The benifits of embedding technology in teaching and learning

Hello everyone,

I really want to develop a discussion about the benefits of ICT integration in lessons to enhance the teaching and learning experiences.Would you like to share your opinions and experiences in this regard ?

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Technology is becoming a very important part of today’s world. It brought changes in learning in many ways.  Different ICT tools and their dynamic features motivate learners more than books. Learning becomes fun. It saves time, helps students to review their mistakes and share ideas and students become independent learners. Nowadays ICT tools  involve parents as well. In blogs and different online Math sites (TenMarks) parents can make their  account as well and see their children’s performance.  It helps reduce the communication barrier between parents and the institution.

Technology is just a resource in the class and by using it properly teacher facilitates the learning process. Teachers need to recognize advantages and disadvantages of the ICT tools to identify the improvements that can be made for future learning sessions.  ICT also plays a crucial role in the school’s development. It enhances quality of teaching and learning in schools. Using new and effective technologies in the classroom is not only 21st century’s demand but it is also very effective and has many benefits.  Use of ICT in different subjects has a positive influence on students’ learning and ultimately school demonstrates e-culture.

In short the proper use of ICT tools gives life to learning and teaching process and it bestows a touch of freshness to the whole educational framework with its wonders.

Dear Muneeza,

Thank you for joining my discussion forum.Your detailed expression about the benefits of using technology showed  your keen interest and belief that technology is the main resource that can enable us to unfold the new domains in the field of education.I agree with you that the use of technology is one of the major motivating factors that help the teachers to create a student centered classroom where students take ownership of their learning and where teacher becomes comfortable and gets an opportunity to monitor the students closely to provide the need based support.Another important aspect of integrating ICT is that the teachers can find a treasure of resources which they always find difficult to search and gather.By using technology,they can save alot of time which they usually spend in arranging resources.

would you like to share further what sort of activities teachers in your institution plan ? 

Dear Ms. Samreen,

I respond to you with my favorite quote.
We live in an age of almost infinite information and learning opportunity and so the key here is we have to inspire people to have a sense of wonder and curiosity and if we do that, they have what is essentially the world’s largest knowledge machine at their fingertips. If we fail at that they have the world’s largest distraction device.
~Michael Wesch

Students always learn best when they are entertained.  I see a strong correlation with the common learning modality of the times with the common entertainment of the times: Before radio, academics were engaged by reading, therefore that is how they learned. When radios came around, they were entertained by those programs, so auditory learning evolved more. Then television brought audio/visual learners.

In our institution we always try to plan ICT activities that inspire children. I have used a software Prime Time Lost in my class. In PrimeTime Math: Lost!, students follow a search and rescue team as they try to find a lost girl. It creates  a realistic scenario for the students.

My class enjoyed  it and learned the importance of Math in real life through Prime Time Math. It connects the real life to the classroom when students use different Mathematics concepts to find the missing girl and to track the progress of the search team.

I think it is also very important that parents should know what their children are doing in school. I am a Mathematics and ICT teacher so I always prefer  ICT tools which involves parents as well. I used Managahigh, IXL, and TenMarks for Mathematics. I also use Edmodo and Glogster  in my class.

Recently Urdu teachers edited a drama of Mirza Ghalib with my help ( television drama series written and produced by poet Gulzar) to make their lesson more interesting. They cut the important parts from the drama series and made a small 30 mins drama for the students to see. After watching the drama students have to solve a worksheet related to Mirza Ghalib's life. Islamiat teachers taught the student about Haj by showing them a documentary. Science teachers made prezi's for different topics and use the comment feature to start the class discussion.

Teachers also used data loggers, Digi Blue and web 2.0 tools (like prezi, wordle.net, bubbl.us, mindmeister, voki, storyjumper, readwritethink, educannon and many more web 2.0 tools to make their lesson more intresting).

Our institution plan an ICT Open Day every year. Parents are invited and students presented their ICT  project in front of everyone.

yes, we are enjoying all these benefits as we have started integrating ICT successfuly in ou weekly plans. this year my focus was to introduce web 2.0 tools to my teachers and students and I am pleased to share that the response was great . The students found them very user friendly and the interactive features of different tools helped them develop their skills. They worked in collaboration and started sharing their assignments through on line forums and strengthened their understanding of Digital Ctizenship. My teachers are also excited as they were able to cater to differenciation to a great extent by using on line resources. Will you like to share some of your experiences and achievments of your students which they have gained by using technology.

Hi Samreen

Remember the days when there were blackboard the only tools for teaching. Since it was the tool of the time, so,a thought evolved! why not blackboards in the hands of the students for better learning.So, mini boards with a set of chalks was made available for the students. Then came the time of whiteboards.Again a thought emerged! why not white boards in the hands of students for better learning.So, mini whiteboards and markers were made available for students.Now, at the time of technology at its boom! Teaches are using interactive touch boards, multimedia technologies, web 2.0 , and many many software to enhance their teaching expertise and making sure of students learning. Again the same question exists! why not technology in the hands of students for better learning? Yes!!! it is the need and requirement of the time that students should be taught with the tools of their own time. If they are taught with old tools, they will not develop "Readiness for Learning" as discussed by Bruner in his cognitive theory. The tools of their own time help them construct thinking patterns and organize their learning process as independent learners. the tools of the time take the role of students learning but old methods and old tools lead our students to rote learning i.e remembering by repetition. John Deway has said it beautifully " If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow". So, as teachers, parents and educators it is our duty to let our students live and learn in their own time ,not at the time of our youth.

yes you are absolutely right ,the use of ICT is the only way forward to survive in this digital world as technology has become a commodity these days . our students are the IT Natives and they are far more comfortable with the use of technology as compared to us. However, the role of teachers cannot be minimised because no resource can replace a teacher and that is why we need to focus on training our teachers by changing their mind set and convincing them positively that technology can make their teaching more effective ' less time consuming and more enjoyable as students will take ownership of their learning .
Will you further like to share how the use of technology is benefitting your teachers and students.

yes.. the major benefit of digital technologies is to acquire enhanced learning opportunities.The use of web 2.0 technologies help students interact with global community and moreover, students get immediate feedback from their peers and friends partnered on an on-line project.So learning takes place through the interactions students have with their peers, teachers, and other experts.  Consequently, teachers can create a learning environment that maximizes the learner's ability to interact with each other through discussion, collaboration, and feedback. My students were involved in a project of "Game based Learning". Students were taught science , social studies and English through games.The major objective was to see progress in vocabulary along with conceptual learning through digital games. Students played Sim City , 4 Pics- One word , Indus valley simulation and many other digital games. The results were amazing. Students conceptual level and the vocabulary was much much higher than a lesson taught in a traditional way.Here comes the role of a teacher, that how meaningfully she is capable of integrating technology in her lessons. Then comes the role of assessments. There is a need of designing new assessment procedures to measure the performance of these digital natives.The rapid  learning advancement through the use of digital games is more demanding for an unusual assessment procedure.

Hi Asma , you have written a comprehensive note on the discussion that we have developed thank you for your input . I would appreciate if you further comment and give your view how teachers can make good use of assessments by using technology that helps students develop their critical thinking skills and what do you think will on line assessments be helpful to both i mean the teachers and students.

Hello Everyone

My name is Maryum Nisar and I am a language teacher in a school in Pakistan. I am enrolled in a course with University of Cambridge (DTWICT). I have a question to ask from everyone. Kindly give me your reply and share your experience as well for my guidance.

"How can ICT help students develop creative writing skills?"

Thanks in advance for your replies. I would be obliged if you reply.

 

well Maryam' I have recently explored many web 2.0tools which can help students develop their creativity and thinking skills as there is a vast range of pictures, themes to initiate them to write and then the sharing forums are the funfilled activities to review and share eachothers work. the best thing is that the students get themselves engaged while having hands on and the features of any particular tools are self explanatory so they learn on their own.

One device that is of great benefit for teaching and learning is the iPad. The integration of iPad can go beyond classroom experience. Language learning now can be facilitated in a fun interactive way through online platform like italki  (italki.com) where language partners can find and schedule exchange language with a friend. The session is free for both sides as it can be done on free apps like Skype (very battery draining) or a Voip collaborative app like VoxyPAD (itunes.apple.com/us/app/voxypad/id827004799?mt=8) Voxypad lets users draw, talk, view webs, share files and collaborate. This is when iPad has come to show its role in mobile learning, assisting learners in content interaction and file sharing.

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