Introducing student-friendly technology

Totok Amin Soefijanto, School of Education, Boston University, Massachusetts, soefijan@fas.harvard.edu

"To infinity and beyond," says Buzz Light-year, an action- figure character in the Toy Story movies. In showbiz, anything goes, as long as it satisfies the customers; but in mathematics, we know there is no "beyond infinity".

What about technology in education? What about the use of computers in developing countries like Indonesia that perceive technology as the solution for all problems in education? Is there such a thing as "to computers and beyond"?

What is technology in education? Answer "computer", and you're not wrong -- although not entirely correct, either. The blackboard and chalk are technology too.

Is it hardware? Not exactly. The methodology of teaching and learning is technology, as are lectures, student projects and discussions. Technology in education deals with all kinds of strategies, methods, equipments, curricula and policies.

Technology in education is a double-edge sword, and can be useful and harmful at the same time. Studies in the United States, including my own recent research at a state college in suburban Boston, demonstrate this dichotomy.

Students with access to wireless area network on campus can finish their assignments on time because they conduct research through the Internet any time they want. But they also write and read e-mails or chat through instant messaging during class. Technology aids as well as distracts.

How do we make students use technology properly? The short answer is by making it more student-friendly, for example, by developing software that is more familiar to students' experience and appropriate for their intellectual stages.

In the 1960s, Jean Piaget did research on his own children to investigate the stages of their development. The prevailing attitude then was that children would not begin to learn before school-age, and that only school provided them with knowledge and skills. Piaget, however, found that children start to think, learn and build with their hands from a much earlier age. Other studies since then have confirmed that learning begins in utero.

Seymour Papert at Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a computer language program called LOGO that enables children to build their own knowledge through educational toys like Lego or K-nex.

Thus, a constructivist approach to education received second wind. In the early 1910s, John Dewey suggested a similar idea but he failed to win support from colleagues at Columbia University or education bureaucrats in Washington, DC. Constructivism flourishes today, because suddenly children's minds are open and educators are eager to propose reforms.

In contrast, the behaviorist approach failed to generate further interest because it regards the student's mind as unimportant. Behaviorism sees students as wild animals that must be trained properly: If they follow instructions, they will get a reward; if they misunderstand instructions, they will be punished.

Piaget and the constructivists criticize this approach as counterproductive to children's learning potentials. They propose a new approach: a student's mind must be understood before they are given lessons.

Although essentially obsolete, behaviorism still finds its way into several developing countries, including Indonesia.

Multiple-choice tests are one of the tools used in the behaviorism approach to education. Developed in the 1970s, this testing method encourages students to respond exactly like its developers expect. For example, the analogy problem "Father goes to office, and mother goes to..." must be answered with "market" from among those answer choices provided.

There are two reasons why behaviorism remains popular in developing countries. One, it is cheaper to implement because the diversity of students' minds are not taken into consideration; and two, it provides quick results and therefore a quick assessment by the administrator in evaluating students' academic achievement, which is measured against a single, general standard.

Behaviorism is alive and well, particularly in countries with authoritarian regimes that consider the government to be the only source of "good knowledge".

Understandably, Indonesian parents who are dissatisfied with the quality of national education are looking for alternatives more suitable for their children. Technology is one factor that might satisfy their criteria for a quality education.

Using the simple dichotomy between behaviorism and constructivism, we can employ technology in schools. In some major cities in Indonesia, we have seen the establishment of integrated or international schools that introduce curricula and technology used in Singapore and Australia. Parents, however, should be careful with such claims.

We can improve national education so that it is just as integrated and international through several means:

o Assess teachers' skills and knowledge on their particular subject matter. Are they using textbooks from the 1970s or older? Insist on using the latest editions.

o Start a foreign language program and encourage students to take at least two languages: English and another language, such as Arabic, French or Chinese.

o Adopt educational technology familiar to students and teachers. If they are used to lectures, improve them with technological presentations using transparencies, sliding blackboards or wide paper pads.

o Set up a computer lab, beginning with one affordable desktop computer. Make it mandatory for students and teachers to spend time in this lab at least once a week.

o Give homework or assignments that require students to use a computer. Make the computer lab available to those who have no access to computers outside school.

o Establish computer classrooms. Teachers can ask students to download materials from the Internet and show students how to conduct online research.

o Ask students to bring their laptop computers to school to give a Power Point presentation.

o Encourage parents and donors to participate in medium- and long-term plans that allows them to see the benefits.

The points above comprise a practical approach that touches all aspects of education, including curricula, stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, school administrators, government), technology (hardware, software, brainware) and context (community, culture, politics, economy).

One factor that must be taken into account is student profiles. The five basic questions -- who, what, when where, why -- and how, must be asked before a productive learning experience can be developed. This way, educators will respect students' initial level of learning and can adjust teaching materials and their delivery accordingly -- that is, so students can learn, teachers can teach and school administrators can plan the next educational course.

This gradual process demonstrates that the constructivism approach is flexible and dependent on the individual minds of students.

It is not for the sake of education that we teach and educate our children, but for the students themselves and no other reason, as they are the "beyond" -- the future generation.

The writer is a doctoral candidate at Boston University and a researcher in the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research.