5.4.1 Recommendations for the school
The school should continue to use the devices but what is of vital importance from the research is that they need to put in place a better plan of action when using MLT. They need to ask themselves the questions: Why are we using the devices? What do we want to achieve by using the devices? Who are we targeting? What do we need to make this work better? What plan do we have in place to develop the use of MLT and make it more effective? Is there a review process in place? If teachers have challenges who can they go to and how do they go about that?
The school needs to strongly reconsider its training models. When teachers are saying that they feel lost in the training even though they are iPad savvy, that is a problem. The focus of training needs to be clearer: why are they doing the training, what are they trying to achieve, what do they want to see the teachers doing. The training should possibly be more focused and in smaller groups and look at specific needs. For example, today the training might be for the Foundation Phase teachers on how to use a certain app for writing a story and tomorrow might be training for the Grade 1 teachers who will learn how to use a different app for developing
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bonds knowledge. Making sure that the teachers have appropriate training is important because it impacts on their effectiveness in the classroom.
Finally, the school needs to consider what their policies are regarding MLT, what their budget is for this tool and what their plan is over a certain time period. The teachers stated that the devices were implemented in 2017. This study was concluded at the end of 2018 and the teachers were still struggling with the same problems they started with. One of these is that there are not enough iPads for the teachers to prepare on. Does the school have a plan going forward on how to work towards eliminating some of the challenges the teachers are facing? If they do have a plan in place, has that appropriately been discussed with the teachers? If teachers know where they are headed and understand that their current challenges are not permanent, they will be more willing to deal with the challenges.
5.4.2 Recommendations for teachers
Teachers need to take the time to reflect on their own pedagogical principles and review their processes. They need to make sure that they are trained appropriately and if the school does not supply the training, become active in the process and find training that will empower them. Teachers should never be in a place where they feel demotivated and disempowered, they need to take an active role in changing their circumstances. They need to be aware that how they perceive things affects how effective they are as teachers.
Teachers need to become agents of change in their own systems. All the teachers in this study found the same challenges. When the focus group concluded, one of the teachers pointed out that it was nice that they could all sit and discuss their perceptions and it was encouraging to see that other colleagues were feeling the same way. If the teachers want aspects to change, they need to become champions of the cause and help bring about the change they want to see.
MLT needs champions and needs teachers to bring the issues they raised to management’s attention. If management does not know what the challenges are on the ground, they cannot provide the necessary support and change that is needed.
Part of being an agent of change is not waiting for someone to help you but finding the help you need. All the teachers in this study either felt disempowered, unsupported and neglected or just badly trained. All the teachers saw MLT as beneficial, therefore try and find the training you think you need to make it work more effectively in the classroom with your learners. Once
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you have gone on the training, advocate that others receive the same training. Teachers wanted autonomy when selecting apps, but none identified ways of finding apps that are appropriate; they just stated that they wanted to play on the apps and see. They need to identify what they are looking for and why; what would make it appropriate and why; what they think is an appropriate number of apps and what are some of the things they want to achieve. Asking these questions will help the teachers have a framework in place that will direct the use of apps, the selection of apps and the appropriateness of apps for their grades.
Teachers need to be aware of the knowledge they have and use that when using MLT. They are tools which can support teaching. The teachers need to lay out their own goals and planning and go as far as taking that to management. A goal might be the following: I want to use the iPad for new work every second week with the assistance of the learning support therapist because my learner's struggle and I want to find a new way to support them that uses MLT. Teachers need to trust that they know their learners and know why something would work for them and advocate for that autonomy.
5.4.3 Recommendations for future research
From the above, it is clear that further research is required to expand our knowledge of what processes should be put in place before MLTs are implemented and what training should accompany that implementation. This should be expanded to include the understanding and perceptions from the viewpoint of parents, management and students.
Further research could also be done on finding apps that are specific to learning areas that ADHD learners find challenging and investigate whether an app could provide effective support to these learners and help them show improvement in that specific learning area.
This study could also be expanded to other schools; these could be remedial and private or in the government sector. For example, the Education Department has ICT policies – what are they implementing with regards to MLTs?