THANKS AND CONGRATS

Oooops! I forgot to say thanks to COL and to UNESCO for sponsoring this initiative and for allowing me to be a participant.  Thanks also to Mr. Roos for supporting the initiative and working out the logistics. It must have been a tough job.

Congrats to all my fellow participants who successfully completed the course. 

1B4 Activity 9 School Readiness

At this point in time, in my country we are just getting ready for ICT. Therefore when we look at what we have and what we need with regards to technology presentation and technology integration, we cannot really use this scale to measure accurately where we are with regards to technology in our schools. If we compare ourselves to the developed nations we are still so far behind and so we have not yet had the opportunities to develop the right skills and attitudes needed for the integration of ICT.  I believe that we will get there in the near future though.

The other tool mentioned, the Star Chart is also not for our use as yet because technology integration really has not gotten off the ground, especially in primary schools.  Since we are generally in a process of preparation, I believe that maybe three to five years down the road, this tool could be used.  It would also be good at that time because by then , we should be assessing how the integration process is progressing and how it is affecting attitudes and skills and teaching and learning and teaching in our schools.

Group 1B4: Activity 8A and 8B

Group 1B4: Activity 8B

Why wait for ICT before examining our teaching methods?

We do not need to wait for ICT before examining teacher methods. I agree wholeheartedly with this view and actually think that teachers just rely too heavily on traditional chalk and talk method. I believe that even without the introduction of ICT, we really need to look at the way we are teaching and if we are being effective in reaching our students or if we are losing some of them because of this. We must remember that children have different learning styles, so we must vary our strategies to ensure that we reach all our learners and none is left behind.  Our goal as teachers must be to reach every learner.  

To be honest, teaching with traditional approach is the easiest way for me to deliver a lesson; but I think that in this century that method just does not cut it anymore.  Consequently, even without the introduction of ICT, we have to begin to adjust our strategies, keeping mind that all our students not homogenous in their learning styles.  

ICT will bring new ways of teaching, but what if it does not come soon?  We need to look and how we are teaching now and how we are doing it and what it effect it is having on student learning outcomes.  If these are not effective and positive, then we must change, even without ICT.

Group Activity 8A: Teaching Spaces

These are my views about teaching spaces with regards to my school.  You can look at them with a critical eye and see what you can apply to your setting and see ways in which they apply to yours.

Teaching spaces Some of the advantages that I see are as follows: 1.The classroom furniture can be rearranged to free up space to set up technological tools. With classrooms so arranged there are greater opportunities for students to interact and collaborate. 2.Students can learn at their own pace because the new space allows the individual student to interact on a one on one basis with the technology. 3 Classrooms can be arranged in a more flexible manner in which there is no longer any specific back or front of the classroom. 4. Classrooms that are organized to accommodate ICT integration tends to be more motivating and captures and holds the learners attention. 5. Schools can be linked to share classrooms and teachers. Through this, best practices can also be shared. 6. Software can also be shared.

Disadvantages: Cost: Financing the change from classroom spaces that cater for traditional curriculum delivery to more modern idealistic classrooms will require a great deal of finance. Will the schools and/Ministries of Education be able to afford these classrooms: and if so, how soon? Another aspect of the cost factor that must be kept in the forefront is security. It will also be expensive to set up and maintain the kind of secure classrooms that these expensive technological tools will need. As we know, theft and vandalism are realities that we live with everyday. Furnishings: The type of furniture in the classroom may not be ideal for shifting and moving around and so it makes it difficult to adjust the available space for using the technology. Internet: Unavailability of Internet access or if available, only a specific location.

we have not done much in implementing the ideas outlined in the Churchill Report. This is because the school is just beginning to plan for ways of integrating ICT across the curriculum. We have begun by training teachers to use the few technological tools available. We have a small lab, but the way it is set up is so that almost everything is fixed. This means that we will have to do a great deal of adjustments to 'make it work.' We are however willing to try, but I believe that what we will have in the beginning is reconfigure what we already have to make our one room a more accommodating learning space.

With regards to my school is that we have not done much in implementing the ideas outlined in the Churchill Report. This is because the school is just beginning to plan for ways of integrating ICT across the curriculum. We have begun by training teachers to use the few technological tools available. We have a small lab, but the way it is set up is so that almost everything is fixed. This means that we will have to do a great deal of adjustments to 'make it work.' We are however willing to try, but I believe that what we will have in the beginning is reconfigure what we already have to make our one room a more accommodating learning space.

Group Members of 1B4 and 2A5

Completing these two modules was exciting and challenging.  I had to put in some long hard hours, but it was worth it.  I learnt a lot and now have my personal learning network where I can interact with other educators.  Had it not been for this course, I doubt that I would ever have done that.  The two modules presented excellent learning opportunities for me.

Thanks to my tutors and group members.  Thanks for all the guidance, sharing and interaction.  At first, I was struggling because it took a little while for me to find my way around the site and to understand how to blog, but now all these things are second nature.  Thanks all and I await and look forward to the next challenge.

Group 2A5: Activity 11

I became so excited about setting up your own PLN that I actually set up two different ones.  I wanted to get other educators’ ideas about what is happening with technology in their schools so that was the reason I gave for establishing a PLN. Actually I named one of them ICT for 21st Century Primary School Teachers. The second PLN that I set up was on Classroom 2.0.  I chose this one from among all the other educational ones that I visited because it had a lot of current activities.  I really like the idea of being able to get as well as to share ideas.

http://www.classroom20.com/profile/JoycelynGDHenry

http://joycelynhenry.blogspot.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/joyhen9

Please join my PLN and follow me on Twitter. 

I must also admit that I like the idea of being able to publish my thoughts, views and ideas in a meaningful context and in a way that people can learn from me and I from the.   I also think that it is great that I can start a discussion and have others make their contribution. Just today I was able to comment on a discussion concerning cursive writing, a topic that is dear to my heart, because I hate to see the bad handwriting that people have today.

Before this activity, I never saw social networking as an educational resource, so this is quite a novel idea and I like it; I think that it's just great!!!

Group 2A5 Activity 10 

Social media as a professional development resource

I have learnt quite a lot from going through this activity.  The idea of using social media for learning and teaching is relatively new, but it is rapidly growing; in fact, it has been described as a revolutionary way to learn.  Previously, learning in the workplace was done mainly through training initiative organized on the job site; but with social networking, the principle of workplace learning is not just restricted to learning at the workplace but indicates that it is social and informal and can happen anywhere and at any time. Further, it happens everyday; it is not structured and is continuous providing a powerful means by which people can connect, share, collaborate and learn at or off the workplace.  The interaction can be local or across the globe and is a useful method of promoting continuous learning and performance improvement in the workplace and thus helping us to become smart workers.

The use of social networking for teaching and learning is not widespread in my country, although it has been catching on.  The Ministry of Education has been providing training and this has been one aspect of the training.  From this though, I am seeing that the island wide ban on cell phones in schools will have to be lifted to allow for their use as a tool in teaching and learning with social media.

I however feel that there are so many different types of social networking, that educators will need to choose which ones will best help them to be smart workers. 

Group 1B4 Activity 7- Staff Development

Another activity completed!! Great!! Again this was a tremendous learning opportunity for me.
 

This activity was very informative.  The literature provided information of the importance of ICT integration in changing the landscape of teaching.  It reiterates and emphasizes that teachers must be willing to change the style of teaching from the humdrum traditional chalk and talk lecture method but the more dynamic learner oriented pedagogy that will be more accommodating of the different learning styles found in any class.  

I especially liked the fact that we were told of past experiences that we could learn from so that in the effort to integrate ICT into teaching and learning, we do not make the same mistakes.  Additionally, the literature included guiding principles that could be followed.  Consequently, we have a base from which to launch our ICT integration efforts and thus we do not have to reinvent the wheel of ICT integration.

I also liked the idea of sharing our presentation because it helped me to see whether or not, I am interpreting the literature in the same way that others are doing and also to determine what is taking place in ICT integration in schools in my country.