Some top educators and administrators view the idea of a paperless classroom as an impossibility in education, but in today’s digital age, many educators have the robust conviction that a paperless classroom rather promotes a more efficient and organized classroom.
Proponents of a paperless classroom believe that it prepares students for the practical world outside classroom walls.
The Komenda College of Education through the implementation of the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) has initiated processes that will lead to the implementation of a paperless classroom to complement the traditional classroom activities.
The Komenda College of Education, a College that trains and nurtures teachers for the country’s basic schools believes, the advancement in technology should reflect in the teaching and learning processes to improve learning outcomes and to prepare both teachers and students to brace up the technological challenge.
Speaking at the Challenge Fund Project end of project stakeholders’ feedback sharing session at Komenda College of Education, Principal of the college, Comfort Sarpong Akosa, underscored the rationale behind the project.
“We need technology in every classroom and in every student’s and teacher’s hand because it is the pen and paper of our time,” she said.
Before the introduction of these new elements, the principal opined, however, that it was vital that tutors of the colleges were knowledgeable and comfortable with administering all Web tools to be used in the classroom and a lack of in-depth educator training will inevitably cause hiccups in workflow, cause undue teacher and student frustration, and compromise classroom efficiency.
“The rationale of the project is to upgrade the pedagogical skills of tutors to meet the challenges presented to the college due to its status as a tertiary education The teaching methodology requirement under the T-TEL project is quite different from the ones that are used in other tertiary,” she explained.
Komenda College of Education in this project is in partnership with the University of Education, Winneba, to improve the lesson delivery skills of tutors of the College in terms of pedagogy and content through the use of ICT.
The Principal explains the project is to transform the face of education using modern trends that move away from the traditional methods of teaching.
A member of the Challenge fund Project and a tutor of College, Eric Sekyi, relished the prospects of the project. He explains the project will help both tutors and students to improve learning outcomes and improve teaching and learning.
“We have come to understand that we cannot only interact with our students face to face. It is possible for us to also interact with our students even when they are at home.
This will greatly complement the traditional mode of delivery and we are delighted, he averred.
The Project lead of the T-TEL Challenge Fund, Komenda College of Education, and Raphael Sefah believes the implementation of the project will not come with ease. He said the project managers have already identified some nagging challenges and are putting in place measures to solve them
“Power fluctuations, internet disruptions and a host of others, we believe we can surmount them and have a greater success. We are looking at measures to solve such challenges,” he assured.