There is so much pressure on teachers where they have to not only produce lesson plans for the whole class as well as Individual learning plans (ILP) but also to be able to solve IT problems as they occur. Anne McDougall and Anthony Jones confirms the importance of acknowledging the teachers’ ICT skills and the opportunity for personal development to build their confidence and therefore better integrated ICT into the lesson plans (2006, p 353 – 360).
With integrating ICT into your classroom you provide an environment for inclusive learning as well as reaching to all the different kinds of styles of learning being kinaesthetic, audio and visual. According to Diana Oblinger and Brian Hawkins “Learning requires a number of different elements motivation, opportunities, an active process, interaction with others, and the ability to transfer learning to a real-world situation” (2006, P 14-15).
Many students are motivated through different forms and opportunities. Technology is a great tool when motivation is required. Technology not only comprises of computers, interactive white boards (IWB), audio like the IPod and videos/digital cameras but also telephones for communication. Technology being used in the classroom offers flexibility allowing students to learn at their own pace and it can be used as a resource for a current class activity.
As Diana Oblinger and Brian Hawkins mention in their article interaction with others is a key element when it comes to students learning. ITC can offer two forms of interaction virtual where students make up a avatar to use on programs such as matheletics, club penguin etc, or in the real world where the students might have the opportunity to make a pod cast or interact using the IWB. Diana G. Oblinger and Brian L. Hawkins confirm the importance of interactions with other people like in group discussion, conversations which stimulate personal and professional growth (2006, P 14-15). ICT can help students to be innovative and inquisitive in their quest to solve and explore ideas by interaction and discussions with pears.
Students are often very experienced when it comes to using technology and often have at least one of the following if not all items:
Computer with Internet access
IPod or IPhone
Nintendo, play station or X-box
Nintendo DS, PSP
There are too many devices to list!!
What does all this mean? It means that as teachers we need to be able to provide many different forms of technology to enable the students the opportunity to problem solve, learn, and be active members of the community. If we are adding these different forms of technology into our classroom we must change pedagogy or the technology will not be effective.
Also the role of the student/teacher can change as often the students have more experience or have a short cut that you may not have know about. Also the teacher can feel that they have lost control of a class or that some students are being left out as they don't have an understanding of the activity. This can be very scary for teachers and they need the support of the school and peers.
Some teachers say that because of technology students have become lazy and simply use the Internet to gain their answers and then simply cut and paste. The fear is that the students are not gaining the meaning or the understanding of the assessment task nor advancing in their academic achievements. Teachers need to reflect if this a regular occurrence on the types of questions they have set as well as revisiting the lessons plans and outcomes of what they were wanting the students to achieve. ICT is a very useful tool in a classroom and can assist with students learning, communication and can build better community members. ICT is a great extension for students learning as well as being a motivational tool. If teachers get the opportunities for professional development days, time to plan lessons and have the resource the future looks very bright, stimulating and fun.
Reference list:
Oblinger, D. G and Hawkins, B. L. (2006, November/December). The myth about no significant difference: “Using technology produces no significant difference”, Retrieved June 30, 2010, from www.educause.edu/...erm0667.asp
McDougall, A. And Jones, A. (2006, October). Theory and history, questions and methodology: current and future issues in research into ICT in education, retrieved July 2, 2010, from http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t716100724
British Journal of Education Technology. (2002, December 16). Retrieved from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117984068/home?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0, Volume 31 Issue 4, pages 307 - 320
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