Teachers told to adapt to digital era

ARUSHA: THE future of education will not be shaped by technology alone, but by teachers who understand how to use it to improve the way learners are taught, assessed and supported.

This is the message emerging from an ongoing four-day training on the ICT Competency Standards for Teachers in Tanzania (ICT-CSTT) for teachers from Arusha City Council (Arusha CC) and Arusha District Council (Arusha DC), where participants are being challenged to look beyond traditional approaches and prepare for an increasingly digital education environment.

The training is being conducted through collaboration between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) and the Prime Minister’s Office through TAMISEMI.

Mr Watson Mtewele, a Curriculum Developer for Computer Science at TIE, said the purpose of such training goes beyond teaching teachers how to use individual digital applications.

According to Mr Mtewele, the training was about helping teachers understand how technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), can be used purposefully to strengthen teaching, learning and assessment.

Mr Mtewele said digital assessment tools such as Kahoot could make assessment more interactive and enable teachers to provide learners with immediate feedback.

“When teachers use these tools as assessment instruments, they can simplify teaching and learning, particularly by enabling learners to receive immediate feedback during assessment,” he said.

He explained that the value of such tools lies in the information they give teachers about learners’ understanding. Instead of waiting until the end of a topic, term or examination period to discover that learners have struggled with a particular concept, a teacher can use assessment information to identify learning gaps earlier and provide additional support.

Mr Mtewele said teachers attending the training were also introduced to Google Forms, enabling them to prepare questions, administer assessments, receive learners’ responses and follow up on their performance.

The information generated through such assessments, he said, can also help teachers communicate learners’ progress appropriately with parents and strengthen cooperation between schools and families.

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This changes the role of assessment from simply recording marks to generating information that can guide teaching decisions, adding that a teacher can assess learners what they have understood, identify areas of difficulty and determine whether to reteach a concept, provide additional exercises or move forward with the lesson.

For teachers, therefore, digital competence can translate into more informed teaching, quicker feedback and better opportunities to support learners according to their needs.

However, Mr Mtewele said technology alone would not transform education, asking teachers to change their mindset and embrace continuous professional learning, particularly when many educational resources and learning opportunities are increasingly available online.

He warned that teachers who deliberately refuse to acquire new skills risk becoming less prepared for the changing learning environment.

“The learner of the coming years will not necessarily need the same teaching approaches that have been used in the past. Teachers must therefore be ready to change as the education environment changes,” he said.

He stressed that the growing use of AI and digital technologies should not be interpreted as replacing teachers. Rather, he said, technology should strengthen the teacher’s ability to prepare lessons, assess learners, provide feedback, access educational resources and make informed decisions about instruction.

Teachers who embrace continuous learning, he said, stand to benefit from wider access to educational resources, improved digital confidence, more engaging assessment approaches and the ability to respond more quickly to learners’ needs.