ICT for Meaningful Learning

3-2-1 Strategy

3 things I learned:

1) Writing a good and detailed SIO using the ABCD model.
2) The verb wheel based on Bloom's Taxonomy.
3) The different procedures for lesson planning.

2 things applied:

1) My group and I have applied what we know in writing a good SIO using the verb wheel based on Bloom's Taxonomy.
2) Also, we have incorporated ICT-based activities meaningfully in our lesson plan to match our choosen learning outcome from the subject syllabus.

1 thing you want to know more:

1) I would like to know more about analysing learners and identifying which goal that suits them the best.

(Sorry for the wordy post!)

It is definitely easier for me to see the possibilities of using different teaching approaches in the classroom when they are categories into:

Case-based learning
Inquiry-based learning
Project-based leaning
Resource-based learning
Game-based learning

Have you come across any of the pedagogical approaches as a student? What was your experience like?
We are constantly relying on some of these pedagogical approaches unknowingly to exchange information and learn from each other. From my past experience either as a student or as a teacher, project-based, inquiry-based, cased-based and resource-based learning was most commonly used in the classroom. Whereas game-based learning was not as popular. I am anticipating session 6 of our ICT course as I have yet to try any game-based teaching and learning.

Like what Atika has mentioned, most of us are tied down with project-based learning most of the time. I figured it may be deemed as the most beneficial and efficient approach to be carried out during lessons. It is a good way of ensuring that every student is participating if the project is to be completed in groups. It also allows us to understand how our classmates think when tackling certain question, in another words, know more about each other.


What do you think is the relationship of these approaches?
I feel that all of the approaches requires students to explore and pursue information and knowledge. Students have a better chance of remembering what they have learned through their own experience of pursuing information.


Case-based learning, similar to problem-based learning, requires students to imagine themselves in the narrative and looks at the problem from different perspectives. This process of imagination compels students to think and search for a solution by using supporting studies/research.

The definition of inquiry-based learning as seen from the ICT manage class page (Amanda's group), is to 'gather information and data through applying the human senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling'. Evidently, teachers do not give direct instructions while students are encouraged to utilize their senses and various ICT tools to acquire answers.

I feel that it is most effective to encourage group work for project-based learning. It allows a group of students to progress together, interacting and experiencing the problems, questions and knowledge enquiry. Students will commonly search for the required information through the Internet or through books. PBL also promotes collaborative learning.

Resource-based learning is present in most of the other approaches. It is the resource component of student's learning process where students exanimate the appropriate information from media, printed/reading materials, websites as well as human resources like interviews, shadowing artist or teachers.

Game-based learning motivates students to learn important knowledge while they play or provides a form of training for certain skills or techniques. Through playing games, students are able to enjoy themselves while learning from their mistakes (when they have lost in the game).


Note that there is only little participation of the teacher role in these approaches.

Another aspect is that they are all alternatives to a 'chalk and talk' approach, which is less interactive and not as interesting. As what Atika have said, they are student centered as compared to traditional teacher led lessons.


What roles do the various ICT tools play in these approaches?
ICT allows learners to acquire information in a very short time as compared to books. It will minimize the time constraint that students normally face during the learning progress. ICT tools are also a vital part of fast and efficient communication (between student and student or teacher and student) as it can be access anytime anywhere. By 'anywhere', I refer to the wireless network connection that is available at many areas of Singapore now. I was surprised to find that even one of the coffee shop (those that are affectionately called 'kopitiam') in Clementi is equipped with WIFI. Lastly, ICT tools can be utilized for managing any of the learning approaches and also managing student's reflective processes in a systematic manner.

Upon entering the ICT class, I was rather puzzle with as I saw my classmates seated in columns as its an uncommon sight. Tables with labels could be seen around the class too. The table near my seat was label with "Resource Based Learning" and this really makes me more puzzle of what we are going to do on that day. I then found out that we are going to learn a new activity called the 'Jig-Saw Activity'.

I find that this activity is very engaging as it incorporates SDL and CL in a new perspective and at the same we are able know and understand the approaches better. I feel that the "jig-saw" activity in away helps to inject fun at the same time reinforce the approaches that we had found with the rest of those who are doing the same approach before sharing it with my group members. This helps to reaffirm that what I had found is correct and get more ideas and pointers when we share.

I wish to learn more of these strategies so that I could implement it in my classroom, in future.

Have you come across any of the pedagogical approaches as a student? What was your experience like?

Throughout my learning experience, I have been exposed to all the different types of pedagogical approaches in a way or two. And I am very sure that most of us are usually tied down with project-based learning most of the time which I feel is the most effective approach of learning. I feel that through projects, students get the opportunity to build self-confidence when presenting in front of others. Students get to know things that they might have not known by learning new things and through projects, we get to minimize our own workload of research and share our findings. And also through projects, I manage to bond with my friends.

The other approach I enjoy doing most was through game-based learning where students learn and have fun at the same time. Like for my experience in game-based learning, we did amazing race where students are to find their way to places and then gather information regarding the place. This promotes the learning of geography and history at the same time. And during interaction games through learning, we learn to interact better with each other and learn to understand the other party.


What do you think is the relationship of these approaches?

The common factor which incorporates all these approaches is that they are all student-centered where the teachers do not teach them but become their facilitators to lead them in their learning. These approaches are less structured compared to traditional teacher-led activities; for example, in project-based learning, students are given equal opportunity to organize their work through effective time management and take leadership in some aspects.


What roles do the various ICT tools play in these approaches?

ICT help students to obtain up-to-date information and allows interaction through a global platform. It brings students beyond the classroom context, going further more than the limitations of a classroom by exposing them to other countries and not just local context. ICT also serves as an administrative tool where teachers are given the convenience of managing their students’ progress in learning. This way, teachers can interact with students and help them identify their strengths and weaknesses. ICT allows communication to take place where students can receive information at the same time but being in various places.

I agree with Claire in respect to the question most of us have attempted - Scenario 1 Activity B. But I feel that the reason for this is due to the fact that many of us view classroom management problem as one of the most challenging issue we, as teachers in training are facing right now.

After completing the e-learning tasks and reading up on the opinions of others, I realized that it is impossible to reap the benefits of ICT without proper planning, anticipation and classroom management skills. I've also learned that no learning process can take place without a good learning environment. This scenario is one of the examples where students are distracted; not getting the attention of their teacher, feeling frustrated and bored in the classroom which stops the learning process.
I feel that this is a chance for us to familiarize ourselves with most ICT tools, understand the various difficulties of their usage in a lesson and thus avoiding future mishaps similar to Mrs Xing’s.

On a side note, I’ve enjoyed reading the different approaches of my classmates on solving scenario 1 & 2. I’ve always been very interested to know the various tactics available to deal with student’s antics in the classroom. I used to try varying types of teaching methods to every different class during my 1 month school experience (ESE). Hopefully these suggestions come in handy when I encounter similar incidents!

E-Learning week has been fun on the whole. I have learnt quite a bit from here. However, I noticed that the majority of the class attempted the same question as me i.e. Scenario 1 Activity B. This is probably because the question is the easiest to relate to.

I received 4 comments in total for my e-learning assignments. All of which had views from different perspective which I feel were very important in my learning. Razali and Atika both had different takes on what I had offered. This I feel is very important as it gives me an on-looker’s view. I feel that certain things could be done for Mrs Xing’s class. It’s just a method of how we argue our point and how logical and rational it is.

I feel that it is a very good idea to put mirrors around the lab. With mirrors in the classroom, students will be more aware of their teachers and thus more attentive in class.

On the other hand, I also read through the other groups’ blogs where some members attempted different questions. I also learnt quite a lot from them.

Claire

Summary Posting for Scenario 2: Activity D

Despite the few response I got from my peers, I find that the comments I received so far were pretty convincing and they were of something that I would have never thought of. Like what Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes, “Our best thoughts come from others.”

I do believe that the main issue from scenario 2 was of plagiarism and those students of especially a younger age group probably is not well-informed about the consequences of copying and pasting from the net and copyright issues. As mentioned by lyxt., students would not be able to understand plagiarism when it is being taught just verbally to them maybe due to the complexity of the word plagiarism itself. Through this, I learn that we as teachers need to breakdown this concept into smaller components so that students will be able to complete their work on their own and using their own words. However, this does not necessarily means that we should forego the need to inform them about the consequences of “copying” or plagiarizing.

Amanda has taught me something new. I did not know the meaning of “Netiquette” till I saw her comment on my post. Netiquette is a set of conventions that covers from social networking and interaction over the networks. And I do believe that all teachers know the importance of having ground rules at their first lesson. It should definitely be the same for the first lesson of e-learning.

Razali brought an interesting point that I have never thought of. Issuing notice forms does not mean that the parents would have read it. Perhaps the students themselves forgot to show it to their parents. An acknowledgement letter by the parents would certainly be helpful to ensure that they are aware of their children’s e-learning sessions.

Thank you for your constructive comments!


Conclusion/Reflection

• Have I achieved my learning goals? How did I make that happen?
  
  I certainly achieved some of the learning goals throughout this course and since it was only 2 face-to-face lessons of ICT we had so far, ICT has been manageable and relatively easy to understand. In some parts of the ICT course, I do believe that it also serves as a form of recalling back the time we had in school using IT. Personally, I achieved a better understanding of the various mediums of meaningful learning in SDL and CL through the comparisons I make during my learning time in secondary school. I believe through reflecting of my past and making improvements with it by using the different forms of ICT that is developing day by day, it keeps us better prepared on how we would want to deliver our lesson effectively with the help of technology. However, there is more yet to come and I am all in all excited to know more about what technology has in store for us.
  
  
• Were my learning strategies effective and efficient? How might they be improved?
  
  My learning strategies are efficient considering I tried my best to read up before the start of every lesson and reflect on what was being taught. But I would not call it effective yet because I have yet to gain a better understanding on the different uses of ICT. It would help if we had more hands on activities in class (like the one on the cyberwellness map using MindMeister). Maybe what I can do is to explore on my own on the different mediums of ICT instead of learning them through class. Probably, I need the drive to do my own Self-Directed Learning!
  
  
• Did the group processes support my group’s learning? Why and why not? How can I/we improve?
  
  The group has been helpful in providing thoughts and comments for each and everyone of us. Whatever we might say or think, others may not know it. Through this group blog, we are able to share ideas vice versa. Also, we help our peers to see any possible mistake they made and share our own opinions to it and at the end of the day, we are all able to learn through it collaboratively.
  
  Perhaps, I was late in posting my entry that I did not receive many comments from my peers. And I figure that I was also late in helping to evaluate my peers’ ideas. I am sorry that I did not manage to do it earlier. On my part, I should be more prompt the next time round in posting. Aside from that, the group blog would have been much more effective if everyone was constantly responsive.
  
  

As for my reflection of the course so far, I would say that I've definitely learnt alot. The learning goals which I stated in my wikipage during the 1st week were:
1) To become more practised and proficient in IT.
2) To know of the existence of more interesting and useful applications which may be helpful in my career later on.
3) To learn and understand how ICT will enhance the learning of my students
4) To learn and practise how to incorporate ICT in schools
5) To learn how to engage my students with the use of different forms of ICT.

1) To become more practised and proficient in IT I've definitely become more practised in IT as I'm been using my laptop for my school work every single day. These involved quite a few applications which I wasn't familiar with before like wiki and Microsoft Excel. However, I still feel that there's alot more I could improve in. Thus, I would say that I've only achieved maybe half of this learning goal.

2) To know of the existence of more interesting and useful applications which may be helpful in my career later on I would think that there're thousands of useful and educational applications out there. However, I've only learnt of two applications, namely pbwiki and mindmesiter. No doubt these applications will be useful in my career in the future. However, there's alot more things and applications I would like to come across and use them to facilitate my teaching. Thus for this learning objective, I wouldn't say I've achieved it as well.

3) To learn and understand how ICT will enhance the learning of my students I've read through the ICT Textbook and the resources provided on pbwiki for this module and so far its been really useful in my learning of the subject. I've learnt certain rules and tips on how I can incorporate ICT into my teaching. Thus I'm glad to say that this learning goal has been achieved!! :)

4) To learn and practise how to incorporate ICT in schools I've learnt how to incorporate ICT in schools through the lecture PowerPoint slides and textbook however I haven't officially practised how to do it as I haven't have the chance to really take over a class. However I feel that I will surely be able to incorporate what I have learnt and incorporate it into my practicum come next February. For this learning goal, I'm sure I'll be able to achieve it come my practicum.

5) To learn how to engage my students with the use of different forms of ICT. Personally, I feel that the mindmeister is a very good medium to use for students to be active and share their views with one another. Thus, when I start teaching, I will definitely use that application. Other thatn mindmeister, there're plenty of other forms of ICT out there like forums and youtube. These can be used to enhance the learning of my students in the future too. Thus, this learning goal has been met.

On the whole, the group has deifinitely supported my learning these whole time, be it my group blog members or my projet group members. Their comments have been really useful as they set me thinking in a different perspetive and make me learn new things all the time.

For me, learning is a life long journey. There is no end to it and I look forward to learn new things. With the knowledge and skills learnt in the ICT classes, really helps to improve my learning/delivering strategies and perhaps in planning my classroom lessons in future.

I also learnt that IT is a very useful tool for teachers/educators in sculpting a lesson or delivering it. It provides a wide range of opportunities for the student to have a 'Meaningful Learning'. It helps to cultivate a range of learning strategies, such as self directed learning to collaborative learning.

However, as IT keeps developing and newer/better versions of software/programme keeps appearing, we need to keep up with it. I also learnt from the e-learning activity the importance of knowing the programme/software well before using it to deliver the lesson. Not only that, we should lookout for the programme/software which really suits the lesson.

Lesson Plans and Ground Rules also plays a vital part in delivering a lesson. No matter how good the IT skills or knowledge the teacher have, it will not worked if the teacher doesn't have a good Lesson Plan. Briefing the students and setting the ground rules also help to make the much more conducive.

I find using blog for the e-learning activity really supports my group learning processes. We are able to comment and indirectly learn from each other post and contribute ideas/pointers to improve the idea. Here we could really see how self directed learning develops in collaborative learning and see how a good idea develops into an excellent idea.

So far, I’ve attended only 2 lessons of the ICT module but I’ve to admit that I’ve learnt quite a bit. I learnt above the existence of pbworks-wiki and mindmeister, both of which I’ve never come across in my entire life. Session 2 was about self-directed and collaborative learning. To be honest, I’ve somehow been incorporating these types of learning into my life indirectly which I never knew until this week of this module.


So, we were made to discuss what we understand from the terms, self-directed learning, cooperative learning and collaborative learning. I did my discussion with Amanda. Both of us were very blur initially and didn’t know what this lesson had in stored for us simply because we are very new to this “IT-proficiency” course. But after watching the video provided and reading the PowerPoint slides, we got the hang of the whole thing. All this time during the discussion, we were actually doing something called, “collaborative learning” together as a pair.


Right now, I’m consolidating what I’ve learnt about SDL and CL and that indirectly is a reinforcement of my self-directed learning on this topic as I'm increasing my knowledge not by defining it but by applying examples to justify why and how I've learnt through SDL. Even though, we have to learn things as they come by ourselves, SDL is actually very useless as it really makes you think and understand the facts of it. It is not always necessary that we’ll learn something from a lesson with a teacher giving lectures.


I have always not been a big fan of lectures. Most of the time, I’ll somehow be daydreaming away. When exams arrive, I would take out my notes and start studying from there. This I would call “self-directed learning”. I feel that from SDL, I can somehow concentrate better and have a greater understanding of the subjects which I’m studying for.


I feel that in years to come, these learning methods will definitely be incorporated into schools. Students will become more IT-proficient as time goes by thus these methods will surely suit their lifestyles.


As for my reflection of the course so far, I would say that I've definitely learnt alot. The learning goals which I stated in my wikipage during the 1st week were:
1) To become more practised and proficient in IT.
2) To know of the existence of more interesting and useful applications which may be helpful in my career later on.
3) To learn and understand how ICT will enhance the learning of my students
4) To learn and practise how to incorporate ICT in schools
5) To learn how to engage my students with the use of different forms of ICT.

1) To become more practised and proficient in IT
I've definitely become more practised in IT as I'm been using my laptop for my school work every single day. These involved quite a few applications which I wasn't familiar with before like wiki and Microsoft Excel. However, I still feel that there's alot more I could improve in. Thus, I would say that I've only achieved maybe half of this learning goal.

2) To know of the existence of more interesting and useful applications which may be helpful in my career later on
I would think that there're thousands of useful and educational applications out there. However, I've only learnt of two applications, namely pbwiki and mindmesiter. No doubt these applications will be useful in my career in the future. However, there's alot more things and applications I would like to come across and use them to facilitate my teaching. Thus for this learning objective, I wouldn't say I've achieved it as well.

3) To learn and understand how ICT will enhance the learning of my students
I've read through the ICT Textbook and the resources provided on pbwiki for this module and so far its been really useful in my learning of the subject. I've learnt certain rules and tips on how I can incorporate ICT into my teaching. Thus I'm glad to say that this learning goal has been achieved!! :)

4) To learn and practise how to incorporate ICT in schools
I've learnt how to incorporate ICT in schools through the lecture PowerPoint slides and textbook however I haven't officially practised how to do it as I haven't have the chance to really take over a class. However I feel that I will surely be able to incorporate what I have learnt and incorporate it into my practicum come next February. For this learning goal, I'm sure I'll be able to achieve it come my practicum.

5) To learn how to engage my students with the use of different forms of ICT.
Personally, I feel that the mindmeister is a very good medium to use for students to be active and share their views with one another. Thus, when I start teaching, I will definitely use that application. Other thatn mindmeister, there're plenty of other forms of ICT out there like forums and youtube. These can be used to enhance the learning of my students in the future too. Thus, this learning goal has been met.

On the whole, the group has deifinitely supported my learning these whole time, be it my group blog members or my projet group members. Their comments have been really useful as they set me thinking in a different perspetive and make me learn new things all the time.

Looking back, when asked what I thought I'd learn from this ICT course, these were the five things that I had stated in my wiki page :
- What is ICT,
- The importance and relevance of ICT in today's classrooms,
- Alternative methods to make classroom teaching more interesting and engaging, using ICT tools,
- The importance of staying relevant in terms of delivering the subject content by using tools available on the world wide web and
- How to manipulate ICT tools such as YouTube and Blogger and use it to give students a more hands on and meaningful lesson.

Having said that, my learning goals for this course is a summation of the 5 things I thought I'd learn. They are:
- To understand ICT and
- To be able to use ICT to engage my students and make their learning experience more meaningful.

So, have I achieved my learning goals?

I'd say yes and no. Yes, I now have got a better understanding of what ICT is compared to the very first day I stepped into class. How did I make that happen? For a start, attending class regularly and with an open mind did help a lot. Each week, there is something new to be learnt and with that something new learnt, I get to deepen my understanding of ICT and its works. Reflecting on the lessons on the group blog also did help me to recapitulate on what I've learnt in class and how it has affected me.
However, I am yet to be truly able to put what I have learnt into real practice. I am looking forward to the group demo as it might have a serious impact on my understanding of ICT and how it can affect my lessons in the future.

Were my learning strategies effective and efficient and how can they be improved?

I do think that my learning strategies are working for me right now but I know that something better is always in store and its up to me to explore new strategies to help me be a better learner. I could, for a start, on my own, try to find out the ICT tools currently used in secondary schools right now, especially in my subject-Home Economics so that I'll be in the know of what is going on and how I might be able to keep myself in line with the current strategies used or, better still, how I might be able to introduce new ways of incorporating ICT in the future.

Did the group processes support my group's learning?

Yes, it definitely did. I believe that there is always something to be learnt from others, be it from their success or their mistakes. Through collaborative learning, we get to fill up each other's knowledge gap and at the end of the day, we all become better informed. That is what being a teacher is all about. As what Razali higlighted in response to my e-learning post, we as teachers should not only teach, but learn as well.

An area that my group can definitely improve in is to be more reponsive towards each other's post. Besides reading the posts put up by our peers, we should also respond to them, let our views and thoughts be known and most importantly, be open to the opinions of others. In this manner, we can all learn to look at things from an analytical perspective and develop our own thoughts and opinions. By being more receptive towards the opinions of others, we are also teaching ourselves to be more understanding and accepting of the widely diversed world that all of us will be stepping into in the future.

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|.eikha.|

When it comes to learning, I strongly believe in quality and not quantity. Although I may have only 3 responses to my post, it should not discount the fact that I did learn from the views of my peers.

One of my suggestions that managed to get a response from my peers was careful pre-planning of her lesson.

Razali pointed out that a teacher should not only teach but must also learn, even from her students and I agree with him. Since Mrs. Xing knows that she is not particularly IT-savvy, she should have sought the help of IT lab technicians to ensure that all the computers are in full working orders so that none of her students will have to share computers to do their work. She could have also sought the help from the more IT-savvy students in her class to help their classmates with simple troubleshooting.

Atika pointed out that Mrs. Xing was probably at a ‘trial and error’ stage. Although Mrs. Xing is new at incorporating IT into her lessons, she should have been more prepared in terms of anticipating how the class would turn out and what are the possible problems that might arise. Although a small part of me wishes to strongly disagree with Atika’s view, I reminded myself that to err is human and no lesson is perfect. We teachers should frequently gather feedback from our students regarding our lessons and then work on the flaws to ensure that the next lesson is more successful than the previous.
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|.eikha.|