The End

I like this course too much, I think i have a huge benefits, i will use them when I returen to school.

ICT as tutor

There are many claims found in the literature for and against the usefulness

of computer games in encouraging learning. It is asserted that the use of

such games can stimulate the enjoyment, motivation and engagement

of users, aiding recall and information retrieval, and can also encourage

the development of various social and cognitive skills.

ICT games are generally created to help develop specific skills in children and young adults. The end result is that students get to enjoy learning through educative games. Areas most used include:

1. Numeracy - all areas of maths can be learnt, taught and assessed. These include addition, subtraction, multiplication, money, fractions, shapes, measuring angles. A very simple example is the Gingerbread man counting game where you can drag and match a Gingerbread man with his partner bearing the same number in different forms.
2. Literacy - many activities including word hunt, punctuations, synonyms, antonyms spellings and sentence formation which can be learnt through ICT games.
3. Phonics - interactive phonic games are also used to enhance reading of words and spelling. Learning phonics can be made very interesting for children with games such as this.

Advantages of ICT Games

The major advantages are listed below:

1. Assessments can be carried out to see how much a child has learnt. This is usually done in stages or phases.
2. Children concentrate more and remain focused on the activities.
3. Children indirectly learn computer skills that they will need as adults in the work place.
4. This technology is particularly good for children with special needs and learning difficulties.

Finding the Best ICT games

It is easy to find specific games for children online. Some sites are developed specifically for this category of games. For instance, ictgames.com is a very useful site for maths and literacy games. A good place to look for interactive games on phonics is phonicsplay.co.uk. CDs and DVDs can also be bought from Amazon websites.

Useful guidance, materials and resources are usually complied for teachers and parents to enable them to choose wisely and to develop their own ideas.

Available technologies are always based on age groups, so it is important to use resources appropriately and according to a child's age.

Mind Mapping

The traditional way of taking notes, whether for a lecture or when reading a book, is to follow the chronological sequence of the author's thought, and to summarize the content of the book or lecture, often using sentences and phrases instead of just keywords.

An alternative approach, and one which some claim works with both halves of the brain by harnessing its powers of visualization and association, and thereby improves both memory and creative thinking, is mind mapping.

Mind mapping is a way of linking key concepts using images, lines and links. A central concept is linked via lines to other concepts which in turn are linked with other associated ideas. It is similar as a technique to concept mapping and spider diagrams, the difference being that true mind mapping involves constructing a hierarchy of ideas instead of pure random association.

Mind maps were developed by Tony Buzan as a way of helping students make notes that used only key words and images. They are much quicker to make, and because of their visual quality much easier to remember and review. The difference between concept maps and mind maps is that a mind map has only one main concept, while a concept map may have several.

Benefits  and Uses

·         Note taking

·         Brainstorming (individually or in groups)

·         Problem solving

·         Studying and memorization

·         Planning

·         Researching and consolidating information from multiple sources

·         Presenting information

·         Gaining insight on complex subjects

·         Jogging your creativity

How to mind map

There are four key characteristics of a mind map:

1.     There is one key concept, often expressed graphically as an image.

2.     From the key concept/image radiate out branches each of which contains another key concept which is a subset of the main concept.

3.     Attached to these main branches are other branches which represent less important concepts.

4.     Together, the branches and central image form a nodal structure.

But what about ICT now and how this technology helps in mind mapping. Mind mapping software, such as primary resource, Kidspiration, or Inspiration, which is designed for secondary students and adults, are both particularly good tools to help engage learners and support creativity. Inspiration’s mind mapping resources make planning so much easier for students because there is no need for traditional pen and paper and they can quickly make changes. Ideas can constantly be expanded and students also have the capability to integrate with other technologies, such as multimedia and online hyper linking.

I like the below link which enable you to see some examples about Mind mapping in different subjects.

http://www.mind-mapping.co.uk/mind-maps-examples/education.htm

WebQuests

While I'm searching about the concept of WebQuest and what is the use of it, I saw some points that maybe make my understanding about the previous term, let me list the points and have some comments about them:

·         WebQuests are activities, using Internet resources, which encourage students to use higher order thinking skills to solve a real messy problem. WebQuests are a sub-set of Problem-Based Learning (PBL).

• Teachers around the world are making WebQuests for their own classes as well as to share.
    
• Students of all ages and grades can use WebQuests.
    
• Most, if not all, of the information used in WebQuests is drawn from the Internet.
     
• Students are provided with online resources and are asked to use this information constructively to solve the presented problem rather than just cutting and pasting material into an assignment or project.
     
• By eliminating the need to search or hunt for information the student is given more time to analyses, criticize and assess the information they find.
     
• WebQuests are inquiry-oriented activities designed to make the most of the student's time.

So after looking to these points the WebQuest is one from many tools or technique that make the student is effective one and teach him how to learn, and make the teacher like a guide or coach for him.

The Elements of a WebQuest

WebQuests consist of five basic elements.

1.    Introduction- a short overview and introduction to the Big Question that the WebQuest will be addressing.

2. Task- what the final result should be. This varies by subject and grade level. It may be in the form of a problem to be solved or a product to be created. A task that can be done  and interesting.

3.    Process- the steps that the students must take to accomplish the task. This should be structured so that students are clear about what they need to do. It may be organized in numbered steps, a checklist, flow chart or a graphic organizer. A list of links should be provided for the students to use to find information online. Giving students approved links ensures that they will be using reliable information, and also gives them a head start toward achieving their goal. Links to any other relevant information that students need should also be included here.

4.    Evaluation- this is usually in the form of a rubric that describes how student performance will be evaluated. Criteria may include working collaboratively, using time wisely, creativity, presentation, organization, or other factors, depending on the task. The group may be graded as a whole, or students may be graded individually.

5.    Conclusion- a summary of what students will learn or accomplish by completing the task.

I saw that there is also a step but not joined with the previous five steps talking about providing the resource whatever the resources are ,websites, books, electronic books, documents.

A set of information sources needed to complete the task. Many (though not necessarily all) of the resources are embedded in the WebQuest document itself as anchors pointing to information on the World Wide Web. Information sources might include web documents, experts available via e-mail or realtime conferencing, searchable databases on the net, and books and other documents physically available in the learner's setting. Because pointers to resources are included, the learner is not left to wander through webspace completely adrift.

I have read a nice example not in my particular profession which is IT, but in another branch, it's a bout the animals in Australia, the below link is the example:

http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/fellows/MENTZER/webquest/austan.htm

 
   

"Inquiry-based learning" is one of many terms used to describe educational approaches that are driven more by a learner's questions than by a teacher's lessons. It is inspired by what is sometimes called a constructivist approach to education, which posits that there are many ways of constructing meaning from the building blocks of knowledge and that imparting the skills of "how to learn" is more important than any particular information being presented. Not all inquiry-based learning is constructivist, nor are all constructivist approaches inquiry-based, but the two have similarities and grow from similar philosophies.

How is inquiry-based learning different from traditional approaches? In the traditional framework, teachers come to class with highly structured curricula and activity plans. They act as the source of knowledge and as the person who determines which information is important. There is certainly creativity and flexibility in how each teacher runs his or her class, but the topics and projects are driven and evaluated based on what a teacher, administrator, school board, or bureaucracy have decided what children should know and master.

In contrast, inquiry-based learning projects are driven by students. Instructors act more as coaches, guides, and facilitators who help learners arrive at their "true" questions—the things they really care about. When students choose the questions, they are motivated to learn and they develop a sense of ownership about the project.

Because inquiry-based learning is premised on helping children ask questions, instructors themselves must learn the art of asking good questions.

What kinds of questions make for good inquiry-based projects? As we said, they must first be questions that the kids truly care about because they come up with them themselves. In addition, good questions share the following characteristics:

·           The questions must be answerable.

·         The answer cannot be a simple fact.

·         The answer can't already be known.

·         The questions must have some objective basis for an answer.

·         The questions can not be too personal.

Actually I usually use this techniques in my classes and the students enjoined to do it but I was not  know the name of this techniques.  

Flipped Classroom

 

 

 

"The way we were taught is not necessarily 

the way we should be teaching students."

                                - Stacey Roshan, HS Algebra Teacher, Bullis School

 

The days of the teacher as "sage on the stage" are numbered.  Instead, the teacher becomes the "guide on the side" where students are using the class/school experience as a fully interactive experience WITH the teacher  - - instead of the teacher being the one-way traditional talking head.   This way, students are asking questions and solving problems with the teacher or fellow students -  instead of just sitting compliantly and listening - where the teacher can spend more time addressing specific questions and personalized attention, rather than just the one-size-fits-all lecture.  some advantages of "Flipped Classroom" for students:

• downlaod and learn from recorded lectures at their own pace and time, including features such as pause, rewind, watch again, and review.
• much more time to "do" than just listen.
• Improve students skills in technology field.
• working in groups help students to improve their communication skills.
• teach students how to be a learner.
• help students to be a creative one.

One problem that not all the student can access the net, so the school could allocate time and lab with net for those students.

Every teacher knows that when it comes to student learning, face - time is an invaluable limited resource. How can we gainfully leverage what little face -time that we have so that it best benefits students? As technology emerges to help us answer that question in new ways.
Some advantages of "Flipped Classroom" for teachers:

• Teacher have more interactive face -time with students.
• Teacher can see the benefits and drawbacks to the work they're assinging.
• Parents can follow and participate in their child's learning without being obtrusive.
• Allow teacher to play a more active role in facilitating the learning process.

Although the "Flipped Classroom" model would allow students to ask the teacher a question on class later on if they don't understand, this might also lead to wasted time. If a student does't understand a fundamental concepts, the rest of the video will not make sense. In the event that the teacher has to explain it over again in person, there was no point to listening to the video in the first time.

I think not all the topics can be in flipped classroom espacially that topics with fundamental concepts, the teacher should be careful about the topics that he will make them in flipped classroom model, it shuold not cantain fundamental concepts.

Using Computers as tool, tutee and tutor

There are three modes of using computers in education, which labeled as tutor, tool and tutee. When being used as a tutor the computer presents some subject material, the student responds, the computer evaluates the response and from the results of the evaluation, determines what to present next.

 Once I remember I use "Trace Maker" program, When I was teaching networking, it's a simulation program where the teachers can build their networking between a group of computers depending on the IP for each computer and also they can try to see whether their IPs are correct or no by sending messages between computers and see if it have been sent or no, if it is okay then they build the real network, also I taught an ICDL program where the students can practice using ICDL ATS Primer and also doing their exams online using the same program.

When being used as a tool the computer has some functionality that saves that saves the learner time and allows the teacher to focus his intellectual energy on higher orders tasks. For me I use a lot e.g. I use word processing programs to write my lesson's plane, tests, ice break activities, also I use spreadsheets to find calculations of mark, using computers as a tool make the tasks more easier and accurate.

When being used as a tutee the computer is taught something by being programmed by the learner, before I joined government's schools, I was teaching in different institutes I was usually teach C++, the students were faced a challenge that they have to learn what they are trying to teach the computer, because they can't teach something they don't know.

Now I'm in government schools, the students face the same challenge but in Visual Basic, and I don't know in future how the challenge will.