QED 507 ICT for Meaningful Learning Blog 1

Pre-Course Task 1

ENHANCED SCHOOL EXPERIENCE:

PREPARATORY TASK FOR ICT FOR MEANINGFUL LEARNING

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Classroom Observations-Use of ICT

(I) Specific Observation

School Name: A Neighhourhood Primary School

Class: P1 Mathematics lessons

Profile of the class:(For e.g., the students’ academic abilities, stream and other characteristics)

This primary one class consist mainly of students from Singapore with a handful of students that have international background ,namely Korea, Kurgystan, India, Myanmar, Taiwan and Hong Kong . Most students belonged to the middle-ability group. A handful of students ( about 8 ) belonged to the low-ability group. About five students in the class belonged to the higher-ability group. There is also a special needs child in the class that requires the help of a teacher's aide from time to time across all lessons.

(II)Subject:

What ICT tools are used in the lesson? During Mathematics lesson, the Pamethean Board (electronic white board) were often used. The visualizer was also indispensable.With the access of the Maths teacher's laptop computer and internet, Powerpoints, AsknLearn platform and Youtube videos were also often used.

Describe how ICT is used for teaching and learning in the lesson. The Pamethean Board were mainly used for answers-checking and highlighting of common errors. Powerpoints were used for displaying the outlines of the lesson taught as well as recapping the content of the lesson learnt previously. The slides were also used to tell  a story regarding the different types of basic shapes.The children were really captured by the contrasting pictures of the slides. When the teacher can gain access to the internet, Youtube videos were also shown to help the children further enhance their understanding of certain mathematical concepts.

(III) General Observation:____________________________________________________ How do teachers in the school feel about the use of ICT for teaching and learning? (For this question, you may want to speak to the HOD/ICT and other teachers you know in the school.) Most P1 teachers are trained to use the Pamethean Boards as they are only installed in the Primary 1 classrooms initially. As the term progressed, the Pamethean Boards are gradually installed in the P2 classrooms and P2 teachers were asked to attend Pamethean Board training workshops at the start of Term 3. Although some P1 and P2 teachers were not confident with using the Pamethean Board, they welcomed the change as they knew that all ICT changes around the school adhered to the ICT Masterplan of the Ministry of Education and the change was inevitable. Others(mainly P1 teachers) reported about the inconvenience of using the Pamethean Board as the board space completely replaced that of the traditional white board and left them with very little space( or time) in inserting extra notes and mathematical workings. As some of them were still fumbling with the use of this electronic white board, lesson objectives can sometimes be hindered and delayed due to the hick-ups they encountered in using the Pamethean Board. Most of the HODs in the school were mainly involved in teaching the higher primary students. They mentioned that although they understand that the lower primary teachers are facing some difficulties with using the Pamethean Board , they also recognized that this is a phase that teachers teaching all different levels in the school will eventually come face-to-face with.