Joycelyn Henry: Group - 1B-4
Activity 1: Rationale for ICT in Schools

Audit of My School's ICT Use

ICT is being used in my school in a very limited way for both educational and administrative purposes. 

In the school, there is a small computer lab with eight functioning computers, which are most often used by teachers.  The school also has free internet access to which all of the computers have been connected. There is also a printer that has been networked to all the computers in the lab. This was used by teachers and students but has now stopped working and we are left with only one printer in the library which is attached only to the computer there. 

Educational purposes:
-Few students use the Internet to do research and for the most part, they only do so when they are completing their final School Based Assessments for promotion to secondary school.   

-Some use educational software for instruction is being done e.g in the First Move Chess Programme.  There is also a literacy programme that students may use to learn various literacy skills and this is self-instructional.  However use of this type of instruction is not widespread in the school. 


-Only some of the teachers use the Internet to do research related to lesson planning and delivery or to collaborate with other educators. The number of those who use ICT for teaching and learning is even fewer.  


-The School is serviced by a mobile computer access unit which caters to a section of the school's population as only students from Grades 4 to 6 are given instruction in IT as a subject (computer literacy).  During these lessons, they are taught mainly the use of IT/computer skills as they are not instructed in any curriculum or subject based context.
  
Administrative Tool:
ICT use for administrative purposes is mainly used to facilitate  communication, some of which are listed:
Communicating with the Ministry of Education and amongst staff through the use of emails, to prepare letters to the Ministry of Education and to parents; to prepare memos for staff; to make flyers, brochures and posters  to publicise school events and activities; and finally to prepare tests, observation schedules and assessment and evaluation rubrics.