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Jobert Ngwenya, Correspondent
Following the inclusion of heritage studies in the Zimbabwe curriculum in 2017, students recognised a scarcity of related print and digital materials and leveraged low-cost technologies to tap community knowledge and expertise and heritage to create related educational audio content.
Challenge Based Learning is a framework that supports learners to explore big ideas, ask thoughtful questions, and act to create solutions to contribute meaningfully to their communities.
Facilitating opportunities for learners to engage with real-world problems provides opportunities for continuous feedback and self-assessment, which can help students identify strengths, interests, and potential career paths.
The Ciena Solutions Challenge is a global design challenge by Digital Promise and Ciena that invites middle and high school students to design solutions that address Sustainable Development Goals within their communities. This blog post is part of a series featuring educators whose students’ projects exemplify core elements of the Challenge: creative use of technology, social purpose, student agency and leadership, and sustainability and scaling. Below are lessons on social purpose.
Where I teach
Eveline High School is the oldest girls high school in Bulawayo where I teach history, economic history, social studies and entrepreneurship education. Located in the central business district, the school attracts learners from the four corners of the city who are from both low and middle-income households.
Like other public schools, the school has faced various challenges in implementing the competence-based curriculum introduced by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in Zimbabwe in 2017, including the increased focus on use of education technology.
Leveraging technology to create student-produced educational content
The Our Heritage, Our Future project leverages low-cost technologies to record and produce audio content for several of the subject areas introduced as part of the new curriculum, including family and religious studies, economic history, and heritage studies.
Learners developed this project not only to provide easy access to audio material for the new subject areas, but also to promote the appropriate use of mobile phones in class since pandemic-related school closures increased the need to use mobile devices.
Providing audio learning material and tapping community-based knowledge and expertise were central to the project. With a few books on these subjects, learners used available reference materials and interviewed people in the community to create educational audio content such as audio drama, folklore, talk shows, and podcasts. Students created recordings independently using their phones or at a local youth podcasting studio and then curated them with the help of the teacher, and finally edited them at a local studio.
The final product is published on an open access online digital repository available to learners and teachers throughout Zimbabwe. During their investigations, learners also discovered that they could reach more users by compressing audio files and sharing them via WhatsApp.
For the larger learning community, this ongoing project provides open access to rich, curated educational content.
Continuous feedback through Real World Challenge-Based Learning
Real world, experiential activities like these give me an opportunity to help learners acquire the kinds of deeper learning experiences and 21st century core skills outlined in our national curriculum goals.
In the Our Heritage, Our Future project, students are actively engaged in collaborative problem solving, which is uncommon in traditional classrooms. Even passive learners are motivated to participate.
Facilitating opportunities for learners to engage with real world social problems enables me to provide them with continuous feedback and also opens opportunities for self assessment and peer assessment.
Above all, feedback from the project’s key audiences is perhaps the most important part of the learning process.
This continuous feedback and joy of producing a usable product for the community is very motivating to the learners. During the project implementation process, learners are also able to identify their strengths and growth areas and to think about their possible career choices, which is important for their intrinsic motivation.
When embracing Challenge-Based Learning, my advice to other educators is to empower learners to take the lead and assume responsibility for their actions. Encourage learners to independently engage, investigate, and take ownership of the project.
Help learners connect, network, and collaborate with potential local and global partners and utilise readily-available resources within the school, among peers, and in the community.
Lastly, foster a fun working environment for students to fuel their motivation and allow them to explore beyond the perceived boundaries of curriculum standards.
Jobert Ngwenya is an award winning educator, Fulbright TEA Fellow, National Geographic Education Grantee, author, and academic audio content creator. He holds a Master of Arts in Development Studies (MSU) Bachelor of Arts (UZ) and Post Graduate Diploma in Education (ZOU). He can be contacted by email on [email protected]
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