Impact of ICT Masterplans as a teacher and student

As a primary school student in the phase of Masterplan 1, I am very thankful for the exposure to ICT we had in the class, be it having a desktop in class that I could put my floppy disk into to make mini-presentations, or the opportunities I had to learn basic IT skills such as Microsoft word and excel, that I could use these applications more proficiently. I remember distinctly learning how to use excel through an interactive real-life simulation of a stock exchange where we had to understand a little about finances, the stock market and learn how to compute our profits and gains as the stock market changed, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

With Masterplan 2 (MP2), I was already a secondary school student. I had many opportunities to be the recipient of many MP2 initiatives, including having an e-learning week in the middle of each school term, having the occasional use of data loggers in chemistry/biology practicals, and participating in the national junior robotics competitions. However, I found e-learning then not as helpful as classroom teaching. It came across somewhat that teachers were having to churn out e-learning assignments for the sake of having e-learning. For most subjects, e-learning comprised of assignments, worksheets and lecture slides being placed online rather than being given out as a worksheet, with the occasional applet and website to look through. Not much guidance or feedback was given for these assignments either online or thereafter either, hence I found that it was more helpful for that particular topics to have been taught in class. The use of data loggers also seemed rather forced, as there were other methods available for the same function.

With MP 3, one of the enabler goals focuses on the need for teachers to have the capacity to plan, as well as deliver ICT-enabled learning experiences that will foster self-directed and collaborative learning among learners as well as guiding them in using ICT safely and responsibly (http://ictconnection.edumall.sg/).

As a beginning teacher, one of the basic things I’d have to do would be to keep up to date with new applications, new ways of communication, new technologies, as well as be well read in terms of information in digital media, blogs, movies etc. Personally, I find the old saying to be true that the “older” one gets, the more resistant one is to change. I used to think my parents as old-fashioned for not converting to handphones from pagers, emails to Microsoft messenger; but now I seem to be thinking the same way that non-smartphones are actually sufficient, emails better than social networking sites. However, this saying cannot be true especially in the area of education – one always need to be moving forward and keeping up with the latest technologies that the next generation is using to communicate and learn. On one hand, whatever ICT skills we expect students to demonstrate, the teacher has to demonstrate it in lessons so as to teach it to students.

Furthermore, incorporating commonly used ICT will enable me to relate and teach concepts in a more effective way to students. For example, many new interesting scientific research are presented in the form of blogs rather than journals that require subscriptions, an example would be io9 mad science (http://io9.com/mad-science/). In order help students to take charge of their own learning, my role would be to provide such resources and guide students in using them to source for information to aid their learning rather than to give them the relevant information needed as may be done before. . this case, I can direct students to read such blogs as a form of learning may pique their interest in the relevant topic that I am teaching and possibly lead them to want to learn beyond the syllabus too. Clearer guidelines and feedback can be also given in the process of e-learning so as to guide students in their own usage of ICT. With the massive amounts of resources available, I would also need to be teaching students to think critically about the information they see online rather than passively acquiring information via such means

As the enabler goal suggests, there is a need to focus on how to use ICT so as to help students to learn better, both independently and as a group, rather than merely using ICT for the sake of it as in some of my previous experiences. A recent article in the Sunday times questioned the need for digital calendars compared to pen and paper calendars. An interesting example was cited where a businessman, who used google documents, social networking sites and almost all other online tools, but still uses a pen and paper calendar as it served his purposes best. A similar analogy can be drawn in education where there is a need to tailor ICT usage according to the students’ profile and needs. Some of the best teachers I’ve had in my experience often used almost no ICT except overhead transparencies/ visualisers. As I am exposed to the many ICT tools developed for teaching, there is the danger of using ICT just because it is novel or saves work on my part. I would thus have to be discerning on the merits of a certain ICT tool in teaching effectively, and focus on how a certain tool will help students to learn better.

For example, for collaborative learning, there is the possibility in using online documents and social networking sites in place of face-to-face discussions. However, my personal experience in work is that ICT (for example video conferencing, google docs) is usually only used to aid collaboration in situations where one cannot meet face to face. Hence, I’d have to consider how to use online collaborative tools in a face-to-face setting in the classroom, and how to make it an integral part of a lesson rather than an add-on component. My role too would be to facilitate such online collaborative learning with the appropriate ICT tools both in and outside of the classroom.

With the increased focus on using ICT to aid self-directed and collaborative learning, there is a need to be able to accurately measure students’ development in such qualities. Such formative assessments usually come in the form of rubrics; however it can come across as didactic at times and makes students focus more on the rubrics than the learning process. Therefore, my role as a teacher would also be to develop forms of assessment, be it self-assessment, peer-assessment or my own feedback that will be constructive in guiding the students towards developing these qualities.

References

S.C., Divaharan, S., Tan, L., & Cheah, H.M. (2011). Self-directed learning with ICT: Theory, Practice and Assessment. Singapore: Ministry of Education. Retrieved 08 02 2011 from http:ictconnection.edumall.sg/ictconnection/slot/u200/mp3/monographs/self-directed%20learning%20with%20ict.pdf)

Chai, C.S., Lim, W.-Y., So, H.-J., & Cheah, H.M. (2011). Advancing collaborative learning with ICT: Conception, cases and design. Singapore: Ministry of Education. Retrieved 08 02 2011, fromhttp:ictconnection.edumall.sg/ictconnection/slot/u200/mp3/monographs/advancing%20collaborative%20learning%20with%20ict.pdf)