I recently conducted a presentation on the role of blended learning and education technology in lecture rooms. The significant challenges which resonated with the audience of mostly lecturers coming from a variation of departments, was the need for pre and post training of lecturers in universities to enable them to integrate the use technology into their lecturing process. It was an eye opener to realize that the challenge of integrating technology in the teaching and learning process was not only a challenge in high school but also challenged teaching and learning in higher learning contexts. This audience perspective resounded with the multiple studies which reflect the importance of equipping teachers from high school level to use technology effectively in the classroom.

The UNESCO regional reports highlighted the various opportunities that teachers gain from integrating mobile learning technology into the teaching and learning process. Furthermore the use technology such as mobile phones which are familiar to the teachers can be essential in the technology adoption process. While there have been many projects which equip teachers with the necessary skill to use mobile learning in their classrooms and in their lives, the silver-lining in this debate is the essential national prioritization of not only policy development but the implementation and most important monitoring of national curriculum standards which enable the use of technology in the teaching and learning process. This thus also challenges current traditional norms of how higher learning institutions equip teachers in a digital age. Are we increasing the digital divide by not drastically changing teacher curriculum content and resources to consider teaching in a digital era?  Another debate for another blog post!