Some of us may remember (you have to be fairly old now) that Disney movie, “The Love Bug” (1968) which featured an old beat-up Volkswagen Beetle “race” car with a life of its own. It was so immensely popular that there has been a few follow-up movies since the original. The common thread in all these Love Bug movies was the ability of this old, far from fearsome race Beetle, to beat more powerful race machines. The Love Bug movies are typical underdog movies that American audience loves.

The Beetle (“he” is called Herbie) in the Love Bug movies reminds me a lot of PowerPoint, the much maligned software from a  much criticized software giant. PowerPoint has often been criticized among presentation software users (see here, here and here as  examples). The phrase, “Death by PowerPoint” is quite commonly heard these days too in the corporate boardrooms. This pooh-poohing of PowerPoint as a teaching tool occurs at the school level too, including in Singapore.

I remember a time when I was a consultant for the Master Plan for IT in Education (MPITE) of the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore, that some school principals did not consider the use of PowerPoint by teachers in lessons as examples of ICT integration. This, I believe, caused a lot of difficulties for teachers in Singapore who are just beginning to be introduced to the world of ICT integration for education. This is not to mention that many of these same Singapore school principals themselves are not able to string together a decent PowerPoint presentation on their own. What more with using more sophisticated ICT tools!

If we are followers of Marshall McLuhan, then we will also be aware that any medium that we use, can have an effect on us because technology has that ability to “extend” or “amputate” our abilities(see this related article about how Google affects us) .

Yet despite all that criticism, PowerPoint is still well-loved for various reasons. This may be because most computer users in the  world are Windows-based. Still, despite all its short-comings, perceived or true, PowerPoint will be around for quite awhile. There are many ways one can improve the PowerPoint presentations that we use (see ZaidLearn’s PowerPoint bookmarks here for many suggestions). Too put it simply, just don’t be a slave to PowerPoint and become dependent on its templates. You don’t even need fancy transitions for a good lesson to take place with PowerPoint.

I remember I have used PowerPoint to teach History in Singapore schools and I have had students who usually are disinterested wanting to move their chairs and even sitting on the floor to be closer to the screen and the sound source during my lessons. As an example, I used to show lots of pictures of the last Tsar, to give my students an idea of what he represented (or at least he tried to present himself) to his subjects then. I did my best then not to teach from the textbooks. I would simply show the Tsar in his military uniforms and would ask my students questions about him. Why did he wear military uniforms? I would show a painting of his coronation (there is also a video footage of his coronation) and ask them to study the painting and asked them who was present and why. Or why he placed the crown on his own head. I would also show a painting of him blessing his kneeling soldiers at a battlefield during World War I and ask my students why was he doing that. I would also show them the lyrics of the Tsarist anthem and play the actual anthem and ask them about the music. What kind of music did it remind them of? Why? I would ask them to study the lyrics too and ask them what they can learn about the Tsar from it. Just simply doing these with PowerPoint and asking good questions would get my students thinking about the Tsar. They become actively involved in the presentation. They construct their knowledge through making inferences and using other thinking skills. The teachers job is to ask them questions and get them to think. Here ICT is integrated into the lesson and thinking skills is infused into the lesson with the help of good ICT use.

For a teacher, it is still good teaching methodology, assisted and enhanced by a piece of technology, the multimedia capability of PowerPoint, that is going to win the day. PowerPoint only becomes bad only if we put PowerPoint first and then adapt our teaching to what we think PowerPoint can do. It is made worse if we use the standard templates and use them like a crutch. Like Herbie, The Love Bug, despite all its apparent deficiencies and beat-up appearance compared to the newer kids on the block, PowerPoint, the underdog of presentation software today, is still much loved and is here to stay for awhile more. It can still have its day, if placed in the hands of the right person.

I was once a member of a team of consultants and trainers that helped implement the MasterPlan for IT in Education (MPITE) for Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE). During my four-year stint there, a major role we had to perform was to push schools towards the use of ICT in the classrooms. We were always on the lookout for teachers who were keen with the use of ICT. Usually we find them to be young and very enthusiastic about ICT use. However, most of them show a good knowledge of ICT tools but they tend to look at things from the point of view of technology first instead of teaching first. They are technologists first, and teachers, second. Usually you can spot hem when they gush over the use of certain ICT tools and their teaching would be oriented towards the use of these tools. What ICT integration needs are the MacGyvers of education.

Remember that popular TV series, MacGyver, that featured a secret agent who is able to do fantastic things through his use of “simple” technology? We need our MacGyvers too because if we look at MacGyver, he is not a technologist. He is a secret agent. However, his knowledge of things mark him out as a secret agent who happens to be a technologist. He is clear about his mission and technology only becomes a tool for him to achieve his goals. The MacGyvers of ICT integration need to be like him in this respect and no, they don’t have to look as good as the TV version either.

The MacGyvers of education need to be clear that his role is firstly that of a teacher. Therefore, when he wants to use ICT tools in his teaching, the ICT tools must fit the learning objectives that he has set for his class. ICT tools are important but they must never be placed first. They must always come second to the learning objectives. These MacGyvers‘ enthusiasm for the use of ICT must be properly channeled.

Leaders in the school must embrace their knowledge and energy but must temper these qualities with good sound pedagogical principles. Schools leaders, who are usually older and less of a “technologist”, must also at the same time make a strong effort to find out what makes these technological toys so interesting to their MacGyvers. No doing so can cause a dampening of the latter’s enthusiasm to use these tools in teaching.
The MacGyvers should be involved in the ICT planning for the school. Get them to be the pathfinders for the rest of the teachers in the school. As pathfinders, they would be the ones who would be willing to try new ICT tools. But as pathfnders, it is also important that the learning objectives are achieved because the old hands in the school will always question the usefulness of such new-fangled tools. Having said that, it does not mean that success is expected every time a new ICT tool is used. This is where leaders who plan for ICT integration in schools must give some leeway for some degree of experimental failure. Still, if the leaders are involved with the McGyvers in the planning of lesson units involving the use of ICT tools, they can help to minimize the likelihood of unsuccessful ICT integrated lessons, through the wisdom of their experience as teachers.

When I read or watch the Harry Potter series of books and movies, I am always drawn to the relationship between Harry and Snape, who used to be his Potions teacher. The snarling Snape never made Harry feel welcome, in fact he was always intimidating and even hostile towards Harry. Harry, never liked Snape and Potions as a result and unsurprisingly, never quite did well in the subject.

Similarly, when many schools try to integrate ICT into the school curriculum, they often face their own version of Snape in the classrooms, and their plans to integrate ICT into the lessons seem to flounder or even sink. This is because they usually find that ICT integration has not taken place as they had wished despite, and perhaps, especially after they have invested so much in ICT hardware. Very often they end up in such a situation because little attention is paid to the true gatekeepers of ICT integration; the teachers.

Teachers are truly the kings and queens of the classroom. They are the ones who can turn the atmospheric barometer in their classes from one that is welcoming and safe to one that is intimidating and unwelcoming. They can be the Snape of ICT integration too or they can help weave their magic to make ICT integration successful. Like Harry Potter, ICT integration, despite its enormous potential, will not have much of a chance of success in Snape’s classroom. It is a well-known fact that successful ICT integration is dependent very much on the ones in charge of the classrooms. For example, according to Roblyer (1993) a teacher’s vision of the use of technology to improve the existing classroom practices will determine the extent and effectiveness of ICT integration in the classroom. Martin (2000) pointed out that developments of useful educational ICT projects will be impaired without the input and acceptance of teachers.

Teachers also are important for the success of any ICT integration program in schools because they represent the most important source of information about the design of lessons and what is to be taught. This implies that a lot more thought must be given to win over and convince the teacher population of any school going towards ICT integration. Teachers must be convinced about the viability of using ICT in their work. The adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is something that many teachers believe in. If they have been happy teaching the same way for many years and getting the results that they seek, it is going to be very difficult to convince them to add the ICT dimension to their teaching practice. This perhaps, is even more true if at the end of the day the teachers know that their students are only going to sit for high stakes written examinations where the students can still do well by teaching them through the usual tried-and-tested methods that does not require use of ICT.

Furthermore, teachers are a group of people who have seen so many new trends and ideas introduced into their professional arena. They have seen these come hurriedly and be forgotten and dumped, just as speedily. Many have taken to a “wait-and-see” approach to most new ideas introduced into teaching. Many of them also see these trends and ideas as things pushed by people who have little knowledge about teaching. These explains their scepticism to change.

This is not to say that teachers are a very negative group of people. Teachers, like most other workers, need to be convinced that new ideas introduced will really benefit them at the work place; their classrooms. Plans for ICT integration will only flounder if this most important group of people are not persuaded and won over to the cause. They can be the Snapes to ICT integration if school administrators do not tread carefully.