It is a normal technical class.
Class size is about 25 students.
Mr. Kelly and his assistant taught the class physics.
ICT is conducted on a double period every Friday.
Generally, during ICT, the class is relatively well behaved (vs. normal class).
The students generally have a short attention span.
They are more visual and are weaker in math and algebra manipulation.
What ICT tools are used in the lesson?
Laptop (HP-i3), Wi-Fi, Intranet, E-learning tool (NGIT) on the topic of electrical circuit symbols.
Describe how ICT is used for teaching and learning in the lesson.
The main difference between ICT and traditional teaching medium is that ICT enable the teacher to get instant feedback and complete tallying of answers from the class.
In terms of teaching, the structure of the lesson was similar to a convention one.
Introduction-Demostration-Explaination-Example-Application-Conclusion.
With ICT, the slides were displayed on the screens of each student’s laptop. The students could browse through the slides at their own pace while the teacher is explaining on the projector
screen.
Although the students could go through the slides at their own pace, the teacher could lock their screens at any time when he wanted to highlight certain key-note on the projector screen.
With ICT, teachers could design and made worksheets for the class, which is interactive and
animated. This is very advantageous especially to students with a poor command of English. Often, students could not answer the questions because they do not understand what the question is asking. The animations and pictures in the ICT worksheet help these students to understand the question with the visual cue.
In addition, ICT also enable instant feedback from the student’s input to the teacher’s terminal.
ICT could provide the teacher a total tally of the class’s input to the worksheet in real-time. This enables the teacher to judge how well the class has understand and made a informed decision on whether or not to slow down or even repeat a certain topic.
Furthermore, since instant feedback is possible, ICT could also identify those who have not attempted the question or allows the teacher to check individuals’ answer if required. For example, in the “tally screen”, the NGIT would display every student’s photographs in the class with their answers (“?” for no attempts) underneath. I observed that the class was very excited when they see their own picture on the projector screen and would encourage those had not attempted the question to attempt quickly. I felt that this is very helpful to the teacher because the class would automatic prompt those who had not participated to join the exercise.
In terms learning, I observed the students were using the NGIT and the e-learning tool with ease. They were naturally more interested in the content displayed in the NGIT and the e-learning tool medium then that in the books.
They explore the content and practice exercises on their own, sometimes even faster than the teachers’ pace. Since ICT allows the student to move in their own pace in a controlled manner, the learners are more engaged through out the class and had less chance to feel “bored”.
Unlike the conventional approach where learning of the theory usually took place in the “copy the theory” – “understand the theory through a description of words” – “practice to apply the theory through written exercises” sequence, the learner now is using ICT to see how the theory works in animations and videos, understand the theory’s implication and application through a series of cyber laboratory, videos and exercises that, at times, looks more like a game or in-class-competition than a regular conventional practices.
Due to ICT, Learners now is learning new content with much more fun and interest than the olden days.
How do teachers in the school feel about the use of ICT for teaching and learning? (For this question, you may want to speak to the HOD/ICT and other teachers you know in the school.)
Most of the teachers are excited with this new medium of teaching. However, they expressed the same sediment that the technology is still immature.
Although ICT is a great tool, it is heavily relying on the internet. In my 4 weeks ESE experience in Deyi, 2 out of the 3 ICT lessons I attended (ICT is held once every week) failed because the “net is not working”. An ICT lesson without the net is VERY bad. The laptop on the desk became an obstruction and a distraction to the pupils. And the teacher had to struggle to improvise because suddenly it was all plan B when the net was down.
Generally, the younger teachers are more comfortable with the ICT tool and are more proficient in using it. However, they too shared many concerns on teaching with ICT. The main concerns among all is that the quality of ICT lesson has a heavy dependency on the computer hardware, infrastructure, and quality of the NGIT e-learning content.
For example, in Deyi, the HP-i3 laptop took an average of 15min from the lesson time (25% of a 1 hour period) for distribution of laptop and mouse, boot-up, log in and executing the e-learning program. Therefore, the processor speed of the laptop has a huge influence to the quality of the lesson. (something the teachers has no control on but plays an important role in their lesson.)
In addition, since the teachers’ terminal and the pupils’ laptop are linked via the internet, once the net is down or if there is some “setting error” on an individuals’ laptop. The link is broken and the ICT lesson could not be carried out. There is a heavy reliance on the infrastructure and an IT person on stand-by in the class to solve the technical problems so that the teacher can concentrate on teaching.
The e-learning tool, as I understand, is a ready-made e-learning platform that was made by MOE and comes with the laptop. As we, student-teachers, are taught to make our own slides to customize and teach our class, in ICT there is no such flexibility to alter the content shown on the e-learning tool or even to tweak the sequence a little. We are again confined to the teaching materials.
In conclusion, all the teachers I spoke to are excited and optimistic that ICT would greatly enhance the quality of their lessons. However, it would only be possible if the schools were given enough resources and budget to acquire the sufficient hardware and infrastructure to support the ICT. This includes not only the quality of the laptop or network in the school but also human resources, such as a specialize IT-support on stand-by and training courses that would enable the teachers to fully utilize the capability of the ICT tool.
