Photo courtesy of Santi Vedrí on Unsplash
By Lilian Nyaranga
One of the emphasis of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in Kenya, is the group oriented approach to learning.
This means that collaborative environments in the classroom need to be strengthened.
Effective collaboration enables the learners gain key 21st century skills like critical thinking, problem solving, communication and creativity. Besides these, they also learn soft skills like being respectful, open minded, accountable, tolerant and team players, hence preparing them for the future world.
Collaboration requires high level participation from learners and proper guidance and monitoring from a more knowledgeable person working with them.
However, creating collaborative environment may look good on paper than when practiced in reality. It becomes more complicated when you take into considerations the large class sizes, limited space and resources.
I believe technology is a tool that can help address this challenge if well implemented.
Today I will be looking at how technology can be used to spur student and teacher collaborations.
Technology and Student Collaboration
There is no denying that children love technology. They can spend endless time just glued on their device’s screen. Majority of them use technology more for entertainment than educational purposes. We have read numerous reports of how this trend is having adverse effect on them.
According to a research conducted by Innovative Teaching and Learning (ITL) project, teachers reported the of use technology by their students was mainly more for consumption than creation
But this doesn’t have to be the case. Technology can be a great tool that drives the learning process in and out of school.
Good news is that the growth of smartphones in Kenya has been exponential over the past years hence making it a market leader in internet penetration. Teachers and parents can leverage on this by making use of the technology tools and free online collaborative platforms available.
From use of Microsoft office to videos to educational gaming tools there is no limit to options that are out there. With proper control, monitoring and supervision learners can be guided through sharing resources, ideas and learning in collaborative platforms like WhatsApp, Skype, Google Classroom or Google drive among others.
Technology enables learners collaborate with peers within the same school, from different schools or countries on a particular topic or project of mutual interest.
The flexibility of technology allows learning to take part at any time and place. Thus a teacher can have the normal lessons in class and part of the lesson can be done outside the class using technology. This model of learning is called blended learning, (Look out for my next article on this model)
The role a teacher plays in student collaboration using technology cannot be gainsaid.
Consider a teacher who has just completed a math topic on Pie Chart in class 7. The teacher wants the learners to carry out further research online. He wants learners to get a better understanding of the importance of learning about pie charts.
This teacher cannot just put his learners in groups and instruct them to go online and carry out their research. There is an avalanche of information online, that would confuse and overwhelm the learners.
Instead, by carefully crafting guidelines for the math groups, he can make their research to be more focused and lead to more meaningful learning.
This link gives an example of how the teacher can guide learners through use of multimedia to do research and collaborate on this topic. The groups then can engage in lively student led discussions on a collaborative online platform.
Technology and Teacher Collaboration
As teachers sometimes we feel so isolated within our classrooms. Time and space to interact with other peers is limited.
How then can teachers leverage on technology so that they are sharing resources, best practices and new ideas to improve learning in the classroom?
The research by ITL shows that innovative learning happens more in environment where teachers report more frequent collaborations with one another on teaching practices and for mutual support toward improving them.
Most teachers in Kenya belong to WhatsApp or Facebook groups that are subject, grade, or type of school based. However, most of these groups focus more on giving updates on government directives, school events, job opportunities and sharing of professional documents. There is little sharing on professional development or innovation.
There is need to go beyond just sharing of resources in collaborative platforms. Teachers need to start using technology to create and share innovative learning ideas with other teachers. Teachers need to start thinking of innovative teaching skills and activities, document them and share on collaborative platforms. Personally, I get more inspirations after I learn about other teachers best practices in class.
Documenting best practices can also earn teachers money. Platforms like teachers pay teachers or TES are good examples of how teachers are earning good money selling their creativity to other teachers. This is also one of the goals of Elimu Shop in Kenya, a platform that empowers teachers to be innovative and eventually make money from their innovations in the classroom.
There are quite a number of free collaborative tools out there. While popular apps like WhatsApp are easily accessible for teachers to share resources, ideas and mentor each other, they are subject to abuse. It is not uncommon to see teachers share posts, videos or have discussions that are unrelated to the purpose of the group. It is also difficult to navigate through the discussions or retrieve a resource after some time.
Facebook can be a better alternative however, we all agree that being on Facebook can be distractive even to the most disciplined among us, hence I would not recommend it for serious engagements.
Personally, I have used free collaborative tools like Google drive and Skype as well as learning management systems like Google Classroom. I find these tools more focused for teachers and students to grow each other and consequently lead to improved learning experience in the classroom. The apps of these tools can also be easily downloaded from Android and iOS Play Stores for mobile devices. I will be sharing about these tools and more on this forum
Technology allows educators to not only collaborate locally but also globally. Edmondo and Empatico are examples of platforms that aim to connect educators in classroom from around the world.
Please feel free to write comment below, I would really love to hear from you. Are there any collaborative tools you have used in your classroom that have worked for you?
Lilian Nyaranga is a former high school math and chemistry teacher, an Edtech enthusiast, a published author, a learning designer and a game-based learning developer. She is currently the Founder of Elimu Shop, an education company in Nairobi, Kenya, that creates innovative game-based teaching and learning resources that make learning math and sciences subjects fun.
