Activity 9 - School Readiness Framework

What I consider to be the most important elements of school technology readiness:

1. The School's Vision, Mission or overall Philosophy of ICT
2. Teachers and students ICT use and integration capabilities
3. Ways in which ICT knowledge, skills and attitudes at the different levels will be assessed: 

• Entry
• Adoption
• Adaptation
• Appropriation
• Invention

4. Each school has its own context and based on its context this will determine its readiness for ICT.

5. All involved will then need to understand their roles: being responsible and accountable for the teaching and learning process

Overall, what is to be viewed is the impact ICT will have on students'performance, after all is set in place with using and integrating ICT across the curriculum.

Activity 8: Impact of ICT on schools

How I think ICT will impact positively on schools in the medium term future:

"How is the availability and use of ICT changing the use of existing classroom spaces?" 

 

With ICT classrooms no longer have to be confined to a physical space:

a) a class in a room

b) a class in a computer lab

With ICT teaching and learning can take place anytime and anywhere once there is:

a) wireless connection for internet and intranet

b) each person has his or her own device

c) there are available resources 

d) and shared software applications

There will be classrooms without walls: e-connected classrooms.

"How is ICT use changing the way teachers and administrators approach curriculum delivery?"

ICT informs and transforms teaching and learning. The curriculum is restructured to include ICT in all subject areas where different information is integrated across the curriculum.

Administrators manage and coordinate the learning resources via online school networks and teachers facilitate learning with ICT.

With ICT classrooms are no longer teacher centered but learner centered.

Activity 7: Models of technology adoption

Staff ICT Development Training Plans depends on Staff ICT Development needs.

In schools the availability of ICT does not guarantee that the teachers and students are able to actually use and integrate ICT in teaching and learning.

Teachers need to be equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes of ICT.

This can be done through properly structured Staff ICT Professional Development that is organised to give:

a) Just-in-time training
b) Technical support training
c) Opportunities for teachers to share best practices through communication and collaboration

For technology to move from the adaptation stage of teaching and learning using technology to the adoption stage of teaching and learning with technology teachers need to embrace the feel of comfortably working with others as they change their pedagogy to empower students to learn via their facilitation of learning with ICT.

Activity 6: Role of the teacher

What teacher roles will best tap into the strengths of technology?

Facilitative and reflective role:

The teacher facilitates learning as he/she creates the learning environment for students and students learn through manipulation of the learning tools.

The teacher reflects on his/her pedagogy and use the appropriate methods for students' learning differences and learning styles.

What are the strengths of technology in the classroom?

Technology supports, enhances and extends learning.

How do you know when the technology use will be appropriate?

When the technological tools and/or applications are used as a mean for students to learn about concepts, and not as an end to the way in which students learn.

Appropriate use of Technology in my school:

• Is the use of ICT simple, yet well-supported?

The use of ICT is made simple once well-supported. Anyone can take up an ICT device and try and use it however, if there isn't a goal in mind and how to accomplish the goal it makes it harder to truly use ICT to its full potential. 

• Are you sure that you are not including ICT just because you think it is important to know?

Including ICT in schools is a great way of making learning easier and fun, since the tool will be doing the processing of the complicated work however, the learner will be doing the thinking as he/she creates the product to be shared with others.

• Are learners who are working with ICT focusing on the content?

Learners who are working with ICT focus on the content when there is an interest in them to do so. The teacher as the facilitator is therefore, there to guide them, encourage them and monitor their learning. Thus, the end result will be to focus on what content is needed at the time.

• Is your role facilitative i.e. are you giving the learners the opportunity to work with ICT on their own?

Yes, the teachers' role (my role) is to allow students to discover what they want to learn as they construct meaning or make sense of the content (concepts) as they relate them to real-life situations.

• Does working with ICT enhance the learning process?

Yes, it does.

Yes, they are.

• Is ICT a part of the learning process, and not an add-on?

In my school yes, it is part of learning and not just and extra activity to do.

Technology as a tool to support learning:

The three sets of lessons are focused on pedagogy and not technology. The main goal of each lesson is for the students to learn subject content while using technology to obtain or create and share information.

What I feel about my teacher development experience with colleagues:

I believe that working along with my colleagues gives me the pedagogical and technical support I need to effectively little by little integrate technology in the classroom.

In addition, I also give them the support they need as I assist them in also creating ways in which they can use technology within their classes.

The support goes twofold. In addition, we are all facilitating learning with ICT.

Activity 5 - Myth of computer literacy

Computer literacy myth is that once we give students the computer they will learn all the necessary skills they need to learn by following the computer applications.

Computer literacy in the first place is not all about just knowing how to operate the applications on the computer while using the computer but it is about integrating the knowledge and skills of these applications in different subject areas to cover learning various topics. 

However, yes, the learner can discover things by his or her own self when just given the computer with the applications to learn but there needs to be guidance as to what learning objectives are to be covered for what purpose that should be the overall outcome.

Again, yes, the students are able to make their own learning outcomes and try to achieve these outcomes, but will they be able to achieve them without a logical guideline? The students will still need a guideline in outlining if they are going the right way or not.

Main principles of ICT integration (in my view):

• Students are interested
• Students are active participants of learning
• Students are able to make connections to real-life context or situations
• Students are able to discover things on their own
• students are able to communicate and collaborate with their peers as they learn new things

Whose responsibility I think it is to teach ICT:

I believe the teaching/instruction of ICT is a shared responsibility. A teacher is responsible to facilitate the learning environment to ensure that what concepts are to be taught through real-life scenarios are given, however students are responsible for their own learning as they learn what interest them at the time and are then able to learn about ICT as they use ICT to learn about other things they need to know to function in society.

Activities 4 - Is their a need for teachers?

What Vygotsky suggests should be the role of schooled learning?

School learning is to develop what students already know. It is the act of connecting old knowledge to new knowledge by making real-life connections.

How could we make schooled learning more effective?

We can make school learning more effective by reaching students were they are at. We should make complex concepts simpler for the learners age and stage in order for them to understand fully what certain concepts are and then gradually guide them to the more complex ideas or thoughts about these same concepts.

What are the key roles of the teacher?

The key role of the teacher is to guide or facilitate students learning. This means to allow students to think and as they think the teacher provides the right support or props to help students to develop their thinking in the right path.

To add to the above statement: 

I believe that teachers are facilitators of learning. Therefore, yes there are computer applications that allow students to learn certain information and skills, however the teacher guides the students on the right path to learn specific content needed for their age and stage.

In addition, students learn through social interaction with one another as they try to accomplish a learning goal together.

Self-Activity

Think about a child who is about to begin school:

1. Make a list of the various things the child might have learnt prior to starting school (for example, list the tasks learnt at home, ways of communicating and rules of behaviour in the community).

Tasks learnt at home

How to use the bathroom

How to dress one’s self

How to feed one’s self

How to tie one’s shoelace

How to pray

Ways of communicating

How to talk

How to say you’re sorry

How to behave

How to share

How to help someone in need

Rules of behaviour in the community

Don’t play with matches

Don’t stick anything in electrical sockets

Don’t leave fight with others

Throw your garbage in the bin

Put away things when you are finished using them

Activity 3 - Roles of learners learning with ICT

The most powerful lessons that I learnt about online collaboration:

Using technology enhances, extends and expands learning. Students active participation in collaborative project-based activities increase their performance, since the students are making sense of their world by making connections with what they are doing, that can later on be used in real-world jobs.

Students are responsible for their own learning.

Students gravitate towards persons that have the same interest as they do. 

The most important points that I take from the Learners’ Charter:

Students learn best through - 

(1) active engagement,

(2) participation in groups, 

(3) frequent interaction and feedback, and
(4) connections to real-world contexts.