Blog 3: PHS hearts ICT

For your third post, describe which achievement(s) of the three masterplans for ICT in education are evident in the school/classes that you are attached to for your ESE. You may want to refer to your blog post about your ESE.

The infrastructure is firstly in place, with PHS having 4 computer labs out of which, 1 is set aside for CCA use. There are also 3 IT rooms and all classes come equipped with visualizers and projectors. PHS also has its own email and wireless network in place. The email in particular, has improved communication between the school and the students as well as, between the teacher and students. Students get announcements in their PresHigh email but also receive homework and instructions. During ICT day, students will turn to their PresHigh email to go about their home-based learning.

Some Masterplan 3 goals have also found home in PHS. Since preparation for oral examinations naturally takes 20% of the curriculum, the PHS English department is having its students use ICT or specifically podcasts to train themselves. The idea is for a student to record him or herself reading a passage then uploading it on the Learning Management System (LMS). The child is then not only able to monitor his or her progress, but also receive comments from peers on the reading. So this way, there is both self-directed and collaborative learning taking place.

Blog 2: ICT, Shiva and Miss Shiva.

In your opinion, why do you think it is important for MOE to develop the three Masterplans for ICT in education?

I think it is important only because the impact that ICT has on information, in being retrieved, consumed and disseminated, cannot be ignored. The impact is tremendous and a revolution in itself and, these Masterplans will be the only way to ensure that our education system keeps up with that revolution. Students now have to leave schools not only equipped with knowledge of long-standing subjects like English, Maths and Science but also research skills and the ability to use and create media.

Has any of the Masterplans impacted you as a student? Share your experience of how ICT had been used in the classes you attended as a student (if applicable).

I can actually say that I’ve been through it all because I was in primary school when Masterplan 1 began. I still remember how much the words “computer lab” got my entire class revved up. Just taking that walk to the lab and entering that (air-con) room stocked with brand new desktops gave us energy to do work- IT made producing work more fun. I had been a happy nerd because not only could I type out my English compos, I could add pictures and borders to frame it as well. I could play games during NE lessons and call it learning. Even Maths became less scary and more interesting, with CD-ROM games and their animations. When I look back, I think ICT students made students more active, be it in participation or their role in learning.

I have to mention that it was during secondary school Science when I really felt the impact of ICT. ICT made Science more visual for me. I could read the content from the textbook then supplement that knowledge with visuals from ICT used in lessons. It solidified a topic learnt and I remembered things better because those moving images shown were imprinted in my memory.

I think ICT had made me feel capable as a student but more importantly, it had revealed my own interests to me. I realized then itself that I enjoyed doing research. I still remember researching for a Literature project in Sec 2, on Oscar Wilde. Finding out more about him and sorting out the information gathered to write a report on my own had given me a sense of achievement.

Based on your enhanced school experience, how do you think the current Masterplan 3 may affect your role(s) as a beginning teacher ?

Masterplan 3, which aims to see greater integration of ICT into curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, may, no, will affect the way teachers plan their lessons and schools plan their assessment modes. For a student, ICT is fun and a break in monotony. But for schools and teachers, beginning or not, I think ICT has both its pros and cons. After all, there is essentially, a new component to factor in when planning out the scheme of work. While I can off the bat see how ICT can improve pedagogy, I have concerns about measuring a child’s understanding of the subjects I teach with ICT. How am I going to put a grade on it, especially when I teach subjects like English and Literature? At university level, ICT assessment was in the form of blogs but it only formed a small percentage of the final grade and the whole process was made easier thanks to module chatrooms. Participation in class and essays then, determined the final grade. So question is, do we bring secondary school students up to university level assessment modes or not?

Blog 1: Night at the Museum for Factual Recount Writing :)

THE CLASS

Throughout my ESE, I observed 1 Grace, a lower secondary Express class. They are considered as one of the lower-end Express classes but students were still relatively fast in understanding lessons. They were very vocal about their opinions and were quick to ask questions when in doubt. They were quite an active bunch too, where the boys were more talkative and easily distracted. However, when given work to do or their interest is piqued, they are able to channel that energy and concentrate well.

THE LESSON

For this particular lesson, the teacher, Miss Pierre, had prepared PowerPoint slides and had a video to show the class.

The lesson was on writing factual recounts and it was to prepare the students for their report-writing in Paper One. Miss Pierre first used her PowerPoint slides to introduce the students to factual recount writing. Since writing factual recounts requires the use of past tense, proper sequencing of events and the names of people and places involved, the slides listed these in short bullet points followed by examples to give the students a clearer picture. Though PowerPoint is a basic ICT tool, students were engaged from the start as it was still a break from the usual marker-whiteboard lessons. With the help of PowerPoint, Miss Pierre also could juxtapose sample recounts side by side, one a positive example and the other a negative example. The students that way could really visualize how a proper factual recount looked like and what Miss Pierre expected of them. She also made them read these recounts off the PowerPoint slides, keeping them engaged and also thus, training them for their oral examinations.

The video then came in for an activity, where they had to apply what they had learnt from the PowerPoint slides. The video was a short scene from the movie “Night at the Museum” and it immediately got the students excited. Most of them had watched it before and so, anticipated the activity even more. Miss Pierre gave them clear instructions that they were to watch the video then fill in the activity worksheet, listing chronologically the events that took place in the scene. As the video played, Miss Pierre walked around the class, ensuring that the students were paying attention and also, reminded them to look out for names of characters and places so that they can use be specific in their activity.

ICT- A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

For the last question, I interviewed both Miss Pierre and the ICT Head, Mr Choo.

Miss Pierre thought that ICT could really make lessons more dynamic for students, especially the use of videos. However, she pointed out that the use of videos is easier for certain subjects than others. As a Literature teacher, she can easily find videos on the texts she is teaching. But as an English teacher, while she can find videos on issues/themes that the school has chosen to teach the students, she is hard-pressed to find videos on writing or answering techniques. In short, while she can easily find videos on content, she cannot do so for videos on skill. Miss Pierre also mentioned that while ICT makes learning more fun, it makes teaching slightly trickier. For one, time management becomes even more crucial, having to factor in set-up time. Two, in the event that a lesson is planned around an ICT and there are sudden technical difficulties such that the ICT cannot be used, the teacher faces immense pressure to save the lesson. So there must be a back-up lesson plan for lessons involving ICT and the IT head must be on standby.

ICT Head, Mr Choo, said that he welcomed the use of ICT for teaching and learning. He said that it was inevitable that ICT became integrated with our education system. He pointed out that ICT had changed the way information was sent and received among staff and students, with PHS having their own wireless network and PHS email in place. He also pointed out how learning had become independent and self-directed---Teachers upload notes ahead of time unto Google sites and students can access these before lesson. They then come into class informed and prepared, as opposed to tradition.