DAY 1 Journal

Policy and Implementation

Over the past few years I have become interested in the use of technology in my classroom especially power
point presentations for my Geography classes. I often enjoy seeing the ‘ah ha’ moments on the faces of my
students when they make the connection from written words to visual pictures. However at times I felt I can
accomplish so much more with technology. I wanted to do more than just show pictures and videos. I wanted
to get the students more involved and make learning fun and in some cases competitive.

One day my husband who is a teacher as well came home and mentioned he would be attending an ICT training
programme sponsored by the Ministry Of Education. So off he went. With each day he attended at dinner time
he would often share what he learned and I quickly became interested. It was there I promised myself if the
opportunity came up I would attend.

Not too long after, the opportunity presented itself. However I had to think carefully on whether or not to
attend. As I was completing a UWI course which was challenging and in its final stages as well as trying to balance
work and family life. However I decided just as the Nike slogan said ‘just do it’. So off I went. Truthfully on the
first day I was frustrated as the internet connectivity at my center was terrible and the space provided was too
hot. However orientation started and we settled into discussions on ICT policy and implementations. To
complete the session we were put into groups and asked to discuss what our opinion was on the Ministry of
Education policy of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and present it. My group choose the Cellphone Policy and
discussed it at length and found so much more had to be done.

During the afternoon session we got the opportunity to explore the web site Edmodo and Trello which are
discussion boards for our ICT class. The use of this website allowed me to develop ideas on how I could
implement this into my class room and the possibility of not actually being in the classroom and still being
allowed to teach. The discussions on this websites allow collaborative learning. I am excited again and hope that
I can finally put such tools to use within my classroom practice.

Day 2 Reflection
Give your reflection on the role (sustainability) of didactic instruction. Is it still relevant? How
would the use of technology impact how you employ didacticism in the future?
Didactic teaching is a technique used where both verbal and written information is given to students. It is a
method once used correctly can it can be quite effective. It is the instructional backbone of many old-fashioned
classrooms. It is teacher-centered and values learners who are willing to sit still and listen attentively to the
teacher accepting the knowledge he or she puts forward.

For Students to succeed in such an environment, they would often have to remember and repeat the ‘important
points’ of the lesson being taught and mirror the words of the teacher. Students who are unable to sit still or
cannot concentrate in such a setting would often be disruptive and loose interest in such a lesson- these
students do not belong in such a setting. In today’s classroom didactic teaching is still practiced by many but by
using technology to employ didacticism in the future brings with its advantages and disadvantages.
The teacher who still uses didactics as a teaching method can employ the use of technology to expose and
motivate their students to inspirational and authentic materials from different genres. In my classroom this
would be fun activity for both the student and the teacher as it help me to inspire students through various
technological activities and task to bring forward facts written in their pages. It would help the students to get
to that ‘ah hah’ moment and excited about learning as it would produces an informative highway to broaden
their minds. It would allow me to assert the role of the expert in the class room and give students a variety of
ways to learn and retain knowledge.

Like anything else there is the downfall of using technology in a didactic setting as the preparation of the
materials for on lesson can be time consuming- especially for beginners. I myself can have challenges with it. As
a result many would just opt for not using it at all. In addition some of the material used may even be out dated
as there is a culture gap between teacher and student leading the teacher to believe this is not what the student
needs. At times it is so much easier to just do away with technology and resort to lecture style teaching.

In the future technology would have an impact on didacticism as it would enrich students’ sensorial experience,
facilitate a setting to motivate learning, stimulate imagination, save time on explanation of content and help
educate multiple intelligences.

Day 3 Journal
Share your thoughts on ways in which widespread use of electronic assessment can impact
teaching and learning in schools. Include your thoughts about today’s learning experience.
Today I learned how to create an electronic assessment using the program Socrotive and found it quite an eye
opening experience. Usually I am the one taking the e-tests and not creating it. With the recent knowledge
gained I began to think of questions and topics I can use for my students. Online assessments can provide me
with a painless and productive tool for testing with technology. For e-testing, my students can use the Internet,
go to the site, and take a test. The testing site offers me an advantage by grading the tests and collects the
results. It is here then that I can view my students' scores, as well as the length of time it took each student to
complete the task. An advantage for my students is they can obtain their results immediately.

Today E testing has many benefits. These include:

 A flexible test environment. It allows students to take a test from anywhere that provides internet
access even while absent from school from some reason.
 It is a time-saver. Online testing saves teachers grading time as the software dose all the work for you.
 Students are able to practice with technology-based test formats. With CSEC, NCSE and CAPE
attempting to move away pen and paper to electronic testing. Developing the skills for e-testing is very
important. It introduces students to emerging test strategies.
 Increased student engagement in the curriculum. When students see their test results immediately,
they are more likely to be interested in the outcome than when they have to wait days for a grade.
The challenges of online testing include
  It has rigid scoring. Electronic testing sites can't read the various spelling students use the way a teacher
can. Unless that information is imputed into the answers. In addition most tests are true-false or
multiple-choice based formats, rather than fill-in-the-blanks or short answer tests.
 Technology isn't always reliable. Information can be lost if a system breaks down, does not work at all
or connectivity is unpredictable. (Note this is evident throughout this course).
 The costs to set up such a system is extremely high especially for some schools in our twin island republic.
 Not all students have computer training and can use the computer very well.

With the advantages and disadvantages in mind. I believe that online assessment is an invaluable, timesaving
technology tool. I intend to try it with all my classes and see how it motivates students and further engages
them in the material. It's a tool well worth checking out!

Day 4 Journal - Pedagogy I

Give your perceptions of how ICT is used in your subject area. Is there merit in using ICT for
substitution and augmentation? How do you see yourself using ICT more meaningfully in the
future? Share your thoughts on today’s session.
Throughout this course we have been learning how to integrate ICT into our teaching methods. Using ICT allows
us as teachers to move away traditional methods to modern methods of teaching. One way to do this is the
SAMR Model. It is a model used to is to utilize technology in place of traditional learning tools. The initial stage
in the model is substitution which is using a technology based resource to replace a traditional resource. For
example when attending my class each student is required to being with them their atlas and their text which
we use to collect information. By replacing the paper based text book with an e-text students will be more
inclined to learning as their interaction with it would be different. Paper based texts for this generation can
seem as a burden to them but the aspect of using something electronic can be beneficial. Maybe because it is
not a load to carry around and is accessible on any technological device. This seems to pique their interest in
learning.

The next stage of the model is augmentation. This is somewhat different. It is the using the substituted learning
resource and integrating a task with it. This improves the function of the resource. For example the information
found in the e-text can be supported by online videos, images, maps and charts. This provides my students with
multiple ways of learning the information as it brings to life written words. In my view this makes learning fun.
For my academic area substitution and augmentation can be a very productive. It provides additional ways to
analyzing and investigate data in a geographical context. And helps students organize, edit and present their
findings in different ways. Using a substitution and augmentation method as a medium for learning allows me
to teach geography in an engaging way.

Thoughts on today session:

For today session I was again frustrated as there was trouble getting onto the internet. However after some
much needed patience I was able to view today’s task. This involved the SAMR Model. I was not familiar with it
but as miss began to walk us through it I realized it can be quiet beneficial to my area of teaching. Being the
nerd that I am I decided to do some addition research? I discovered there was various ways to use this method
with my students and I intend to do so.

Day 5 Reflection
“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” Phil Collins
Recently I had the opportunity of turning the tables. I became a student after many years of being a teacher in
a class 30 young adults. One of them was a student I taught in secondary school. It was quite an eye opening
experience. It brought me back to a position of seeing what my students experience. And it was there and then
I began to think of ways of reaching them and helping them to become great learners. To do this I had to ensure
each and every student who enter the doors of my classroom leave with some knowledge thus making them
wiser. I had to start somewhere.
Have you ever been in a situation of teaching your class a concept and they just not getting it, you know this by
the blank faces you see. As a teacher I had to step back and get to the root of the problem and that meant
getting to know my students. I had to consider their learning styles. Where do I start? In a class of 36 students
there can be many. Today during my ICT session I learned to develop a lesson to incorporate two types of
learning styles. This transformed a lesson I had taught many times. I was able to incorporate some ICT methods
such as power point and you tube videos which helps the visual learners. Some students view chalk and talk
techniques as boring and lack interest. But with visual representation of what is read in the books and paring it
with ICT makes the topic interesting. The other learning style was Kinesthetic. I found in my classes my student’s
attention span can be quite short and having them use some sort of bodily movement allows them to be open
and excited to learning.
However that is just two types of learning styles. There is so much more. With my recent knowledge using ICT
and combining it with different learning styles students can become great scholars. I plan to investigate more.

Day 6 Reflection
‘Replace an empty mind with an open one’ Marcus S Forbs
Today I had no clue what was going on. For some reason I was distracted and could not grasp the concept of
web 2.0. I officially felt like a student who may have passed through my classroom. I had to rely on my group
members to keep me interested. After some time I decided to pull it together and reminded myself of the words
drilled into me as a child - ‘the capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a
choice – Brian Herbert’. So off I went grabbing the task at hand and getting more involved.
I learned web 2.0 facilitated collaboration between teacher and also students. As I explored further I began to
see the use of it with my students especially the upper school. A their stage in learning and preparation for
exams it would encourage many debates on different point of views thus making them better learners and even
better writers. In today’s session my group explored the use of Schoology which was relatively straight forward.
We were able to put together a presentation on the advantages and disadvantages of such a tool. However for
my individual assignment the tool which peaked my interest was Padlet. It was simple to construct and navigate.
It is free and allows room for many discussion. I am excited to use this with my class in the future.
 Day 7 Reflection
Keep Calm it’s the Last Day of Class – oh what an informative journey it has been. I must be honest I learned a
lot. All of which I hope to use with my class during the next academic year. My summer vacation leaves me with
sometime to put things in place to do so. So look out lesson plans we have a date. But first let us discuss today.
Today day I learned how to create a word art. I had seen the results of it through Google Images but never knew
what it was called. I would often spend hours on the internet looking for the perfect image but I am pleased to
say I don’t have too. In addition to this I learned to utilize and build a one note class notebook which stores
information for my classes. The benefit of this is I can go totally paperless and still have my lessons close at hand.
There will be no more saying I forgot the notes at home. In addition to it my students can access it as well. This
will allow the student who is absent to keep up with the class and not feel lost when they return.