Reflections of Lesson planning process 30th August 2007

1. What did you learn (or what was reinforced) from the lesson planning process?

Firstly, I learnt that ICT is better used for lessons which are more focused in higher order cognitive skills. ICT can also be used for the lower order cognitive skills like knowledge acquisition or comprehension, but its potential is better tapped on when it is used to facilitate application, analysis, synthesis or evaluation processes. ICT, coupled with student centered learning strategies, would better reinforce these processes.

Secondly, I realized that it was quite challenging to try to incorporate ICT in these higher level mental processes as we were not quite used to them during our schooling days. In our time, the most common use of ICT was PowerPoint slides or videos being screened which were merely passive processes. However, the challenge now is to incorporate lessons with ICT so that they can be more student-centered and more engaging for the students.

Thirdly, the importance writing of good objectives was further emphasized during the writing of the lesson plan. Without a clear and concise objective, it is almost impossible to complete the writing of the lesson plan as a lot of factors such as the activities and assessment hinge on the lesson objectives.

2. What did you learn from the online critiquing process?

I learnt that one should not try to forcibly incorporate ICT into the lessons without a proper idea of the lesson objectives and what the lesson should achieve. Some lessons are better off taught in the traditional method while some lessons can be made more interesting and engaging to the students by the incorporation of ICT. Furthermore, the incorporation of ICT should also be structured properly so as not to incur the student’s confusion. Instructions on how to use the ICT tools should be clearly written and the ICT tools should enable the students to achieve the learning objectives faster and intrigue the students’ interest in the subject.