What the future hold....

As a future teacher, I wonder if I would ever keep up to date with the technology fast enough to suit the needs of my students. I fear I day my students will find my teaching irrelevant and that I am an old-fashioned teacher. Nevertheless, this is an eye-opening experience, many possibilities lies ahead for me like willingness to convince myself to stay updated and relevant by taking up more IT courses, getting myself gadgets like Wii and PlayStation and playing them of course.
What might living, learning and working be like in the future? The future holds many possibilities which I am not sure what it will but I am sure of one thing... I am sure it will evolve around Information and Communication Technology or whatever it will be called then... Parents, teachers and the society have to constantly be updated of these technologies as they will be changing along with it, willingly or not. So, I feel that to continue living, learning is the key to staying relevant in the working world otherwise someone with more knowledge will replace you.
Life long learning is the way to it all... This is what NIE is preparing its teachers unconsciously. Teachers have to go through modules like this to stay intouch and be aware of what the future hold for us. Many courses on IT skills where conducted every semester for both Student -teachers and Trainers alike in addition to the IT resources they provide and suggest. Platforms are laid for teachers to share their skills with the fellow friends. All these for the cause of keeping us, teachers, relevant and to ease this transition into the DIGITAL FUTURE.
To stay on track, I must not be afraid to learn new skills...To be a character developer, I must first develop my character... I must develop the love for learning...

Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants

Digital Natives are children of today whom their teachers (known as the digital immigrants) characterise as having short attention span, problems with reading and thinking, and do not like doing practices. But research has found the meaningful explanations for these:
They have short attention span only “for old ways of learning” because they choose to pay attention to things that they feel is important can help achieve success in their areas of interest like gaming on which they can spent hours on.
They learn better through digital game-based learning but many educators are not ready or savvy enough for that.
As mentioned by Marc Prensky (2001) in his article, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II:Do They Really Think Differently?
Digital Natives are accustomed to the twitch-speed, multitasking, random-access, graphics-first, active, connected, fun, fantasy, quick-payoff world of their video games, MTV, and Internet are bored by most of today’s education. The cognitive differences of the Digital Natives cry out for new approaches to education with a better ―fit. And, interestingly enough, it turns out that one of the few structures capable of meeting the Digital Natives’ changing learning needs and requirements is the very video and computer games they so enjoy. This is why ―Digital Game-Based Learning is beginning to emerge and thrive (p.5).
A good example of a Digital Native is Cameron, an 11 year old boy from Indiana,an avid gamer and talented young digital video producer. He has successfully created his very own ‘green screen’ so that he can use the chroma key technique in his digital videos.
According to Wikipedia...
Chroma key is a technique for mixing two images or frames together, in which a color (or a small color range) from one image is removed (or made transparent), revealing another image behind it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_key).

Cameron’s digital background is no different from his Singaporean counterpart. Cameron was introduced to computer games at a young age, owns quite a number of digital gadget; hp, laptop and iPod, spends hours on the computer and is quite verse in a number of software application.
So teachers must be prepared...
According to Marc Prensky (2001), “One of the most interesting challenges and opportunities in teaching Digital Natives is to figure out and invent ways to include reflection and critical thinking in the learning (either built into the instruction or through a process of instructor-led debriefing) but still do it in the Digital Native language (p.5).”
Teachers may allow students to explore with online materials example suggested websites and online games, to introduce a lesson, allow the use of mind mapping tool, wikis, blogs and other tools to collate information and present materials using online or computer applications. Game-based learning is the right way but “they must be real games, not just drill with eye-candy, combined creatively with real content” (Prensky, 2001). Games consols like PlayStation, Wii and Xbox, when used the right way can make learning incidental yet significant.

E-Le@rning II

Part A
What are some characteristics of digital natives?

POOR
- They have a short attention span…. when taught in a traditional manner.

- They are poor at reflecting and critical thinking.

GOOD
- They have Enhanced thinking skills by repeated exposure to computer games and other digital media.

Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?

I have selected Dana. In terms of her digital background, I believe that students in Singapore are also exposed to most of the gadgets that Dana are exposed to in the States. The only difference would be that Dana is lucky to have parent's that endorses and encourages the use of IT. Students in Singapore generally do not receive positive support from parents with regards to the use of IT.

How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?

Teachers should encourage students to make use of the vast information available online. Encouragement alone is not enough. After acquiring whatever knowledge that the students might be looking for, they must know that the information needs corroboration.



Part B

As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?
My impression is that teachers would have more time dealing with the more important aspect of education which is not to teach Math or Science or History but to teach a child. What I mean is in Singapore a lot more focus is currently put into character development of children and citizenship or national education. I guess the government is now more aware that the younger generation of Singaporeans are lacking in character due to the over-emphasis on academics excellence alone. My fear would be that the future Singapore would be very impersonal due to increasing usage of ICT.

What might living, learning and working be like in the future?
The playing ground would get much more even. Individuals who are not tech-savvy would lag behind their peers.

How is NIE preparing you to prepare your students for this possible future?
I think it is impossible for NIE to prepare us with the hardware as technology changes very so often that whatever is taught today might be obsolete when we start teaching. However what is taught here that could prepare us for this possibility is the awareness that is being instilled. I find this experience meaningful as it makes me face these tough questions and challenges. This will definitely help me prepare my mind for the possibility of me constantly having to change as technology progresses. I feel that this readiness and willingness and preparedness to constantly upgrade our teaching strategies is the first step in welcoming the challenges of the future.

E-Learning II

Part A: Digital Natives

What are some characteristics of digital natives?
- Always online be it on Facebook, Messenger or even Youtube.
- Always creating new content to share with others
- Always sharing new information through blogs, tweets and Youtube
- Multitasking most of the time

What are digital natives good at?
- Good processing habits
- Not just passive users; they want to create better technology and overcome barriers
- They have good collaborative learning style
- Interact vastly with different people even overcoming language and physical barriers
- A community of sharing; they like to share information

What are digital natives poor at?
- They disclose too much about their personal data
- They have very bad attention span for any traditional modes of teaching; “Every time I go to school I have to power down,” complains a digital native student.

Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?
I've picked Jalen. Jalen is an artist, animator, and digital-media creator. He has been dabbling in amination for about 2 years and he attends classes on how to produce his own movies and comic characters on his laptop. This is very similar to his Singaporean counterpart where the children here are exposed to various courses on animation in schools and the government is encouraging students to get involved in competitions like NEMATION.

How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?
As new platforms and devices emerge, how we as teachers use the different modes of ICT tools must undergo a process of evolution. After all, the students live in a new digital age, like keeping in touch via Facebook and updating themselves in blogs. We have a task to equip students with the critical skills to engage in the emergent digital media landscape and understand what it means to be literate in an interconnected planet thus the traditional way of teaching is not always the right way to teach.

Part B: The Digital Native's Future

As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?
I expect that the students of the future would have a better understanding of their academics and find that all the answers they need would be at their fingertips and they understand that there is always a resource out there that they can use. My only fear is that teachers would not be fully equipped to guide these students and they may lose interest in schools.

What might living, learning and working be like in the future?
Things would be so much easier. We would be able to obtain information faster and there would be a whole new level of expectations that we would be living in.

How is NIE preparing you to prepare your students for this possible future? How might you prepare yourself?
I have been exposed to different ICT tools to scaffold my understanding of what is expected of me as a teacher to guide my students along to this future. And I have always been told that there is always help for me in case I encounter any problems. Instead of just teaching these tools I could always keep learning how the tools can help me and my students.

E Learning 2

Part A

• What are some characteristics of digital natives?
  What are they good at?

Playing video games, using handphones to sms, talking pictures with all sorts of digital cameras and finally, sending emails are some technological marvels these digital natives are good at. All these can be done by their fantastic multi tasking skills too.

• What are they poor at?)

I think some of them get easily distracted and they need someone to guide them back on track. There is also a need for more flexibility in thinking.

• Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?

The chosen topic will be - Dana, who is 9 years old.

She is exposed to the digital age fairly young in life and comparing her to tech savvy 9 year old children in Singapore, we can see that Dana is not very far behind.

• How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?

Teachers will have to walk the walk if they talk the talk. Traditional textbook teaching methods do not engage students now. Building good rapport by seeing the world through students’ eyes, and using mediums familiar to them like computers, we teachers will be able to teach better and students will learn better. Then, letting students create something with what was taught to them will strengthen their understanding of the subject.

.

Part B

• As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?

It seems far fetched. Like how everyone was going about all excited when petrol-hybrid cars were first announced. That was a way into the future for the automotive industry, but look at the roads now, do we see many petrol- hybrid cars? Nope. All I am saying is, whatever is in conceptualized form sounds great. Actually getting it into usage is another thing.

With that thought, I do not know if we digital and non digital natives be ready for it. There are some people who fall behind in terms of tech savvy-ness. My father does not even know how to use his Nokia N95 smartphone to take down notes. He still relies on the trusted pen and paper….. there will be a gap between users of technology and non users.

On the bright side, children now seem at ease with technology. They have handphones while in primary school, some are even using touch screen ones. At home, they have e learning assignments given by their schools and the media is influencing them a lot with its constant broadcasts of advertisements featuring the latest tech gadgets.

• What might living, learning and working be like in the future?

Technology will be all around us in the future.

• How is NIE preparing you to prepare your students for this possible future?

Dr Tan and the friendly tutors at NIE have been hard at work designing the courses for us. The ICT lessons designed by them so far are a good way of learning and having fun at the same time. We understand better when there is no stress placed on us. Children will too. Traditional methods of memorizing and pouring out whatever learnt for the exams is long gone. With the changing of times, teachers will be better equipped with the knowledge of ICT to make lessons beneficial for both parties.

How might you prepare yourself?

I will apply what Dr Tan has taught me and use it in my lessons when I am posted to a school. Of course, I cannot rely on this method alone. Doing some SDL on my own and collaborating with my peers to gain even more knowledge in this field will go a long way in making me prepare for my lessons better. Technology moves forwards very fast, and we have to adapt to it if we are going to become a more tech savvy nation.

E Learning 2

Part A: Digital Natives

3. Answer these questions in your blog

What are some characteristics of digital natives? (What are they good at? What are they poor at?)

Digital natives(+):

• Develop hypertext minds
• Have parallel cognitive structures rather than sequential ones
• Have a combination and intensified different cognitive skills such as multidimensional visual spatial skills
• Prefer interactivity
• Accustomed to twitch speed multi-tasking , random access (of video games)
• Raised in a technological environment

(-)

• Short attention span

Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?

I chose Dana. Dana is a nine year old child being adopted by American parents. She was from Kazakhstan. She is a young gamer and helped to build a new website for needy Haitians. Similar to nine year old Singaporeans, she is being surrounded by common technological devices such as MP3s, computers, PSPs and mobile phones. Like Dana, they are more digitally native at home than school. At home, they spend a lot of their time playing computer games, texting messages and surfing the internet. Also like any other children, she has a 'non-tech' hobby, that is singing. In addition, she has her own ambition. She wants to be a veterinian.

How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?

First of all, teachers can use the many devices that are already being used by our digital natives. This will make learning fun, interactive and authentic for them. To engage and teach digital natives, we have to consider several characteristics of digital natives. For them, learning hardly takes place if teachers use the old school (reading and memorising) way of teaching. Since they prefer interactivity, conducting games-based learning sessions is a good way get them involved and learn actively.

Part B: The Digital Native's Future

5. Answer these questions in your blog

As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?

Questions that came across my mind after watching the videos include 'Are teachers still relevant in the future?'/'How does one define smart/intelligent in the year 2015?/'Do examanations (paper and pen kind) still apply?'

What might living, learning and working be like in the future?

• Living in the future is going to be very convenient as dependence on technology is much higher. Hopefully our quality of living improves. Presently, the standard of living in Singapore is rather high but the quality of living is still questionable.
• Learning and working should be more dynamic than ever. Students have to keep learning new things and absorb so much of information. (What they have learnt yesterday can be outdated the next day). Through new tech devices the students learn more actively. Teachers teach less. / Workers have to constantly upgrade themselves if they want to remain in the workforce. They are required to upgrade much more frequently. There is going to be so much competition. The challenges faced by future learners and workers is going to be more complex and definitely different from ours.

How is NIE preparing you to prepare your students for this possible future? How might you prepare yourself?

One of the ways in preparing is through ICT. Some of the sessions in ICT explore into the many possibilities of how lessons can be conducted in the future using high tech devices. Some of the ideas are really new to me. Hence in order to prepare myself, I have to familiarise myself with the possibilities and embrace them.

E-Learning 2

3. Answer these questions in your blog

•What are some characteristics of digital natives? (What are they good at? What are they poor at?)

Characteristic

- hypertext mind
- multidimensional visual-spatial skills
- attentional deployment
- responding faster to expected and unexpected stimuli
- mental maps
- representational competence
- inductive discovery

Strength

- able to use the knowledge they get from playing games in their daily life; learn from experience.
- are able to multitask

Weakness

- short attention spans for the old ways of learning

•Which portrait did you select? (In your blog, create a link to the portrait.) In terms of their digital background, how similar was that student compared to a Singapore student?

I selected the potrait of Virginia. I believed that at the age of 14 years old, the students of Singapore are more exposed to the digital technology. This is because, I suppose that there are students younger than the age of 12 years old that are blogging.

Viginia and Singapore students are familiar due to the fact that they are more engage when dealing with digital media. They are also being introduced to these digital media at a young age since their parents or those who are older than them are using it. Kids at these age will get curious and would want to explore the technology on their own. Hence, the similar background.

•How might teachers in Singapore today engage and teach our digital natives?

The need to use more of digital teachnology in their teaching to engage the students. This includes digital games that will attract the attention of the digital natives. These digital games must be of the correct design so that kids are learning the correct things.


5. Answer these questions in your blog

•As you look into the possible future of the educational landscape, what sort of impressions, fears, or possibilities crossed your mind?

I was truly awed by the Singapore's iN2015 vision video. The wonder of technology. Yes, of course there are some fears that I have in mind. Am I able to catch up with the technology in years to come? Will I be one of the outdated Singaporean who refused to accept the new technology?

•What might living, learning and working be like in the future?

I think that technology plays a huge part in the future. Who knows that paper might not even exist in the future... ;)

Anyway, I forsee that working in the future would be less taxing as I believe that information regarding work will be stored digitally and retrieving the information wouldn't be much of a problem.

Learning will be a fun for the students as there will definitely be less of classroom teaching and more of independent learning using technology.

•How is NIE preparing you to prepare your students for this possible future? How might you prepare yourself?

So far, we are encourage to use different media tools for our presentation. This will prompt us to get our creative mind to use. By getting us exposed to the media technology that the students are using or going to be using, it will get us prepared for the future.

On our part, we have to constantly keep updated with the latest technology that the students might get interested with. We must not be narrow-minded and think that only the traditional way of teaching works. Also, I believe in having to experience the technology itself for us to know how it work. Hence, we must also be curious in trying new media technology, just like how the students will get curious with it.

Reflection for Gaming week

The main difference between using the gaming approach from traditional method is the way that when gaming, it is fun as we learn as there is no pressure on the player/learner.

Playing games give us feedback. I have not come across a game which gives us content then asks us to try solving it.

Appleman said that as more games are being played, there will be an increased number of people who will persevere till the end. This can hopefully be applied to teaching. Compared to the traditional way once the students fail at their first try, they lose heart and this causes a loss of motivation to try again. James Paul Gee recommends creating learning environments that are different from the traditional old schools of long ago. He suggests using collaborations to solve real and virtual.

I feel that this is a good direction to take. Even us, as student teachers, get so immersed in the ICT lessons that we forget where we are and go all out to complete a level.

Reflection on Wii

Presenting what our group has come up with was good as it let everyone know about what we planned to teach. I think we were a little too ambitious because we tried to include too many forms of ICT in our teaching. Sometimes, things work better when they are much more simple. Do not underestimate the learner but also do not be too ambitious. there has to be a balance and i am sure our group will find it for the final presentation.

this week's ICT was really fun as i really did not expect to be playing the Wii. it is good to know that education has reached a stage where games can be used to teach. the important thing is not to be too immersed in the games, but rather, to arouse interest in learning and using games as a platform is a good way to start. Because if student teachers had so much fun playing, learning and collaborating to overcome each gaming level, i am sure this will happen should children be able to learn from games one day.

Reflection

3 things I learnt
- Difference between a GOOD objective and a Bad objective
- What to look at when analyzing learners.
- We must integrate our ICT into our lesson and not our lesson into ICT. (The main focus/emphasis must be the lesson itself)


2 things I applied
- ABCD model in setting a GOOD objective
- CL as we critique other teams Lesson Plan.

1 thing I want to know about
- Making a lesson plan is already a tough task. The next thing that I would like to know is how to execute the lesson plan itself. A lesson plan is but just a lesson plan until we execute it.

Reflection 3-2-1

•3 things you learned
I learnt about lesson planning procedures...
1) Identify the learners
~get to know their background, IT skill, gender, Economics status, Learning style etc...

2) Write up the goals and objectives
Realised how difficult it is to write an objective... so all this while I have been writing it wrong...hmmm...wonder why noone point out to me...or could it be possible that they are as ignorant as me... ; )
Now I'm not ignorant anymore just need more practise... A-Audience B-Behaviour C-Conditions D-Degree...
But D is also stands for Definately Difficult to Define...hehe..

3) Plan for the activities which integrates the use of ICT... Dr Tan says we focus on the activity first then find the suitable ICT...

•2 things applied
1) We planned for the lesson and chose the topic but it was challenging.. Never thought that teaching language will be like this...Make the lesson Authentic... Dr Tan said...
and thanks to his great scaffolding stategy... We manage to finalise on the lesson plan idea... implemented SL and CL into the lesson plan...

2) Then came the SIO... It was so complicated... ABCs they were fine but when it came to D... phew... so Difficult... then Dr Tan to the resque again... that's how we finally though of using template and rubrics in our lesson plan... then tried to consolidate everything but there was not enough time... hah... time .. it is always short when you are starting to enjoy doing something...

•1 thing you want to know more about
hmmm... I think for now I don't know what I want to know... I just need to complete my SeSSion X as soon as possible... so maybe what I want is to know if we are on the right track...
So I can celebrate Hari Raya with a peace of mind... Ahhh...

Reflection

It's time for reflection!

3 things you learn
- How to write a good objectives.
It must include Audience, Behaviour, Condition & Degree.

- Create lesson plan that includes ICT in it.
The steps involved for the process ofc creating a lesson plan

- Critique our classmate's lesson plan.
This way, we are able to learn from their mistake and input on what we know.

2 things you applied
- The theories of creating a lesson plan taught by Dr Tan is being applied when we are asked to create a lesson plan.

- From the knowledge that I gather, I applied what I know by havin criticizing other group's work.

1 thing you want to know about
- How I can integrate games(WII) into the curriculum.



Done...deee..done...!

Reflections

this has been an interesting experience so far. Ict has been proven, in my opinion, to be a most useful tool for teaching and sharing.

For example, i can use part of my reflection to share what i have learnt. There is still a long way to go and more interesting things to learn along the way.

3 things learnt

1-I learnt that sometimes working in groups in a given time allocation can be good. the time set puts pressure on each of the group members to come up with contributions.

2 -The A,B,C,D's of planning a lesson beforehand is a new one. Before this, i thought it was just a simple job of planning a lesson on the spot. With this, planning goes even deeper and lessons will be more fulfilling.

3- I learnt that there is a toilet nearer to ECL room 4. Instead of walking to the far end, in future, i will use less energy and waste less time walking to the bathroom.

2 things applied

1- Applying the newfound skills to our SIO's was a good learning point. This way, lessons taught will be planned ahead rather than planned during the time it takes us to walk to the classroom.

2- The verb wheel based on Bloom's Taxonomy is useful. It can be used as a gauge to understand a student's learning.

1 thing yet to learn

1 - I want to learn how to play Wii Sports.

Sa'adah's Reflection

Yay!!! That is how happy I am while writing this reflection….
So far this module has been a hurdle to high for me to jump over successfully as a felt that I cannot cope and feel lost at times. Moreover I cannot keep up with the pace all these is going…That is why I’m so far behind in my wiki page update…I felt really lost and kind of STUPID, too during lessons… so when I read about the e-learning activity I was very worried…
But to my surprise, this e-learning exercise has been I great learning experience for me. I have learnt so much about ICT and realized that these information can be found with just few ‘clicks’ of a mouse and reading from books related on the topic. SDL and CL are strategies that prove to be effective here. With more practise and experience I am sure I can improve further… I am so motivated to learning more about ICT…
I had the opportunity to view how others problem solve the activity they chose and while reading it make me think and research further beyond my scope of assignment. I realized that I have yet to learn how to post comment effectively, though b’coz I worry how my comments are being perceived by the post owner. I am sure when I become a teacher in the future, I have to be wary of this tooo…Right?

For now I just want to say "Thank You,Dr Tan!" for facilitating this experience...

Notice any changes...?

Hello ppl...

I've added labels to our blog... so now we can categories post entries neatly as suggested by Khairul...

Now lets look into the blog esthetically... I wonder how we can change its skin... Read up about the it online but it's full of "chimiology"...
Anybody knows how to do it...?

E-learning summary & reflection

1. Summary
I feel that all in all, Mrs Xing needs to sit down and think about her lesson objectives for her students. In her class, it seems like one of the objectives is for HER to complete marking essays, which is strange as when she is doing that IN the classroom, her students would be waiting, thus, not learning anything. If she had kept her LOs simple, maybe by the end of the lesson, her students should be able to write out a composition based on the topic and maybe get feedback from one peer and if there is time, students could revise some parts of their compos before handing them in.
Another major problem with her lesson is that her instructions are not clear right from the start of the lesson. If she had stated clearly her expectations of the standard of compositions they had to hand in at the end of the lesson, she would not get students who would do the work just for the sake of finishing it. She should sit them down in the front of the lab before they get to work on their PCs. She could also use a software which allows her to project her instructions on every PC being used by her students. This will get their attention and she can revise her instructions according to the class progress or lack of. From the video in the resource page on the wiki, one other technique she could use is to appoint some students who are stronger in using the PCs to be her helpers or guides. Thus, when there are some students who have problems, she could instruct these guides to help while she focuses on the very weak students or on monitoring the rest of the class.

References:
http://155.69.84.21/wbaml/Resource/L0217/page3.htm
Video clip on managing a full-lab enviromment

2. Reflection
I feel that through this e-learning week, it takes a lot of self-motivation to get it "right". I mean, with hardly any monitoring from the teacher/tutor, I find that it was hard for me to be really on-task and that the thing that "scares" me reli, is that my participation is graded. hee...
So I'm left wondering at the end of this e-learning week, whether my students will be as motivated to do the job. There will definitely be those who do not care about grades or punishment. They will either ignore it, or put the least effort into it. How am I going to encourage them to appreciate the ICT tools and convince them these will benefit their learning? If they don't get it, they just won't buy it. My only concern is, will using ICT really have a lot of value-add on students' learning? Or is it just a fancy way of teaching something but not as effective as lessons without too much usage of ICT?

E- Learning Summary & Conclusion

Summary
Time to post what I have learnt!

To summarize everything, before Mrs Xing starts planning for her ICT lesson, she needs to know her students ability in using computers. Once she analyse and know their computer ability, she could her group students and appointing a leader for each group. This will help her ease the trouble of going to each students if they have any problems. Also, she needs to ensure that all resources and equipment are sufficient and working.

Coming up with a detailed lesson plan is important to ensure that all loopholes are being looked into. Stating the objectives and giving detailed instructions before the start of lessons or a day before will help to keep the class focused on what needs to be done. During briefing, she could include the rules of the lesson to maintain discipline and the structure of narrative.

To ease her from having to check all 40 scripts, she could pair the students up to counter-check their work. She could also advise her students to use the "F7" to correct their spelling and grammar. This will help to lighten her burden of correcting their spelling and grammar.

She could stop the lesson halfway to check on the students progress. She could use the "lock software" where she can control the students'computers. Once she knows of the students' progress, she could gauge how many would have finished and helped her with the checking of scripts. Else, she could asked those who have finished to do some worksheets, known as fillers, to occupy their time.


References:

Managing a full-computer lab learning environment.
http://155.69.84.21/wbaml/Resource/L0217/page3.htm

Implementing ICT Lessons
http://www3.moe.edu.sg/edumall/tl/it_integration/engaging_it_practices/lessondesign(i).htm

Wong, F.L.A., Divaharan, S. & Choy D. (2010). Planning for effective learning. In C.S. Chai, & Q. Wang, ICT: For self-directed and collaborative learning (pp.81-106).Singapore: Pearson.

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Reflection
1) Have I achieved my learning goals? How did I make that happen? Were my learning strategies effective and efficient? How might they be improved?

I believed that I have achieved my learning goals through reading and watching various websites and ICT book. I find that my learning strategies were not effective as I tend to need 'get-the-right-mood' before I start to do my E-learning. This result in me procastinating to get things to done; last minute work. Hence, I realised that if I want to get things done, I need to push myself and not 'get-the-right-mood' to start my work. Afterall, it's all in your mind. =)

2)Did the group processes support my group's learning? Why and why not? How can I/we improve?
With the group members commenting on my views, it helps to think crucially on the points that I have listed. Some may not agree on the point listed. Therefore, I may need to explain further to get my point noted to them.

I need to be more involved in the discussion to help my group member in their post.

Sa'adah's Summary

To summaries, Mrs Xing should strategies properly after identifying the objectives she wants to achieve. She then must analyse her learners as mentioned by Wong, Divaharan & Choy (2010), information about your students is of utmost importance (as cited in Chai & Wang, 2010, p.83). Such information will be useful when planning for lesson.Since she will be bringing them to the computer lab, it is important for her to keep in mind the seating arrangement and laboratory rules which the students should conform to (Wong, Divaharan & Wettasinghe, 2010, p.145). Preparations such as brainstorming and using Concept-Mapping Tool to organize student’s thoughts (“Engaging ICT Practices for Teachers: Classroom 3”, 2009) will reduce poorly written scripts. She must also decide whether to use MSWord or create writing portals for her children to edit their essays. Teachers must be ready with additional activities for those who finish faster (Wong et al., 2010, p.146). Students will learn how to edit and critique each others work constructively using a set of rubrics (“Engaging ICT Practices for Teachers: Classroom 3”, 2009) to minimize the number of scripts she has to edit. In the lab, she will monitor their work via a management software and students are to be kept informed so they are wary of their actions as mentioned by Wong et al., (2010, p.153). This peer-editing process may spread over a few days and finally she will check only the final draft. Most importantly, she must take-up IT courses before embarking and updates her IT knowledge.

Reference:

Wong, F.L.A., Divaharan, S. & Choy D. (2010). Planning for effective learning. In C.S. Chai, & Q. Wang, ICT: For self-directed and collaborative learning (pp.81-106).Singapore: Pearson.

Wong, P., Divaharan, S. & Wettasinghe, M. (2010). Managing ICT-mediated learning environment. In C.S. Chai, & Q. Wang, ICT: For self-directed and collaborative learning (pp.81-106).Singapore: Pearson.

Engaging ICT Practices for Teachers: Classroom 3. Retrieved from http://www3.moe.edu.sg/edumall/tl/it_integration/engaging_it_practices/3changes.htm

Engaging ICT Practices for Teachers: Classroom 3. Retrieved from http://www3.moe.edu.sg/edumall/tl/it_integration/engaging_it_practices/3peers.htm

Conclusion for E-Learning Week!

This week i truly went through a total SD & CL. I did my own research and I input my own ideas. However I still think that there are more that I can do. I could have done more in terms of reading up on the different tools I can use in a school computer lab environment.
The group processes certainly work. I believe all of us have learnt a lesson or two. From this we did CL as we all shared what we have learnt with each other and from this the rest of the group could post their comments and we can do all learnt from this. But I think this has been a very eye-opening and method of ICT I could use for my own students.

250 word summary on Scenario 2, Activity C

During her E-learning session, Mrs Xing encountered some integration problems. First of all, one of her students surfed pornographic websites and was caught red-handed by his/her parents. Worse, the student simply used Mrs Xing’s E-learning lesson as an excuse. This problem arises because Mrs Xing might have overlooked the way she conducted her E-learning session. Her students might have become too familiarised with the software used for her ICT lessons. In addition, she used the same ICT concept for her E-learning session. Her students could have felt that the E-learning session was no different from the countless ICT lessons that she conducted. Hence meaningful learning has not been achieved. They students already know what is to be done. They are able to finish the work too soon and this leaves for a lot of free time for her students. Not knowing what else to do, this students of hers surfed the inappropriate websites. It could have been done either intentionally or unintentionally.

Secondly, Mrs Xing failed to pre-empt what could have gone wrong during the E-learning session. This problem could have been avoided if she had been wise enough to consider any possible mishaps or unwanted situation and be prepared with other feasible plans to fall on.

Thirdly, the Learning Management System is a little flawed because there are no guidelines on plagiarism. Mrs Xing failed to address the issue prior to the E-learning session. Therefore, they freely copied the content they found on the websites given to them.

Lastly, parents could give integration problems as well. The students may face more problems at home if their parents are not able to help them during their E-learning session if they need to. They might not be able to complete their assignment at home and this defeats the purpose of having the E-learning session.

Reflection

The goal of this E-learning session is to incorporate SDL and CL so at the end of the session, I may identify and articulate problems that hinder teaching and learning. I felt that somehow I have achieved my learning goals. Through this E-learning session, I had to be aware of what is SDL and CL. Not only that, I need to incorporate both styles of learning during my ‘exploration stage’ to gather the relevant information so that I can produce a summary of the activity that I’m working on.

In order to achieve that, I need to read up on SDL and CL. I also need to remember what I’ve learned in the previous session and apply it to my E-learning. SDL happens when I had to choose the activity I’m interested, understand what is required of me for that activity and searched for information related to the topic. Hence, I’m responsible for everything.

To a certain extent, I felt that my learning strategy is effective. I gathered my own information first, post in on the blog and waited for the rest to comment on it. However, I failed to capitalise on other sources of information to substantiate some of the points made in my summary.

The group process in a way, did support my group’s learning. We posted our findings on the blog and made comments on our group members’ postings. Everyone is able to see all the comments made and some of the ideas there are actually build-ups from the previous ones. It enables my group members to ‘explore’ other ideas that are not there and critique each other’s work positively. However, I noticed that the comments made are active for some blog postings only, not all. This is something we could have worked on.

E-Learning Scenario 1 Activity B

I will list down the problems Mrs Xing faced while conducting her first ICT-based lesson and add on the solutions/intervention measures that could make her lesson more successful. :)

Problem
1 - Mrs Xing was new to ICT and unsure how to integrate it into her lesson
Solution: If I was a BT and I am completely new to ICT, I will not choose to embark on a lesson which almost totally depends on ICT in order to make the lesson successful. Since I am new, I could try to infuse ICT just a little into the lesson and once I get more comfortable with using it, I can be more ambitious with the added confidence. Mrs Xing could sit in one of the more experienced teachers' ICT-based lesson and look at the way the class is managed, which is very different from a normal classroom. She could also note down some of the mistakes the teacher makes in the lessons and orientate herself to blindspots in the labs where students are hidden from the teacher's view.

2 - Mrs Xing failed to get to know her class well enough in terms of their ability in the use of computer technology
Solution: She should have given the class a survey on their ability to use the PCs. If she can figure out the stronger and weaker students, she could always insist that a stronger student be paired up with a weaker one so that they can help one another in the lab. She could also appeal to these stronger students that they would have to help her and instil in them a sense of responsibility and pride in their knowledge on PCs. With this, most students would be more than willing to help the teacher. With regards to students surfing the net, she could get the help of the IT technician in school to see if the internet connection could be disabled for this lesson since she is not using the Internet at all. If this is not possible, she could brief them on the dos and donts of the lab (rules) before she brings them there. Most of the labs in schools are equipped with a software which allows the teacher to monitor the students activites via her own monitor. She could easily track the students who are flouting her rules and thus, punish them accordingly. Once students realise they cannot play around, they will be focused on the task at hand.

3 - Mrs Xing failed to provide sufficient instructions or modelling to her students, especially in the writing up of the task
Solution: Before she gives them the freedom to work on her task, she did not give sufficient instructions as she was afraid she would run out of time. This shows me that she values the ICT aspect of the lesson more than the actual learning objectives for the students. The important thing should not be for them to use the PCs well but that they should recall how to organise and write out a composition. She should tap on this knowledge of theirs first before they start writing. Students need to be reminded, some more than others. Therefore, before she allows them to log onto the PCs, she could get them all to be seated near the front of her screen and she could take some time to brief them on the task at hand. She could also include instructions on how to log onto the PCs for the benefit of those who do not know how. She could also introduce the composition title and get students to brainstorm as a class what possible details this compo can include. This would be a good chance for her to remind the class of the way a narrative is organised and remind them that they need to show that in their compositions.

4 - Mrs Xing failed to consider that some students would finish faster than others and thus, did not anticipate that these students would be bored and create classroom management issues for her.
Solution: Some students are naturally faster than others when doing work. Mrs Xing should anticipate this and prepare some other work for them to do. For instance, she could get those who have finished to swap places and edit one another's work and give one another feedback on their writing. She could also provide some sample essays for them to read and compare to their own while waiting for the rest of the class to finish.

5 - Mrs Xing did not anticipate that there would be a bottleneck problem when she had to read and mark all 40 compositions at once.
Solution: It is quite silly for Mrs Xing to think that she would have the time to mark all 40 compositions at once and still have time to monitor the progress of the class. Instead of her marking all the compos herself, she could get the students to provide the first round of feedback. Maybe register no. 2 could be in charge of editing the compo of student with register no. 3 and so on. This way, there is accountability and students would be kept busy. If Mrs Xing is afraid of what the students would comment on, she could give them just a few things to look out for. For instance, grammar mistakes, or organisational mistakes. With specific things to look out for, students will be focused and on task. She could always take time after the class to go through the compositions. This would make the feedback from her much more effective.

6 - She faces quite a number of classroom managenemt issues esp with students who are done with the work and are bored.
Solution: In a lab, the teacher has such an important role in monitoring what the students are doing. She needs to continuously walk around to make sure her presence is felt by all students. Once the students feel that the teacher is not watching them, it's normal for them to start to misbehave. This is why it is a bad idea for her to be sitting down at her PC editing the essays as they are placed into her shared folder.


Feel free to comment people. . .

Let's to change to Edublog..

U know guys...

I attended the EduBlog elearn workshop earlier today... learnt so much so I tot mayb we can switch to using edublog instead since it is so much easier to use and ther's so much u can do wif it... then we can categorise our posts... that answers to ur question khairul...

give me ur comments.....

E-Learning

Alright, I have chosen Scenario 1 Activity B for this E-Learning.

Mrs. Xing is having trouble controlling all her students in the computer lab and checking all the scripts given to her. I am going to propose pre-emptive/intervention strategies that can help Mrs. Xing solve her classroom management issues. Feel free to post your comments on proposed way that I have came up with!

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Firstly, Mrs. Xing could group her students first and appoint 1 resposible leader in each group before coming to the lab. She could brief her students on their work before they enter the lab or she coud ask the students to sit at the front of the lab to give detailed instructions. Also, she could brief the group leaders beforehand on what is to be done so that group leaders are able to help the members instead of Mrs. Xing having to help. I personally feel that giving detailed insructions to students is important to ensure that they understand of what needs to be done.

Once instructions were given, students are to proceed to the computer to start on their work. Instead of having Mrs. Xing correcting the drafts, she could pair the students up for them to check on each other's work. This is to ensure that students are abel to learn from each other and that she would not have many scripts to mark.

To counter the student's work either not on- topic or lacked coherency and also badly organised composition, she could explained to the students again of what is required of a narrative at the start of the lesson.


Alright, so far this is what I have in mind.
Comments please! =)

E-Learning (Activity A)

Hey guys!
I'll be doing Activity A of Scenario 1, the same as Sa'adah. Hopefully all of you could give me comments on this post. Thanks!

Even though Mrs Xing thought that the Word software would be a useful idea, she should have tried the software beforehand and try to find out ways her students may have problems with the software. She should also find out from her colleagues who are more IT-savvy on what are the basic ‘need-to-knows’ like how to lock computers and fix simple IT problems. But she must also continuously upgrade her IT skills.
For the logging on problems, Mrs Xing should have expected that most of her students are not very familiar with the computers and she should have logged the computers and shown on each of her students’ screen on how to log onto the computer so that she need not waste a lot of time just explaining herself over and over again.
A day before the lesson, Mrs Xing should have gone to the computer room to have a dry run of her lesson and she should have talked to the school’s IT department to find out if all the computers and IT systems are working.
Mrs Xing should have anticipated that there were going to have students who are going to finish faster than the others. She could prepare a second assignment like she could have prepared an essay which have errors on it and made the students use the Word software to correct the essay. She could also use this opportunity to edit the students’ work.

E-Learning

Hey guys, I’ll be doing on Scenario 2 Activity C. I’m supposed to identify and explain possible integration problems Mrs Xing encountered. I have gathered the following from my own understanding of the scenario given. You are free to add on /evaluate my points. To see whether Im on the right track =)

1. Surfing of pornographic websites: Content –related safety issues
Mrs Xing’s students might be too familiarised with the software she used for her ICT lessons. The many ICT lessons were conducted for English and Science. In addition she had chosen a Science topic for the E-learning session. This became a problem because her students had become too accustomed to her ICT lesson. They could have felt that the E-learning session was no different from the countless ICT lessons that she conducted. This undermined the concept of meaningful learning. They already know what to do. They are able to finish the work too soon and this could have explained why one of her students even surfed inappropriate websites.

2. Students not able to open the PPT file.
Mrs Xing failed to pre-empt what could have happened or what could go wrong during the E-learning session. This is evident by how she felt when she found out about the truth.

3. Copy and Paste: Content-related safety issues
The School’s Learning Management System is a little flawed because there are no guidelines on plagiarism. Even Mrs Xing failed to address the issue prior to the E-learning session. Thus, students freely copied the content found in the websites given to them.

Peace out,
Shikin T

E-Learning

Activity A

In this activity, you are to read Scenario 1 carefully and then identify implementation issues Mrs. Xing faced in her lesson. Post your thoughts on your group blog. Invite other members to respond to your postings and reciprocate accordingly. Your postings should reflect your thoughtfulness and your responses must be critical and reflective. You are encouraged to substantiate your viewpoints by citing papers and articles you have read.

Scenario 1 Nanyang Walk School

During the staff meeting before the start of the school year, Principal Mr Singh announced that in order to encourage meaningful learning using ICT, the school had upgraded all computer laboratories with new and fast-performing PCs for students' use. In addition, the school acquired forty new tablet PCs to encourage learning beyond classrooms. Teachers were to integrate ICT into their teaching for at least one subject for one semester and the school would conduct a review to evaluate the use of ICT and its effectiveness in terms of student-learning.Mrs Xing, a beginning teacher, left the meeting feeling worried. As she had little experience with ICT, she was unsure how to integrate ICT into teaching and learning. She asked around and found out that there were lesson ideas at the Edumall (an MOE website) contributed by other teachers who tried using technologies for teaching and learning. She decided to adapt one of the lesson ideas.

1) Mrs Xing's initial attempt at using ICT in a face-to-face lesson.
Mrs Xing searched the Edumall website and found using Word track changes function for essay edits (process writing) to be a useful lesson idea for composition writing. She decided to give it a try with her class.

Mrs Xing is still a 'green horn' in this ICT matter therefore she should attend courses to enhance her knowledge before embarking in this. An example of such course is included in the link below:

http://www.ntuclearninghub.com/ess/basic-ict-operations.asp

2) She brought her students to the computer lab for the IT-based lesson but found her in a fix. About one-third of the class who were familiar with computers had logged on, launched Internet Explorer and started surfing the Internet while another group of students was desperately trying to get her attention on what to do with the computers.

She should conduct "pre-instructional activities. Some of the activities included briefing students, giving instructions, reviewing concepts, and demonstrating what the students had to do during the computer time," before bring them into the computer lab (Wong, Divaharan & Wettasinghe, 2010, p. 141). She may also want to conduct a survey of who are computer-savvy and who are not. This information may be useful for her when allocating their sitting arrangement in the lab.

3) In addition, Mrs Xing could not see the faces of some of the students as the computer monitors blocked them. Two computers were not working and students affected had to pair up with others.

Mrs Xing should go to the computer lab before bringing her students there. She could then anticipate possible management difficulties she might face within that environment.

4) When Mrs Xing finally got most of her students to launch Word, she started giving them instructions. Since the lesson had limited time and the students had written narratives before, Mrs Xing wanted the instructions to be as short as possible. She told them to write a half-page narrative on a topic "A memorable outing" and submit their draft work to her shared folder. She would then retrieve the drafts from the shared folder and provide feedback by using the Track Changes function. Students could then improve their writing and submit a second draft. She hoped to be able to go through two rounds of editing by the end of the lesson.

Firstly, short instructions can be miss intrepreted and since this is the first time she is conducting therefore probably more time will be needed to ensure everyone understood what must be done. She may want to allow them to complete their essay in class and save in the shared folder. They can return to lab to complete their second and third draft on other day. Meanwhile, she may want to discuss their experience and highlight on how she editted their work.

5) She noticed some students finished faster than the others. That resulted in some unnecessary noise, which in turn, disturbed those who were still working. In addition, when Mrs Xing moved around to edit the students' work, she realised she became the bottleneck by having to edit all forty scripts. As a result, some students became restless and made more noise. She also realised many of the scripts she had marked were either not on- topic or lacked coherency. Many were also badly organised.

She may want to prepare extra activities for students who first early. If she just wanted them to complete their essay then she should not be bottleneck during lesson instead she may retrieve the files to edit them later. Instead she may just ensure that they are on topic and orgarnised by taking examples from those who have completed theirs so those who are on the right track can help those who aren't.

6) Finally the bell rang and Mrs Xing called it a day. She did not manage to complete the first round of editing and had to continue after school. She was determined to find ways to improve the lesson.

Introducing a new activity to children may take time, therefore teachers must be ready to provide for this time and space for children to make learning meaningful...

These comments are mostly based on my personal opinion and ideas I get from readings and videos that I watch... There's plenty more to learn especially when you are actually doing the real thing...it's easier to comment...right?

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Reference

Textbook: chapter 9

how do we organize our thoughts here?..

hell o peeps. I am new to this blogging thingy and thus I am learning the ropes still. I find that the blog is not neat. I belief everyone has been given administrative rights to the blog right? So if any of you people know how to tidy things up, do so. And Hidayah... if you haven't already noticed, i edited your post which is with regards to Session 1 and included my take. I just thought that it'll be neater. All of us writing our take on one post for every activity instead of many posts for the same activity. I'm open to comments... I need them!.. ahakz...


Khairul Riduan

E Learning day

Scenario 1

Activity B

In this activity, you are to read Scenario 1 carefully and then propose pre-emptive/intervention strategies that can help Mrs. Xing solve her classroom management issues. Post this your group blog and invite others to respond. In addition, critique the strategies posted by your peers and suggest other refinements if necessary. You are encouraged to substantiate your viewpoints by citing papers and articles you have read.

Here is what i have to say.

Among a list of inhibitors hindering teachers from using ICT effectively are teaching experiences with ICT and onsite support for teachers and students. Taken from Goliath Business News - http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5392563/Managing-teachers-barriers-to-ICT.html

The general assumption is that once hardware and software are readily available in schools, ICT integration will automatically follow. Miss Xing has no professional experience in ICT. She has problems managing her students as some of them are computer literate and some are not. She should thoroughly plan her lessons before conducting them. Yes, she did some self-directed learning by getting the help of others about ICT and browsing samples of what others did, but it was not enough. Ms Xing should have observed an ICT class to get a feel of the lesson proper. Reflecting on how the observation went would have boosted her confidence on how to conduct her own ICT lessons. Ms Xing should also brief her class before the session about computer etiquette, class cooperation and the lesson flow to allow them to know what is expected.

Ms Xing should also get the help of a qualified ICT instructor to help her in the lesson. For the fast learners, the instructor would be able to guide them along while Ms Xing would tend to the slower ones. With this cooperative effort, the lesson would be able to go on smoothly.

Finally, as a beginning teacher, Ms Xing should be open to feedback, be it negative or positive as these would only serve to help her in future. She should use level meetings to collaborate with other more senior teachers to come up with ideas on how to improve ICT lessons.

A teacher's vision of the use of technology to improve his/her existing classroom practices will eventually determine the extent and effectiveness of ICT integration in the classroom. Roblyer (1993)

Thanks for reading what I have to say. Suggestions? Comments?

Conclusion

Learning through blogs is a good way of incorporating ICT into the curriculum. Blogs are interactive and if there is something to be added a simple click of the mouse will do it. With the internet so vast, it’s easy to be lost at sea while surfing for the information that we need. But I am learning by sieving – important points are saved or bookmarked for further readings.

As for point 2, I will have to read everyone’s entry to be able to answer it.

Everyone has comments which are geared towards the goal of using technology to help students understand better. Planning is always easier than doing it. The majority of students will want to use ICT and learn from it but as always, a few will always be there to abuse the freedom given to them. But it is a head start. When China cars were first introduced to the Singaporean Market, everyone thought they were leaky tin cans, including me. The number of people turning to China cars is slowly increasing now. It will take time, but surely as the sun will set and the night will come, ICT will slowly find its way into the everyday lives of educators and learners alike.

KWLQ (Session 1 + 2)

Hey people I'll be sharing my thoughts and views for the past two sessions. (Mainly what I've Learnt. LOL)

Session 1
K (What I already KNOW): Prior to the first ICT session, I knew ICT would involve learning and technology. I had Powerpoint, search engines and email in my mind. Afterall, practically all my ex-teachers used Powerpoint and call it technology-based lesson .
W (What I WANT to know): What is ICT exactly?
L (What i LEARNT): ICT is vey much about communication rather than technology alone. Thus Powerpoint is NOT ICT as it is very teacher centered. ICT should allow meaningful learning and and there are several kinds of meaningful learning.
Q (QUESTIONS I have): How then can ICT be integrated to each of the meaningful learning framework: Authentic, Intentional,Active, Constructive, Collaborative and ensure that it can be applied to all levels? (esp the lower primary where learning can be so interactive and fun)


Session 2
K (What I already KNOW): Self-directed learning and Collaborative Learning are two different types of learning.
W (What I WANT to know): How useful is ICT in these types of learning and how can one integrate ICT into learning. Since there so many types of ICT, which one is suitable for which type of learning?
L (What i LEARNT): SDL- individual learning takes place, using his/her own effort (personal gain)
CL- Unlike SDL, CL involves interaction amongst people. This is when they come together to share/critique or add on the information they require as a group. Basically everyone gains from CL. Also, there are certain aspects where SDL and CL overlaps. The activities that we had done in Session 2 incorporated SDL and CL. (From reading the PPT slides alone to the discussion done with our group members). It is an authentic form of meaningful learning as we experienced what we have learned (SDL-reading PPT slides/CL- discussion with group members). It is also a meaningful session as several aspects of the meaningful learning framework had been covered. (Authentic, collaborative etc)
Q (QUESTIONS I have): None at the moment =)

Peace out,
Shikin T.

ICT...KWLQ?

Lesson 1
K: What I already KNOW
I knew that ICT stands for Information and Communications Technologies...
W: What I WANT TO LEARN
what I didn't know was software like Powerpoint, is not a form of ICT... coz does not allow two-way communication....Hmmm... so what is ICT?
L: What I LEARNED this week
Blogs, handphones, MSN, Facebook, notebook and similar technologies that allows two-way communication are examples of ICT
Q: What QUESTIONS I still have
What is the meaning of affordances....? I can't find it in the dictionary...

Lesson 2
K: What I already KNOW
SDL means Self-Directed Learning; students learn without any interference from teacher, in fact students made their own iniciative to learn about something...
Cooperative Learning means students work in groups bout each has different role/duty and once completed they put together and present it as their group work...
Collaborative Learning happens when students complete a group project where each member has own role/duty and start SDL and share their finding with the rest, who will in turn comment and changes are made accordingly then finally once completed they piece everything together collaboratively...
W: What I WANT TO LEARN
How do I plan/conduct an effective lesson so that students can learn through the various learning strategies...
L: What I LEARNED this week
Think-Pair-Share is useful...
Using MindMister to discuss/research on cyberwellness issues
Q: What QUESTIONS I still have
Wonder how all these can be applied to low primary classroom....hmmm?h

Lesson 4
K: What I already KNOW
Pedagogy is teaching style...
W: What I WANT TO LEARN
what are some of the teaching styles?
L: What I LEARNED this week
different types of learning namely case-based, inquiry-based, project-based, resourse-based and game-based learning...
Used the JIGSAW method to learn more about the the different types of learning as a group...CL in action...wooohooo...
Q: What QUESTIONS I still have
is JIGSAW method really feasible in the real classroom.... I wonder... especially primary school students...

Thanks for the invitation. the name of the blog is fine.

Learnt so far (my opinion)
ICT varies. Some things like youtube and metacafe do a good job of creating interaction but at the same time create distractions if viewed negatively. the positives outweigh the negatives because even if you are viewing something questionable, you still learn right? we just need strong values and will power so that we will not step into the dark side.

Collaborative learning is a term for many types of approaches in education that involve a joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers.

Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy in which small groups, each with students of different levels of ability, use different learning activities to improve their comprehension of a subject.

Self directed learning means a person who is mostly self taught, as opposed to learning in a school setting or from a teacher/tutor.

KWLQ!

Firstly! Thank you Khairul for setting up this blog. I'm pretty much cool with the name of the blog. Easier to remb us with. Ahaha!

OKAYs! To get down to business.
K: What I already KNOW
Not really much. I really didn't know much about ICT and the only ICT i knew of was email.

W: What I WANT TO LEARN
I would like to know how do I plan my lessons and implementing it in my lessons without alot of effort and time. As I don't think I would have alot of time to do this. And I want to learn all the different ICTs I can use so that my lessons don't become monotonous even with the help of ICTs!

L: What I LEARNED this week
I learnt that ICT meant technology that is pretty much two-way. That is why powerpoint is NOT ICT. As it is just an instrument that is used to teach without any arguments/feedbacks/disagreements technologically?

Q: What QUESTIONS I still have
How do we know that a certain ICT is interesting enough for all other lessons? Do we have to vary the different ICTs all the time?

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K: What I already know
My thoughts about ICT I shall say all this while has been a major misconception. What I knew was basically what tools were available or involved in ICT. I didn't know what ICT was all about.

W: What I want to learn more
First and foremost I would like to clear my misconceptions on ICT. I would also like to know how to fully utilise this wonderful modern methodology called ICT so as to attract my students into becoming life-long learners and prepare themselves for life.

L: What I have learnt
I have learnt that it is not merely using technological advances in teaching to deem it as having used ICT. ICT is a broad platform that involves active interaction between people.

Q: What questions I still have
. . . I'll find out along the way. heez...

Khairul Riduan

Finally...

Thank You Khairul... U've done it..
Will try to update soon...

It's up!

Yes, our group blog is up!

Great Job, Khairul!
Will try to post some thoughts about our ICT Lesson soon! =)

The beginning. . .

Hell o people... Sorry it took me some time to set this up. The blog name is not cast in stone. Feel free to suggest any other names. Let's start blogging!..