For your third post, describe which achievement(s) of the three
masterplans for ICT in education are evident in the
school/classes that you are attached to for your ESE. You
may want to refer to your blog post about your ESE.
In Masterplan (MP) 1, the 4 goals set about have been fulfilled through my observations in the school. The school is well connected in terms of communications and management. There are four computer laboratories which are used by teachers to conduct certain classes, and during humanities week, the students were all highly encouraged to go to the labs during their recess breaks to try out certain online games that will test their historical and geographical knowledge. Netbooks were available for use to teachers who did not have their own laptops, for me, as it was rather inconvenient to lug my heavy one to school, being granted access to it was very useful for lesson planning. In addition, for certain upper secondary classes, macbooks were brought into class for them to use for research and presentations.
The two goals in MP 2 were also observed in my secondary school that I was posted to. Both students and teachers have been found to be more than proficient and competent in the use of basic ICT tools. I was particularly impressed with how students are not only proficient in it, but actually spent so much of their time dabbling with the social media. This also made me realized that this is a key to understanding the children of this generation.
MP 3 is still a work in progress but the learning partnership between students and teachers have been observed in the classes I attended. While the students are less initiative from this school, the teachers put in more effort to engage them and try to extend their learning beyond the classroom, as observed during the activities conducted in Humanities week. The school has also brought into coordinators to assess students based on what type of learners they are and the reports generated and given to every class’ form teacher so that they can better understand and provide the necessary structures in which provide a more efficient way of learning and collaboration for the students.
I agree that social media should be incorporated into ICT lessons as this is something that the students are proficient in and will easily connect to. Perhaps next time they can respond to questions asked via Twitter or Facebook?
ReplyDeleteI also think that it's great that the school is assessing the students based on what type of learners they are as I believe that lessons should cater to different styles of learning, even if this makes lesson planning slightly more tedious.
Like Sheena I agree that it's great that the school is actively assessing the students based on what type of learners they are.. I'm really curious about how they go about doing this though. Is it some kind of personality test? Or through observations? I think knowing how to do this would really be a bonus as it will enable us to better cater to different individuals (or to structure lessons according to the proportions of different learning styles present in a class!)
ReplyDeleteHi all
ReplyDeleteI couldnt agree more with the need for schools first identify the need of the different learners for ICT lessons to be crafted to meet their needs. After all, whats the use of ICT should it be all fun and play without having any direct impact and positive implication to the learning of the student.
What Sheena suggested that is for students to respond to questions via twitter is something very interesting and i would personally want to try it out in future (should twitter still exist say 1 year down the road that is :)))because i believe that students will then be open to the concept that learning does not only take place within the confines of the school but also at any time of the day and no matter where they are. they can twit about anything that links back to what is being taught or even suggest places to friends or the class to see the concepts taught in class being put in place in the real world. Education should be fun meaningful and after all, enjoyable.
Sheena,
ReplyDeleteActually I ahve seen social networks being used for teaching in the school that I was attached to. I ahve mentioned that in my blog too.The maths teacher had created a group for Sec 3 maths. he used tabs to solve some problems and made videos of them. He uploaded those in the group page for the students to see. It really helps them those who may have missed the lesson. Also he shpwed us during one sharing session how the studnets posted their problems and how the peers actually solved them. He kept sertain rules so that the group is kept a no-nonsense zone and the students followed that. The peers took great initiative in this virtual teachong and sharing. It helped!