21st CENTURY SKILLS AND THE

KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY:

COLLABORATION
KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION
SOLVING REAL WORLD PROBLEMS
INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY
SELF DIRECTION & SELF MANAGEMENT
SKILLED COMMUNICATION
USE OF ICTS INTEGRATION
MULTI-CULTURALISM (THEME)

The story of the northeast region ICTPedagogy integration roll out project is
the story of successes as well as some
missed opportunities. While the training
was conducted in a highly professional
manner the leadership and coordination
of the project has been found wanting.
The project was well received by the
teachers who demonstrated a great deal
of excitement.

THE NORTH-EAST REGION

ICT-PEDAGOGY
INTEGRATION ROLL OUT
PROJECT 2016
OBSERVATIONS,
REFLECTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

FATHAZIA MMANI LENYATSO MMANI

NORTH-EAST REGION: INSERVICE
CITY OF FRANCISTOWN 2016
flenyatso@gmail.com *flenyatso@gov.bw

01

THE NORTH-EAST REGION ICT-PEDAGOGY ROLL OUT PROJECT

Introduction
The story of the northeast region ICT-Pedagogy integration roll out project is the story of
successes as well as some missed opportunities. While the training was conducted in a
highly professional manner the leadership and coordination of the project has been found
wanting. The project was well received by the teachers who demonstrated a great deal of
excitement. This was despite acute shortages of ICT resources and relevant equipment both
at training venues and in schools. The project was embraced by all primary stakeholders in
education. The necessary momentum was generated. What is required is to take the
opportunity to transform our education system in order to make it global competitive. This
will invariably require a visionary committed 21st century leadership and a political will
capable of maintaining the momentum by committing adequate resources and defining a
clear vision with clearly articulated goals. The North-East Region Director Mr Mohube is
giving the project unconditional support. He has indeed inspired everyone in the region
rallied all officers behind the project implementation.
The project has run relatively well without a project manager or coordinator. A project
manager is necessary to provide leadership expertise in building project teams and defining
the scope of the project, clearly articulating its processes and deliverables.
While the project objectives have been well articulated, it is doubtful if they were well
understood by all stakeholders. The objectives are not an end in themselves but the means
to achieve the ultimate goals. The objectives as the driving force to a vision are subject to
review from time to time. There was no time to conduct project alignment workshops for all
stakeholders particularly before the roll out to primary schools.
The competencies that the teachers and learners are expected to have at the end of the
project were not clearly aligned to the 21st century skills. If the development of e-content
was seen as the ultimate goal of the project, consideration on the logistics of developing
content from ten regions on the same subject syllabuses was given little attention. Although
it was emphasized in the training of trainers workshops that the project objectives were
underpinned by the 21st century skills, little effort was made to capacitate the teachers with
relevant strategies to impart these skills to the learners. Are the project processes
strategically aligned to the 21st century skills?
The following are the objectives of the North-East ICT-Pedagogy integration rollout project
as articulated by the training facilitators:

EQUIP TEACHERS WITH TECHNOLOGY SKILLS FOR EFFECTIVE DELIVERY OF THE

CURRICULUM
FACILITATE INTEGRATION OF ICT IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING
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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

RAISE AWARENESS OF THE RANGE AND RELEVANCE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

TOOLS AND RESOURCES THAT CAN BE USED EFFECTIVELY IN TEACHING AND
LEARNING SITUATION
HIGHLIGHT EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICES IN THE USE OF LEARNING RESOURCES
TO ENHANCE TEACHING AND LEARNING
TO ADAPT THE TEACHING ENVIRONMENT TO NEW APPROACHES OF DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION
EQUIP TEACHERS WITH CONTENT DEVELOPMENT SKILLS
BUILD AN AWARENESS OF THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY,
PEDAGOGY AND CONTENT IN ICT- SUPPORTED TEACHER PRACTICE
PROMOTE TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ONLINE
PROGRAMMES:- SUCH AS ICDL, MICROSOFT EDUCATOR AND CCTI
DEVELOP WEB BASED INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS
TO MONITOR AND EVALUATE CASCADING AND IMPLEMENTATION AT SCHOOL LEVEL

The project objectives are underpinned by the 21st Century skills:

COLLABORATION
KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION VS CONSUMPTION
SOLVING REAL WORLD PROBLEMS
INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY CHALLENGE STATUS QUO
SELF DIRECTION & SELF MANAGEMENT
SKILLED COMMUNICATION USE OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA
USE OF ICTS INTEGRATION (2.0)

Given the broad objectives above and 21st century below them the question that we need to
answer is the extent at which the project can in addition to addressing the problems of
subject content delivery also deliver on the acquisition of 21st century skills by both teachers
and students. This is important because while improved presentation of content may
improve student performance there is no guarantee that it will necessarily equip students
with the 21st century skills needed for global competitiveness. It is true that most of the 21st
century skills can be acquired by simple changing how we teach. It is however significant to
develop a curriculum which facilitates skill development through the integration of ICTs.
An analysis of the 21st century skills clearly shows that they are all geared towards achieving
one outcome, creative and innovative human resource. The end result is the creation of new
value or products needed by society. They are intricately linked to each other in a mutual
beneficial manner as shown below.
The 21st Century Skills Summarised: Disciplined collaborative efforts to construct new
knowledge, using ICTs to communicate effectively in order to innovate and create products
and services to solve real world problems.
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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

The 21st century skills are very critical to the knowledge economy and global
competitiveness. Therefore all learners need to have these skills to become productively
engaged in a knowledge economy. Can the project objectives effectively deliver the 21st
century skills? There is no doubt that the project objectives are broad enough and present
an excellent opportunity for the development of these skills by both teachers and learners.
The challenge is in the specificity on how and perhaps what to teach to produce learners
equipped with these requisite skills.
We therefore need to seriously reflect on what specifically do we need to do to make our
learners innovators and creators of new products and services using digital technology. We
need to re-examine our vision beyond simple content development and access, to skill
development for the knowledge economy. Lets closely examine the 21st century skill and
appreciate the possible activities which they might generate.
21st Century skills teachers and students activities
Skill
Collaboration and communication

Knowledge Construction, self-direction &

management

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Action
Students can work together on a specific
assignment. They may be encouraged to
network broadly off line and online. In
groups, learners research, communicate,
interview, compile, and disseminate
information on a topic of their choice or
from the syllabus. When an activity is
designed
as
a
group
experience,
collaboration and communication fall right
into place. Students can work in groups to
research and appreciate different cultures
and religions in their country and elsewhere.
Student teams or groups needs to clearly
communicate their ideas with each other.
That definitely will require that students use
flexibility and adapt to change as they
uncover ideas that contradict their own. In
order to accomplish the goals of the activity,
students must interact effectively, work
independently from the teacher and become
self-directed in their learning.
If the task is to be accomplished, the goal of
the experience must be managed.
In order to do that, time management has to
be an integral part of the process.
If carried through to completion, results will
be produced and often, it is the leadership of
the members of the group which bring the
task to its completion.

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

Critical Thinking Interdisciplinary

Instruction

Creativity, Innovation and Problem Solving

Use of ICTs

Simply looking at how the results of students

study or research might affect different parts
of the world could bring some great thinking
skills
to
the
class.
Adding
the
financial/economic theme is easy as nearly
anything can be looked from an economic
perspective. Creative problem solving skills
may be developed in the process.
Environmental issues are science based, so
developing that theme into a hands-on
activity is inherent in the discipline.
Examining implications of the activity on
health, whether it be personal health or the
physical health of the community, might be a
connection that can be made.
It takes creative thinking and innovative
actions to investigate or research. In order to
process the data that students generate,
they need to reason, make judgments,
decisions, and solve problems. In order to
solve those problems, it takes critical and
creative thinking. Students should be taught
to design, create new products using digital
tools
A simple Power Point presentation can be
created, podcasts can be made, the use of a
wiki is a possibility or creating a blog about
the findings could be the avenue of
distribution of thought. The information that
students create uses the 21st century skill of
media literacy. Finding the best use of
technology to deliver the findings to the
world requires the ICT portion of 21st
century skills as students learn how to
effectively use technology. There might even
need to do some research involved with the
activity, so information literacy becomes a
slice of the process as well. Use of digital
tools to create and innovate.

All the 21st century skills require the use of digital technology. 21st century student
collaborative activities and effective communication take place with the use of digital
technologies. Creativity and innovation is also expressed using digital tools. It is therefore
imperative that students should be introduced to basic computer programming and coding

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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

at the earliest possible stage of their education. The knowledge economy demands
computer programming skills to enable innovation and creativity using digital tools.
The department of curriculum has missed an opportunity to effectively support the ICT
pedagogy integration initiatives by failing to introduce basic programming in the national
curriculum. When the project roll-out was initiated in the northeast region the curriculum
department remained a spectator. They still remain ball watching up to this day. This is a
symptom of lack of a coordinated strategy which involves all stakeholders guided by a clear
21st century vision. The leadership needs to acknowledge that change is not only desirable
but the only option for the countrys education system to meet the needs of a knowledge
economy. The future of our children is at stake in a global competitive world. Instead of
teaching them French or Chinese the third language should be programming.
Manny countries around the world have introduced computer programming in their
national curriculum following Estonia as the first country to do so. The United Kingdom
introduced programming in its curriculum in 2014.
The Evolution of Technology in Education

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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

If you look at the picture above you can begin to appreciate the speed at which technology
is changing. The first generation of technology was very simple and static. But 15 years later
the second generation of technologies (2.0) saw the advert of the internet and growth of
interactivity. By 2010 technology had advanced to another level (3.0).with the introduction
of cloud computing. Where are we as a country? At what point do we need to plug in? Can
we skip the technological steps taken by technology leaders? Lets say for argument sake we
are at 2.0 as country we would be at least ten years behind. The logic is that by the time we
operate at 3.0 the leaders would have moved out of our reach. It would be difficult to
compete globally in this scenario. The good thing about technology is that we do not need
to go through each generation step by step in order to succeed. It is possible to enter at the
highest level of the technological frontier with minimal limitations. It only requires serious
leadership commitment of resources to transform our education system which will in turn
transform the economy.
The Social Studies project Edusite web system is operating at 2.0. It is operating on a
dedicated data network (EDN) with limited accessibility. Access is currently only possible if
you are in a secondary school in Botswana. It is desirable that e-learning content should be
ubiquitous and accessible to teachers and students wherever they are. This can be achieved
through the development of a wireless infrastructure such as wifi and others. The private
sector can play a very significant role in providing relevant infrastructure to assist
government through the Public Private Partnerships.
The ministry of Education and Skill Development lost a golden opportunity to benefit from
U-learning technologies by indefinitely postponing a meeting between the ministry
leadership and Dr Kim and his company on possibilities of implementing U-learning in one or
two schools in Botswana. This was a follow up to EEO UBULT international conference in
Indonesia in which Botswana was represented. The forum presented an excellent
opportunity for networking, sharing and exchange of country specific experiences in Ulearning and integration of technology into the classroom. The U-learning technologies are
no doubt complementary to Edusite web system because such technologies allow
ubiquitous access to learning.
Voices from the Teachers in the North-East Region
Generally teachers have embraced the change and believe that technology is the only
option for the future of education. Most of the schools have started cascading to all the
subjects in the school curriculum. They have improvised and used their own resources to
ensure the success of the cascading to those teachers who did not attend the ToTs regional
workshops.
Most schools have written plans to show how they intend to implement the development of
e-content in their respective schools. They however suggested that perhaps it would be
better to develop content at cluster level instead of school based. While this is a good idea
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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

our concern as a region is that we may not have enough resources to support the teachers
with the necessary logistics to hold content development workshops at cluster level. We
nevertheless conceded that school which are close to each other and are willing to
collaborate should feel free to do so. We observed that some schools have one teacher per
subject and we feel it would not add much value if they were to develop content on their
own.
It is unfortunate that while we expect schools to produce quality content for teaching and
learning we are unable to provide them with the necessary resources to facilitate effective
performance delivery. To develop quality content for teaching and learning as well as for
upload into the Edusite web system a school should on average have the following ICT
items:

5 lap-tops
5 cam-coders
5 multi-media projectors
Wireless connectivity
Relevant and compatible software

Regrettably, its rare for any school in the North-East Region to have at least one of all the
above items, all functioning. Therefore the provision of ICT resources and infrastructure is as
important as the training of teachers in integration of ICTs into teaching and learning. These
two should move together as twins to produce desirable performance outcomes. Failing to
coordinate the supply of equipment and training of teachers has serious implications on
effective implementation.
One issue which surfaced from schools was the ownership of the e-content to be developed
by teachers for upload into edusite. Issues of copy write are critical and require active
engagement of all parties to reach an acceptable agreement. We could not provide any
information on the licencing of the recently delivered computers. The teachers reported
that the computers are delivered with a limited licence arrangement. When they enquire
from the region on what to do after the expiry of the licence the response is often not
helpful since the region is not in any way involved nor they have any knowledge of the time,
number or criteria used to supply schools with computers.
They complained about the need for collaborative decision-making processes on the
selection of hardware and software most suitable for schools. Teachers feel they need to
participant in such decision-making processes. We responded by forming an interim
regional committee of computer studies teachers and IT programmers to be engaged by all
stakeholders on behalf of the region and schools. The chairman of the Committee is Mr R.
Tiroyamodimo who is a Senior Teacher Computer Studies at Goldmine JSS.

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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

The selection of appropriate and relevant technology and program for school use cannot be
done properly without the involvement of people on the ground. Lets take for instance if
we are to introduce tablets into the school system, it would be ideal to engage stakeholders
in making appropriate decision probable based on issues of compatibility, manageability and
cost effectiveness. Operating systems such as widows 8, chrome book and android would
have to be evaluated on the basis of the above variables in order to identify the most
suitable type for learning and teaching. This cannot be done without the involvement of
teachers, particularly those professionals with some technical know-how.
Monitoring and evaluation
The monitoring and the evaluation of the North-East Roll-Out Project have presented us
with a serious problem of objectivity. At some point I found myself doing the job of a
consultant, a project coordinator, a training facilitator as well as monitoring and Evaluation.
This is obviously not good for the project and does not reflect well on our performance
reports however accurate they might be. It appears the ministry of education in Gaborone is
only interested in the numbers trained while the region is more concerned with the impact.
Perhaps the question that we need to answer is how is the project monitored and
evaluated? The project scope document should have clearly articulated the project
monitoring and evaluation system plan. The absence of an effective project leadership is
exerting too much pressure on the training facilitators and is likely to impact negatively on
the project in the long run.
Conclusion
Despite all the constraints and opportunities missed, the project roll-out implementation
has been a huge success. Training of trainers at secondary schools has been completed.
Reports from schools indicate that most schools if not all have cascaded. Technology
integration has become the buzz words and no one wants to be left behind (danda labhata
moto).
The roll-out has started at primary level with the training of trainers. Two clusters out of a
total of four have already been trained. Reports from these workshops indicate that the
primary schools have taken the project to a higher level. We should be particularly proud of
this development due to the buy in from in-service officers who are responsible for the
effective organisation of these workshops. The region has also committed itself to conduct
some alignment workshops for the primary schools heads and the North-East District
councillors. These are important stakeholders for a successful implementation of the project
in primary schools.
The project is growing and assuming different dimensions. There seems to be ownership at
all levels of training. These are welcome developments which clearly demonstrate the
viability of the project training methodology. The project is open to any learning or bench
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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

marking opportunities from any similar practices and reports from countries such as
Rwanda where our colleagues reported attended a very productive conference. We are
pride and humbled by the support the project continue to receive from the Regional
Director and we have no doubt that with him success is certain in the North-East Region.
We celebrate the success of the project in enabling the two project facilitators to be sent to
Israel for further professional development. There is no doubt that they indeed deserved
this professional development opportunity and we wish them well. We hope with time this
will be extended to the Social Studies Project Team of Teachers and IT officials, without
whose collaborative efforts the project would not have materialised. It is also proper to
acknowledge the team and reward them accordingly to motivate others to do the same. A
distorted reward system will not only demotivate members of the Social Studies Technical
Team but the other teachers who witnessed what they went through to realise this
outstanding achievement for the countrys education system. Credit should always be given
where it is due and in time.
Specific Recommendations
We therefore recommend the following for your consideration for rolling out the project to
other regions. The recommendations are intended to refocus the ICT-Pedagogy integration
agenda and are not necessarily listed in order of importance or priority:

A coordinated structure is required for effective roll out of the programme

All activities intended to facilitate integration of technology including infrastructure
development should go through the region in which such activities are taking place
to avoid embarrassing situations where the region do not know what is happening in
the schools they are expected to oversee if not supervise
A project office is required in the region in which roll out is taking place to avoid
running the project by remote control from Gaborone.
There is need for a systematic project alignment to promote buy in and participation
by all stakeholders
A project coordinator should be appointed to ensure effective implementation and
accountability
Introduce the teaching of programming at all levels of the education system to
promote Creativity and Innovation
Engage the private sector and other stakeholders to ensure alignment to industry
and the economy
Train Developers in cloud computing and other relevant wireless technologies in the
technological frontier
21st Century Skills should form the basis of the transformation and content
development

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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

In no ambiguous terms, Clearly identify and articulate competencies that are needed
to transform our Education System
Create deliberate structures to empower and capacitate teacher participation in
identifying and making decisions on appropriate technologies for use in schools
BOSS committee should involve all end users to respond to work related needs on
the ground
Consider rewarding the pioneers of the Social Studies Project by giving them an
honorarium to appreciate their efforts in developing the training model for the
country
Recognise and acknowledge the Social Studies Technical Committee in all roll out
training workshops and meetings
Teachers have proposed that ICT integration should be incorporated into PDPs of all
classroom teachers
The ministry of Education awards 2016 are now history without a single member of
the Social studies Technical Team receiving an award, despite the fact that the
project has been adopted by the ministry for roll out to the rest of the country.
HRDC should consider active collaboration between its ICT and Education sectoral
committees insofar as integration of technology in teaching and learning is
concerned
Immediate intervention should be made now to ensure that our institutions produce
21st century teacher educators and teachers who are equipped with 21st century
skills, relevant to 21st century classroom and a knowledge economy
The integration of technology should take on board life skills such as emotional
intelligence (self-direction, self-management) and work ethics
Vital statistics: North-East Region 2016

Level

Number of Female teachers

Male teachers
Total
schools
Primary
63
746
203
949
JSS
17
470
309
779
SSS
3
151
178
329
Total
83
1367
690
2057
*The above statistics do not include temporary teachers at all levels of the system.
The training of trainers started at Junior Secondary Schools involving five (5) subjects as
follows: Maths, Science, Agriculture, English and Social Studies. Junior Secondary Schools
were divided into two groups. This was followed by Senior Secondary Schools involving nine
(9) subjects as follows: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, Geography, History,
Computer Studies and Agriculture. Primary school training is on-going and is divided into
three (3) groups. Two groups have already been trained and are expected to cascade at
their respective schools. All secondary school Computer studies teachers and school IT
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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*

programmers have been trained in content development. It is anticipated that they will in
turn provide the necessary support to their respective schools in the implementation
process. Its commendable that some schools are collaborating, to assist each other with
cascading of training on content development.

Employment of IT programmers at primary schools should be given priority to

facilitate technology integration into teaching and learning at foundational level
Employment creation in knowledge related activities is one of the aims of the NE Roll
Out-Project and the country at large. Given that they are more than 4,000
unemployed IT graduates in the country, we recommend that employment of IT
programmers for primary schools should be done with immediate effect. Any delay
is not consistent with the needs of the country and indeed the knowledge economy.

Fathazia Lenyatso speaking at EEO UBULT Conference in Bundung, Indonesia 2015

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Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani * 21 Century Skills and Knowledge Economy 2016 * flenyatso@gmail.com *
flenyatso@gov.bw*