Proposal for a Masters in Educational Technology
Rationale
Why is there a need for a Masters in Educational Technology at UCT? There are a number of
reasons:
 ICT integration in the curriculum in schools is now required through specific learning
outcomes and assessment criteria. Teachers are not prepared.
 Universities promise graduates with competencies which prepare them for the
“information society”. Local academics have no access to qualifications which
support them in such preparation.
 While Gauteng, KZN and the Eastern Cape have programmes in place to support the
need for such qualifications, there is nothing offered in the Western Cape.
 There is a need for research into emergent practices of ICTs in education, but few
channels existing to undertake it.
 Perhaps masters student numbers are dropping because the kinds of offerings students
want/ need are not available (should we include this?)
International situation
Masters in Educational Technology programmes are now commonplace amongst Masters
offerings at English speaking universities throughout the world. Known by various names including Masters in E-learning, Masters in ICTs in Education, Masters in Computer-based
learning - they all accept that technology in education is a fast growing area of both practice
and research.
Programmes are too numerous to list. A few international examples include:
United Kingdom
 Masters in E-learning, Oxford University; MSc IT in Education, Trinity College, MA
Educational Technology, University of Bath, Med E-learning, Sheffield, MA ICT in
Education, Institute of Education, London
United States
 Masters in Educational Technology, Columbia &South Carolina; Masters in Learning
Design and Technology, Stanford
Australia
 Masters of ICT in Education, Monash; Masters Educational Technology University of
Queensland, Masters in IT in Education, University of Sydney;
Many programmes are fully based in education departments, with a great many of them
drawing on other faculties (such computer science, digital media studies and so on). Some
courses are set up as inter-disciplinary joint programmes (for example Stanford University’s
Learning Design & Technology, Trinity College’s MSc; Brown University)
Local context
Policy framework
In South Africa, policy level support for ICTs in education is manifest in numerous
documents including the National Plan for Higher Education (2001), the White Paper on eeducation,(2003 ) the Strategy for Information and Communication Technology in Education
(2001) and the National Research and Development Strategy (2002).
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Curriculum requirements
ICT integration into the curriculum has essentially become compulsory in schools as the
National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10-12 explicitly inlcudes ICTs in the learning
outcomes and assessment standards in several school subjects. This is now being implemnted,
starting with Grade 10 in 2006.
Commitment on the ground
National, provincial and institutional expenditure on computers in education is growing (see
Czerniewicz and Hodgkinson 2005; Czerniewicz, Ravjee and Mlitwa 2006 for details). There
are active provincial projects supporting practice with the Western Cape active through the
WCED’s Khanya Project and the Western Cape Schools Network, for example.
Target audience
There are a range of possibilities in both schools and tertiary institutions including:
 teachers
 heads of department responsible for computers –in-the –curriculum implementation,
 designers,
 developers
 government officials and administrators at different levels responsible for ICTs in
education,
 aspirant academics
 people working in elearning NGOs
 tertiary educators engaged in pre-service teacher training.
 electronic publishers
 software developers
Competition
The main competition locally is in Gauteng at the University of Pretoria and the University of
Johannesburg.
The University of Pretoria has the most well established programme. It is run through “block
lectures” with complementary online components. Its states that its target includes the
business community.
The universities of Johannesburg (ex-RAU) and Rhodes offer Masters in Computer-based
Education and IT in Education respectively by dissertation only.
The University of Johannesburg offers a postgraduate Bed Honours in Computer-based
Education, with the aim of “providing educators with applied competence” Rhodes offers An
Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE).
University of KwaZuluNatal offers a programme in digital media which awards the
qualifications MA, Advnaced Diploma, Honours and Post grad Certificate. The core modules
are Research, Digital Media Development and ICTs and Education.
The closest qualification in the Western Cape is Stellenbosch University’s MPhil in
Hypermedia for Language Learning offered through the Department of Modern Foreign
Languages.
Proposed format
The new Masters programme will be co-convened by Joanne Hardman (School of Education)
and Dick Ng’ambi (CET).
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The suggestion is that students are required to do two core courses and two elective courses.
The first core course would be Learning, Cognition and Technology, already offered in the
School of Education and taught by Joanne Hardman.
The second core course would be Key issues and Debates in Educational Technology. This
would be a new course taught by members of the Centre for Educational Technology.
Responsibility will lie with Dr Dick Ng’ambi and Associate Professor Laura Czerniewicz,
although other members of CET will also be drawn into the teaching and learning design.
Elective courses can be drawn from the numerous other courses offered by the School of
Education. A closer investigation of the possibilities needs to be undertaken in order to ensure
that some kind of fit does exist. At a first glance, almost every course can be viewed through
an ICT in education lens.
In addition, there are course in other departments which would be suitable for a Masters in
Educational Technology. While a close investigation of curriculum and administrative matters
is needed, an initial scan of the possibilities suggests the following:
Department at UCT
Computer Science
Centre for Film and Media
Studies
Department of Information and
Library Studies
Course
Human Computer Interaction
Online Material
Cyberlaw and ethics
Media Creative Production
Information and knowledge management
Databases and database production
Intellectual domain
This is a growing area of enquiry. UCT library has 57 journals relating specifically to ICTs
and education, and there are others online which are not yet in the formal databases.
(Examples of the latter include the Open University’s JIME, and Lankshear’s new Elearning).
There is a broad knowledge domain on which to draw.Key areas and theorists include:
Issue
Uses of ICTs in education
Digital divide and education
ICT, society and education
Computer –mediated
communication
ICT and new literacies
Learning design
Philosophy of online learning
Evaluating online learning:
Key writers
Laurrilard, Garrison, Anderson, Squires, McDougall
Warschauer, van Dijk
Burbules, Callister, Cuban, Noble, Agre
Lave, Wenger, Salmon, Goodyear
Kress, van Leeuwen, Snyder, Hawisher, Gee
Schank, Papert, Selfe, Manovich, Wilson, Reeves
Lankshear, Knobel, Dreyfuss
Oliver, Britain, Lieber,
Concerns
Any new programme will have its challenges. Specific concerns in this case are:
1. Will it be possible for sufficient students to be accepted for a Masters degree, or is a feedin Honours required?
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2. Students undertaking such a programme will be likely to expect the use of educational
technology as part of the learning design. While this will be true of core courses there
may be disjuncture with other courses, specifically in the School of Education.
3. Students may also expect to be taught specific practical multimedia skills.
4. As presently conceptualised this programme is not targeted at e-learning in the corporate
sector. Should it be?
Selected References
Czerniewicz, L. and Hodgkinson-Williams, C. 2005. Editorial: Education in South
Africa-what have ICTs got to do with it?. Perspectives In Education, 23(4): viixiv.
Czerniewicz, L; Ravjee, N and Mlitwa, N (2006, in press) Information And Communication
Technologies (ICTs) and South African Higher Education: Mapping The Landscape,
Report commissioned by Council for Higher Education
Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (2002). Foresight Synthesis Report:
Dawn of the African Century. [Online] Available:
http://www.dst.gov.za/reports/foresight_reports/
FORESIGHT%20SYNTHESIS%20REPORT.doc
Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (2002). South Africa’s National
Research and Development (R&D) Strategy, August 2002,Government Printers,
Government of the Republic of South Africa, Pretoria.
Department of Education & Department of Communication (2001) A strategy for information
and communication technology in education. Available at
http://www.gov.za/documents/combsube.htm
Department of Education (DoE) (2003) Draft White Paper on e-Education: Transforming
learning and teaching through Information and Communication Technologies.
Pretoria: Department of Education.
Department of Education (DoE). (2001) The National Plan for Higher Education Online
[Available]: http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/misc/higheredu
Department of Education (DoE). (2003) Draft White Paper On e-Education Transforming
Learning and Teaching through ICT, available at
http:www.info.gov.za/whitepapers/2003/e-education.pdf
Department of Science and Technology (1999) Foresight ICT Report. Available at
http://www.dst.gov.za/reports/forsight_reports.htm
Dowling, P (1996) Piaget ), Cyberspace, Subjectivity and the Ascension
Haraway, D (1991) Simians, Cyborgs and Women London Free Association Press
Kress (1996) Before writing: rethinking paths to literacy London: Routledge
Kress, G and van Leeuwen T (1996) reading images, the grammar of visual design London:
Routledge
Snyder, I (1996) Page to Screen: taking Literacy into the Electronic Age
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Letter From Amc Lowenherz, Co-Ordinator: Ict Knowledge
Management Unit: Curriculum Development Directorate
Dear Professor Czerniewicz
PROPOSED M.Ed EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AT UCT
The National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10-12 is currently being implemented in
schools throughout South Africa, beginning with Grade 10 in 2006. In a number of the
subjects, digital technologies are explicitly mentioned in the learning outcomes and
assessment standards. This means that learners must interact with them in order to achieve
the outcomes required in their preparation for the National Senior Certificate from 2008
onwards. In the past, ICT enrichment of curriculum has been optional.
In preparation for this new emphasis, the Khanya Technology in Education Project of the
WCED has ensured that all public secondary schools in the province are equipped with at
least one computer laboratory. Within the Curriculum Development Directorate and Khanya,
curriculum websites, teacher training, the development of ICT integration guidelines, software
evaluation, demonstration and development have been ongoing for some time, particularly
regarding disadvantaged schools.
Nevertheless, although this province has a greater depth of experience and a better
infrastructure to support curriculum through ICTs than any of the other provinces, it is very
clear that far more knowledgeable people are needed in the education system to enable ICTs
to take on the central role necessary in schools to maximise the effectiveness of scarce good
teachers. Expertise is required at all levels of the system, from teachers to education
department officials, and to tertiary educators engaged in pre-service teacher training.
In the past, people wishing to undertake postgraduate studies in this field have been
compelled to register at tertiary institutions in other parts of the country. The introduction of a
MEd course at UCT would deliver much-needed expertise for provincial and national
education, but it would also inform and enrich educational debate around currently unresolved
issues regarding iCT as a tool for achieving curriculum goals.
Although the faculty of education at UCT is already engaged in research with the Khanya
project, further capacity for research is urgently needed in order to inform developmental
processes within the project and the education department relating to ICT curriculum support.
Informed Masters students could play a meaningful role in this while satisfying the academic
demands of their studies.
I have consulted with colleagues in the Khanya Project as well as in the Curriculum
Development Directorate, and we unreservedly support the proposal that an MEd in
Educational Technology should be offered at UCT.
AMC
LOWENHERZ
CO-ORDINATOR:
ICT
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
UNIT:
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORATE
SENIOR CURRICULUM PLANNER: ICT INTEGRATION WITH CURRICULUM
DATE: 2006-02-10
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Email from Pam Miller; CT Convenor for Pretoria Masters
Programme
A M.Ed. in Educational Technology at UCT is long overdue. Computers
have been introduced in schools by the WCED and other institutions
and are now the norm. White boards, sensors, PDAs, etc. are becoming
common. Teachers and educators need to have an understanding of
these technologies that can enhance learning and the associated
theoretical underpinning. Educators need to know how to manage
educational technologies to enhance learning.
In South Africa, to the best of my knowledge only Pretoria, Rhodes
and Johannesburg offer similar masters programs. There is nothing in
the Western Cape. At least one of the four local universities should
be offering such a course.
Time and again one hears of the importance of using technology to
enhance education. UCT should be contributing to the development of
Africa using technology to enhance learning.
Teachers,
education
people in
course as
on such a
lecturers, electronic publishers, software developers and
administrators would benefit from such a course. There are
Cape Town and surrounding areas who would like to do such a
an M.Ed. in Educational Technology. I often have enquiries
subject.
I have been teaching the M.Ed. (Computer Integrated Education) for
the University of Pretoria in Cape Town during 2005 and now 2006. We
hire a venue at the MTN Science Centre and usually meet weekly. I
have 7 students who completed their computer modules and are now
completing their thesises. I have another 3 M. and 1 PhD who have
joined the thesis group. The UP course has a number of modules and
then a thesis. I commuted from Cape Town to Pretoria in 1995-1997
when I did my M.Ed. under a slightly different system where we met
once a month for 4 days at a time.
Problems envisaged are that a M. degree requires an Honours degree as
an entry qualification. Many of those who want to do the course do
not have that qualification. Another problem experienced is that
many students do not have enough computer skills or experience to
fully benefit from the program – they are so busy learning basic
skills such as PowerPoint or Access that they miss much of the theory
being taught. A solution would be to structure an Honours and a
M.Ed. – the Honours focussing on applications and software, and the
M. focusing on theory with software. The M.Ed. course would use cooperative learning so that those with computer skills from B. Ed.
Hons. in Educational Technology would feed into the groups with
academic learning in another field.
Good luck. At last!
late than never.
At least 10 years behind the times.
Better
Pam
Pam Miller, Ph.D.
Phone 072 247 9047 (after school hours) 27.72.247.9047
(international)
pam@miller.wcape.school.za (home) and pmiller@phs.org.za (work)
http://www.wcape.school.za/subject/CS/PHS/index.htm
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