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.