BLOG 1 (without ESE)

·         Reflect and post on the blog about how ICT was used by your former teachers.

·         Highlight only one particular lesson conducted. Include the following information:

o    School Name & class

o    Profile of class (e.g., student abilities)

o    Subject

o    What ICT tools were used?

o    Describe how ICT was used for teaching & learning

·         Generally, how did the teachers in the school use ICT for teaching and learning?

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When I was in Secondary 4 Loyalty, C.H.I.J ST. Nicholas Girls’ School, my Mathematics teacher used conduct really engaging and interactive lessons which sparks off the class’s passion for Mathematics. Our class consists of a group of heterogeneous student with varying performance level. For instance, there are pupils who obtained Gold for the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad as well as retained students.

Our teacher made use of ICT tools like power-point slides to teach a certain concept e.g., area integration. Her slides consist of animations and sound effects that were attention-grabbing as well as entertaining. Next, the class will be divided into teams of mixed Mathematical ability. As a team, the group will collaborate to facilitate learning and work individually on worksheets. Group members will help to check each other’s worksheet against the answer provided by the teacher. Team scores are graded according to how much of the topic was covered and the correctness of our answers on the worksheets. The top three teams with the highest score at the end would be given time off from one lesson. We were allowed to use other ICT tools like emails and windows messenger to communicate to group members and discuss any queries.

I feel that the method which my Mathematics teacher used was very useful in empowering the students to feel in control of their own learning as well as instill a sense of responsibility to check each others’ work. It also enables active involvement and participation on the student’s part as one contributes towards the team score. Furthermore, it was a platform for group members to bond and foster a cooperative class spirit. Collaborative learning was enhanced when the team learns as a group and helps each other out through communicating via the new media such as window messenger. As many of us spend a large portion of our time in front of our computers, it is very convenient to discuss the questions and clarify the concepts through such mediums. In addition, the online discussion can be reviewed and thus, we were able to note which ‘part’ of our discussion were correct or wrong and think of alternative solutions. The reviewing of answers also made us more aware of our common mistakes and to avoid repeating them in future. Thus, we were better able to consolidate the information and knowledge imparted by our teacher and apply it across situations. Explaining how we solve a given problem and the rationale behind why we used a particular strategy allowed us to further clarify our reasoning and increase understanding of the concept.

In general, the teachers in the school use ICT to create a fun and interactive learning environment which engages the students and make learning meaningful and interesting. ICT also inculcates responsibility-taking and social communication skills like collaboration. The use of computers provides a convenient and efficient way to interact between teacher and students as well as within students themselves. The use of Internet search tools such as wikipedia and online dictionary also provide a wide array of information. In addition, ICT also enables multi-sensory teaching which caters to different learning abilities and preferences of the student. Teachers also had a subject-specific forum which acts as a platform to allow teachers to share resources and teaching strategies. The online forum also function as a way to obtain social support and enhances relationship among the teachers.