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.