough gadgets to use well-equipped in computer laboratory, classes and library which we use and end up with always updated and clear notes for our learners. This even gives me the ability to give handouts whether in print or online. It also gives me ample time to prepare, research, edit and update all my notes to meet the changing learning landscape, which wouldn’t be possible because we were 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. So with URDT school has made this happen because we already have updated soft copy notes, recorded videos, education systems like school management system which help to manage all our activities in a single central place, learning management system and other offline content install on all computers which help us to quick on lesson delivery and others activities at school.
Mr. Friday Eliya (English/Social Studies) is one exemplary teacher who uses ICTs in class, YouTube, social media, to deliver lessons on different topics Click and watch Friday Eliya on YouTube
ICT has improved a lot to students and Teachers at URDT schools said by Tr. Friday Eliya. 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 the 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.
Also URDT Girls school Channel was created which is going to be used to collect all videos recorded by URDT teachers. The reason was to have one video center which will help students to access all videos in one channel
