in the scenario, the issues that surfaced are not uncommon in a lesson conducted in a full computer lab. however, there are measures & strategies that can minimize the occurrence of these problems; though not fully eradicate as there are variables (such as the working conditions of the computers) which are not controllable by mrs xing.
firstly, before mrs xing even conducts the lesson, there are preparatory measures she could have taken which would have been essential for the lesson. she should have made a recce visit to the computer laboratory that she had booked for the IT session to familiarize herself with the working conditions & affordances of the computers (both student & teacher) as well as other technological facilities by trying them on herself. she should try to rectify (with the help of the IT technician) or at least pre-empt any possible technical issues she may encounter during the lesson. most importantly, she needs to thoroughly know how the software she is using works before she can implement it during the lesson, and if time permits, to meet the class IT representative to briefly run through with him/her the basic technical know-hows of the software. on her part, she has to set certain rules and regulations for the class to adhere to so as to maximize the efficiency of the IT session. it would also be good for her to prepare materials such as 2 different coloured plastic cups or a set of 3 coloured cards for every student as standardized measures to get their attention or as signals either indicating their readiness to continue the lesson or that they may be needing technical assistance ('traffic light' concept - where red means attention, green means good to go, while orange means not ready).
during the lesson, instructions and rules/regulations should be made clearly and explicitly. students' attention could be captured by freezing all activity in the student workstations & screening the live demonstration of the procedures using the teacher's workstation onto the students' workstations (provided that there are such programmes installed). otherwise, another possible method would be to get the students to gather near the teacher's workstation with pen & paper to jot down instructions before they proceed to work at their computers. it would be excellent if the teacher's computer workstation contains software that allows mrs xing to monitor student activity on their individual computers. this would help regulate discipline within the IT lab and hopefully cause students to more focused on their task. another possible alternative would be for her to walk around the lab to check on the students' progress and position herself behind the lab. supposing she wants to have the students finish their 2nd edit by the end of the lesson, she could perhaps set a time limit for them to finish and submit their 1st essay draft. also, she should have either the IT technician or a more senior teacher (who's available) who is equally IT-savvy on standby during the lesson should there be any further technical hiccups encountered that are beyond her ability to handle.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There is probably only 1 IT rep in the class and Mrs Xing will be busy going through the draft. If the IT rep is poor in writing, he may have to concentrate more time on writing and not able to assist in solving comp problems.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Mrs Xing can find out from the period before this class who are competent in computers. Form groups that consist at least one that is good with computers and assign him to be the troubleshooter for that group.
Yes I agree with sheng zhi to have a group of students who are good at troubleshooting and that group can help other students with their computer problems.
ReplyDelete