In DigiSchool, role of teacher and student will be reversed

In March this year, the DigiSchool programme was officially launched. With the disbursement of more than 500,000 laptops and tablets to selected schools across counties, the first phase of digitized learning in schools is already in place.

During the second phase, it is expected that another batch of tablets and other devices will be distributed. By April 2017, more than one million devices will have been distributed to schools across the country.

It is expected that by August 2017, the DigiSchool programme will be running in all public schools in Kenya.

As expected, teachers have been apprehensive about this programme. Some have openly resisted its implementation. Their excuses include: Why roll it out before training teachers? How will teachers facilitate the programme without the requisite skills?

Teachers are not sure whether they will meet the expectations of the DigiSchool programme. Their concerns are valid but misguided.

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Of course, some handicaps are expected but teachers need not worry. Kenyans will not crucify them if they experience some hiccups while navigating the virtual school for the first time. We will be tolerant. And the reason for our leniency is this that in the DigiSchool space, teacher-student roles will be reversed.

Here’s how - in DigiSchool, there are two types of residents, namely the ‘digital natives’ and the ‘digital immigrants’. Students are the natives and teachers are the immigrants.

As digital natives, children are fluent speakers of the ‘digital language’. Having been born in the digital age, they have learnt to multi-task. Indeed, experts say that these ‘netizens’ are even able to do their homework as they watch TV.

In contrast, most teachers, just like most parents and guardians, belong to the generation of digital immigrants. Modern technology found us here and we have had to learn to interact with digital media late in life.

 VIRTUAL SPACE

Sadly, some of the teachers expected to operate in the virtual space of DigiSchool have resisted working with technology. As the natives would put it, these teachers have chosen not to do digital.

As immigrants, teachers have the arduous task of learning this new language. As is always the case in learning a new language, there is the expected challenge of adopting an accent.

In this endeavor, teachers will have to work hard to shed the ‘accent’ of the pre-digital age.

We must come to terms with the fact that our children, the digital natives, are different from us. As one expert observes, this generation has grown up with bits and bytes. Their neurons are wired differently. They found technology here and so their ability to interact with technology is at a higher level than ours.

They are naturally wired to explore all the features of mobile devices, search the web, listen to music as they study and watch television as they do homework.

They can also create websites, update their social media pages, set their devices to receive instant updates on the status of their friends’ timelines on social media platforms, and attend web events among managing other ‘digi-things’.

In forging new and effective relationships in the DigiSchool programme, teachers must factor in all these demands in their mode of education delivery. The approaches to teaching and learning will have to accommodate these expectations to suit the needs of the digital natives.

For effective delivery of digital learning, teachers must, therefore, come to terms with the reversed roles in the teacher-student relationship. In DigiSchool, the natives will certainly play the coaches, mentors, and experts.

Teachers will have no option but to humbly take their place as part-time students of this digital age in order to achieve a win-win situation.