Finding Our Way in the Digital Maze: Reflections on Caribbean Education

When I began my doctoral journey five years ago – in 2015 – and I felt almost a gravitational pull to the area of Digital Literacy and Digital Leadership in education, I never could have imagined that in as little as four years after, we would have been faced with a new global reality in terms of the facilitation of learning in digital online spaces. After successfully defending my thesis, I felt very academically energized and commenced almost immediately to write a book which was, in essence, influenced by my study’s findings.

While I did begin writing this book towards the end of 2019, its “prophetic” relevance in 2020, in the wake of the global COVID 19 crisis, has not escaped me and is perhaps more than a tad disconcerting. Entitled Digital Disruption and Caribbean Education: Are We There Yet? this work in progress, seeks to chronicle how the global shift to a digital existence must of necessity not only impact how we navigate Caribbean education systems but also our entire philosophies of learning and leadership. To say that we in the Caribbean have been caught off guard, with our figurative pants down at this juncture of our global history is perhaps a great understatement.

In the Anglophone Caribbean, we have thrived on our colonial and post-colonial approaches to education, which in several respects, have served us well. Our Caribbean territories as developing nations, have bought into the importance of education as a means for upward social mobility. We have come to rely on a form of schooling that was grounded in an elitist-good-school-bad-school-paradigm steeped in a rich, British colonial tradition of Grammar school versus Comprehensive school.

While the innovation and creativity based needs of the technological age are perhaps screaming at us to relinquish these tidy, class-rowed, teacher-centred and predictive rote learning paradigms of the long gone industrial age; in our heads, we have in the Caribbean persisted in holding on for dear life to antiquated models which do not provide the breathing space for true creativity to thrive. Much of this is cushioned by a psychological dependence on notions of exclusive privilege that are traditionally associated with certain school ties; notions that some of us are still afraid to surrender.

We are for the most part independent nations; we have taken our place on the global stage; we continue, some of us, to punch above our weight, yet the hierarchical pecking order among schools in territories like Barbados, continues to define our perceptions of “getting in” or of social admittance to some preferred order that is defined by both school title and school type. We continue on this outdated journey of an analogue way of thinking while the world around us has redefined itself as it seeks to live and thrive in an anomalous and complex digital reality where the rules for judging success have changed. In a very real way, the first hurdle we as a Caribbean people are required to surmount on our quest for 21^st Century relevance, is the hurdle of our history and of our socio-cultural realities (Charles, 2019).

Into the midst of this conundrum of educational uncertainty, the COVID 19 pandemic with its resulting upheaval has come and it is forcing us to rethink our educational perspectives and practices. Education in the digital age as a 21^st Century reality has moved beyond the earlier obsession with hardware, software and the acquisition of technical skills. Although access to technology and basic technological competencies remains the key entry point to the construct of digital literacy (JISC, 2015; Sharpe and Beetham, 2010), the 21^st Century digital citizen is one who demonstrates the higher order cognitive and socio-emotional competencies to be applied to digital use (Eshet, 2012). The shift has also moved beyond technological applications to learning environments to an understanding that learning must now be recalibrated to thrive in our super digital existence because we perceive learning and life through different lens.

For a long time we have been using ATM cards to deposit and withdraw money. We utilize electronic signatures, chip-pinned credit cards, M-Money and other digital currencies to facilitate our financial transactions. We read our favourite books on kindles. We peruse websites to do our shopping, look for dates, to download music and even to worship. We view the latest Blockbuster hits from the privacy of our homes. We communicate almost exclusively through our social networks like Face Book, Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and now TikTok but perhaps in a Janet Jacksonesque way we must still ask “what have we done for or with education lately?” How has our educational system risen to the challenge and reality of a digital existence? Why do we in the Caribbean remain inordinately concerned with the prestige of old school ties and with the seeming frivolous entrapments of the old educational order, when there remains in a digital global space, a world that is so flat, with so much to conquer in terms of learning?

Finding the way for education in a complex digital maze will be no mean feat simply because the digital revolution is multifaceted in its application. Articulating the needs of small island developing states which must compete for scarce resources while remaining competitive in a digital global environment will require a strategic response to digital development at the national level. This response should include:

• The articulation of a cross sectoral national digital development response
• The transfer of an understanding of digital development as simply device focused to people focused, in terms of the development of higher order digital competencies and skills
• The development of digital policies and frameworks which can be applied to educational settings at all levels
• The leveraging of digital literacy development as the “new” 21^st Century literacy which is required for survival in digital environments
• The rolling out of targeted digital training for educational leaders and teachers which matches national development goals
• The articulation of digital literacy benchmarks for students at all levels across the educational sector
• The execution, monitoring and evaluation of how training is transferred to actual digital practices in educational institutions across the various formats including traditional face-to-face learning, blended learning and synchronous and asynchronous online learning

Hopefully, seizing the day in this moment of educational vulnerability into which we have been thrust as a consequence of COVID 19, can become the vehicle to empower us to relinquish the old ways and embrace the new.

© Dr. Denise J. Charles (2020)

References

Charles, D. J. (2019): Exploring the digital literacy practices and perspectives of higher education leaders and the implications for digital leadership: A phenomenological study. Doctoral thesis.

Eshet, Y. (2012). Thinking in the digital era: A revised model for digital    literacy. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology.  Retrieved from http://iisit.org/Vol9/IISITv9p267-276Eshet021.pdf

JISC, (2015). Digital capabilities. The 6 elements defined. Retrieved from           https://digitalcapability.jiscinvolve.org/wp/files/2015/06/1.-Digital- capabilities-6-elements.pdf

Sharpe, R. & Beetham, H. (2010). Understanding students’ uses of technology  for learning: Towards creative appropriation. In: Rethinking learning  for a digital age: How learners are shaping their own experiences, Routledge. pp. 85-99. Retrieved from:             https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/4887c90b-adc6-db4f-397f-  ea61e53739e0/1/

 

Telling Our Stories and the Age of Social Media

Most people groups the world over have story-telling traditions. The Story Teller serves to preserve the values or morals of his or her respective society. As artists in their own right, Story Tellers fashion tales, which affirm our beliefs or are lesson-based. Whether Greek myth, African folklore, European fairy tale, Biblical parable, or Caribbean and Latin American narrative, stories simultaneously define us and shape our thinking. And while based on human-experience, not every valuable story must be true in its entirety, to hold truth. So what has happened to our story-telling traditions today?

The reality of instant information at the press of a button or sliding of a screen does shape our current experience. Stories fly at us from every available end and we can become overwhelmed by information overload. The tabloids, the box-office, the news networks and the best seller all attempt to send believable stories our way and we can be faced with the real challenge of deciphering fact from fiction. On the other end, while many bemoan what technology has done to authentic human relationships, the existence of social media is perhaps in itself, an attempt to reinvent intimacy and to re-tell our stories.

But how can we deal with the challenge of hiding who we really are beneath the person we really hope to be? While Facebook and Instagram as social network tools are relatively newer vehicles for us to tell our stories, they are also excellent for creating an unreal existence. And this is where our stories become robbed of their potential power; our modern day technological fables have become places where we hide. While it may be great that social media tools allow us to control our own narratives, finding the right balance between engaging with what is popular versus what is authentic will be critical.

Today, we create stories with limited value because the image painted by our pictures and words may actually be duplicitous. We become hooked on the invented reality of social media and lose touch with who we really are. We become seduced by the high of one thousand Facebook friends who on a real day are actually not our friends in a way that counts. We can become instantly “famous”, “popular”, “successful”, or be “trending”, with some well-calculated details which may actually be hiding the truth of the entire picture. Of course, I value the power of social media myself in a world, which is now virtually flat. It most certainly has its place in forging social and professional connections and should be appropriately utilised. But where do we draw the lines between reality and fiction? And to what extent do our concoctions hurt us and fail to really help others?

In our real-life circle, away from our photo-stories, how vulnerable, honest and exposed are we really? Do we connect with friends and family to forge real intimacy? Do we expose our weaknesses and flaws as much as we do our strengths, to those we love? Can we allow our mistakes to guide a friend? Are we open to correction and guidance from others if our real story leaks out? Do we offer genuine advice based on the life-lessons learned? Have we allowed our public profile to subsume who we really are or are we even connected to our real story? What about that story that is uniquely ours; do we really know its details; its value? Are we intimately in-tuned with our own experiences, motivations and behaviours or are we coasting on auto-pilot? Are we reflective, self-aware and capable of growing past the limitations, which our own stories may suggest?

Of course, in sharing our stories I’m not talking about the indiscriminate “confession” of every intimate detail of our lives with complete strangers. Honest and open sharing of our challenges can have a valid place depending on context, our life-role and our motivation. Some have shared the stories of their battle with disease, drug abuse and depression or of their triumph over terminal illness and in these instances, the story-telling process seemed to became as therapeutic as the story itself.

Fundamentally, a life that is open to sharing is not one governed by pride and pretence. It does not need to be always right, nor must it always mirror near perfection. Living authentically should reflect the balance between moving towards our ideal self while embracing our humanity.  In today’s digital economy, the most successful companies are those which are mastering the art of utilising social media to craft and tell their own stories in ways that connect to their customers or clients. This often means not only celebrating their successes but also going public when they fail and seeking the collective forgiveness of both current and potential customers.

Story telling may be a way for us to leverage our influence and gain access into the lives or spaces of others. As we let our barriers down and expose our true stories, however, currency is not always guaranteed. Whether we gain or lose from story telling , we should at least enjoy the satisfaction, which the pursuit of authenticity brings.

. © Denise J Charles 2018

Deepening Motivation in Adult Learners

Understanding why we want to learn or embark on a particular course of study is critical to our eventual success. Motivation has been proven to be a critical component of the learning experience for all learners. For adult leaners, it is no different as adult learners are motivated or driven by a range of factors. Knowledge of motivation theories is, therefore, critical to higher education practitioners, in that it can inform programme design, course objectives, instructional and assessment strategies. Nilson (2014) describes motivation in education, as the stimulation of a desire to learn and further defines it in terms of its intrinsic and extrinsic nature.

Adult learners may be motivated by a love of a particular discipline, by a need for mastery or by the relevance and applicability of the programme of study; this is seen as intrinsic motivation. Conversely, extrinsic motivation is linked to external factors or rewards, like the expectation of a high paying job, a promotion, a raise of pay, peer or familial approval and improved social status (Nilson, 2014). Theoretical interpretations of motivation link it to specific types of impulses or desires. These range from behaviourist emphases like immediate rewards to concepts of goal orientation and expectancy theories (Nilson, 2014).

In considering our roles as Higher Education practcioners, I think that it is critical for us to understand how adult learners are motivated so that the principles of motivation can be more readily applied to programme design and the actual facilitation of learning. According to goal orientation theory, learners may be oriented by a desire to learn and master knowledge and skills for their own development or they may be motivated to perform in order to demonstrate “superiority” to other students (Jacobson, 2011). As a practitioner who has worked extensively in the area of teacher education, I have found a mix of these attributes among adult learners and hence my interest in goal oriented learning. Students with a learner orientation, can perhaps be described as passionate learners; those who interface with knowledge enthusiastically and are self-directed in their scholarly pursuits, while performance oriented learners may be driven by a desire for grades or other extrinsic rewards.

Is it possible then to move students who are purely extrinsically motivated towards a deeper more enduring level of motivation? I think that this should be the aim of educational programme design, in terms of crafting opportunities for students to be more reflective about their own motivations for learning. If a programme is cramped with assessments that are purely content driven, I think that learners will focus only on the immediacy of grades. If course design is more reflective and developmental, if it is based on process approaches, developmental structures and real-world experiences and if these are laced with opportunities for students to think about their own thinking (metacognition) I think that such learning becomes far more meaningful and enduring (Sogunro, 2014). This then underscores the relationship between intrinsic motivation, deep learning and new knowledge creation (Wald and Castleberry, 2000).

I can personally draw reference to in a programme I designed for teachers entitled “Building Bridges for Meaningful Learning”. While this was a teacher and leadership development programme designed to acquaint teachers and curriculum leaders with the requisite content knowledge about identifying and catering to varying student needs, it first required them to examine their current teaching philosophy. Through the use of graphic organizers and self-reflective questionnaires as lead-in activities, I encouraged participants to think about their current practice and about their country’s national educational system, before even introducing them to new strategies. This enabled us to explore, discuss and to grapple with tensions and practitioner anomalies, which may have been disregarded, had I simply focused on content.

This strategy, therefore, spoke to my programme aims. I was not only interested in delivering content but was more concerned about developing reflective educators, who would question what they knew and practiced. This, to my mind, was a precursor to real professional growth, which started with my attempts to deepen motivation. This created the context for knowledge generation (Wald and Castleberry, 2000). While there are a number of models of motivation, strategies that focus on inclusion, collaboration, the development of a positive attitude and the building of competencies, are also likely to work well with adult learners (O’Connell, 2005).

Developing intrinsically motivated learners is critical because it bears implications for life long learning. If we are only motivated by public accolades or by the satisfaction which may come with scoring an A, what will motivate us when we simply need to engage with new knowledge as a part of our own professional development? With respect to on going professional development, becoming an avid learner can be a precursor to sustained professional growth and the management and application of new knowledge. Higher educational practitioners who are also able to model the passion for learning through their approach to their own professional development, are also well on their way, towards stimulating growth in their students.

REFERENCES

Jacobsen, G. (2011). Teacher goal setting-Learning oriented vs performance oriented        goals. Inquire Within. Retrieved from             https://inquiryblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/teacher-goal-setting-learning-          oriented-vs-performance-oriented-goals/

Nilson, L.B. (2014). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college     instructors. (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

O’Connell, K. (2005). Motivational strategies. Retrieved from           http://userpages.umbc.edu/~koconne1/605TheAdultLearner/strategies.htm

Sogunro, O.A. (2015).Motivating factors for adult learners in higher education.      International Journal of Higher Education , 4 (1), 22-37. Retrieved from             http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1060548.pdf

Wald, P. J. & Castleberry, M. S. (2000). Educators as learners. VA: ASCD

 

 

Are You a Risk-Thinker?

As a part of my Doctoral programme, we were required to do a course on leading change in education. As is customary in these highly interactive courses, we were required to articulate the words and ideas which we naturally associated with change-management; immediately I coined the term “risk-thinking”. An obvious spin off from the word “risk-taker”, risk-thinking for me is where it all begins. Historically, any significant social or personal change has had to begin in the thoughts or imagination. We have to begin to think that change is possible, see it in our mind’s eye, before we can begin to articulate what that change should look like. Although risk-thinking can be applied to any aspect of our personal or professional lives, it can hold deep significance when applied to the context of education; especially since formal education as we know it, is built on a foundation of rich tradition and institutionalisation.

Risk-thinking is a valuable tool for 21st Century educational leaders, who must begin to conceptualise new ways for constructing a dynamic educational system to better meet the needs of a rapidly evolving society. A leader’s ability to manage change, however, will require the skill of moving messy sometimes chaotic and spontaneous thoughts from an expectant imagination, to a doable action plan. According to Roscorla, (2010) innovative leadership involves a willingness to break rules and traditions, to establish principles, which are capable of buffering change. Change is, therefore, never valueless. Underlying most change processes is a desire to make things better. This desire for development and growth in a context of innovation must, however, be guided by reflective consideration of all the change variables. It must embody a healthy respect for the past and be guided by shared values which articulate why the change is preferred or critical.

Asking ourselves what policies or practices we will completely ditch, merge, modify or re-create, is an important step in the process of moving our risk-thinking to wise action. Engaging all stakeholders in the process is also critical, as leaders who see themselves as lone crusaders or heroes will soon experience the exhaustion that comes with burnout. The creation of organisational buy-in through shared idea-generation, transparency in decision-making, and the implementation of accountability systems are strategic leadership strategies for ensuring sustainable change.

Ultimately, the objective of risk-thinking should not be the creation of an impossible, out of reach “pie-in-the-sky” ideal. Great ideas that lack infrastructural soundness can be counterproductive and may lead to greater organisational frustration. Innovative leadership requires not just the creativity to think great ideas but must include building the organisational capacity to make them happen.

Denise J Charles © 2017

References

Roscorla, T. (2010). The seven steps to innovative leadership. Converge, Center for DigitalEducation. Retrieved from  http://www.centerdigitaled.com/policy/The-7-Elements-of- Innovative-Leadership.html

 

 

Caribbean Education: New Wine, Old Wineskins?

“Since the education system in the region was not designed to be inclusive, it is not surprising that in the absence of fundamental reforms, it is proving to be unfit for education provision in a 21st Century context, where the focus is on democratisation of access, inclusiveness, equitable provision of education for all learners and addressing the individual needs of each student. ”

 Dr. Glenford Howe, Senior Programme and Research Officer, University of the West Indies, Open Campus

The captioned statement by Dr. Howe can perhaps be considered a telling indictment on the status of educational reform in the Caribbean. We are currently being swept along a global tide to see education transformed; away from the focus on the rote memorisation and tidy rows of homogenous students in the industrial era, to a dynamic, exciting, multi-cultural and student-centred context in the digital age. At least that’s what we want in our heads and on paper. While the demands for equity are being sounded loudly in our ears by international agencies like the UN who are requiring more of us, we are perhaps beginning to question the voracity of the philosophy of exclusivity, which has been foundational to Caribbean education. I am not convinced, therefore, that we are willing to make the drastic changes needed to render our systems fully inclusive and equally accessible.

The socio-cultural history of Caribbean post-slavery societies is one built on educational privilege, elitism and separation of the “sheep from the goats” to use the local parlance of some teachers. Education was about labelling, separating and excluding those who did not fit the preferred profile of academic acuity because it reflected deeply entrenched social divides, emerging from our history. Fast forward to an era where the global collective voice on education as the undergird of national development, is the refrain “each one matters”; this reflects the shared official perspective among nation states, that all deserve access to quality education. Education for All (EFA), the global movement led by UNESCO, has both agitated for and led this move, through its global initiatives to broaden the scope for educational access in the developing world. In Caribbean nations like Barbados, where this access is widespread and guaranteed for children from preschool to Secondary, the question is not just access but the quality of such access.

We must begin to question the extent to which an edict like “each one matters” is being reflected enough in educational policy changes. In several regions, we retain a secondary school entrance exam that is grounded in a “pecking order” of schools which is suggestive of superiority and inferiority among school types. This is one critical developmental roadblock as it breeds school climate, student behaviour and academic achievement issues. We tout differentiated instruction at our teacher training colleges but maintain in our schools and universities an excessively slavish loyalty to traditional paper pencil tests, even in areas like Fine Arts and Theatre. It is as if each subject discipline must be validated by the essay, because unless you can write a thematic essay, there is no evidence to the traditionalists, that learning has, in fact, occurred.

We welcome droves of technological equipment from funding agencies but at the organisational level, our educational leaders remain suspicious and afraid of technological use that will employ student cellular phones and or tablets in the classroom. These critical issues cause us involved in educational research and commentary, to wonder what it will really take for Caribbean territories to re-imagine educational systems in the 21st Century.

I think that truly creating congruence between the aims of the digital age and the aims of current education in the region, is critical. We are already living in a digital, globalised environment where the internet and easy technological access has changed the power brokerage in education. Students and teachers can be easily empowered to craft their own learning and teaching journeys and the educational system, as one which promotes formal assessments, must catch up with this reality. It must show how it is willing to adapt to fit what isn’t going away in a hurry- the digital economy- if it is going to improve its relevance. This will have implications for educational funding, resource allocation, teacher pedagogical practices and on-going professional development.

Maximising the potential inherent in education in the digital age and the need for policy innovations, will require a significant amount of risk-thinking which is always preceded by discomfort with the familiar. Its akin to the need to put new wine into new wine skins since the old ones will definitely be inadequate. Admittedly, new policy development is often dogged by political bureaucracy and the malaise which this brings. Educational and classroom leaders willing to seize the very real moments of creative and incremental change, which lies within the ambit of their professional power, can nonetheless provide tangible hope for a new educational day.

Author: Denise J Charles © 2017

Higher Education: Branding Our Way Into the Digital Future

Whether it’s their physical image, where they live, the gadgets they use or what they drive, Millennials have quickly learnt the value of a good brand.   Branding represents the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumer’s mind, through utilizing themes, visuals, ideas and associations in advertising. Branding seeks to distinguish and differentiate what ever is being promoted, as it attempts to foster customer loyalty. So what does branding have to do with the future of Higher Education?

The digital age in which we live is admittedly dynamic, competitive, edgy and a tad unpredictable. As soon as we think we have mastered the latest technological gizmo or gadget, we are quickly introduced to an even faster or more efficient one. At the same time, market demands for knowledge and digital competence and the easy accessibility of such, means that today’s educational consumer is a far different animal from those in the past. Millennials

Widespread access to knowledge through the Internet, our propensity to always be “on line” and the pervasive use of social media, have effectively redefined life as we knew it. Social media and personal branding allows anyone to tout himself/herself as an expert in any given field. “Googling” and “YouTubing” have today become the “go to” behaviours of 21^st Century digital natives who are quick to trade stuffy textbooks for Internet expertise, and the real-time experiences of live streaming. This has given much power or at least a sense of power and ownership to today’s learner or educational consumer. Educational institutions at any level must, therefore, “up their game” if they hope to maintain the attention of individuals who are now self-directed, empowered knowledge-learners because they already bring so much to the table. How then can Higher Education institutions maintain their competitive edge in this unpredictable, disruptive but exciting digital world?

Educational leaders and stakeholders must seek to actively engage in rebranding their institutions, in order to change the way these institutions are perceived by potential consumers. Are our institutions actively engaged with the digital world? Is this engagement reflected in our programme design and delivery, communication systems, or by our programmes’ openness, accessibility and global reach? Are our institutions comfortable with maximizing the benefits of social media, since this is the new normal in relationship building and social engagement? Institutions which are able to successfully market these attributes in their recruitment drives and programming, will perhaps emerge as those of choice in the digital era.

While attracting quality, competent students will always be an important factor in Higher Education sustainability, the extent to which institutions and their leaders are current and active participants in the digital world, will to some degree, also determine institutional relevance in the 21^st Century. Institutional relevance is as much about leveraging a digital presence, as it is about shifting the institution’s raison d’etre to one, which is in sync with the disruptive innovation of today’s digital era and all that that entails. How institutions choose to navigate the digital world through both programming and presence on the digital landscape is, in itself, a critical component of building a successful brand.

Author: Denise J Charles © 2016