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.