This activity allowed us to use a case study to examine the use of spreadsheets as learning resources and to consider 2 questions for group discussion and a collaborative activity.
As guide and facilitator the teacher used 'just-in-time' learning which prove to be beneficial and helped the student learn how to think. Also the questions for group discussion raised very pertinent issues that represent what so many of us are faced with here where computers are provided mainly for the IT area in most cases.
What it did in my opinion is it allowed us to consider what solutions we can find in the face of the realities we are presented with as Educators. Undoubtedly we can use these possible solutions to create greater opportunities to be better Educators!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Activity 6
Activity 6- Using Graphs
In spite of my initial reluctance to do Activity 6A- using graphs in class I opted to do it for the simple reason that I can use it in class and use it to teach statistical report writing and comprehension which students should not see as existing merely from poetry, prose and drama but which they should appreciate as being something that teaches us how to appreciate extracting information and analyzing it. Comprehensions aid understanding and one valuable point that learners must realise and acknowledge is that information could be extracted from several mediums rather than confining it to the 3 literary genres: prose, poetry and drama.
In spite of my initial reluctance to do Activity 6A- using graphs in class I opted to do it for the simple reason that I can use it in class and use it to teach statistical report writing and comprehension which students should not see as existing merely from poetry, prose and drama but which they should appreciate as being something that teaches us how to appreciate extracting information and analyzing it. Comprehensions aid understanding and one valuable point that learners must realise and acknowledge is that information could be extracted from several mediums rather than confining it to the 3 literary genres: prose, poetry and drama.
August 27th e-diary entry
August 27, 2011
Assignment 1 e-diary entry
My summary table for Assignment 1:
DOCUMENT # | ROLE OF EDUCATOR | APPLICATION | FILE NAME |
1 | Assessor | MS Excel | Marksheet.xls |
2 | Interpreter | MS Excel | Equations.xls |
3 | Pastoral | MS Word | Letter.doc |
4 | Assessor | MS Word | Dec11Exam.doc |
5 | Learning Area Specialist | MS Powerpoint | Lesson1Intro.ppt |
6 | Interpreter | MS Word | Work Outline.doc |
The challenges I face are challenges I can overcome and I have outline them below:
1) Not all students have laptops/personal computers.
2) Among those with laptops/ personal computers students were not properly exposed to ICT by their teachers.
3) Some colleagues may be reluctant and unwilling to change their methods.
4) Some colleagues may be ignorant of just how beneficial ICT can be.
5) Some students may not have Internet access.
6) Other stakeholders (parents, wider community) might not be familiar with the methods to be used and may not recognise the contribution ICT can make towards learning.
To overcome these and change my practice in order to increase the impact of ICT on my roles as an educator I intend to:
1) Create opportunities to engage my students meaningfully and motivate them by methods such as the pastoral document which uses a competition as a forum for creating a poster/flyer.
2) Create worksheets using ICT for my students to complete on the computer (which I can access via synchroneyes for example and documents which can be saved on the Student Share folder) and which they can submit via CD/flashdrive or online.
3) Place documents on the Staff Share folder for my colleagues to access and show them how to use software to document marks (e.g. MS Excel) and create Administrative Documents, Assessor Documents and Worksheets among others.
4) Create an online community where those with internet access can share their ideas and access site resources or create opportunities for them to work on collaborative documents.
5) Create a database of students beginning initially with students I teach and eventually extending throughout the school with and without Internet access and obtaining e-mail addresses of students with e-mail addresses.
6) Engage in correspondence with students and parents and ask parents to monitor and engage in online/computer related and ICT activities students are doing.
7) Encourage parents to find ways to get their lessons done via computer and show parents just how useful it can be (possible options: accessing computers and/or internet access in the library and cybercafe for example).
Activity 4- 19th August 2011
Written on August 19th 2011
The Word Processor as a Learning Tool
Creating an online community like the one our tutor created http://africa.partnersinlearningnetwork.com/Communities/ccti_group_2a_trinidad_and_tobago/pages/default.aspx
is something that will undoubtedly engage the interest of students and would not only be enjoyable to them but can serve as a motivational tool.
Group work and group collaboration has allowed all the CCTI Group 2 members to share their ideas and has fostered communication and discussion: key ingredients for healthy learning! Looking at ways the word processor can be used as a tool for learning makes it easier to integrate word processor for learning and further enables document creation for the next academic term which certainly will continue to be an asset to us as Educators.
The Word Processor as a Learning Tool
Creating an online community like the one our tutor created http://africa.partnersinlearningnetwork.com/Communities/ccti_group_2a_trinidad_and_tobago/pages/default.aspx
is something that will undoubtedly engage the interest of students and would not only be enjoyable to them but can serve as a motivational tool.
Group work and group collaboration has allowed all the CCTI Group 2 members to share their ideas and has fostered communication and discussion: key ingredients for healthy learning! Looking at ways the word processor can be used as a tool for learning makes it easier to integrate word processor for learning and further enables document creation for the next academic term which certainly will continue to be an asset to us as Educators.
Activity 3- 14th August 2011
Written on August 14th 2011
Word Processor for lesson preparation
In creating classroom materials I felt it would be easier to do some pre-planning before the start of the next academic term and this lesson I believe is ideal and also is one I am looking forward to sharing with my students and using in my classroom.
The activity will essentially help my students learn independently and develop their ICT skills and also deliver pertinent and relevant curriculum content. I look forward to receiving feedback on it and also to make necessary suggestions I will receive on it to improve the lesson.
Word Processor for lesson preparation
In creating classroom materials I felt it would be easier to do some pre-planning before the start of the next academic term and this lesson I believe is ideal and also is one I am looking forward to sharing with my students and using in my classroom.
The activity will essentially help my students learn independently and develop their ICT skills and also deliver pertinent and relevant curriculum content. I look forward to receiving feedback on it and also to make necessary suggestions I will receive on it to improve the lesson.
Activity 2- 14th August 2011
Word Processor as an Administrative Resource
Creating these documents has reiterated that I can create documents and re-use them especially since it ultimately makes one's task easier.
Having lost several documents on my flashdrive after putting it on the school pc during the last academic year it gave me an opportunity to create new documents and make the necessary changes to improve on what I had before.
The activity in itself was designed to help teachers use word processor as an administrative resource and I am sure that my colleagues would see it as beneficial.
Even though I had templates which I lost, creating new documents allowed me to look at areas that were lacking in and improve on them. A beneficial exercise indeed!
I am a happy learner!
Creating these documents has reiterated that I can create documents and re-use them especially since it ultimately makes one's task easier.
Having lost several documents on my flashdrive after putting it on the school pc during the last academic year it gave me an opportunity to create new documents and make the necessary changes to improve on what I had before.
The activity in itself was designed to help teachers use word processor as an administrative resource and I am sure that my colleagues would see it as beneficial.
Even though I had templates which I lost, creating new documents allowed me to look at areas that were lacking in and improve on them. A beneficial exercise indeed!
I am a happy learner!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Activity 5
Being tired I've realised today that it does cause us to do silly things or at least I should rephrase by saying that it causes me to slip up (hence the reason I'm typing this entry now).
NOTE TO SELF: Remember my email account for my blog.
With regards to the Activity at hand it truly was an educational one. I was able to learn more and I am eager to share this with my colleagues.
Microsoft Excel can truly be beneficial in recording Assessments and Analyzing data from them. Sadly enough not all of my colleagues may be aware of this. However they'll soon find out when we're back at work. From this it is clear that it will also be an asset to the Administrators at my school and that this together with all I have been exposed to thus far will help me in my changing role as an educator.
As I end this I can definitely say I'm ready to continue with Assignment 1.
NOTE TO SELF: Remember my email account for my blog.
With regards to the Activity at hand it truly was an educational one. I was able to learn more and I am eager to share this with my colleagues.
Microsoft Excel can truly be beneficial in recording Assessments and Analyzing data from them. Sadly enough not all of my colleagues may be aware of this. However they'll soon find out when we're back at work. From this it is clear that it will also be an asset to the Administrators at my school and that this together with all I have been exposed to thus far will help me in my changing role as an educator.
As I end this I can definitely say I'm ready to continue with Assignment 1.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Activity 1
Having been late I was hopeful that I would not meet too many challenges in completing the Activity at hand. However there were challenges and thankfully my persistence has paid off in getting the activity done.
Based on each of the 7 roles discussed it is clear that ICT can support the roles of educators in multiple ways as seen based on the responses shared by not only me but also each of my fellow colleagues in education.
From this it is clear that the uses of ICT are many and wide-ranging thereby allowing us to deliver curriculum content in several ways and more so foster personal growth and development of our learners and our charges. While most of these are measures I use I believe there is a need for me to network more with parents and other stakeholders to further use ICT to develop myself as an educator and work to help each of the students in my charge.
I must say how truly grateful I am to be given an opportunity like this as this is truly beneficial to me. Likewise I am sure that many of my colleagues would agree with me in this regard.
Based on each of the 7 roles discussed it is clear that ICT can support the roles of educators in multiple ways as seen based on the responses shared by not only me but also each of my fellow colleagues in education.
From this it is clear that the uses of ICT are many and wide-ranging thereby allowing us to deliver curriculum content in several ways and more so foster personal growth and development of our learners and our charges. While most of these are measures I use I believe there is a need for me to network more with parents and other stakeholders to further use ICT to develop myself as an educator and work to help each of the students in my charge.
I must say how truly grateful I am to be given an opportunity like this as this is truly beneficial to me. Likewise I am sure that many of my colleagues would agree with me in this regard.
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