PREPARATORY TASK FOR ICT FOR MEANINGFUL LEARNING
Enhanced School Experience: Classroom Observations of ICT Use
Specific Observations
School Name: Blangah Rise Primary School
Class: 3 Emerald
Profile of the class:
(For e.g., the students’ academic abilities, stream and other characteristics)
The students are of mixed abilities, with roughly equal numbers of MA and LA. There are no HA students in this particular class. Due to the nature of the school, the students are mainly from the less privileged families. Hence, only about a third of them have access to computers and the internet from home.
As such, the computer and the internet are novelties to the students and they really look forward to English lessons that are conducted in the computer lab.
Subject: English
What ICT tools are used in the lesson?
Litespeed and AsknLearn are the two vendors BRPS has approached for ICT infused lesson packages, AsknLearn being the new vendor replacing Litespeed. The prescribed/recommended computer lesson for English is once per week, and the English teacher has the liberty to decide whether to carry out the lesson or not. This usually depends on whether the Stellar syllabus can be completed in time.
ICT infused lessons are carried out in the computer lab, which is equipped with enough terminals for every student. Headphones are also made available as the lesson package includes audio components. Besides these computer lab lessons, the teacher has also used ICT during normal classroom lessons, including Litespeed, Powerpoint presentations and youtube videos.
Describe how ICT is used for teaching and learning in the lesson.
The computer lab lessons are used mainly for teaching grammar, as the English Stellar syllabus is not very comprehensive in the aspect of the teaching of grammar.
Litespeed has a rather comprehensive grammar learning package, being organized into the different areas of grammar. This allows students to know concisely what they are required to know and why they need to know that particular aspect of grammar. Moreover, at the end of each lesson package, there are assessments to check their understanding. The teacher would monitor the results from these assessments and personally tutor any students that cannot do well in these. The learning process is rather self-directed and carried out an one's own pace. The teacher does not rush the students but rather expect quality learning from these ICT infused lessons.
As the lesson packages include animations or interesting plots, students are very engaged.
At the start of the lesson, students are briefed on the objectives and expectations of the lessons. The teacher asked questions and evaluated the students' level of competencies in the topic before beginning the lesson. Ten minutes before the lesson concluded, he asked the students about what they had learnt to gain an understanding of how ICT has benefited them.
General Observation:
How do teachers in the school feel about the use of ICT for teaching and learning? (For this question, you may want to speak to the HOD/ICT and other teachers you know in the school.)
As my RO is the HOD/ICT in the school, I had much opportunity to interact with her and to observe her strategies and plans of ICT implementation in the school. Most teachers are very receptive towards infusing ICT into their lessons, including all subject teachers and even art teachers.
Regular training for teachers on new ICT programmes are carried out by various members of the ICT department, and electronic mailers are used to keep everyone updated on the latest developments or events that the department has done. This creates and maintains a culture whereby ICT is regarded as a valuable tool/resource in a teacher's arsenal.
Interactions with various other teachers during our mutual free time-slots reflected the above observation, and the general consensus is that ICT has really made learning a more enjoyable process for the students, benefiting them more than regular classroom teaching has.
As mentioned earlier in our reciprocal teaching, due to the curriculum-centric MOE syllabus, teachers normally will only used ICT-infused lessons provided the main curriculum (in this case the STELLAR syllabus as mentioned by JL) has been completed on time. This means that ICT-infused lessons are seen as optional add-ons and not as a holistic integral essential part of the whole curriculum.
ReplyDeleteJL’s experience in a neighbourhood school, where the majority of the students are from poorer socio-economic background, shows that only a third has computer and internet access. Therefore there is a need to narrow the inequality gap between the haves and have-nots through social and financial assistance schemes to make the availability of basic computers into the homes of the less privileged a top priority.
JL also observed that most of the teachers are receptive to the adoption of ICT tools for their lessons. Perhaps most of the teachers in the school are generally younger and hence accounting for a stronger ICT adoption culture ?
Thanks bro for your kind comments. I think most of the perm staff are very motivated to utilize ICT in their lessons as they understand the purpose behind the Masterplan 3. FAs who are not as engaged as the perm staff might not be aware of the long term benefits.
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