Bringing your Computer Lab into the 21st Century
I’ve been meaning to print the following essay in the Education Newsletter, but my co-editor and I haven’t found a good place to fit it in. Since it might not ever make it in the newsletter, I thought I’d post it here on my blog. The essay was originally written to give an overview of current trends with ICT education in The Gambia, and was intended to help new volunteers create relevant and timely courses. The theory behind it might be useful to anyone doing ICT development work, so hopefully it’ll reach a wider audience.
As an educator we must remember to look at the overall trends. It seems as though the age of the personal computer is over and we have come of age in the world of the networked computer.
Footnotes for the American (or non-Gambian) reader are appended to the end of the article.
The upcoming year could bring about a sea change in computer education in The Gambia. With more reliable NAWEC (1) power reaching farther regions of the country, we now have an opportunity to create up-to-date and quality labs.
However, increasingly it will not be enough to teach the computer as a standalone box. If we observe the world around us it is the network which serves as the de facto reason of why one should learn to use a computer. By educating Gambian students about the computer and the network, we are no longer merely resurrecting the dinosaur, but also rebuilding the whole of Jurassic Park (2). Teaching the computer as a communication medium rather than as an independent box ensures that our students receive contemporary computer literacy training.
But how do we accomplish this as we transition from a world of struggles over FOIL (3), solar, or connection to the national power grid? Obviously getting the lab power is essential to the hands on experience, but even before that we can prepare our students for when the entire spectrum is available. Here, I have given a few suggestions of what you can accomplish in your lab without power, with power but no network, and finally with a network.
When dealing with a no power situation, try using physical models of a network that describe the basics of why a network allows for reliable and efficient communications. This could be done using drawings, or physical objects such as bottles tied together with string. Try creating small circles of students with their arms tied together to the person to their immediate right and left. Tell students to pretend that they are a computer. Try sending a piece of paper that represents the data/message to be sent. “Cut” the network by removing some of the students. Is the network still functioning? Next have them hold hands with someone to the right of them and also to someone across from them. Now “cut” the network. Can the message still be delivered?
If you have a computer lab with power your options are vast indeed. However, I often see lab classes limited to teaching Microsoft Word or Excel; do not sell yourself short of the entirety of what computers can do! Starting with network foundations can be simpler and an easier introduction to computers.
For instance you could build a small school website. Simple HTML web pages are easy to code and take up very little space. Uploaded to every machine in your lab it could efficiently simulate an online experience. Try building a homepage with a few links to various eBooks, information about Gambia, or better yet interactive Flash based games to create a sense of confidence through explorative learning.
You could also download software that answers the inquisitive mind of students who are going online. We currently use numerous free and educational programs that go across a variety of subjects and disciplines including dictionaries, software for science, math, SES, and many others (4). These programs go a long way to familiarizing students with not only using a computer but also with what a computer can do.
The best thing about these methods is that if they are set up correctly the student interacts within a simplified and controlled world. That is you can forgo the pains of teaching complexities of the Windows OS (5) and start with something much simpler, giving the student a true feeling of control over the computer.
Finally, if you can get access to the internet a whole new world of possibilities opens itself. I would still suggest beginning your courses with an online simulation as described above, so that the range of complexity of sites they visit can be monitored. After that the world is at their finger tips, and without careful guidance students can quickly find themselves lost in the bottomless sea of information.
In order to keep students on track, be sure to introduce the online experience through specific user forums and discussion groups that can ease students into the conventions and standards of the online community. This controlled method of communication could be well paired with weekly questions from a World Links School (6) or outside source or even with internal school discussions. Cross cultural discussions with specific questions would give many Gambians a more complete and accurate view of the lives and ways of people living in another country.
We must be sure to teach relevant computer skills to our students. The computer and the network now act in unison to bring the world together; this is the most powerful application of computers today. If we fail to show the power of this then our students, the backbone of The Gambia’s future, will fall further behind in the world of IT.
Feel free to E-mail, text, or call me about software or ideas mentioned in this article.
-Todd
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Footnotes:
(1) NAWEC - National Water and Electricity Company. Over the past year has brought energy to key cities up-country as well as improved reliability in the urban areas.
(2) Reference to an article all ICT volunteers are given during training entitled “Resurrecting the Dinosaur,” in which The Gambia’s first ICT PCVs described repairing and making old and outdated hardware operational.
(3) FOIL - Fuel Oil, gas in American English. The fuel for generators, and therefore is what many schools and organizations across the country have come to rely on.
(4) Much of this free software has been found with the help of the Website Educational Freeware (http://www.educational-freeware.com/) a great resource for any ICT development worker.
(5) Rather than being an attack on Microsoft, this should read, “complexities of any modern operating system.” The desktop metaphor we are so familiar with in the United States simply does not translate smoothly to West Africa.
(6) World Links - Peace Corps sponsored global pen pals and school collaboration agency.
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