It is in this context that the impetus for MELISSA grew. The opportunities and challenges created by Khanya left many unanswered questions and ill-conceived ambitions. This was supported by findings in BET-K12, where the role of technology was questioned in terms of pedagogical effectiveness. To the MELISSA project team, it was not immediately clear how technology was perceived by educators in the South African context. It was not salient, additionally, how digital technologies could contribute (if at all) in the process of curriculum delivery, and in the practice of shaping better educators. In this vein, the team set out to measure the impact of exposure to ICT in teaching and learning. The aspiration was to try to understand and analyse changes in teachers‟ attitudes to and uses of digital technologies (Fanni et al., 2010).
88 With these ambitions in mind, the MELISSA project objectives were formulated. Officially, the project aimed to:
Enable primary school teachers working in disadvantaged South African primary schools to become mediators of digital literacy skills. This process would support learners in becoming active, employable members of the knowledge society.
Develop an integrated set of measures to determine and assess the impact of ICTs in teacher training and curriculum delivery.
To accomplish its directive, the MELISSA team created a mixed-method methodological framework, appropriating quantitative and qualitative „measurements‟ among a control and an experimental group. This would be enacted in two successive research phases. The first phase was envisioned as a long-term teacher training curriculum, involving six primary schools in the Cape metropole. Practically, this entailed that 120 primary school teachers would attend a three- module training course on a weekly basis. This course would be designed and facilitated by the MELISSA team itself, and presented once or twice a week to each of the six participating schools.
The actual curriculum was themed around three core areas, based on the course structure of MELISSA‟s predecessor, BET-K12. Incidentally, the Brazilian context may have presented similar conditions to that of South Africa. Both countries feature among the most unequal regions in the world, and both have emerging and growth-leading economies (see BRICS). Comparisons aside, the three MELISSA modules were themed around digital literacy, ICT in the educational context, and teaching and learning in the knowledge society. ICTs were hence introduced into teaching practice as a subject of study, an educational strategy, and an educational tool to be integrated (Fanni et al., 2010).
Understandably, the teacher training component would require a massive „localisation effort‟, as was recognised in the original MELISSA proposal. This would entail a sustainable and effective curriculum that corresponds to the local environment both socially and technologically. The project team needed to devote much effort to understanding the complexities of school settings in the Western Cape. To compensate for the lack of practical familiarity with local conditions, the Deputy Director of e-Learning at the Provincial Government was invited as part of the research group. This would provide much needed acquaintance with the level of ICT uptake in primary schools and with the resource-restricted environments in which schools operated.
89 The second core phase of the MELISSA project was dedicated to investigate the impact of the exposure to ICTs on the teachers attending the aforementioned learning experiences. Impact would be explored across three interrelated dimensions:
1. Computer and teacher self-efficacy: How teachers‟ own perceptions change as they grow more or less confident in using ICTs
2. Social meaning: How a web of meaning grows and changes along with the acquisition of digital literacy skills
3. Locus of control: How the possibility to master ICTs enables teachers to acquire more self-esteem, and to become active social agents in their professional contexts
In terms of the first dimension, Albert Bandura‟s self-efficacy theory (1977) was employed as conceptual lens. The impact, then, of technology was investigated in terms of perception change: do educators view themselves as more capable, as they use ICTs? In Bandura‟s terms, this would reflect a study of the relationship between computer and teacher self-efficacy (CSE and TSE) (Fanni, Van Zyl, & Rega 2011). By employing Bandura‟s perspectives as initial conceptual basis, the MELISSA team proposed a quasi-experimental research venture. This entailed the delivery of three interrelated modules over two rounds, followed by an „e-learning impact measurement‟. This was only briefly described in the preceding passages – I will elaborate on this methodology in the following sections.
For the second dimension, the concept of social meaning was proposed as augmentative conceptual lens. This notion was developed by sociologist and philosopher Pierre Bourdieu (1977). Bourdieu held that those meanings individuals attribute to objects are influenced by the network of relations in which s/he is involved. Meaning as given to „an object‟ is not individually ascribed, but constructed, shaped and shared by the members of that particular community. Within the context of a community of educators, the concept of a „shared social meaning‟ may affect the way that technology is introduced, received, and utilised. For the MELISSA team, this was a noteworthy construct that could reveal much about the impact of e-learning and ICTs. The third dimension, locus of control, was later dropped by the team, citing its methodological unfeasibility.
90 At this point, it may be useful to clarify the reasons behind the selection of teachers as the key research focus. The motivation for this is twofold: teachers are regarded as the mediators between ICTs and learners. In terms of delivering a technology-rich curriculum, teachers fulfil the primary role in the learning process. Secondly, teacher training is a crucial driver of advancement in the sphere of education. MELISSA drew much of its purpose from those educational challenges in developing countries: the lack of (qualified, technically skilled) educators, insufficient quality in curriculum delivery, and the general lack of resources, financial and otherwise (see Rega, 2004). These factors considered, the MELISSA framework was created to assess and explore teacher experiences in an emerging technology context.