BLOG POST 3

The achievement of Masterplan 1 in providing infrastructure of ICT is evident in Hillgrove Secondary School. Every classroom has a computer. There are 4 computer labs in the school with one computer per student in the class. There is also a Mac lab where there are Apple computers for students to use. The school also has fitted certain classrooms with Interactive whiteboards and it has provided teachers with the necessary training to use the Interactive Whiteboard during lessons. As such, the school has made it possible to have immediate access to ICT with all the infrastructure that have been put in place.

The achievement of Masterplan 2 is the proficiency of teachers and students in using ICT  and it is also evident in the classes that I have observed and taught as nearly all teachers use ICT to teach. Teachers use PowerPoint presentations to deliver content. Videos and songs are also used to allow students to gain a visual and auditory learning experience. Some teachers have also started blogs where the students can go and access the PowerPoint presentations and any other extra material that have been discussed in class. Thus, the students are able to refer to these information closer to tests and exams. Students use the Mac lab for music lessons and for Literature classes where they create their own podcasts.

The school also uses the Internet to allow E-learning to take place. During the June holidays, the holiday assignments were places in the AskNLearn LMS portal as much as possible. Students were to access the portal and do the required assignments online. This reduced teachers’ marking load as often the marking was done online and students received immediate feedback on their performance. Teachers could also use the portal to generate information on what are the weak areas of students and so on.

BLOG POST 2

It is important for MOE to develop the 3 Masterplans in Education as like what has been constantly iterated we need out citizens to be equipped with the necessary skills in ICT so as to survive in the knowledge based economy that the world has moved into.  I believe that this economic reason is not the only reason why the Masterplans are important. The internet revolution has immensely changed the platform via which we learn, interact and even live. With the introduction of smart phones and other technology, the students we teach are tech-savy citizens and students. As such, we cannot rely on traditional methods of teaching as students are often not as interested and engaged. In order to ensure that they are engaged in our lessons and to ensure that learning has taken place, it is important for MOE to develop the Masterplans so that our education system does not fall back in the ever changing world of ICT. I believe it is not just the end product of producing students who can compete in the knowledge based economy but about creating a process of education where they are engaged and in turn, becoming fun and memorable.

The ICT Masterplan 1 and 2 have impacted me as a student. When the ICT Masterplan 1 was introduced, I was in primary school. I still remember the software that was used during English lesson for us to create animated stories. Using the software, we could type out a simple story and we could create accompanying animation. The software would put the sentences and the accompanying animation together to create a storybook of sorts. ICT was also used in Tamil class where we had to learn to type in Tamil using a particular software. We were also encouraged to write outstanding compositions in class as that would mean we could go to the computer lab to type out our compositions and put them up on the class board with all the graphics.

ICT also impacted me in secondary school and junior college as we were expected to make presentations as a group or individually. To do so, we had to firstly learn to access the Internet in finding the necessary information. Upon finding the necessary information, we had to sieve through and select important information. These information had to be presented in interesting ways. Sometimes, we had to use these information to write essays. These presentations and essays eventually prepared me for the presentations and essays that I had to do in University.

The current Masterplan 3 would change the way in which I would have to incorporate ICT in my lessons as a teacher. It is not just about using PowerPoint to present a lesson. It would be about using other software such as Podcast, Voicethread, blogs and so on to encourage self directed learning and collaborative learning to occur. Students these days are experts in ICT themselves, hence, they have an inevitable expectation on the use of ICT in their lessons. Teachers are also more aware of students being different types of learners such as auditory, visual and tactile learners. To cater to these different students, ICT can help me as a teacher in delivering information in easily accessible ways. With greater use of ICT in class, I would also have to be aware of teaching them the softer skills such as responsibility. It would not just be about about using ICT to teach and ensuring that learning has taken place but also making sure the students are responsible when using ICT.

ENHANCED SCHOOL EXPERIENCE: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION OF ICT USE

Name of School: Hillgrove Secondary School

Class: 2E3 (Secondary 2 Express)

Profile of the class:

There were 42 students in the class. Majority of the students in this class were average scoring students in Literature. However, there were students who scored very well while there was a handful who did not do very well. The class is generally a vocal class, especially the boys. They engage in discussions and contribute ideas to lessons. However, there were some students in the class who were very quiet and not as actively engaged as their classmates. This could possibly mean that they may not have been able grasp certain ideas that were discussed in class.  

Subject:

What ICT tools are used in the lesson?

It is a one computer classroom, with the teacher bringing in her own laptop. The teacher showed a YouTube clip entitled, ‘The lad in their Hundreds’.

Describe how ICT is used for teaching and learning in this lesson.

This was a Literature lesson. Students already had prior knowledge of the poem, The Lad in their Hundreds, that they were discussing.

The main objectives of the lesson are as follows:

-          Students are to understand the setting of the poem.

-          Students are to identify the elements of rhythm, rhyme and tone.

-          Students are to be able to understand how the effect of the solemn tone of the poem is achieved.

To meet the first objective of the lesson, the teacher provided background information on the poet. The students then engaged in choral reading and information on the setting of the poem was elicited from the students by the teacher.

To meet the second objective ICT was used. When students are told to do choral reading, there were certain problems. Firstly, they did not read loudly and clearly and hence, mumbling through the poem. Secondly, some students did not fully participate in choral reading. As it was essential that a proper reading of the poem was done so that it was easier to understand the elements of rhythm, rhyme and tone, the teacher played the YouTube video of the poem being recited with background music. The video had images of the war and graphically explained each stanza of the poem. This was done after the teacher had explained and written on the board what are the elements of poetry they were to focus upon.

When the students first heard the video, they found it funny as it sounded ‘old-fashioned’ to them. Hence, they were not able to fully grasp the details on the elements of poetry. The teacher, thus, played it once more. The second time the teacher played the students were more attentive. They were immediately able to point out the rhyme scheme and the tone of the poem. This was due to the fact that the reader in the video and the background music was able to provide the students with the way in which the poem was to be read. Students, however, found it slightly difficult to identify the rhythm of the poem. The teacher then played a segment of the video and asked students to pay attention on comparing each line of the stanza to one another. After this, the students were able to identify the similar rhythm in each line.

The third objective was achieved as a discussion led by the teacher, while referring to the YouTube video. After discovering the answers to the rhythm and tone of the poem, the students were able to understand the connection between the two elements much more easily. The students who were more confident in Literature were able to stretch theirs and their friends’ understanding by drawing the connection between the solemn tone of the poem and the images of war shown in the video. This was possible due to the presence of the video that combined both the auditory and visual aspects of the poem.

General Observations:

How do teachers in the school feel about the use of ICT for teaching and learning?

Generally the teachers in the school were quite welcoming to the idea of using ICT for teaching and learning. The school leaders were always attempting to lead the school and the department into increasing the use of ICT during lessons. Teachers were encouraged to do one lesson study using ICT during the academic year.

The Literature department was very active in using ICT for the teaching and learning of Literature. After the introduction of this video, the students were to make their own podcast for the next poem they were to learn. They were to use the video played in this lesson as a reference. Hence, this ICT lesson did not become a standalone lesson. There were also plans to make the students make a video as part of the attempt to help them understand the genre of plays.