Abstract
The purpose of the qualitative case study reported on in this chapter was to assess the extent to which a high school located in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe could be classified as an e-school by exploring which and how information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been integrated by educators and administrators. The main focus of the research study also included understanding the various community engagement activities that the school in Gweru was running, which supported them in designing effective e-learning environments using the school ICT infrastructure. However, educators were not adequately skilled to apply ICTs as work tools, and as a result, the school was still to implement a number of solutions and recommendations in order to attain the status of an e-school that had integrated ICTs in its teaching and were designing effective e-learning environments.
TopIntroduction
The past two decades have been characterized by an increased use of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in almost every sphere of the economy, transforming practices and cultures everywhere around the world, including in the particular context of Zimbabwe (Ndlovu & Sibanda, 2021). Enterprises have had to adjust in order to remain competitive (see e.g. Bolton, Goosen and Kritzinger, 2021), social media networks have had a great impact on the lives of society and even most gadgets used in the home are heavily digitalized. The education sector has not been left behind in this revolution and has seen many governments across the world crafting policies that encourage the incorporation of ICTs into teaching and learning. The main aim is to adequately equip students with the skills required to operate in the knowledge age (Dale, Robertson, & Shortis, 2004; Department of Education, 2004; Evoh, 2007; Isaacs, 2007).
Today, as the world is facing the global pandemic of COVID-19, declared as a health emergency by the World Health Organisation, teaching, learning and research in schools and institutions of higher learning have been disrupted due to … extended closures and national lockdowns(Sibanda & Muyambo, 2020, p. 157).
As the COVID-19 pandemic is thus completely upending the 2020-2021 school years (see e.g. Kekana & Goosen, 2021; Ndhlovu & Goosen, 2021), it had quickly become apparent that online learning is not only an asset, but is also critical to the continued and sustainable education of students towards the post-COVID-19 era (Ngugi & Goosen, 2021). Education in Grades R(K) through 12 thrives on in-classroom teaching methods suited for children and adolescents that are still developing vital social, communication, and developmental competencies (Goosen, 2019b), as well as digital ones. The challenges that K-12 educators have encountered when integrating ICTs in teaching and learning during this pandemic— having to transition to complete online learning nearly overnight—have been overwhelming, as it was realized that the resources needed to quickly and effectively set up and implement an online class were, for many, very limited. With some questioning the future of education and whether it will return to ‘normal’ (traditional classroom learning), there is an urgent need for technology-supported teaching and research methods (Goosen, 2019a), written by K-12 educators and administrators for their peers in K-12 education, while also providing much-needed context and real-world experiences, based on designing effective e-learning environments in Gweru, Midlands province, Zimbabwe in an e-school’s community engagement case study.
Target Audience
As for the book as a whole, the target audience of this chapter will be composed of groups of professionals and researchers working in the fields of K-12 education and Information Technology (IT) classes (Mentz & Goosen, 2007), particularly superintendents, curriculum developers, professional learning designers, school principals, instructional technology specialists, and educators.
Recommended Topics
In line with the recommended topics for the book, this chapter will make contributions regarding:
- •
Effective instructional strategies designed and implemented by educators across subject areas and grade levels.
- •
Leadership strategies to design and implement school e-learning plans.
- •
Academic research on best practices in especially e-learning.
- •
Professional approaches that effectively prepare educators and administrators for e-learning.
- •
Technology infrastructure and support structures needed to implement e-learning effectively and sustainably at scale.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Teaching and Learning: These are activities employed by an educator to make learning possible, whilst learning is an active process that happens within the student when there is integration of new knowledge with existing knowledge.
Community engagement: This is the coming and working together of individuals and organizations, who share common goals and interests. The process involves forming genuine alliances characterized by effective participation, sharing of power and benefits all parties involved.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Integration: This is when technology is used to aid, improve and broaden student knowledge. It goes beyond teaching students how to use computers. It is a means of improving education, ICTs can be used in schools to improve information literacy among students by supporting the ability to access, use evaluate information from different sources in order to enhance learning, solve problems and generate new knowledge. ICTs are not there to replace the educator but to supplement the educator for improved teaching and learning. ICTs can be used as a means to connect educators and students where distance physically separate the two. ICT integration can also be described as the utilization of computers, the internet, and communications networks in teaching and learning which include audio, video conferencing, synchronous and asynchronous online communication and collaboration tools, e-mail, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and online course management systems.
E-Schools: An e-school is one, which is connected to ICT networks, with a minimum collection of ICT technologies and the capabilities needed towards imparting ICT skills and improving African education provision.