Many schools of today were designed to prepare people for life in an industrial society (Tiffin and Rajasingham, 1995) but the problem is that we in South Africa live in a period of transition between an industrial society and an information society. Freire (1973) perceives as an
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intellectual challenge the transition from the old paradigm of “teaching as telling” to the new paradigm of “lifelong learning”.
“If men are unable to perceive critically the themes of their time, and thus to intervene actively in reality, they are carried along in the wake of change… Lacking… a critical spirit… man cannot perceive the marked contradictions which occur in society as emerging values in search for an affirmation and fulfilment clash with earlier values seeking self-preservation… This shock between a yesterday which is losing relevance but still seeking to survive, and a tomorrow which is gaining substance characterises the phase of transition as a time of announcement and a time of decision. Only, however, to the degree that the choices result from a critical perception of the contradictions are they real and capable of being transformed in action. Choice is illusory to the degree it represents the expectation of others” (Freire, 1973)
This change illustrates the change in thought and the acknowledgement of capabilities of people to make their own informed choices. Forsyth (1999) in concurring with Freire maintains that without a critical mind the potential for people to participate in change and determine their future is limited to the options offered. They do not have the potential or the chance to contribute or to be proactive in the process of change. The ICTs have been at the core of this transition where computers are increasingly being used as a medium for the delivery of teaching and training; supporting, supplementing or replacing face-to-face learning. The use of
computers offers significant advantages over traditional teaching, for example, by providing organised access to many types of resources, more flexible delivery structures and new learning opportunities (Milligan, 1999). The advent of the Internet has also opened other opportunities for delivery of content using computers. Forsyth (1999) sees the Internet as a tool for teachers and learners to use for accessing information which changes the role of both teachers and learners and a source of information. This significantly changes the role of teachers who in a face-to-face course delivery has been the source of knowledge. However, Forsyth argues that the Internet does not change their expertise but changes the way they operate and the skills they need.
3.1.1. The Technologies and Usage
Educational policy in the information society must ensure that each citizen has an active and critical attitude to developments and not passively allow technological development to set the pace (Danish Ministry of Education, 1997). Therefore, there are wide-ranging debates in academia about the role of technology in education (Edgar, 1999). Edgar contends that IT has a comparable impact to that of the printing press in the 15th century. Even though IT has
revolutionised change in all aspects of teaching, most teaching is still done in classrooms, by teachers physically present, using blackboards and chalks, textbooks, frequent examinations written on lined paper or blue books (Ruth, 1997). Greenberg (2004) asserts that there are three
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competing camps of academics, researchers, and practitioners working in the field of IT: (i) adherents who claim technology improves education; (ii) opponents who hold that technology degrades education; and (iii) those who hold that there is no significant difference — saying that technology per se neither enhances nor harms the business of learning. However, technology itself can have little impact on the actual learning (technology is a neutral agent) but rather it is the use of technology that fosters a specific philosophical approach. Irrespective of one’s position, however, these authors agree that IT has opened opportunities for institutions of higher learning to offer their courses on and off campus and that slow changes have been taking place in the last two decades of the twentieth century with educational institutions and academics trying to leverage the promised power of IT.
3.1.2. Cyberspace
The explosive growth of the Internet is indisputable although its significance and effects are contested. Increasingly tools such as World Wide Web (WWW) are incorporated into courses.
The ability to use multimedia is emerging as a basic skill which all university graduates must possess in the 21st century (Edgar, 1999). The use of the WWW as an instructional tool has gained momentum as more teachers, instructors, and trainers incorporate it into their repertoire (Mathew and Dohery-Poirier, 2000). It is argued that WWW when used appropriately: (i) can enhance student learning; (ii) allows learning facilitators time to spend with students working in small groups or one-on-one; (iii) reduces repetitive teaching tasks; (iv) reduces paper flow and management; and (v) provides improved instructional materials. Students who use technologies such as WWW, Internet, CD-Rom, audiocassettes, touch screen multimedia training,
autodidactic teaching systems for learning spreadsheets and database programming, appear to perform better than those exposed to traditional institutional methods (Ruth, 1997). However, many of these arguments are based on the instructivist mode of learning where technology is seen as tool to provide instruction rather than one to support social constructivist philosophies.
The Vice Chancellor of Melbourne University said that the greatest universities of the 21st century will have geographical locations but will also operate in cyberspace (Taylor, 1993).
Cyberspace cannot be understood simply as an efficient tool of communication but as a social space which stimulates new forms of interaction, helps in restructuring and forging new identities, and produces new relations of power, for example, between teachers and learners (Usher and Edwards, 1998).
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Cyberspace is having a great impact on the traditional forms of education as it questions the actual foundation of education. For instance, Lankshear et al. (1996) when talking about restrictions placed on the learner says that education as a modernist institution is characterised by the ‘spaces of enclosure’ of the book, the classroom and the curriculum - spaces which work to enclose meaning. The learner’s task is then one of extracting a singular canonical meaning and the teacher’s that of being the ‘authority’ in terms of interpretation and accuracy.
Cyberspace, calls all these spaces into question, the fixity and stability of the word, the linear text with definitive meaning, and the teacher as authoritative bearer of meaning. In cyberspace learning, rules are more egalitarian, purpose-driven, self-imposed and self-monitored
(Lankshear et al., 1996). This statement supports the assertion made by Featherstone (1995) who contends:
“Cyberspace creates a reader-controlled environment or at least an environment where the distinction or boundary between readers and writers becomes less clear and consequently textual production and interpretation become less bounded. Hence, learners are more able to determine their own paths of learning where they do not simply interpret pre-given meanings but actively collaborate in its creation. In cyberspace practices, meanings are more readily negotiated by its users”.
The existence of cyberspace seems to signify a questioning of traditional educational systems founded upon ideas of centre, margin, hierarchy and linearity, where notions of multi-linearity, nodes, links and networks seem more appropriate (Usher and Edwards, 1998). With this, comes the need to re-think pedagogy in terms of multiplicity, of multiple paths and non-linear forms of learning and teacher-learner transactions. This would seem to suggest more opportunities for learner-centred pedagogies in shifting from teaching to learning. What cyberspace does is to change the way teaching and learning is carried out as it redefines the roles of teachers and students. The teacher-student relationship is also reconfigured since potentially all can be
‘experts’, given the abundance and availability of information in the sites and networks of cyberspace (Lankshear et al., 1998). The changes in teacher-student relationship inevitably lead to a change in their roles too. The need now is to learn how to access and use information, although this particular role is one that teachers may have to share with learners given that the latter may often be more knowledgeable and skilful in cyberspace environments (Usher and Edwards, 1998).
The availability and accessibility of information may also help release teachers from their traditional role as providers of content to that of making the learning process explicit and transparent, for example, by helping in the framing of questions and ensuring that learners critically interrogate information encountered in cyberspace. In cyberspace, the disciplinary
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distinction between knowledge and information becomes difficult to maintain (Usher and Edwards, 1998). ‘Legitimate’ or ‘worthwhile’ knowledge becomes that information used in the self-directing and self-monitored practices of cyberspace’s virtual communities.
In summary, information technology in particular cyberspace, has opened up the field of education and has provided a foundation for a new paradigm that treats both learners and teachers as active participants in the process of education. The new paradigm can be understood through the emergence of virtual learning environments where focus is moved away from the teacher as the central authority responsible for validating gained knowledge. There is a need to investigate thoroughly how this pedagogic shift helps to enhance education received by learners.
Therefore, the next consideration will be on the paradigm shift in pedagogy from face-to-face to interactive learning.