Reflections for ICT Week 4 23rd Aug 2007

K: What I already KNOW about this week’s topic

I learnt some SCLA techniques last week like problem based, inquiry-based, case-based, resource-based and game-based learning and some of the ways to apply these techniques in the classroom.

W: What I WANT to learn

I want to learn the different ways and methods of planning an effective lesson and coming up with a lesson plan that makes learning fun yet meaningful.

L: What I LEARNED this week

I have learned many interesting things this week; firstly, I finally learnt how to use skype (after such a long time!) and how to incorporate this ICT tool as a learning aid for the students, especially in times of crisis when the students might not have a chance to come to school physically. Secondly, I learned how to write proper lesson objectives and the things that a good lesson plan should contain. I also had a chance to practice writing lesson plans for a particular topic and my group found that it was not always easy to phase the objectives into proper lesson objectives containing all the ABCD. I also realised this week that the apart from the students’ age, gender, stream, grade and prior knowledge, the past experiences of the students also shape how the students think and learn (behaviourism?).

Q: What QUESTIONS I still have

Has lesson planning become an unhealthy obsession for all Singaporean teachers? A lot of the teachers (especially trainee teachers) I had observed were so obsessed with lesson planning that some of them even stayed up till wee hours of the morning everyday to prepare their lesson plans. Of course lesson plans are extremely useful in the delivery of the lesson but I think such an unhealthy obsession with doing lesson plans might result in burn out of the teacher and might not give them enough time to actually think of how to present the lesson to the students in the best possible way.

Reflections on ICT Week 3 16th August 2007

K: What I already KNOW about this week’s topic

I had very little knowledge about this week's topic as I was not familiar at all with lesson planning because I did not have much chance to join in the lesson planning during ESE. However I had some impression of student-centred learning from the past few weeks of ICT lessons. SCLA gave me the impression of concentrating on the learning of the student as compared with the old style of teaching by rote and focusing more on the role of the teacher. In SCLA, the teacher acts more like a facilitator trying to build some structure around the discussion and lead it in the right direction rather than spoon-feeding all the information to the students.

W: What I WANT to learn

I wanted to learn more about SCLA and the ways and approaches that the teacher can go about student-centred learning as opposed to just talking and talking in front of the class for hours on end.

L: What I LEARNED this week

I learned some different approaches to SCLA, namely problem based, project based, case based, inquiry based, game based and resource based learning. My group focused on resource-based learning and it is more or less like giving the students tools to find out information by themselves. The teachers act as facilitators and give the students a few sources of information about a certain topic and the students are supposed to go and find out more sources of information by themselves. The teachers' role then are to give a scaffold to the entire task, like how the task is going to be graded and some questions to guide them along the task. However, the onus is still based on the students to find out as much information as they can by themselves and present it back to the class. In this way, they can introduce the topic to the class first before the teacher starts the teaching proper.

Q: What QUESTIONS I still have

How effective is student-centred learning as opposed to the traditional teaching approaches? I feel that not all subjects can use SCLA all of the time, as it is extremely time-consuming and taxing on both the teachers and the students. Some SCLA is necessary to provide some variety and novelty to the class, but over-use of student-based learning projects can be very exhausting to both the teacher and the students as they can be difficult for the teachers to access and the students might be initially overwhelmed by the sheer workload.

Relections on week 2 of QED 522: 9th August 2007

K: What I already KNOW about this week’s topic

As mentioned last week, many of the schools in Singapore already have some degree of ICT integration in their school system, be it using PowerPoint slides for lessons or bringing the class to the computer lab for graph plotting during Math lessons. I am also aware that some schools have converted the textbook into softcopy form, fully assessable by using a tablet laptop, which also enables the student to take down notes into the ‘textbook’ by directing writing on the tablet pc itself

W: What I WANT to learn

I wanted to see if there were any novel ways of integrating ICT into the classroom environment besides the few conventional ways that most schools use.

L: What I LEARNED this week

The visit to the COTF was an eye-opening experience: the high level of connectivity and interaction between the teacher and the students in that kind of environment really impressed me. Moreover, learning could be done in not just only the classroom, but even when the student is travelling or at home. The palmtops that the students use in the COTF are extremely mobile and makes learning on the go a reality. Apart from formal classroom teaching, the COTF can also aid in most scientific research projects as it is extremely convenient to link-up with other students or professors all around the world.

The videos also showed us some ways of managing the class when in the computer lab. However, I doubt that the students in most secondary schools will be as receptive to instruction as those kids in the videos.

Q: What QUESTIONS I still have

Firstly, how far are we from implementing the COTF in our classrooms? By the looks of it, even if we had the technology to do it, not many schools have the right environment and expertise to operate these gadgets. Moreover, classroom sizes right now are too big to implement COTF effectively. Secondly, would the implementation of technology marginalize the students who are not so well off financially? Some of the poorer students would have trouble buying a tablet pc or a palmtop and would probably feel too embarrassed by their financial situation to ask for help.

QED522 Lesson 1: 2nd August 2007

K: What I already KNOW about this week’s topic
Before today’s class, I had already knew that many Secondary schools in Singapore were already integrating ICT into the teaching of lessons, such as using PowerPoint slides to replace the use of overhead projectors and interactive learning applets. Moreover, as I was attached to Crescent Girls School (one of the schools which MOE assigned as one of the ‘schools of the future’) for a stint during my ‘varsity holidays, I had some experience with interacting with the students using ICT and designing some applications to facilitate the use of ICT in the classrooms to make it easier for both the teachers and students to benefit from ICT.

W: What I WANT to learn
I wanted to see if I could learn any new applications or use existing applications that I’ve already learnt to make learning more enjoyable for the students and to relieve some of the workload of the teachers.

L: What I LEARNED this week
I’ve learnt this week that this course is not about learning new applications or programming, but about how to make learning more student-centered by the use of ICT. I have also learnt how to use the wiki to upload information and to access other people’s wiki page to see what they have done. I have also learnt that Ashley is a guy’s name. (heh just kidding).

Q: What QUESTIONS I still have

As we know, many older teachers are still not very comfortable with the use of ICT, so are there any programs or courses offered by NIE to target the more senior teachers? I’m sure that by combining their many years of experience with ICT would yield much better results as they would know what the things to incorporate into the applications to make learning more enjoyable. Secondly, although ICT can be a very useful lesson aid, I feel face-to-face interactions between the teachers and their students are still extremely important so we should not have the students stare at the computer screen for the entire lesson and neglect the most important part of teaching – human interaction. (This was more of a comment than a question of course but I thought this was the best place to put it)