ICT for Meaningful Learning

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.