The purpose of this chapter was to investigate how effectively information and communication technologies (ICTs) were used at primary schools in the Ekurhuleni South district of Gauteng Province, South Africa for re-envisioning and restructuring e-schooling in underprivileged communities. Governments and schools made huge investments, integrating ICTs and providing computer-based education, to support teaching and learning. There have been numerous initiatives, which have been endorsed by national and international bodies worldwide. The main aim of all ICT-based initiatives was to enhance the quality of education and prepare learners for the emerging digital world. Numerous studies across the world have provided impressive outcomes for the use of ICTs in schools, and more evidence is also emerging regarding the sustainability of ICT transformation in schools. There has also been abundant literature, which emphasized the need for teachers to change their beliefs about and perceptions of ICTs in order to realize the full potential.
TopIntroduction
This introductory section will describe the general perspective of the chapter and end by specifically stating the objective.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education have a long history and it has come to be acknowledged that ICT can enhance the teaching and learning process. The education sector has seen ICT evolve from the mid-1980s, where the CD-ROM was brought into the educational environment. This is the era that saw learners learning how to store audio and video data on a compact disk. Today, the CD-ROM is less important, as flash drives are used; this means technology is changing from one century to another. The 1990s introduced learners to the internet. Education became efficient with the introduction of the internet. The internet went through its own evolution cycle, from being slow and unreliable, to today with fast, reliable technologies enabling learning, even without the help of teachers. The 21st century also brough with it “the widespread use of interactive whiteboards”, which is gradually replacing the blackboard and was labelled as a ‘miracle’ in classrooms across the world (Rodger, 2016). The latter author further commented that the latest technologies are introduced to education, from “virtual learning environments, to educational computer games and an increasing reliance on the use of cloud-based technologies”, such as email and e-learning platforms. “ICT and computing today is huge, so much so that” it had “become part of the curriculum.” These technologies had seen classroom experiences being improved, where modern devices are used to allow learners to study in 3D.
With aspect similarities to the paper by Vorster and Goosen (2017), which offered a framework for university partnerships promoting continued support of e-schools, the focus of this research is on developing an improved understanding of how this evolution and the inclusion of technologies in the education environment are benefiting primary school learners in South Africa. This research will analyze whether the wider availability of ICT devices (hardware) and software, which are readily available, is being used and beneficial to a primary school learner. The research will also shed light on how primary school teachers are perceiving and incorporating ICT into their classrooms and provide insights into how ICT in primary schools can contribute to the success of teaching and learning.
Target Audience
The target audience and potential users of this chapter will include those offering e-schooling opportunities in less-privileged settings and to under-served and marginalized populations, by providing technology-supported teaching and research methods for educators (Goosen, 2019a). The chapter would also be useful to researchers interested in the concept of e-education.
Objective
The research reported on in this chapter set out to explore the current usage and effectiveness of ICT tools in primary schools and assess whether cell (mobile) phone and ICT policies in schools, particularly primary schools, are enabling e-schooling and showing the impact of ICT usage from as early in their education as when a child is attending Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers, also known as daycare centers, in South Africa (Wajszczyk, 2014). The research also allowed the authors to conduct a study into learners’ and teachers’ acceptance of ICT usage in the classroom and outside of school to enhance teaching and learning.
Background
This section will provide broad definitions and discussions of the topic and incorporate the views of others, in the form of a literature review, into the discussion to support, refute, or demonstrate the authors’ position on the topic.
Denney and Tewksbury (2013) described a literature review as the collection of selected research previously conducted in the area of study; it also sets out the need for conducting the current study. This section of the study intends to equip the reader with the required knowledge and insights from studies previously conducted. There are currently limited studies on the impact that ICT and e-learning have on primary school learners and teachers in South Africa. The popularity of this content is impacted mainly by how ICT is perceived as to not be suitable for young children. However, there is a substantial amount of ICT in education research, which has been conducted and aimed at learners in high schools and at tertiary institutions, which the researchers were going to use to guide this study.