Module 1B_3:Activity 3_Collaborative Exercise and Learners' Charter

I found the collaborative exercise to be one that makes me take a deeper look at what learners consider to be their rights as they try to pave a way for themselves in this world.  It created the avenue to explore the various views that individuals may have as learners and it made me realize that statements about learning have various shades of meanings.  As a result of this, even though one individual might have said something about what he believes to be a learner's right(s), another individual could say something similar but with a different meaning.

The same can be said for the Learners' Charter. What I have found is that you cannot look at a statement and say that it has everything that another statement has. There might be aspects of it that a former statement may have but it does not reflect what you wish to say in the same light. I found this to be a problem for me.  The exercise however, is a good one since it made us step back and look at ourselves as learners and not necessarily as teachers/educators. Quite often teachers do not look at themselves as learners and it is my belief that viewing ourselves as learners will make us look at our students' needs more readily and try to meet them in the classroom.

Module 2A_4:Activity 5_Recordbook

The activity focused on a number of skills using Excel from simple to complex and some of them were very challenging.  It showed ways in which a teacher may use the information in her classroom to make her work easier and quicker.  Gone are the days of teachers using the calculator to calculate grades etc.  I am familiar with some aspects of spreadsheet, but the activity made me aware of a number of processes that I had vague knowledge of. A good practice exercise for teachers.

Module 1B-3 Activity 1: Audit of my School's ICT use'

SELF ACTIVITY

GROUP 1B3 – ACTIVITY 1

CATEGORIES OF ICT USE IN SCHOOLS IN ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

 * I thought that I had posted this already.  I am not stationed at a school, so I gave a general idea of what obtains in most schools in Antigua and Barbuda.

Schools in Antigua and Barbuda basically use ICT in three (3) main ways:

-          As a tool to gather information

-          Research for projects

-          As a subject on the school’s Curriculum

As a tool to gather information

Many students in Antigua and Barbuda are exposed to a computer either in school, at home, library or internet cafe (a costly venture) and many of them use the technology to facilitate the gathering of information for their respective subject areas.  Teachers give assignments involving research and the students are expected to get to an internet- ready computer system to do just that. Students who are not fortunate enough to have acquired some ICT skills along the way or who are not enrolled in the subject termed ‘Information Technology’ are at a disadvantage getting the required information because of a lack of ICT skills necessary for learning. 

Worthy of note is that many schools (primary and secondary) have ICT on their compounds, but these are not readily available to the average student unless that person is enrolled in an IT class.

Research Projects

Research is one way in which teachers in Antigua and Barbuda facilitate learning. The constructivist approach to learning is what is aspired to by the 21^st Century teacher and in light of this, teachers engage the students in research and projects.  The problem with research and projects is that students are given the information to research and left on their own to find the appropriate information.  If the students are not efficient in the use of ICT to appropriately select, use and apply the information received, then the whole process will be futile. As the readings on ‘Uses of ICT in schools’ suggest, ‘ICT is used to the best advantage of learning when it is exploited as a tool to enhance the learning experience, along with innovative teaching and learning strategies’. Teachers have to tailor their assignments so that the students can learn from the experience rather than become frustrated and confused in the end.

As a Subject on the School’s Curriculum

Most schools in Antigua and Barbuda offer IT as a subject offering.  In primary schools, students are exposed to basic IT skills so that future use of the technology will become easier as they progress up the school’s ladder. In secondary schools, only the students who are taking the subject as a discipline are given specific times on the time-table to visit the labs. This set up provides little or no access for those students who are not pursuing the subject. What are the implications of such a system for those students who opt not to do the subject or who were not selected to do the subject?  Those ICT skills needed by those students to negotiate other subject areas are basically non-existent.  If teachers are to prepare students to use the computers to learn rather than learning to use computers,  then all students will need the exposure from an early stage at the school level.

Beverly Allen Module 1B3 Activity 1 Discussion (Personal Conclusions)

PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS ON ACTIVITY 1 DISCUSSION

ICT integration in schools is possible in any country as long as the political will and necessary infrastructure are in place for its development. Stakeholders need to focus on the integration as a way in which knowledge of ICT can help to enhance learning and make students feel responsible for their own learning.  Gone are the days when ICT skills were taught to enable individuals to use their personal computer systems. Those days are now replaced with teachers designing tasks to incorporate the use of ICT in their teaching and learning strategies (as a support tool) so that students will be able to make sense of their learning.