I have done an
assessment of my school and have found that some areas are in need of
improvement in relation to ICT integration. Although my school has some ICT
resources, it is not fully integrated.
How ICT integration will affect my school is
discussed below:
Leadership: For ICT integration to be successful in a school,
the school leader must ‘buy in’ to the idea.
Unfortunately, school leaders stifle interventions that are beneficial
to their schools when they do not see the wisdom in embracing the idea. ICT is
one way in which learning in a school may be enhanced especially when the
students use it as a tool for learning. In my school, there is still the need
to incorporate ICT in the curricula of the various subject areas. Teachers are
given laptops to jumpstart their preparation for the integration process and
students at the upper levels are given tablets to do their part. Yet, the synergy between the teachers,
students and the way in which learning takes place is still missing. The school
leader needs to embrace a school plant that is infrastructural and human
resource ready for ICT.
Curriculum and Assessment: A major part of ICT integration in any school is
fashioning the curricula to support ICT for learning. Subject disciplines would need to revisit
their curriculum offerings and ensure that they support the use of ICT. At
present, my school’s curriculum offerings do not show ICT integration. There are some attempts for students to use
ICT in their learning, but it is not fully integrated. This will require serious curriculum reform
with input from the necessary stakeholders. If ICT is integrated into the
curriculum of my school, the culture of the school will change to be one that
shows connectivity in all areas and ubiquitous learning will be the order of
the day. Assessment will incorporate the use of ICT in all subject areas.
Critical Reflection: Reflection is an integral aspect of the teaching/
learning process. Teachers need to reflect on what they plan to teach, what
they are actually teaching (reflection in action) and reflect on what
transpired in the classroom (reflection on action) in order to enhance
learning. When teachers practice to reflect, it gives them the opportunity to
determine what works and what does not work. At my school, reflection is not a
wide scale practice although there are some teachers who claim to reflect on
their teaching. To determine the impact of ICT integration in any school,
reflecting and making changes to the way things are done will positively impact
the way teaching and learning take place.
Teamwork: ICT integration in a school suggests the use of
communication, sharing and collaboration between teachers. Gone are the days when teachers sat and
worked in their ‘egg crates’ to get the job done. For ICT integration to be successful
in my school, teachers need to be willing to share and exchange ideas about
what they do to make learning meaningful for their students. Getting teachers
to work together is still a work in progress at my school, but in time, the
school will see the benefits of the practice.
Staff Appraisal and Development: ICT integration into a school suggests that staff
must be appraised to determine where they are in terms of their knowledge of
ICTs. At my school, many staff members know basic ICT skills but
require more knowledge, skills and competencies if they are to make ICT as a
part of learning. There are still some staff who are afraid of computers and
make very little attempt to use same. If ICT is integrated, it would mean that
staff development would be the order of the day so that the skills needed to
teach the students to learn using ICTs will also be known by the teachers.
