Lesson planning is essential to conduct an efficient class. Without lesson planning, the lesson that will be conducted will be disorganized and students would not be able to learn in class. I learn that lesson objectives are important in class. Lesson objectives are the backbone in lesson planning since those objectives will determine the flow of the lessons. Another factor that I learn is that as teachers, it is very crucial to know who the learners are. Are they from the Express stream or Normal Technical stream? It will be also be beneficial if teachers know what type of background the students come from. Such distinctions are important since it requires different objectives to achieve in different types of classes. It is equally important to determine how much background knowledge they have. If the students are proficient in that topic, then the teacher has to adjust accordingly. Teachers have to have a gist of ‘ where’ the students are. I also learn how to write SIOs with the ABCD model. A stands for audience, B stands for Behaviour, C stands for Condition and D stands for Degree.
The first thing that I applied was to write the SIOs. It is actually difficult to write SIOs even as a group and even then there are many improvements that can be made. The second thing that I applied is to write up a lesson plan for our TEL. Similarly, this is also no easy task. Very difficult indeed. Trying to match the activities with the objectives. It’s like a matching game and my group keep changing our plans.
One thing I want to learn is to be an expert lesson planner. I really hope I can be one soon since practicum is coming soon.
Monday, August 31
Sunday, August 30
4th Week Reflections (Soo Hoon)
During my contract teaching, I have heard many practicum students talking about lesson plan, the amount of time they spent on it and etc. During my ESE, I managed to have a chance to plan out a lesson plan on Angle of Elevation (Sec 3 Express class). Seriously speaking, I did not focus much on the SIO. For the part on SIO, I remembered that I finish within 10mins? The parts which got me great headache were the Introduction, Development and etc.
However, after the previous ICT lesson on lesson planning, I realized my SIO was terribly done! During the lesson, we learnt that a good SIOs must follow the 4 letters ABCD. A stands for audience, B stands for Behaviour, C stands for Conditions, D stands for degree. I realized that I did not pay attention to the components on Behaviour, Conditions and Degree. That's practically everything!
The following were what I planned previously:
LESSON PLAN
The word "solve" I used is a lower order verb based on Bloom's Taxonomy. However, this lesson does not integrate ICT, so is the SIO ok?
Planning the SIO was really a tough job for my group. Firstly, we really have to figure out how to implement our ICT tool into the lesson. I know it is not right to choose the ICT tool then decide on the flow of the lesson. However, I believe most have actually did the same as us. We also do not know what exactly to put up on our Powerpoint as E-learning and what to discuss in lesson. Groupwork or individual work? Use of concept map or worksheets? CL or SDL? There are so many things to consider for a lesson.
Similar to other groups, we faced the problem of our SIO being too brief. We need to be more concise and come up with activities which match our objectives. Critiques on one another groups are quite useful as we can see own mistakes clearer. However, as we are not very experienced in developing SIOs yet, limited advices could be given. Later on, I believe we will face more problem on developing our lesson plan. How should we incorporate what we have learnt and apply in our lesson such that students undergo meaningful learning? How much time should we allocate to certain activities? These are skills which I believe we will bound to pick up as we go along either in ICT lesson or in other modules.
In real-life situation, teachers have no time to do lesson planning. However, I still believed the need for learning this skill now. Even though we may not do out a detailed lesson plan in future, I believe we will apply the skills we learnt in planning out a lesson (though not in black and white).
A proper lesson planning will then benefit the students. Imagine a teacher come into a lesson without adequate preparations, kept changing his mind on what activities to carry out, lessons sequenced in a chaotic manner! Hence, I want to learn the planning of a good lesson plan.
I have briefly went through the stuff for our E-learning week though I have not started on doing them. Haha. Those are case study illustrating on the various scenarios which will arise when we apply ICT in our lessons. Well, I think it will be very useful as ICT should be quite a new thing to most of us. By exposing us to the case study, we should be better prepared for our lesson in future. Let us work together and pull through this ICT journey!
However, after the previous ICT lesson on lesson planning, I realized my SIO was terribly done! During the lesson, we learnt that a good SIOs must follow the 4 letters ABCD. A stands for audience, B stands for Behaviour, C stands for Conditions, D stands for degree. I realized that I did not pay attention to the components on Behaviour, Conditions and Degree. That's practically everything!
The following were what I planned previously:
LESSON PLAN
Subject: Mathematics
Chapter: Chapter 8 Application of Trigonometry
Topic: Angles of Elevation and Depression
Class: Secondary 3 Achieve (42 students)
Duration: Two periods (90mins)
Date: 16 July 2009 (Thursday) Time: 1300-1430 Venue: C3-03
Pre-requisites
Pupils should be able to:
-state the definitions of trigonometric ratios (sine, cosine and tangent)
-use the trigonometric ratios to calculate unknown sides and angles in a right-angles triangle
apply the sine rule and cosine rule to solve problems involving the sides and the angles of the triangle
Specific Instructional Objectives:
By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
-understand the idea of angles of elevation and depression
-solve problems involving angles of elevation and depression
The word "solve" I used is a lower order verb based on Bloom's Taxonomy. However, this lesson does not integrate ICT, so is the SIO ok?
Planning the SIO was really a tough job for my group. Firstly, we really have to figure out how to implement our ICT tool into the lesson. I know it is not right to choose the ICT tool then decide on the flow of the lesson. However, I believe most have actually did the same as us. We also do not know what exactly to put up on our Powerpoint as E-learning and what to discuss in lesson. Groupwork or individual work? Use of concept map or worksheets? CL or SDL? There are so many things to consider for a lesson.
Similar to other groups, we faced the problem of our SIO being too brief. We need to be more concise and come up with activities which match our objectives. Critiques on one another groups are quite useful as we can see own mistakes clearer. However, as we are not very experienced in developing SIOs yet, limited advices could be given. Later on, I believe we will face more problem on developing our lesson plan. How should we incorporate what we have learnt and apply in our lesson such that students undergo meaningful learning? How much time should we allocate to certain activities? These are skills which I believe we will bound to pick up as we go along either in ICT lesson or in other modules.
In real-life situation, teachers have no time to do lesson planning. However, I still believed the need for learning this skill now. Even though we may not do out a detailed lesson plan in future, I believe we will apply the skills we learnt in planning out a lesson (though not in black and white).
A proper lesson planning will then benefit the students. Imagine a teacher come into a lesson without adequate preparations, kept changing his mind on what activities to carry out, lessons sequenced in a chaotic manner! Hence, I want to learn the planning of a good lesson plan.
I have briefly went through the stuff for our E-learning week though I have not started on doing them. Haha. Those are case study illustrating on the various scenarios which will arise when we apply ICT in our lessons. Well, I think it will be very useful as ICT should be quite a new thing to most of us. By exposing us to the case study, we should be better prepared for our lesson in future. Let us work together and pull through this ICT journey!
Chester's Reflection IV
After the last few weeks of “overwhelming overload of information”, today we moved closer to something “hands on”: lesson plan for our demo project. That’s good news, moving on to applications of what we’ve learnt so far.
Well, I had the luxury of time to look through most groups’ lesson plans as the group I critiqued had some unfinished business. I think most of us are teaching chemistry for the demo, no surprises. What came new to me were all the different types of ICT tools that were on display.
Chalk, dabble? Potato! Yenka??? etc. What on earth are these???
Slowly, I got to find out roughly how these chalks and potatoes work; which forms quite a big part of what I’ve learnt today, considering I knew nuts about these chalks and potatoes beforehand. I’ve also learnt the difference between goals and objectives, which seems to be the same to me beforehand.
Despite knowing the difference, I still think writing objectives is no easy task.
Through our group work, we wrote down the objectives of our lesson. “Hmm, nice.”
Then we proceeded with our planning. “Hmm, should be okay lah.”
Then when we check our objectives again, “Eh, tak match leh” (tak = malay for don’t)
I think when we wrote the objectives, we followed closely to the MOE syllabus. However, when we plan, we did what we felt was good for the students. Hence, the discrepancies. This will be something we got to careful and not get too carried away with our own style of teaching.
Well, I had the luxury of time to look through most groups’ lesson plans as the group I critiqued had some unfinished business. I think most of us are teaching chemistry for the demo, no surprises. What came new to me were all the different types of ICT tools that were on display.
Chalk, dabble? Potato! Yenka??? etc. What on earth are these???
Slowly, I got to find out roughly how these chalks and potatoes work; which forms quite a big part of what I’ve learnt today, considering I knew nuts about these chalks and potatoes beforehand. I’ve also learnt the difference between goals and objectives, which seems to be the same to me beforehand.
Despite knowing the difference, I still think writing objectives is no easy task.
Through our group work, we wrote down the objectives of our lesson. “Hmm, nice.”
Then we proceeded with our planning. “Hmm, should be okay lah.”
Then when we check our objectives again, “Eh, tak match leh” (tak = malay for don’t)
I think when we wrote the objectives, we followed closely to the MOE syllabus. However, when we plan, we did what we felt was good for the students. Hence, the discrepancies. This will be something we got to careful and not get too carried away with our own style of teaching.
Saturday, August 29
Reflections (Lesson 4)
The final piece of the jigsaw is in place.
It started with the introduction of Meaningful Learning. Next up was the introduction of student centred learning, Self-directed learning and Collaborative Learning. Then came the pedagogical approach. NOW, we did lesson planning and found out ourselves the importance of good and detailed SIOs.
While doing contract teaching, SIOs serve as a guide. They give me an idea on what and how i was to teach that concept and lesson. Other than that, it just serves the purpose of filling up the piece of paper (SOW) to make it look nice.
During the lesson, we were introduced to the difference between goals and objectives. As the lesson goes on, the process of doing up a lesson plan became more obvious.
We were introduced to the ABCD approach that is essential to writing good SIOs. A represents the target audience, B being behaviour, C are the conditions and D = degree of success. One thing I learnt is the importance of the B factor. The use of different verbs can make the degree of importance for an objective to change.
Writing of SIOs is an art! Takes time and alot of effort to master coming out with good SIOs. To incorporate all the 4 alphabets into forming good SIOs need more practices. SIO cannot be used for throughout the whole level. We cannot expect the NA students to learn as much and effective as what the express students do. That is where the degree comes into play. The level of expectation is different.
I think how receptive to others critique also helps to make a person learn your mistakes or shortfalls. The SIOs that we attempted to write for our lesson plan was not detailed enough, which I agree. So I guess me and my group mates will have to look into it and see what went wrong.
As all the required tools have been given to us in writing a good lesson plan, we will soon be attempting our individual assignment and the TEL Demo. As for one thing that I want to learn? I seriously want to know what makes a good lesson plan. So what makes a good lesson plan and how to write good SIOs? I am scratching my head and cracking my brain to solve this mystery.....
It started with the introduction of Meaningful Learning. Next up was the introduction of student centred learning, Self-directed learning and Collaborative Learning. Then came the pedagogical approach. NOW, we did lesson planning and found out ourselves the importance of good and detailed SIOs.
While doing contract teaching, SIOs serve as a guide. They give me an idea on what and how i was to teach that concept and lesson. Other than that, it just serves the purpose of filling up the piece of paper (SOW) to make it look nice.
During the lesson, we were introduced to the difference between goals and objectives. As the lesson goes on, the process of doing up a lesson plan became more obvious.
We were introduced to the ABCD approach that is essential to writing good SIOs. A represents the target audience, B being behaviour, C are the conditions and D = degree of success. One thing I learnt is the importance of the B factor. The use of different verbs can make the degree of importance for an objective to change.
Writing of SIOs is an art! Takes time and alot of effort to master coming out with good SIOs. To incorporate all the 4 alphabets into forming good SIOs need more practices. SIO cannot be used for throughout the whole level. We cannot expect the NA students to learn as much and effective as what the express students do. That is where the degree comes into play. The level of expectation is different.
I think how receptive to others critique also helps to make a person learn your mistakes or shortfalls. The SIOs that we attempted to write for our lesson plan was not detailed enough, which I agree. So I guess me and my group mates will have to look into it and see what went wrong.
As all the required tools have been given to us in writing a good lesson plan, we will soon be attempting our individual assignment and the TEL Demo. As for one thing that I want to learn? I seriously want to know what makes a good lesson plan. So what makes a good lesson plan and how to write good SIOs? I am scratching my head and cracking my brain to solve this mystery.....
Friday, August 28
Reflections for Week 4 (Sheng Zhi)
This week we learn about SIOs, how to generate them and how to critique them.
SIOs stands for Specific Instructional Objectives. We teachers will always face the problem of trying to understand how much the students have learnt from the lesson. No matter how well the lesson has been taught, everything will come to nought if the students have not learnt a thing.
It is very difficult to gain access into the students' mind just by verbal questioning. I remember often in the classes I have had, when the teacher ask, "Class, do you understand?", unless it was a really simple concept otherwise the whole class will keep quiet. Somehow we have a mental barrier to admit we have learnt nothing from the teacher's rambling for the last hour. Maybe we fear we would break the teacher's heart, being the good students we are (heh heh).
Therefore SIOs are needed to let teachers have an insight into how much the students have learnt. This is done by setting specific goals for the students to achieve after the lesson.
I have learnt that good SIOs must follow the 4 letters ABCD. A stands for audience, B stands for Behaviour, C stands for Conditions, D stands for degree. This means that the SIOs must cater to the ability of the Audience to exhibit an observable Behaviour in a given Condition to a specific Degree. For example we can set the SIO for a chemistry lesson to be, "Given the reactants(C), a sec 4 express student(A) should be able to write down the reaction equations(B) to 100% accuracy(D)"
Although we were ask to critique other group's SIOs as well, I realised I am not too sure how to critique as I have only learnt the basics of writing effective SIOs. Therefore I wish to learnt how to write effective SIOs and in turn be able to give constructive ideas to other people's SIOs. These are my reflections for this week.
SIOs stands for Specific Instructional Objectives. We teachers will always face the problem of trying to understand how much the students have learnt from the lesson. No matter how well the lesson has been taught, everything will come to nought if the students have not learnt a thing.
It is very difficult to gain access into the students' mind just by verbal questioning. I remember often in the classes I have had, when the teacher ask, "Class, do you understand?", unless it was a really simple concept otherwise the whole class will keep quiet. Somehow we have a mental barrier to admit we have learnt nothing from the teacher's rambling for the last hour. Maybe we fear we would break the teacher's heart, being the good students we are (heh heh).
Therefore SIOs are needed to let teachers have an insight into how much the students have learnt. This is done by setting specific goals for the students to achieve after the lesson.
I have learnt that good SIOs must follow the 4 letters ABCD. A stands for audience, B stands for Behaviour, C stands for Conditions, D stands for degree. This means that the SIOs must cater to the ability of the Audience to exhibit an observable Behaviour in a given Condition to a specific Degree. For example we can set the SIO for a chemistry lesson to be, "Given the reactants(C), a sec 4 express student(A) should be able to write down the reaction equations(B) to 100% accuracy(D)"
Although we were ask to critique other group's SIOs as well, I realised I am not too sure how to critique as I have only learnt the basics of writing effective SIOs. Therefore I wish to learnt how to write effective SIOs and in turn be able to give constructive ideas to other people's SIOs. These are my reflections for this week.
Wednesday, August 26
Week 3 Reflections (Han Kiong)
For Session 3 of QED527, we were introduced to pedagogical approaches. We studied 5 pedagogical approaches namely case-based learning, inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, resource-based learning and game-based learning. A jig-saw activity that involves the discussion of pedagogical approaches researched by individuals and the recording of the approaches in wiki was carried out for the learning of the 5 pedagogical approaches.
I remembered vadely that the jig jaw method was employed in some of the activities in school but the use of ICT tools were not incorporated then. I find that the jig saw method is a good approach to get students to be involved in self-directed learning as well as collaborative learning. Students will need to find out the topics delegated to them for research in order to contribute effectively to discussion in groups. The allocation of time for the research portion must be properly planned out in order that sufficient information can be found and to prevent students from idling when excess time is given. Moreover, the student should try to explain as detailed as possible when assuming the role of a specialist on a specific topic.
With regards to the pedagogical approaches learnt in session 3, I encountered some use of project-based learning while in school as a student. The teacher acts as facilitator to guide the students in their groups on how to approach the project and what elements are essential for incorporation. The exposure of other pedagogical approaches was rather limited.
During the course of teaching science to secondary one students during the contract period, I tried to incorporate some form of game-based learning in my teaching. I designed a competitive quiz based on the jeopardy format with questions on past topics. Students were generally receptive to game based learning and they certainly preferred it to traditional modes of learning. I find that game-based learning is particularly useful when implementing as a form of revision but it can create some chaos and rowdiness which is not particularly pleasing.
As I read through the pages on the different pedagogical approaches prepared by members of the group, I realised that the common traits in these approaches are as follows:
I remembered vadely that the jig jaw method was employed in some of the activities in school but the use of ICT tools were not incorporated then. I find that the jig saw method is a good approach to get students to be involved in self-directed learning as well as collaborative learning. Students will need to find out the topics delegated to them for research in order to contribute effectively to discussion in groups. The allocation of time for the research portion must be properly planned out in order that sufficient information can be found and to prevent students from idling when excess time is given. Moreover, the student should try to explain as detailed as possible when assuming the role of a specialist on a specific topic.
With regards to the pedagogical approaches learnt in session 3, I encountered some use of project-based learning while in school as a student. The teacher acts as facilitator to guide the students in their groups on how to approach the project and what elements are essential for incorporation. The exposure of other pedagogical approaches was rather limited.
During the course of teaching science to secondary one students during the contract period, I tried to incorporate some form of game-based learning in my teaching. I designed a competitive quiz based on the jeopardy format with questions on past topics. Students were generally receptive to game based learning and they certainly preferred it to traditional modes of learning. I find that game-based learning is particularly useful when implementing as a form of revision but it can create some chaos and rowdiness which is not particularly pleasing.
As I read through the pages on the different pedagogical approaches prepared by members of the group, I realised that the common traits in these approaches are as follows:
- Based on constructivism as opposed to behaviourism
- The teacher is acting as a facilitator and he or she will be encouraging self-directed learning or collaborative learning on the part of the student.
- Learning has to be student-centered.
- Feedback is necessary to get students to realise if they are on the right track and areas of improvement.
The role of ICT in these pedagogical approaches will be that it can encourage learning beyond the classroom environment to within the home with feedback still being provided by the teachers. Learning will cease to come only from textbooks and students will hopefully be more interested in discovering phenomenons in the world around them.
Tuesday, August 25
session 3 reflections...
during the 3rd session, we were introduced to the different pedagogical approaches. i believe that balancing theory and practice in this area happens over time & comes with experience. well, it was interesting that the jigsaw method was used to conduct the lesson and on further discussion with another fellow coursemate, i realized that my math tutor used a similar approach to conduct one of his tutorial sessions! this is a refreshing change and i would consider bringing this into future classroom lessons with my students.
with the exception of game-based learning, i have been exposed to the rest of the pedagogical approaches. project-based learning was pretty common in college & varsity days with the introduction of interdisciplinary project work which required me to work in a group. personally it was beneficial to my learning experience as it allowed me to exchange ideas with fellow groupmates and gain more knowledge from them. in addition, doing term papers & weekly laboratory reports required individual research on the theories underlying the reactions & phenomena behind the issues addressed. personally i was enriched from the experience of looking up resources on my own and trying to make sense of the experiments/issues with whatever i had found. resource-based learning was pretty common back in secondary school and consolidating all the information gathered from various resources from the library into a graphic organizer/dichotomous map helped in summarizing the topic researched on. case-based learning was also common on those occasions where case studies were used by lecturers/tutors to bring across a learning point, and i thought having those real-life examples helped in bringing the topic closer to home.
the experience from the session hit home the fact that pedagogical approaches aren't mutually exclusive from each other. in fact, resource-based learning kind of encompasses the rest of the approaches since games CAN be a resource, same thing for projects (as in archived or ongoing ones) & real life cases. besides, since inquiry-based learning would also require students to seek information for themselves, this aspect is covered as well. in some ways the pedagogical approaches are interrelated with one another, in the sense that one approach contains elements of another.
in these approaches, ICT can double up as a resource/tool (e.g. youtube videos, search engines) for students to gather information from, on top of acting as a channel of communication with another party. at the same time, it can also be used in consolidating data that has been gathered, with mindmeister as a very helpful example. building on the aspect of communication, ICT can thus be used for exchanging information, opinions & collective discussions. this would be especially useful in collaborative learning since it involves more than 1 person. not to belittle these pedagogical approaches in self-directed learning; but as mentioned in my previous entry, one would benefit more from collective input from others than just researching alone.
with the exception of game-based learning, i have been exposed to the rest of the pedagogical approaches. project-based learning was pretty common in college & varsity days with the introduction of interdisciplinary project work which required me to work in a group. personally it was beneficial to my learning experience as it allowed me to exchange ideas with fellow groupmates and gain more knowledge from them. in addition, doing term papers & weekly laboratory reports required individual research on the theories underlying the reactions & phenomena behind the issues addressed. personally i was enriched from the experience of looking up resources on my own and trying to make sense of the experiments/issues with whatever i had found. resource-based learning was pretty common back in secondary school and consolidating all the information gathered from various resources from the library into a graphic organizer/dichotomous map helped in summarizing the topic researched on. case-based learning was also common on those occasions where case studies were used by lecturers/tutors to bring across a learning point, and i thought having those real-life examples helped in bringing the topic closer to home.
the experience from the session hit home the fact that pedagogical approaches aren't mutually exclusive from each other. in fact, resource-based learning kind of encompasses the rest of the approaches since games CAN be a resource, same thing for projects (as in archived or ongoing ones) & real life cases. besides, since inquiry-based learning would also require students to seek information for themselves, this aspect is covered as well. in some ways the pedagogical approaches are interrelated with one another, in the sense that one approach contains elements of another.
in these approaches, ICT can double up as a resource/tool (e.g. youtube videos, search engines) for students to gather information from, on top of acting as a channel of communication with another party. at the same time, it can also be used in consolidating data that has been gathered, with mindmeister as a very helpful example. building on the aspect of communication, ICT can thus be used for exchanging information, opinions & collective discussions. this would be especially useful in collaborative learning since it involves more than 1 person. not to belittle these pedagogical approaches in self-directed learning; but as mentioned in my previous entry, one would benefit more from collective input from others than just researching alone.
Monday, August 24
Reflections 3
In the past, as students, I have experienced different types of pedagogical approach. The most common one is project based learning and the least common one is inquiry based learning. From time to time, from primary school up till now, I have done many projects either as a requirement from the teacher or voluntary. So far the projects I’ve been involved and the people I’ve been working with gave me good opportunities to grow. I’ve learned to share my ideas and also at the same time comment on other’s ideas. It provided me with good communication skills and the confidence to speak up. I don’t remember any formal inquiry based learning in class. I have done inquiry based learning on my own, when I was curious on a certain subject, I would carry out my own searches on my own.
All the different approaches are closely related to one another. They served as an alternative to the traditional teaching approaches where the teacher talks and students listen. There is only a slight difference between them. The basic difference is that some approaches require team work whilst other approaches can be done individually. Example, project-based learning requires group collaboration, whilst resource-based learning can be done either individually or as a team according to the teacher’s requirement.
ICT tools serve an important role in these approaches. Most of these approaches require the students to look not only in their textbook but also from other sources like the internet. Search engines can facilitate students to search for information. Youtube can provide the visual advantage to learning whilst blog discussions can help the students seek other’s opinions and feedback on them.
All in all I’ve learn that there are different approaches to learning. Teachers should try to incorporate the different approaches in class to give the students the opportunity to learn in a different way. According to Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, students’ full cognitive development requires social interaction. Students need to interact to learn more. Therefore, approaches like project-based learning will provide the students with the independence and the social environment to learn.
All the different approaches are closely related to one another. They served as an alternative to the traditional teaching approaches where the teacher talks and students listen. There is only a slight difference between them. The basic difference is that some approaches require team work whilst other approaches can be done individually. Example, project-based learning requires group collaboration, whilst resource-based learning can be done either individually or as a team according to the teacher’s requirement.
ICT tools serve an important role in these approaches. Most of these approaches require the students to look not only in their textbook but also from other sources like the internet. Search engines can facilitate students to search for information. Youtube can provide the visual advantage to learning whilst blog discussions can help the students seek other’s opinions and feedback on them.
All in all I’ve learn that there are different approaches to learning. Teachers should try to incorporate the different approaches in class to give the students the opportunity to learn in a different way. According to Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory, students’ full cognitive development requires social interaction. Students need to interact to learn more. Therefore, approaches like project-based learning will provide the students with the independence and the social environment to learn.
Reflection (Lesson 3)
Looking at the comment from Dr Tan from my previous post, it seems like i am currently in danger of falling into the trap of using ICT tools to impress and not for meaningful learning(ML). Looks like I have to be more conscience of my direction. Recalling what my RO had said to me previously, " We are here to educate and facilitate the learning of the students. We are not here to entertain them." I guess I have to constantly reminding myself over this.
Bringing back to the reflections for lesson 2 that i missed out on.
Meaningful learning is the incorporation of any of the five elements into the lesson, making it active, constructive, cooperative, authentic and intentional. But it is hard to incorporate all into one lesson. So, to me now, careful planning is thus needed to ensure that one lesson at least fulfills one aspect of ML. Collaborative learning is one way where I strongly believed in and feel that this helps incorporating both self-directed learning (SDL) and collaborative learning (CL). An example that can be used on the chapter on Energy where we can give students a scenario to work with and explore the contents on their own.
On the other hand, students should use the soft skills they had learnt to help make learning meaningful. They should be open to the concept of learning in a group and also accept that students themselves should be more independent in their learning. This is a problem i foresee in students in neighbourhood schools. These students may not be ready for these learnings. Also, these schools may need sometime to be ready to make this a large scale affair.
As I mentioned before, MLs can be implemented without ICT. ICT tools are there to help and facilitate the enforcing of ML. They provide us with a platform where teaching can take place. This platform allow students to share their knowledges. It also allows students to clear up their misconceptions and fill in all the gaps that are present.
Back to present, in lesson 3, we were introduced the 'IT' word in education, 'PEDAGOGY'. In simpler terms, it is the different methods of teaching. Five methods introduced were Case-Based Learning (CBL), Inquiry-Based Learning(IBL), Project-Based Learning(PjBL), Resource-Based Learning (RBL) and Game-Based Learning(GBL).
We were also exposed to the jig-saw method. This is not a new method and this is where CL and SDL are being practised. Each of us was tasked to take a specific pedagogy. After which, we shared our area of 'expertise' with our group. Although we were given specific URLs to start our research, no restrictions on us to wander away from the few help sites.
During the process of researching and discussion on my area of expertise (GBL), where learning was done through the incorporation of games, one area of concern came to me. Will the students actually pay too much focus on winning the game and neglect the primary objective of learning? Although I was supposed to work on GBL but I feel that the more prominent methods are PjBL and IBL. In my school, we tried to come out with an IBL lesson package and enforced it. These lessons took up more time and students were often lost. We served as facilitators and guide them along the way.
As for PjBL, it encompasses the other pedagogies. In doing projects, students will be exposed to both SDL and CL. Not only that, they will also be able to pick up the soft skills. Students will also be able to inquire, search and extract informations from resources and case-studies. As for GBL, my personal opinion feels that it would be more appropriate for this pedagogy to be used during revisions.
Concerns from me. How to incorporate ICT into at least the five teaching pedagogies? Second concern, how can we make IBL and PjBL 'closer' to the standards of the NA and NT students? How much more guidance do we give them? Or do we just treat them as per normal but using a different set of assessment criterias?
Hope that these questions will be answered soon!
Bringing back to the reflections for lesson 2 that i missed out on.
Meaningful learning is the incorporation of any of the five elements into the lesson, making it active, constructive, cooperative, authentic and intentional. But it is hard to incorporate all into one lesson. So, to me now, careful planning is thus needed to ensure that one lesson at least fulfills one aspect of ML. Collaborative learning is one way where I strongly believed in and feel that this helps incorporating both self-directed learning (SDL) and collaborative learning (CL). An example that can be used on the chapter on Energy where we can give students a scenario to work with and explore the contents on their own.
On the other hand, students should use the soft skills they had learnt to help make learning meaningful. They should be open to the concept of learning in a group and also accept that students themselves should be more independent in their learning. This is a problem i foresee in students in neighbourhood schools. These students may not be ready for these learnings. Also, these schools may need sometime to be ready to make this a large scale affair.
As I mentioned before, MLs can be implemented without ICT. ICT tools are there to help and facilitate the enforcing of ML. They provide us with a platform where teaching can take place. This platform allow students to share their knowledges. It also allows students to clear up their misconceptions and fill in all the gaps that are present.
Back to present, in lesson 3, we were introduced the 'IT' word in education, 'PEDAGOGY'. In simpler terms, it is the different methods of teaching. Five methods introduced were Case-Based Learning (CBL), Inquiry-Based Learning(IBL), Project-Based Learning(PjBL), Resource-Based Learning (RBL) and Game-Based Learning(GBL).
We were also exposed to the jig-saw method. This is not a new method and this is where CL and SDL are being practised. Each of us was tasked to take a specific pedagogy. After which, we shared our area of 'expertise' with our group. Although we were given specific URLs to start our research, no restrictions on us to wander away from the few help sites.
During the process of researching and discussion on my area of expertise (GBL), where learning was done through the incorporation of games, one area of concern came to me. Will the students actually pay too much focus on winning the game and neglect the primary objective of learning? Although I was supposed to work on GBL but I feel that the more prominent methods are PjBL and IBL. In my school, we tried to come out with an IBL lesson package and enforced it. These lessons took up more time and students were often lost. We served as facilitators and guide them along the way.
As for PjBL, it encompasses the other pedagogies. In doing projects, students will be exposed to both SDL and CL. Not only that, they will also be able to pick up the soft skills. Students will also be able to inquire, search and extract informations from resources and case-studies. As for GBL, my personal opinion feels that it would be more appropriate for this pedagogy to be used during revisions.
Concerns from me. How to incorporate ICT into at least the five teaching pedagogies? Second concern, how can we make IBL and PjBL 'closer' to the standards of the NA and NT students? How much more guidance do we give them? Or do we just treat them as per normal but using a different set of assessment criterias?
Hope that these questions will be answered soon!
Sunday, August 23
Week 3 Reflections (Soo Hoon)
Well, all of us are supposed to bring laptop for the previous session.
Without fail, Dr Tan demonstrated SDL and CL again. Two weeks ago, it were the Mindmeister and Think-Pair-Share, last week were "Jig-saw" method and the use of laptop.
This is the first time i have seen a class conducted using laptop for "Jig-saw" method. This affordance of technology enables students to move around discussing, surfing net for information and typing relevant information straight into the laptop. I believe this scenario will not happen so soon in the schools yet. Not all students can afford personal laptops and not all schools have the budget to supply one for each student. However, I am really looking forward to such studying environment in the future!
Dr Tan mentioned that he had actually altered the traditional "Think-Pair-Share" method for the previous lesson. True enough, teachers have to make changes to cater for different type of lessons, students and take into account of the time constraint. Teachers should always bear in mind that no two lessons should be conducted exactly the same way.
For the previous lesson, the class was introduced to the 5 pedagogical approaches used in learning. Each of us specialized in one approach and share among our group through verbal discussion and comments in the Wiki page. This was an illustration of CL.
I was in-charged of Inquiry-based learning (IBL). In my own opinion, IBL has not been widely practised, at least within my years of schooling. However, after reading up on the IBL, i feel that if IBL is successfully embedded in students, the world is seriously going to change! Students are going to perform SDL, CL on their own. They will perform case-based learning, project-based learning and resource-based learning on their own initiatives. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
However, things are not as easy. How do we get all the students to think and ask relevant questions? This is the huge challenge awaiting for the new century teachers. To bring our students to next level, abandoning the traditional form of teaching (verbal teaching, memorising information), our teachers have to come up with different innovative ways to arouse the interests of the students. Good luck to all of us!
The 5 pedagogical approaches are often inter wined. Rarely do we see them existing alone. The 4 other approaches have been widely implemented in schools. However, how effective has they been used in school is yet another issue for us to ponder. Did we all attain the aims and results of the approaches each time they were implemented?
For the past 1 year, I had taught students as an untrained teacher (contact -teaching), without any clue of teaching pedagogies. I simply go into every lesson, hoping that students would understand what i had said.
Next lesson, we will be taught on lesson planning and I am looking forward to implement those pedagogies I have learnt for the past 3 sessions.
Without fail, Dr Tan demonstrated SDL and CL again. Two weeks ago, it were the Mindmeister and Think-Pair-Share, last week were "Jig-saw" method and the use of laptop.
This is the first time i have seen a class conducted using laptop for "Jig-saw" method. This affordance of technology enables students to move around discussing, surfing net for information and typing relevant information straight into the laptop. I believe this scenario will not happen so soon in the schools yet. Not all students can afford personal laptops and not all schools have the budget to supply one for each student. However, I am really looking forward to such studying environment in the future!
Dr Tan mentioned that he had actually altered the traditional "Think-Pair-Share" method for the previous lesson. True enough, teachers have to make changes to cater for different type of lessons, students and take into account of the time constraint. Teachers should always bear in mind that no two lessons should be conducted exactly the same way.
For the previous lesson, the class was introduced to the 5 pedagogical approaches used in learning. Each of us specialized in one approach and share among our group through verbal discussion and comments in the Wiki page. This was an illustration of CL.
I was in-charged of Inquiry-based learning (IBL). In my own opinion, IBL has not been widely practised, at least within my years of schooling. However, after reading up on the IBL, i feel that if IBL is successfully embedded in students, the world is seriously going to change! Students are going to perform SDL, CL on their own. They will perform case-based learning, project-based learning and resource-based learning on their own initiatives. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
However, things are not as easy. How do we get all the students to think and ask relevant questions? This is the huge challenge awaiting for the new century teachers. To bring our students to next level, abandoning the traditional form of teaching (verbal teaching, memorising information), our teachers have to come up with different innovative ways to arouse the interests of the students. Good luck to all of us!
The 5 pedagogical approaches are often inter wined. Rarely do we see them existing alone. The 4 other approaches have been widely implemented in schools. However, how effective has they been used in school is yet another issue for us to ponder. Did we all attain the aims and results of the approaches each time they were implemented?
For the past 1 year, I had taught students as an untrained teacher (contact -teaching), without any clue of teaching pedagogies. I simply go into every lesson, hoping that students would understand what i had said.
Next lesson, we will be taught on lesson planning and I am looking forward to implement those pedagogies I have learnt for the past 3 sessions.
Saturday, August 22
Reflections for Week 3 (Sheng Zhi)
This week we learnt about pedalogical approaches which is how teachers teach. Although I have been a student for almost 20 years, I have seldom question how my teacher teach. More often than not I accepted their teaching style and adapted to it as long as I can score in my final exam in the end. Is that the same for the rest of you too?
The two subjects that I am teaching are chemistry and maths which to me has basically two distinct teaching styles. My teachers taught me chemistry via a content base method where we have to do lots of memorising of various principles, types of reactions and reaction conditions. On the other hand, maths would involve many repeated "hands-on" exercises and tests so that we get enough practices to grasp the math concepts.
Nowadays students are exposed to all types of media influences ranging from social networking sites to multiplayer online games. Generally, they have a shorter attention span than maybe students 10 years ago. Furthermore, some of them may come from lower-income or dysfunctional families and are prone to being more restless in class. Therefore the introduction of suitable teaching styles for students is all the more important when we become teachers ourselves in the future.
Of the five approaches we learnt in week 3, I feel I will use more of project-base learning (PBL) and game-based learning (GBL) in my classes in the future.
Through PBL, students take greater responsibility in their own learning and "spoon-feeding" is minimised. Case-based. inquiry-based and resource-based learning can all be included in PBL as well. Students can learn to do research on relevant topics, ask question about how to solve the problem at hand and work on real world cases, all as part of their project.
Personally I like GBL probably because I like the idea of a little friendly competition and excitement when I am learning a topic. When I was in secondary school, I enjoyed my chinese class more when we get to divide ourselves in groups and play mini games. Points will be allocated for the right answers and I always feel a sense of achievement when I score points for my group. If I get the answer wrong, I feel obliged to get the next one correct which means that I have to know the contents of the textbook well. Unknowingly I have learnt the chinese nouns under the package of having fun.
ICT is not a compulsory inclusion in our teaching methods but it is certainly a useful addition. Online collaboration tools help students organise their data and reduce the hassle of doing a project. Online educational games of course helps to reduce the amount of work the teachers have to do to advocate GBL.
However, I feel that although we often emphasize on self-directed and independent learning, the usage of ICT in these approaches should be closely monitored, at least in the early stages. This is because students who are newly exposed to the internet may not be aware of the dangers in cyberspace. The internet is filled with many eye-catching websites that attracts students to click onto the link which in turn leads then to a malicious site.
Lastly, I feel that if we are going to introduce online educational games that are accessible from the student's own computer at home, we will need to be very careful. This is because these are not licensed games that they can only access in the school computer lab. They can easily disguise any game they are playing at home as "educational games that the teacher wants me to play", especially to parents who are not IT savvy. Addiction to these online educational quest games is very possible as well. Such cases have to considered if we decide to venture into GBL using online games.
The two subjects that I am teaching are chemistry and maths which to me has basically two distinct teaching styles. My teachers taught me chemistry via a content base method where we have to do lots of memorising of various principles, types of reactions and reaction conditions. On the other hand, maths would involve many repeated "hands-on" exercises and tests so that we get enough practices to grasp the math concepts.
Nowadays students are exposed to all types of media influences ranging from social networking sites to multiplayer online games. Generally, they have a shorter attention span than maybe students 10 years ago. Furthermore, some of them may come from lower-income or dysfunctional families and are prone to being more restless in class. Therefore the introduction of suitable teaching styles for students is all the more important when we become teachers ourselves in the future.
Of the five approaches we learnt in week 3, I feel I will use more of project-base learning (PBL) and game-based learning (GBL) in my classes in the future.
Through PBL, students take greater responsibility in their own learning and "spoon-feeding" is minimised. Case-based. inquiry-based and resource-based learning can all be included in PBL as well. Students can learn to do research on relevant topics, ask question about how to solve the problem at hand and work on real world cases, all as part of their project.
Personally I like GBL probably because I like the idea of a little friendly competition and excitement when I am learning a topic. When I was in secondary school, I enjoyed my chinese class more when we get to divide ourselves in groups and play mini games. Points will be allocated for the right answers and I always feel a sense of achievement when I score points for my group. If I get the answer wrong, I feel obliged to get the next one correct which means that I have to know the contents of the textbook well. Unknowingly I have learnt the chinese nouns under the package of having fun.
ICT is not a compulsory inclusion in our teaching methods but it is certainly a useful addition. Online collaboration tools help students organise their data and reduce the hassle of doing a project. Online educational games of course helps to reduce the amount of work the teachers have to do to advocate GBL.
However, I feel that although we often emphasize on self-directed and independent learning, the usage of ICT in these approaches should be closely monitored, at least in the early stages. This is because students who are newly exposed to the internet may not be aware of the dangers in cyberspace. The internet is filled with many eye-catching websites that attracts students to click onto the link which in turn leads then to a malicious site.
Lastly, I feel that if we are going to introduce online educational games that are accessible from the student's own computer at home, we will need to be very careful. This is because these are not licensed games that they can only access in the school computer lab. They can easily disguise any game they are playing at home as "educational games that the teacher wants me to play", especially to parents who are not IT savvy. Addiction to these online educational quest games is very possible as well. Such cases have to considered if we decide to venture into GBL using online games.
Friday, August 21
Chester's Reflection III
Classroom, 4 walls, lights, desk, textbook. . . If this is what our education is all about, i'll leave this profession and self educate my children.
After doing my research on Project-based Learning (PjBL), i realised it is not something new. We have all done projects before. Most will contain elements of SDL and CL, but not necessary ICT. What is "modern" PjBL about?
How often are we given the freedom to choose which topic we would like to work on for our projects? If we're merely assigned a project topic so that it falls under curriculum, conformity kicks in. Is this what we want from PjBL?
Ideally, we would like to put curriculum aside and hand individuals the right to pursue individual interest. But is that feasible?
Like the answer to most questions in life, i think it is about balance. Easier said than done, how do we strike that balance? This would be something i'll be interested to find out.
I understand this is an ICT course, but i think the ultimate goal for all modules should be ML. When i prepare for my lesson, it shouldn't be about a showcase of ICT. It should be about ML, and how ICT can be integrated to achieve that.
In Chemistry, PjBL gives students a chance to mimic what scientist do. Ultimately, they may not become scientist in the future. But if this is what they want to do, they can do it. Scientist today no longer rely only on books to do their research, nor use only pen and paper to record their findings. Inevitably, ICT comes into play, not because it's the 21st century so we must use ICT, but because it facilitates what we're doing.
Striking the balance. . . hmm. . .
Thursday, August 20
reflections on week 2...
after having a brief idea of what self-directed & collaborative learning were, i think both have their places in a student's learning and benefit the student in their unique own ways. in my own journey thus far, it seems that the use of ICT has been more prevalent in SDL more than CL. for instance watching webcast lectures & attempting online quizzes/tutorials on our own when asked to do so. thus, the activity on brainstorming ideas related to cyberwellness in our smaller group & spontaneously putting together a mind map using Mindmeister was a refreshing change. in fact, seeing what others had come up with enabled us to come up with even more ideas related to the topic. thus, the use of ICT has enhanced CL.
as mentioned in the earlier session, meaningful learning is achieved when the student is able to take home something new as a result of responding to whatever has been taught and putting theory into practice. thus, as a teacher, i would plan lessons such that they include both the elements of SDL and CL. in both cases, students would be trained in self-discipline since they have their own part to play; while as for CL, there's a saying that goes, '3 heads are better than 1' - students get to learn from their peers' contributions/ideas as well as feedback from others about their own. this can come about by incorporating group work into lessons. i believe that students would benefit from the lessons by coming into classes prepared with the preliminary tasks assigned to them already completed, actively contributing during lessons when they are called upon to do so. one has to bear in mind though, that CL loses its meaning when a student comes in unprepared & relies entirely on his/her groupmates for input without (s)he him/herself contributing anything.
the role of ICT can & does enhance a student's learning. for instance, the software dr tan used to control & track all the workstations at certain points in time enables the whole class to be on the same page and ensures that they are at least paying attention during the lesson. tools such as blogging or discussion forums would make suitable platforms for students to reflect and consolidate the things they have learnt, and adds creativity to an otherwise very mundane classroom lesson.
as mentioned in the earlier session, meaningful learning is achieved when the student is able to take home something new as a result of responding to whatever has been taught and putting theory into practice. thus, as a teacher, i would plan lessons such that they include both the elements of SDL and CL. in both cases, students would be trained in self-discipline since they have their own part to play; while as for CL, there's a saying that goes, '3 heads are better than 1' - students get to learn from their peers' contributions/ideas as well as feedback from others about their own. this can come about by incorporating group work into lessons. i believe that students would benefit from the lessons by coming into classes prepared with the preliminary tasks assigned to them already completed, actively contributing during lessons when they are called upon to do so. one has to bear in mind though, that CL loses its meaning when a student comes in unprepared & relies entirely on his/her groupmates for input without (s)he him/herself contributing anything.
the role of ICT can & does enhance a student's learning. for instance, the software dr tan used to control & track all the workstations at certain points in time enables the whole class to be on the same page and ensures that they are at least paying attention during the lesson. tools such as blogging or discussion forums would make suitable platforms for students to reflect and consolidate the things they have learnt, and adds creativity to an otherwise very mundane classroom lesson.
Monday, August 17
Reflections for session 2 (Nursakinah)
Before the class started, I was browsing through the powerpoint slides and realised there are alot of activities for session 2. As compared to session 1, where most of the activities are individual-based activities, this time round there are many activities involving pair work and group work.
As I step into the class, I have a rough idea of what self-directed and collaborative learning are. To me, self-directed learning is basically learning individually and collaborative learning is about group work. I did not realise they can co-exist into the same activity. I thought they were mutually exclusive. But I was wrong.
I particularly liked activity 3. Dr Tan gave us a 50 minutes activity time for us to complete either the mind map or the TEL demo. This is different. He did not direct us with specific instructions. He told us to choose our task and plan it out on our own as a group. At the end of the lesson, after going through the activities, I understood the meaning of self-directed and collaborative learning. They can overlap each other. For example, as a group, we can work collaboratively and at the same time self-direct ourselves to choose our own plan and timing.
Oh yes, I think the mind meister was cool. We can edit our mind map real time. I’ve never used such technology before. In the future I would like to carry this out with my students. And I shall look forward to session 3. =)
As I step into the class, I have a rough idea of what self-directed and collaborative learning are. To me, self-directed learning is basically learning individually and collaborative learning is about group work. I did not realise they can co-exist into the same activity. I thought they were mutually exclusive. But I was wrong.
I particularly liked activity 3. Dr Tan gave us a 50 minutes activity time for us to complete either the mind map or the TEL demo. This is different. He did not direct us with specific instructions. He told us to choose our task and plan it out on our own as a group. At the end of the lesson, after going through the activities, I understood the meaning of self-directed and collaborative learning. They can overlap each other. For example, as a group, we can work collaboratively and at the same time self-direct ourselves to choose our own plan and timing.
Oh yes, I think the mind meister was cool. We can edit our mind map real time. I’ve never used such technology before. In the future I would like to carry this out with my students. And I shall look forward to session 3. =)
2nd Week Reflection (Soo Hoon)
Self-directed learning (SDL) and Cooperative/Collaborative (CL) are the main focus of the previous lesson. Through the videos, activities conducted and the information of SDL and CL on the Powerpoint slides prepared by Dr Tan, I believe I am a better idea of what ICT is all about.
Questions posed by Dr Tan:
How might you as a teacher design meaningful learning for your students?
To design meaningful learning for my students, I must first be very clear of the meaning of 'meaningful learning'. Till now, I have learnt the 5 aspects framework (active, authentic, collaborative, intentional and constructive) of meaningful learning, SDL and CL. Hence, I will make sure my lessons comprise most of the factors which lead to meaningful learning. After planning out my lesson plan, I will double-check it to see if I have taken into account the various aspects of meaningful learning. If not, I may have to re-plan my lesson.
Next, the choice of ICT tools are also important in creating meaningful learning for students. As a teacher, I will consistently upgrade myself such that I am able to deployed useful ICT for my lessons. If I did not upgrade myself, I believe that I will miss out the possible affordance of a certain ICT tools. If that's the case, teaching using the tool may not be very effective.
Furthermore, different students react differently to different form of learning. As a teacher, I should observe the class behaviour and performance during lessons. From there, I need to reflect upon the lesson so that I can better deploy certain tools or techniques to that particular class in future.
I personally prefer CL as many of the times, I will be able to encompass the 5 aspects of meaningful learning. Furthermore, I am a team player. I believe that 5 brains work better than 1. However, it is always a norm to hear students claiming that one of the group member is not doing his/her work. Hence, I will design the task such that everyone has to work and contribute. I will also brief the students of what is expected of them be it their working attitude or the quality of their work before giving them any task to ensure the effectiveness of the lesson.
What should your students be doing to learn meaningfully?
Students obviously should not be day-dreaming, sleeping in class. However, it is difficult for a teacher to monitor the students, checking if they are listening in class, let alone learning meaningfully. Hence, as mentioned in the previous part, a teacher has to plan the lesson such it take into account the 5 aspects framework of meaningful learning.
With that, students should be actively involve in lesson. For students to learn meaningfully, they have to think and reflect in class. They should ask relevant questions in class, response to the teachers' questions and discuss actively in groups. Sharing of ideas in groups and building ideas on others' ideas are very good way to learn meaningfully.
On top of participating actively in class, SDL should take place. After the lesson, students can actually look up the web to google information for the topic taught in class. They can also do some form of reflections through blogging. I remembered a way which I learnt was through group studying(CL). Students should find a few friends who they are able to work with, form a study group such that they can share idea and help one another. This group studying can take place either when the students gather together at a physical place or over MSN and etc.
How will the technology/technologies you select enable this to happen?
Accurate selection of technologies can change the learning environment greatly. Just like what Dr Tan made us do for this module (maintaining Wiki and a group blog), I may ask my students to do so too. By reflecting after each session, students are able to recap and think deeper into the topics. A discussion forum may also be set up to provide a platform for discussions (CL). In this way, it keeps them thinking even after the school hours. Another thing to note is that students can even go online with their HP, so students not necessary have to stay at home for online discussions. Anywhere is made possible!
Dr Tan demonstrated the use of the Mindmeister during the previous lesson. The ICT tool has greatly helped in enhancing CL. With the affordance of the tool, students are able to collaborate as a whole class, keeping each and everyone on the right track (thinking actively). In addition, ideas can be shared and built on among the whole class. Without this tool, the usual whiteboard may not be big enough to accommodate everyone ideas or if possible, it may be too messy and take a very long time.
Oh..Another thing to mention is that Dr Tan always control our activities! He is able to keep things on time as he can control our computer. Whenever the time is up for one activity, he will freeze our screen on the computer such that we have no choice but to stop and listen to his instructions/explanations. There is no way students can surf net and do things which are irrelevant. Students are forced to stay focus on the lesson. This affordance of the computer helps to keep students active in the right track.
With or without technologies, it is the duty of the teachers to design meaningful learning for the students. Teachers are to provide scaldfoldings instead of spoon-feeding the students with all the information and answers. I think it is something which all teachers should keep in mind. Teachers should view the availability of technologies as a tool to enhance students learning instead of something which adds on more workload to the lesson plan. Different ICT tools have different affordance and if one makes an effort to learn them, I am sure that they will be applicable for lesson. Maybe not now, but future.
Questions posed by Dr Tan:
How might you as a teacher design meaningful learning for your students?
To design meaningful learning for my students, I must first be very clear of the meaning of 'meaningful learning'. Till now, I have learnt the 5 aspects framework (active, authentic, collaborative, intentional and constructive) of meaningful learning, SDL and CL. Hence, I will make sure my lessons comprise most of the factors which lead to meaningful learning. After planning out my lesson plan, I will double-check it to see if I have taken into account the various aspects of meaningful learning. If not, I may have to re-plan my lesson.
Next, the choice of ICT tools are also important in creating meaningful learning for students. As a teacher, I will consistently upgrade myself such that I am able to deployed useful ICT for my lessons. If I did not upgrade myself, I believe that I will miss out the possible affordance of a certain ICT tools. If that's the case, teaching using the tool may not be very effective.
Furthermore, different students react differently to different form of learning. As a teacher, I should observe the class behaviour and performance during lessons. From there, I need to reflect upon the lesson so that I can better deploy certain tools or techniques to that particular class in future.
I personally prefer CL as many of the times, I will be able to encompass the 5 aspects of meaningful learning. Furthermore, I am a team player. I believe that 5 brains work better than 1. However, it is always a norm to hear students claiming that one of the group member is not doing his/her work. Hence, I will design the task such that everyone has to work and contribute. I will also brief the students of what is expected of them be it their working attitude or the quality of their work before giving them any task to ensure the effectiveness of the lesson.
What should your students be doing to learn meaningfully?
Students obviously should not be day-dreaming, sleeping in class. However, it is difficult for a teacher to monitor the students, checking if they are listening in class, let alone learning meaningfully. Hence, as mentioned in the previous part, a teacher has to plan the lesson such it take into account the 5 aspects framework of meaningful learning.
With that, students should be actively involve in lesson. For students to learn meaningfully, they have to think and reflect in class. They should ask relevant questions in class, response to the teachers' questions and discuss actively in groups. Sharing of ideas in groups and building ideas on others' ideas are very good way to learn meaningfully.
On top of participating actively in class, SDL should take place. After the lesson, students can actually look up the web to google information for the topic taught in class. They can also do some form of reflections through blogging. I remembered a way which I learnt was through group studying(CL). Students should find a few friends who they are able to work with, form a study group such that they can share idea and help one another. This group studying can take place either when the students gather together at a physical place or over MSN and etc.
How will the technology/technologies you select enable this to happen?
Accurate selection of technologies can change the learning environment greatly. Just like what Dr Tan made us do for this module (maintaining Wiki and a group blog), I may ask my students to do so too. By reflecting after each session, students are able to recap and think deeper into the topics. A discussion forum may also be set up to provide a platform for discussions (CL). In this way, it keeps them thinking even after the school hours. Another thing to note is that students can even go online with their HP, so students not necessary have to stay at home for online discussions. Anywhere is made possible!
Dr Tan demonstrated the use of the Mindmeister during the previous lesson. The ICT tool has greatly helped in enhancing CL. With the affordance of the tool, students are able to collaborate as a whole class, keeping each and everyone on the right track (thinking actively). In addition, ideas can be shared and built on among the whole class. Without this tool, the usual whiteboard may not be big enough to accommodate everyone ideas or if possible, it may be too messy and take a very long time.
Oh..Another thing to mention is that Dr Tan always control our activities! He is able to keep things on time as he can control our computer. Whenever the time is up for one activity, he will freeze our screen on the computer such that we have no choice but to stop and listen to his instructions/explanations. There is no way students can surf net and do things which are irrelevant. Students are forced to stay focus on the lesson. This affordance of the computer helps to keep students active in the right track.
With or without technologies, it is the duty of the teachers to design meaningful learning for the students. Teachers are to provide scaldfoldings instead of spoon-feeding the students with all the information and answers. I think it is something which all teachers should keep in mind. Teachers should view the availability of technologies as a tool to enhance students learning instead of something which adds on more workload to the lesson plan. Different ICT tools have different affordance and if one makes an effort to learn them, I am sure that they will be applicable for lesson. Maybe not now, but future.
Friday, August 14
Reflections for Week 2 (Sheng Zhi)
For week 2 of ICT lesson, we build on the five aspects of meaningful learning with self-directed learning (SDL) and collaborative learning (CL).
I have learnt that SDL is when students learn a new skill, knowledge or expertise on their own using the resources that is available to them. These resources could be books, internet search engines, videos or other forms of media.
Firstly the students have to identify what they need to learn, set a goal for themselves and then decide what they need to do to acheive their goal. If they want to make a documentary, they have to learn how to operate a video-camera and how to contact the people they want to interview.
As the students are learning, they have to pose questions to themselves. Taking the documentary example again, they have to decide what type of video camera they need, what do they need to learn about video-making, how elaborate should their documentary be, how many interviews should they conduct.
Then they have to plan their time to get all the individual tasks done so that they can complete the project in time. After completion, they have to do a self-review on how they could have done the project better or what mistakes they made so they dont repeat them in the next project.
CDL is more about bouncing ideas around and constantly sparking off new ones. The students have to consider the ideas given by their peers. They learn that there are many points of view on the same subject. They also learn to question ideas given by others and voice their opinions.
In CDL, each student or different groups of student will have a different task. By completing their assigned task, they will achieve the ultimate result. After that, they will have to review each other's work and what they have learnt from doing the project.
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I feel that both SDL and CL are skills that students have to apply to their work in the future. Technology promotes SDL and CL by making them less tedious than when we have no technology at all. For SDL, now we have various internet search engines, e-books and forums which makes searching for information much easier. We can have electronic calendars which helps us manage our time and give us timely reminders of datelines we have to meet.
For CL, we have many online collaboration tools which assist us in gathering different ideas from all our group members. We can then reflect on other people's idea, build upon it and give relevant feedbacks. All these ideas and feedback are collected in one (online) place making them highly accessible and convenient.
If we do not have mindmeister mind map for this session, probably we would have to draw the map on the whiteboard. This would eliminate small group discussion as there is only one whiteboard. There will probably be no feedback as well, as we are generally shy in large groups. If we draw individual mindmaps on a piece of paper, there will be no collaborative learning as we cannot see other people's point of view.
One thing I noted is that the technology introduced to promote self-learning shouldnt be too difficult to master or too flashy with too many animation. This would take away the student's attention from learning. Secondly, when we are searching on the internet for information, there are chances where some information might be fake so processing of information is important as well.
I have learnt that SDL is when students learn a new skill, knowledge or expertise on their own using the resources that is available to them. These resources could be books, internet search engines, videos or other forms of media.
Firstly the students have to identify what they need to learn, set a goal for themselves and then decide what they need to do to acheive their goal. If they want to make a documentary, they have to learn how to operate a video-camera and how to contact the people they want to interview.
As the students are learning, they have to pose questions to themselves. Taking the documentary example again, they have to decide what type of video camera they need, what do they need to learn about video-making, how elaborate should their documentary be, how many interviews should they conduct.
Then they have to plan their time to get all the individual tasks done so that they can complete the project in time. After completion, they have to do a self-review on how they could have done the project better or what mistakes they made so they dont repeat them in the next project.
CDL is more about bouncing ideas around and constantly sparking off new ones. The students have to consider the ideas given by their peers. They learn that there are many points of view on the same subject. They also learn to question ideas given by others and voice their opinions.
In CDL, each student or different groups of student will have a different task. By completing their assigned task, they will achieve the ultimate result. After that, they will have to review each other's work and what they have learnt from doing the project.
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I feel that both SDL and CL are skills that students have to apply to their work in the future. Technology promotes SDL and CL by making them less tedious than when we have no technology at all. For SDL, now we have various internet search engines, e-books and forums which makes searching for information much easier. We can have electronic calendars which helps us manage our time and give us timely reminders of datelines we have to meet.
For CL, we have many online collaboration tools which assist us in gathering different ideas from all our group members. We can then reflect on other people's idea, build upon it and give relevant feedbacks. All these ideas and feedback are collected in one (online) place making them highly accessible and convenient.
If we do not have mindmeister mind map for this session, probably we would have to draw the map on the whiteboard. This would eliminate small group discussion as there is only one whiteboard. There will probably be no feedback as well, as we are generally shy in large groups. If we draw individual mindmaps on a piece of paper, there will be no collaborative learning as we cannot see other people's point of view.
One thing I noted is that the technology introduced to promote self-learning shouldnt be too difficult to master or too flashy with too many animation. This would take away the student's attention from learning. Secondly, when we are searching on the internet for information, there are chances where some information might be fake so processing of information is important as well.
Thursday, August 13
ICT:Lesson 2 Reflection
Second week into the ICT lesson and we were introduced the domain of Self-Directed Learning and Collaborative Learning. Before the lesson, I was telling myself that the definition and meaning of these two methods are so straight forward. How would I not know? Apparently, my knowledge are all half-filled vessels.
Even though I have not fully understood the five aspects of meaningful learning, we were introduced how we can create meaningful lessons using the concept of SDL and CL. That is information coming in thick and fast.
Anyway, what i have learnt about SDL from the class and from the video is that students are directed towards independent learning. Students have to set their own goals and work on it to achieve their goals. They will have to ask questions and find answers to it by research. In the video, they were tasked to do a community project. From then on, searching of ideas, sourcing of informations, the search for answers to obstacles that they faced while doing the project, are down to their capabilities and imaginations.
Not only do students get to explore on their topic of interest, they will also be able to have a real feel of time management and how work can be effectively and efficiently be carried out. One thing I learnt from the introduction of SDL is that as students claim a larger ownership through SDL. Based on the efforts they put in, they will tend to gain more.
From the videos, students will have to do reflections to correct their mistakes and improve on the what they have at the present.
For CL, I understand that it is learning through sharing of ideas and knowledge. Students will come together to interact, inquire and come out with solutions to the problems. In the second video, the students were separated into different groups. The small groups will work together to solve one particular problem that was endangering the survival of the astronauts. Students after coming up with solutions, came together to share and come up with the rescue.
Throughout the process, students have to trust and share their resources and knowledge. They can also fill in the gaps by getting information that comes from group-mates. New ideas that come from others will only benefit. The process of thinking and interactions also help them to learn about inter-personal communication, which is authentic learning.
For SDL and CL, I personally think that they equip students with skills that are essential to face the challenges of the 21st century. (Authentic) They also incorporates at least three other aspects of meaningful learning. The constructive, active and cooperative elements will all be present when students undergo CL and SDL.
As for which one works best? I think both compliments each other. Both SDL and CL ensure learning to be meaningful. But sometimes, SDL might lead to isolation and being self-centered if the lesson is not planned carefully. As for CL, it helps to incorporate the sharing elements into learning. I feel that incorporating both elements will bring out the idea of meaningful learning. (Do correct me if I am wrong somewhere.)
CL and SDL can be very straight forward where u can incorporate into normal lessons. The challenge now is to come out with CL and/or SDL incorporating ICT. Introduction to Mindmeister is very refreshing. Doing mindmaps are taken to a whole new level. This allow more interactions and allow students to think and share their resources. Look at our class during the Q and A session and when we express ourselves in the mindmap.
Creating a meaningful lesson is hard. Incorporating ICT into meaningful learning is harder. While looking at Sheng Zhi's URL on ICT tools, it only reminds me that I really know very very little. Now the challenge is to step up to the challenge of understanding ICT first by doing SDL and CL. But is the challenge too much for me? Remains to be seen.......
Even though I have not fully understood the five aspects of meaningful learning, we were introduced how we can create meaningful lessons using the concept of SDL and CL. That is information coming in thick and fast.
Anyway, what i have learnt about SDL from the class and from the video is that students are directed towards independent learning. Students have to set their own goals and work on it to achieve their goals. They will have to ask questions and find answers to it by research. In the video, they were tasked to do a community project. From then on, searching of ideas, sourcing of informations, the search for answers to obstacles that they faced while doing the project, are down to their capabilities and imaginations.
Not only do students get to explore on their topic of interest, they will also be able to have a real feel of time management and how work can be effectively and efficiently be carried out. One thing I learnt from the introduction of SDL is that as students claim a larger ownership through SDL. Based on the efforts they put in, they will tend to gain more.
From the videos, students will have to do reflections to correct their mistakes and improve on the what they have at the present.
For CL, I understand that it is learning through sharing of ideas and knowledge. Students will come together to interact, inquire and come out with solutions to the problems. In the second video, the students were separated into different groups. The small groups will work together to solve one particular problem that was endangering the survival of the astronauts. Students after coming up with solutions, came together to share and come up with the rescue.
Throughout the process, students have to trust and share their resources and knowledge. They can also fill in the gaps by getting information that comes from group-mates. New ideas that come from others will only benefit. The process of thinking and interactions also help them to learn about inter-personal communication, which is authentic learning.
For SDL and CL, I personally think that they equip students with skills that are essential to face the challenges of the 21st century. (Authentic) They also incorporates at least three other aspects of meaningful learning. The constructive, active and cooperative elements will all be present when students undergo CL and SDL.
As for which one works best? I think both compliments each other. Both SDL and CL ensure learning to be meaningful. But sometimes, SDL might lead to isolation and being self-centered if the lesson is not planned carefully. As for CL, it helps to incorporate the sharing elements into learning. I feel that incorporating both elements will bring out the idea of meaningful learning. (Do correct me if I am wrong somewhere.)
CL and SDL can be very straight forward where u can incorporate into normal lessons. The challenge now is to come out with CL and/or SDL incorporating ICT. Introduction to Mindmeister is very refreshing. Doing mindmaps are taken to a whole new level. This allow more interactions and allow students to think and share their resources. Look at our class during the Q and A session and when we express ourselves in the mindmap.
Creating a meaningful lesson is hard. Incorporating ICT into meaningful learning is harder. While looking at Sheng Zhi's URL on ICT tools, it only reminds me that I really know very very little. Now the challenge is to step up to the challenge of understanding ICT first by doing SDL and CL. But is the challenge too much for me? Remains to be seen.......
Chester's Reflection II
Reflection
I had a brief idea of SDL and CL (or at least what i thought they were) as shown in Activity 1. SDL, being self direct, involves independent thinking, self-motivation, self-management, or even self-assessment.
There is diversity within a group, and members learn to respect each others differences, be it cultural or individual differences. There is also interpersonal development as they learn social skills.
I had a brief idea of SDL and CL (or at least what i thought they were) as shown in Activity 1. SDL, being self direct, involves independent thinking, self-motivation, self-management, or even self-assessment.
Personally i prefer the concept of CL, where being a teamwork is vital. Being a team player is often required in many organisations in today's world. If education is supposed to prepare students for the workforce, then CL should be embraced.
There is diversity within a group, and members learn to respect each others differences, be it cultural or individual differences. There is also interpersonal development as they learn social skills.
In today's pragmatic "dog eat dog" world, CL encourages students to work together rather than compete with each other individually. ( or at least work together before competing with other groups and not be so self-centred )
I think SDL and CL could be achieved without ICT. Therefore, to integrate ICT into SDL and CL would be another challenge. Ideally, ICT should not be so much of a challenge, but more of an affordance. Therefore, i should not say integrating ICT is a challenge. Perhaps i should say something like "we gonna explore how ICT can help us in SDL and CL" , which also happens to be something we gonna do for our demo.
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Initially, i feel that relating what we teach to reality would be meaningful learning to the students. As i've learned from ICT lessons, this is only one part of meaningful learning (authentic). Nonetheless, i stil feel its the most important component to meaningful learning, especially in subjects that might be abstract, such as Chemistry and Mathematics (which are also my CSs). I've yet to fully understand all the dimensions of meaningful learning, hopefully they will become clearer to me as the weeks go by. I'm not too sure what ICT tools i can utilise to achieve meaningful learning, but that is certainly something i will explore in the weeks to come for our demo.
All the best to all groups =).
Tuesday, August 11
Reflections for Week 1 (Sheng Zhi)
Hi everyone, just want to share my thoughts about my first ever ICT lesson in NIE.
Before entering ICT class, my knowledge of technology in class is limited to powerpoints, visualizers and youtube clips. (But today I learnt that the first 2 are not actually ICT tools because they cannot let students provide feedback)
Since I am going to teach secondary schools, so I am going to start with some recollections about the use of technology during my secondary schooldays. During my time (ahem.. x years ago), my school has already transition to white boards and the occasional usage of computer labs to teach subjects like science and maths. During such lab times, the only technology we use were to play with educational games where we solve maths problems to get through the game. OHPs were commonly used for classroom teaching when we have to go through worksheets and tests. It is only when I reach JC and University that powerpoints and visualizers become the norm in classroom teaching.
Before entering the ICT class, I was thinking, "oh, its about the usage of powerpoints and visualizers and how to use them properly in class." Then after this class I realise there is so much more to ICT. First the tools are aplenty such as blogs, wiki, blackboard, youtube, and there are many more if we google the internet for "collaborative learning tools". These tools allow us to share information in real time and everyone is given a outlet to express their views. This brings me to my second reflection.
My second thought after the ICT lesson was how we were taught for most of our time in school. The teacher does a lecture-style teaching and we attempt to absorb all his words either through memory or by furiously scribbling notes. Sometimes we have questions but are too fearful of making a fool of ourselves by asking them. Having these tools allow students to finally ask questions in the comfort of their own home in front of their computers. Many students are more comfortable using an indirect means to ask questions. Or in the case of upper sec or JC students, they may have their own views on the lesson and want to express them to the teacher. The internet tool would act as an non-confrontal way to express their views.
My third thought is on harnessing the creativity of many minds. The teacher is only one human being and sometimes creativity is limited. Although the knowledge of the teacher is very extensive but the method of teaching could be old-fashion and that limits how much the students can absorb. Through using the online tools, the teacher can find out what topics are troubling the students, listen to what concepts the students find dry and boring and what changes the students suggest to the lessson. Therefore coming up with new ideas that can benefit the learning of the students. 1 creativity from the student + 1 creativity from the teacher = 1 brand new idea of teaching therefore 1 + 1 = 3 as mentioned by Dr. Tan.
I want to know more about the uses of the online tools and how to integrate them in classrooms. I want to know which online tools best suits my teaching style, which tool is better for concepts thats needs manual practicing (like solving algebra problems) and which tools that can simplify an abstract concept better (like understanding mole concept or Avagadro number). I want to learn how we can move away from wow-ing students with technology and actually helping them to understand the lesson.
How do we manage the time between teaching the lesson and accessing whether they have learnt? Can the online tools help us acomplish that in a one hour period? If nowadays students only interact online, will they lose the ability to communicate personally face-to-face?
Questions to be answered till next time =)
Before entering ICT class, my knowledge of technology in class is limited to powerpoints, visualizers and youtube clips. (But today I learnt that the first 2 are not actually ICT tools because they cannot let students provide feedback)
Since I am going to teach secondary schools, so I am going to start with some recollections about the use of technology during my secondary schooldays. During my time (ahem.. x years ago), my school has already transition to white boards and the occasional usage of computer labs to teach subjects like science and maths. During such lab times, the only technology we use were to play with educational games where we solve maths problems to get through the game. OHPs were commonly used for classroom teaching when we have to go through worksheets and tests. It is only when I reach JC and University that powerpoints and visualizers become the norm in classroom teaching.
Before entering the ICT class, I was thinking, "oh, its about the usage of powerpoints and visualizers and how to use them properly in class." Then after this class I realise there is so much more to ICT. First the tools are aplenty such as blogs, wiki, blackboard, youtube, and there are many more if we google the internet for "collaborative learning tools". These tools allow us to share information in real time and everyone is given a outlet to express their views. This brings me to my second reflection.
My second thought after the ICT lesson was how we were taught for most of our time in school. The teacher does a lecture-style teaching and we attempt to absorb all his words either through memory or by furiously scribbling notes. Sometimes we have questions but are too fearful of making a fool of ourselves by asking them. Having these tools allow students to finally ask questions in the comfort of their own home in front of their computers. Many students are more comfortable using an indirect means to ask questions. Or in the case of upper sec or JC students, they may have their own views on the lesson and want to express them to the teacher. The internet tool would act as an non-confrontal way to express their views.
My third thought is on harnessing the creativity of many minds. The teacher is only one human being and sometimes creativity is limited. Although the knowledge of the teacher is very extensive but the method of teaching could be old-fashion and that limits how much the students can absorb. Through using the online tools, the teacher can find out what topics are troubling the students, listen to what concepts the students find dry and boring and what changes the students suggest to the lessson. Therefore coming up with new ideas that can benefit the learning of the students. 1 creativity from the student + 1 creativity from the teacher = 1 brand new idea of teaching therefore 1 + 1 = 3 as mentioned by Dr. Tan.
I want to know more about the uses of the online tools and how to integrate them in classrooms. I want to know which online tools best suits my teaching style, which tool is better for concepts thats needs manual practicing (like solving algebra problems) and which tools that can simplify an abstract concept better (like understanding mole concept or Avagadro number). I want to learn how we can move away from wow-ing students with technology and actually helping them to understand the lesson.
How do we manage the time between teaching the lesson and accessing whether they have learnt? Can the online tools help us acomplish that in a one hour period? If nowadays students only interact online, will they lose the ability to communicate personally face-to-face?
Questions to be answered till next time =)
Monday, August 10
1st Week Reflections (Han Kiong)
Going into the first lesson, I was sceptical of how the course will benefit us in our teaching. This is largely due to the lack of understanding of what the course incorporates. I have thought like everybody else that this course entails just the introduction to information technologies not knowing that it actually delves into meaningful teaching as well. I realised that I was ill prepared to enter the course as there were many misconceptions of what ICT is. I thought powerpoint is part of ICT without knowing that they are deficient in the communications aspect. As the lesson goes on, I realised that this would be an important course as it would enrich our teaching and make it more interesting for the students.
Over the course of my 6 months contract teaching, I realised that some elements of ICT have already been incorporated in my teaching. I have used powerpoints with the added element of interactive quizzes in these powerpoint slides. Students have to feedback to the teacher on how they arrive at the solutions and to voice out their concerns to the use of these interactive quizzes. Moreover, e-learning for the students have also exposed me to portals such as Heymath and Moodle whereby students are required to independently complete the online assignments and to search for information over the internet. The emphasis of using ICT is increasingly important as there might be disruptions to classes due to unforseen circumstances.
I hope that the course will equip me with more teaching options and enable me to make it more interesting for my students.
Over the course of my 6 months contract teaching, I realised that some elements of ICT have already been incorporated in my teaching. I have used powerpoints with the added element of interactive quizzes in these powerpoint slides. Students have to feedback to the teacher on how they arrive at the solutions and to voice out their concerns to the use of these interactive quizzes. Moreover, e-learning for the students have also exposed me to portals such as Heymath and Moodle whereby students are required to independently complete the online assignments and to search for information over the internet. The emphasis of using ICT is increasingly important as there might be disruptions to classes due to unforseen circumstances.
I hope that the course will equip me with more teaching options and enable me to make it more interesting for my students.
Sunday, August 9
1st week Reflection (Soo Hoon)
(I will be posting my reflections directly to this blog!)
Well, frankly speaking, i was not looking forward to ICT course before i stepped into the class. First impression of Dr. Ashley Tan was that he is going to be another boring lecturer in NIE. Well, my perspective changed as he proceeded with his lesson. I've served contract teaching for the past one year in EVG Secondary School. Just as what he mentioned, many schools are still not ready for the application of ICT in teaching. Throughout this one year of teaching, I did not apply any ICT skills to enhance teaching. Neither do i see much ICT applications among other fellow teachers. Hence, my perspective of ICT module was simply " It's just another module which is not going to be of much use in future. It's a module to learn how to use the latest IT gadgets. However, I realized the module came out to be different from what i thought initially. Dr Ashley Tan started off introducing "Meaningful activity". He also explained that ICT module does not merely aim to teach students the usage of IT gadgets. It came to me as a surprise that powerpoint slides are not necessary considered ICT tools. In schools, I often hear from practicum students saying that they have to incorporate ICT into their lessons. Hence, powerpoint presentation is kind of unavoidable to cope with observations. From then, I have always thought that Powerpoint presentation is essentially an ICT tools. Well, the 1st lesson has cleared this misconception of mine. The framework for meaningful teaching interest me as I always find it a challenge to conduct a meaningful lesson during my contract teaching. I look forward to learning more ICT knowledge, hoping these will enable me to conduct meaningful lessons for my future students. I would like to see more of how a teacher could conduct lessons using ICT. This will be an eye-opening experience for me. I will also like to learn more ICT tools unlike the usual (visualiser, powerpoint slides, blogger) as this will expand my capability and create variety of options when choosing the right tools for lessons. I am looking forward to learning relevant skills to enhance my teaching!
Saturday, August 8
my first week's reflections...
i entered our first lesson thinking that ICT was all about learning ways of injecting technology into lessons to spruce them up & get students a little more interested in the subject that is being delivered. however, i was in for a shock when dr tan shared that powerpoint slides & videos weren't quite considered a form of ICT. as far as i can remember from schooling days, even to the 4 weeks of teaching attachment in a particular secondary school, visual aids such as transparencies, visualizers and powerpoint slides were the norm, with occasional additions of video & animation clips. from the first lesson, i learnt that ICT (information AND communication technology) is a 2-way thing. while as teachers our job is to deliver the content of the subject we are teaching, how then do we check on the students' understanding of what has been brought across? here lies the importance of 2-way communication - students too, need to be given avenues to reflect & respond. hence the use of tools such as youtube & blogs.
it's interesting to note that ICT can involve collaboration in different ways - from a few individuals coming together to exchange ideas through online forums or discussion groups to even producing a video that eventually gets posted onto youtube. wow. there's so much to learn from this module. i've a question though, is there ONE particular form of ICT that encompasses all 5 aspects in the framework of meaningful learning?
that's it for the week. more to come...
it's interesting to note that ICT can involve collaboration in different ways - from a few individuals coming together to exchange ideas through online forums or discussion groups to even producing a video that eventually gets posted onto youtube. wow. there's so much to learn from this module. i've a question though, is there ONE particular form of ICT that encompasses all 5 aspects in the framework of meaningful learning?
that's it for the week. more to come...
Reflections
“ICT? Hmm I think it’s some IT course.” That was my first thought when I realised that I had to take QED527. I knew that being a teacher, in this current time, it is not enough by just standing in front of the class, using a whiteboard and marker, talking and writing away. Students are exposed to different elements now, through media or through friends. Most students, I would say are more IT literate than me, setting up their own blogs, writing about their own thoughts and making sure their voices are heard. So we as teachers should not just stick to the old formula of teaching. We, as teachers, should as best as we could try to incorporate IT into our teaching, which will hopefully benefit students in their learning. I still remember during my secondary school days, I felt awed when my new secondary school started using whiteboard instead of the usual blackboard. My classmates and I thought that this improvement would benefit the students who had asthma. This was just one of the many advancement in my learning as a student. Gradually, my teachers started using powerpoint slides to teach. They used visualisers. They used videos and clips to explain concepts. As a student, IT expanded my learning experiences.
So now as a teacher myself, I have to incorporate ICT into my learning. I know what IT is. I know what types of IT there are now. At first I thought ICT was just merely using IT to add ‘colours’ to the classroom teaching. Boy, was I wrong. After going to the first lesson of QED 527, I realised the meaning behind ICT. ‘Information and communication technology’. So it does not revolve only on information but equally important communication. Communication is the key to learning. It has to be ‘two-way’. “Ahah! So that’s the real meaning.” Now I understand.
In my future class, I want to incorporate many ‘two-way’ communication style of learning. I prefer my students to think on their own and realised things themselves rather than me ‘spoon-feeding’ them. So I have to design my lesson planning in such a way. I have yet to design them and I would like to incorporate ICT in my teaching so that my students will find my class relevant instead of ‘backward’. I want to know how to incorporate blogging into my teaching. I want to know how to make use of its affordances to enhance my students’ learning. I want to use games to teach mathematics and make my classes a ‘two-way’ process. I want to use e-learning to teach chemistry so that my students can use search engines and realise that chemistry is not just an isolated subject. I want them to realise that chemistry is everywhere and relevant in real life. Thus, I want to learn how to design such enriching ICT classes.
There are many questions that are still wandering in my mind. “How effective is ICT in learning?” “Will my students benefit from it?” “How can I design classes in such a way that are relevant and related?” I think as time goes by, those questions will be answered.
I am optimistic about it. =)
-Nursakinah
So now as a teacher myself, I have to incorporate ICT into my learning. I know what IT is. I know what types of IT there are now. At first I thought ICT was just merely using IT to add ‘colours’ to the classroom teaching. Boy, was I wrong. After going to the first lesson of QED 527, I realised the meaning behind ICT. ‘Information and communication technology’. So it does not revolve only on information but equally important communication. Communication is the key to learning. It has to be ‘two-way’. “Ahah! So that’s the real meaning.” Now I understand.
In my future class, I want to incorporate many ‘two-way’ communication style of learning. I prefer my students to think on their own and realised things themselves rather than me ‘spoon-feeding’ them. So I have to design my lesson planning in such a way. I have yet to design them and I would like to incorporate ICT in my teaching so that my students will find my class relevant instead of ‘backward’. I want to know how to incorporate blogging into my teaching. I want to know how to make use of its affordances to enhance my students’ learning. I want to use games to teach mathematics and make my classes a ‘two-way’ process. I want to use e-learning to teach chemistry so that my students can use search engines and realise that chemistry is not just an isolated subject. I want them to realise that chemistry is everywhere and relevant in real life. Thus, I want to learn how to design such enriching ICT classes.
There are many questions that are still wandering in my mind. “How effective is ICT in learning?” “Will my students benefit from it?” “How can I design classes in such a way that are relevant and related?” I think as time goes by, those questions will be answered.
I am optimistic about it. =)
-Nursakinah
ICT Week 1
Believe it! This is my first ever blog entry! So i guess there is a start to everything.
My initial understanding of ICT is equivalent to IT. Totally ignoring the presence of C. When I was doing my contract teaching in my school, we were only reminded to incorporate ICT into our lessons. So, the first thing that came to my mind is Powerpoint, Visualisers, youtube videos and maybe simulations and animations.
Furthermore, in my school, they are only at the beginning stage of incorporating ICT into lessons. Most of the teachers do not dare to take the first step to initiate this. I feel the reason is due to time constraints and the need to finish curriculum.
To my surprise, 15 minutes into my 1st ICT lesson, i was surprised that powerpoint may not be considered as ICT. That is when I finally realized the importance or existence of C, which is communication.
You can call me a caveman. But i was being introduced to quite a fair bit of new items, like wiki, blackboard and maybe to me, blog. Why blog? Maybe because I do not own one.
One big unknown factor for me now is how to introduce Meaningful lesson with the help of ICT. I guess this is what I will be eagerly anticipating for my upcoming ICT lessons. Not only that, I think it is time for me to step out of my lazy shell and explore the possible the existing tools and resources that are being introduced to widen my scope.
Never say never. We are teachers. But above all we all learners!
My initial understanding of ICT is equivalent to IT. Totally ignoring the presence of C. When I was doing my contract teaching in my school, we were only reminded to incorporate ICT into our lessons. So, the first thing that came to my mind is Powerpoint, Visualisers, youtube videos and maybe simulations and animations.
Furthermore, in my school, they are only at the beginning stage of incorporating ICT into lessons. Most of the teachers do not dare to take the first step to initiate this. I feel the reason is due to time constraints and the need to finish curriculum.
To my surprise, 15 minutes into my 1st ICT lesson, i was surprised that powerpoint may not be considered as ICT. That is when I finally realized the importance or existence of C, which is communication.
You can call me a caveman. But i was being introduced to quite a fair bit of new items, like wiki, blackboard and maybe to me, blog. Why blog? Maybe because I do not own one.
One big unknown factor for me now is how to introduce Meaningful lesson with the help of ICT. I guess this is what I will be eagerly anticipating for my upcoming ICT lessons. Not only that, I think it is time for me to step out of my lazy shell and explore the possible the existing tools and resources that are being introduced to widen my scope.
Never say never. We are teachers. But above all we all learners!
Check out my 1st week reflection!
Hey,
This is Soo Hoon. I have the common consenus with Sheng Zhi. Using one ICT tool does not merely incorporate only one type of learning (active, constructive and etc). There may be multiple forms of learning for a certain ICT tool depending on how the lesson is being carried out. I do face much problem doing Activity 4 on the Wiki site. Hope that i am able to get my concepts right and finish the assignment by this weekend. See you guys next week!
View my 1st week reflection at http://y-un-13why-why-why.blogspot.com/
This is Soo Hoon. I have the common consenus with Sheng Zhi. Using one ICT tool does not merely incorporate only one type of learning (active, constructive and etc). There may be multiple forms of learning for a certain ICT tool depending on how the lesson is being carried out. I do face much problem doing Activity 4 on the Wiki site. Hope that i am able to get my concepts right and finish the assignment by this weekend. See you guys next week!
View my 1st week reflection at http://y-un-13why-why-why.blogspot.com/
Hi fellow NOS people! (Sheng Zhi)
Hello everyone, its my first posting here, just want to share some thoughts and findings with you guys and girls.
When I was doing my activity 4, I was reminded of a youtube video I saw recently. Anyone seen it before? Have a look if you havent, its really cool =)
The question I was thinking was whether this is under constructive affordance or collaborative affordance because it is a bit of both I feel. Creating a video so ingenious is definitely constructive while getting so many people to work together as one deserves to be labelled under collaborative as well. What do you all think?
If we could just get them to put some educational concepts in the video, then we can hijack it for our own use.
My reflections for week one (the KWLQs) is under http://seahqed527.blogspot.com/, is that right? or should I put my lesson reflections here?
Last thing to share is a very infomative list of collboration tools online @http://www.mindmeister.com/12213323
Go have a look!
When I was doing my activity 4, I was reminded of a youtube video I saw recently. Anyone seen it before? Have a look if you havent, its really cool =)
The question I was thinking was whether this is under constructive affordance or collaborative affordance because it is a bit of both I feel. Creating a video so ingenious is definitely constructive while getting so many people to work together as one deserves to be labelled under collaborative as well. What do you all think?
If we could just get them to put some educational concepts in the video, then we can hijack it for our own use.
My reflections for week one (the KWLQs) is under http://seahqed527.blogspot.com/, is that right? or should I put my lesson reflections here?
Last thing to share is a very infomative list of collboration tools online @http://www.mindmeister.com/12213323
Go have a look!
Friday, August 7
Reflections I
Before coming to NIE, ICT to me was In-Camp Training; and before coming for the 1st session, I thought ICT had something to do with IT and how we can make use of IT to facilitate teaching. Well, I guess I underestimated the “power” of C in ICT. If there’s only one way communication, then it is not ICT.
It came as a surprise that we are going to learn certain ICTs which the current schools are not ready for. Judging by my ESE (Enhanced School Experience), ICT was not used extensively, neither was I impressed when it was being used. Therefore, I’m a little sceptical about extensive use of ICT in classrooms. Nonetheless, I come to this course with an open mind and hope that I’ll be part of a transition where ICT integrates effectively into classroom teaching.
It came as a surprise that we are going to learn certain ICTs which the current schools are not ready for. Judging by my ESE (Enhanced School Experience), ICT was not used extensively, neither was I impressed when it was being used. Therefore, I’m a little sceptical about extensive use of ICT in classrooms. Nonetheless, I come to this course with an open mind and hope that I’ll be part of a transition where ICT integrates effectively into classroom teaching.
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