ICT for Meaningful Learning

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.