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.

Teachers planning to move their teaching and learning online must be aware that it is important for them to equip themselves with certain skills. Besides the ICT literacy that is to be expected of them, what other skills would they need?

In truth, the basic teaching skills that a teacher is supposed to have in brick-and-mortar classroom still applies and perhaps it may be argued that some of them become even more essential. The essential ingredients of what makes a good class and lesson will still remain. Teacher beliefs and values, class management skills, a clear understanding of the learning outcomes, the assessment of the learning, good instructional planning and motivational skills are all still important ingredients of a successful class whether online or otherwise.

However, the manner these skill are put into practice in the online classroom will differ quite considerably. For example, with regards to the need to create a safe learning environment, in a brick-and-mortar classroom, everyone is able to see and talk to each other spontaneously while in an online classroom, this is not the case. Plus the facial gestures and the nuances in the way words are spoken that is so important in everyday communication is replaced with only dry and impersonal text. This is where the well-known emoticons come into play. Other examples of unique online class management skills include for example taking into account the types of online behavioral tendencies of online participants.

Good instructional planning or design becomes even more important in the online classroom. Good instructional planning is required in a brick-and-mortar classroom but in such classrooms, teachers can make spontaneous adaptations to the situation in the classrooms. In an online environment it is not as easy to do so. This can influence considerably the flow of the lesson or instruction.

In short, teachers need to familiarize themselves first with the likely online classroom environment. They must also remember that the online classroom environment can differ according to the kind of learning activity that is to be used. A discussion forum is quite different from a synchronous chat session. The facilitation approach for both would also be quite varied. Drill-and-practice activities require perhaps less class management attention. The best way for teachers to understand the differences between these environments is to perhaps undergo an online class themselves.

In seeking to understand the students’ online experience, the teachers must learn to be online students themselves. The online experience for the teachers does not have to be a class on online learning itself. But it is important that whatever the online course the teacher undergoes, the teacher should consciously note the experience and compare it with their past classoom learning experience. Only then can they craft an online lesson themselves. The crafting of an online lesson goes beyond the technicalities of the online learning platform. More important is the re-shaping of the traditional teaching skills to fit the new environment.