This document summarizes a presentation on integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into teaching and learning in South African Further Education and Training (FET) colleges. It discusses the context and challenges of ICT integration, including limited infrastructure, financial constraints, and lack of digital skills. It also highlights opportunities such as partnerships, open educational resources, and collaborative projects. The presentation concludes by describing a case study of an initiative that supported several African universities in developing ICT strategies through capacity building, policy development, and resource sharing. Key lessons included the need for institutional buy-in, strategic planning, and inter-institutional collaboration to promote sustainable ICT integration.

1. An approach to the use of ICT
in South African FET Colleges:
Lessons from Experience
Greig Krull and Maryla Bialobrzeska
Saide
North-South VET ICT Conference
25 – 27 September 2012

2. Agenda
• Context – Motivators and Constraints
• ICT Integration in the FET Areas
– Teaching, Administration, Communication
• Challenges and Opportunities
– Environment, Institution, People, Technology, Learning
• Case Study: Approach to ICT Integration
• Discussion

3. Overarching Context in FET
Improve quality of teaching and
learning to promote student success
rates and employability
Significantly increased participation

4. Context
1. What is your biggest motivator to integrate ICT into
your teaching and learning?
2. What is your biggest constraint to integrate ICT into
your teaching and learning?

5. Motivators and Constraints

7. ICTs in FET Areas
Administration Teaching
VLEs, eContent, eAssessment,
Records, Finance, Management Support
Communication
Comm Tools, Social Networking

8. Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2011
Note:
• Number of web apps
• Number of “non-
educational” apps
• Number of Social
networking tools
What are your most
useful tools…?
© 2012 Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

9. Types of Challenges
Environment Institutions
People Technology
Teaching and Learning

10. Environment
Challenges Opportunities
Limited Regional Infrastructure Partnerships between institutions, governments
- Electricity and businesses
- Access to resources
Sustainability Articulate a vision and a strategic framework for
harnessing the potential of ICTs to address a
country's development challenges
Policy Implementation Overarching and guiding national
telecommunications and ICT policies, particularly
as they relate to ICTs in education

11. People
Challenges Opportunities
ICT Literacy of Lecturers and On-going Professional Development
Readiness Provide prior training when introducing ICTs
Extra effort and time involved Implement incentive systems that promote the
in using technologies use of ICTs
Lack of readiness of students Provide support and training for students
to use technologies
Shortage of people with Develop internal capacity in the use of ICT
technical skills to maintain ICT
systems

12. Institutions
Challenges Opportunities
ICT Integration • Vision and commitment of the leadership to
deploying ICTs
• Included in strategic and operational plans
Major financial investment Require strong institutional policy and planning
needed (resource allocation)
High cost of acquiring and • National/Provincial approach for joint
maintaining ICTs negotiations on the cost of bandwidth
• Identify ways in which ICTs will significantly
enhance admin and teaching capabilities
High cost of content Look for freely available resources e.g. Open
Education Resources
Consistency across campuses Centralised units
and colleges

13. Technology
Challenges Opportunities
Reliability and Security • Create a technology plan (includes long term
budget)
• Funds and staff available to sustain investments
in ICT infrastructure and support systems
System / Data Integration • Piloting (test the efficacy of a technology)
• Possible sharing or coordination of ICT usage
with other institutions
Inexperience in procuring Understand total ownership cost (acquisition,
appropriate ICT installation, power supply, maintenance,
replacement, training etc)
Limited bandwidth Enhance bandwidth/connectivity through the
acquisition of suitable infrastructure

14. Teaching, Learning & Student Support
Challenges Opportunities
Student Readiness Academic and Technical Support
Constrained Staff Capacity • Shift to resource based learning
• Focus on good quality learning resources
• College Collaboration
Quality Resources Access to OER
Programme Delivery Flexible delivery methods – online, blended,
distance

15. Case Study: Approach to Integration
Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA)
Educational Technology Initiative (ETI)

16. Project Objective
“To support interventions in universities to make increasingly
effective use of educational technology to address some of the
underlying educational challenges facing the higher educational
sector in Africa”
Strategic objectives :
• Support initiatives that integrate educational technology
• Promote collaborative knowledge creation and dissemination
• Refine institutional systems to more directly support teaching
• Research and report on educational technology activity

17. Universities Involved
University of
Education
Winneba (Ghana)
Kenyatta University
University of Jos Makerere (Kenya)
(Nigeria) University University of Dar es
University of (Uganda) Salaam (Tanzania)
Ibadan (Nigeria)
Catholic
University of
Mozambique
26 distinct sub-projects across
7 HEIs over 3 years

18. Project Examples
26 Projects
ICT and Elearning Policies, Online courses and interactive e-content, Portfolios,
Digitisation of Exam Papers and Theses, Migration of courses from Blackboard to
Moodle, Open Courseware, Video and Audio Lectures, Executive Information
Systems
Research Papers: Gender ICT Perceptions, Elearning Adoption

19. OERs
Educational materials Examples: curriculum
that have been designed
maps, course materials,
for use in teaching and
learning that are openly
textbooks, videos,
licensed podcasts
Find: International OER Some OER (depending on
Repositories or search the license type) can be
Google (term + creative reworked or remixed to
commons) your local context

20. Lessons Learnt
Rigid hierarchies hamper communication and implementation
Capacity development is a key need
Lack of institutionalised incentives to engage with ICT
Limited ICT infrastructure remains a major barrier
Encourage inter-institutional collaboration
Need for sound financial and pedagogical planning
See the results: www.oerafrica.org (follow links to the PHEA Educational Technology Initiative)

21. Conclusions
Basic problems such as limited bandwidth and intermittent
electricity place significant limitations on the potential for
growth
However…
• Telecommunications capacity is growing rapidly
• Expanding range of devices at reducing costs
• Explosion of available quality content online that educators
and students can link to
• Need governments and institutions to continue investment
and focus on ICT use in FET

22. Summary
Open
Adequate
Education
Infrastructure
Resources
Adaptive Capacity
to Change Building
Look to
Collaboration
add Value

23. Discussion
Thank you
greigk@saide.org.za marylab@saide.org.za
greigk_za Maryla Bialobrzeska
Greig Krull
www.saide.org.za
www.oerafrica.org
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

24. References
• Johnson, L, Adams, S, and Cummins, M (2012). The NMC Horizon Report:
2012 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
• Isaacs, S and Hollow, D, (eds) 2012. The eLearning Africa 2012 Report,
ICWE: Germany.
• Commonwealth of Learning. 2009. ICTs for higher education: background
paper from the Commonwealth of Learning. World Conference on Higher
Education, Paris.
• OER Africa: http://www.oerafrica.org/
• PHEA ETI:
http://www.oerafrica.org/phea/PHEAETIProjectHome/tabid/170/Default.
aspx
• http://c4lpt.co.uk/top-100-tools-for-learning-2011/
• Tony Mays, Saide, 2012, Recapping OER Presentation