Being a newbie to all of this here is what I've noticed.
ICT's as a learning tool and way to deliver and explore new info provides limitless possibilities. Thats great. On the one hand, you can create and shape your lessons to provide not only learning content, but also introduce new ways of thinkng and application that is relevent to the learners and the global environment at large. I get that this is not a fad that will fade with time but revolutionary to the context of teaching. Having said that, I think it is importatnt to keep in mind that this is a way of teaching, not the way. Having completed week one on Literacy, it drove home the point that all ways of teaching is intergral to the learning process.
Another observation I would like to make it that ICT's are great only when they work!!!!You can do this and that and everything else at the click of a mouse. But when something is wrong (and really the possibilites there are endless as well) then your in big trouble. For example, Moodle is great, I can work into the wee hours of the night while my family sleeps, and get alot done with no distractions, until that vital link doesn't work. Who are you going to turn to? its three in the morning, normal people are sleeping. Then you study routine is stuffed cos everything is scaffolded and you lose momentum, blah, blah, blah...
Another observation I would like to make is that using ICT's in the classroom can waste alot of time as well. The constant clicking to this page then back again then scrolling then waiting for something to load really eats into valuable lesson time. I did find that a big distraction in res school (being a auditory learner).
However I am really enjoying this process and can see how this will enable me to be potentially a great teacher.
Thanks for taking a interest.
G'day Bianca,
ReplyDeleteYour point about Moodle (and other ICTs) is a good one.
The reason I'm currently making this comment is that while trying to work in the PMI task for ICTs, Moodle has stopped responding or is at least responding veerry slowly. While I'm waiting for it to come back I'm looking through blog posts.
Oh look, it's finally come back.
Before I go, it's been my observation that a large part of the problems with ICTs arise because they are very finicky beasts. They really are designed to do a limited number of tasks in specific situations. If anything isn't quite right, they won't work.
This means that we as student teachers - beside always having alternatives - have to be as aware as we can be of the limitations and requirements of technology before using them. Otherwise we'll have problems.
David.