Thursday 17 November 2011

Changed Perspective of ICT in the Classroom

I'm approaching the end of week one in my first teaching placement and I can definitely say that I have learnt a lot already. One idea that has interested me is how my perspective on ICT in the classroom has changed since becoming a part of the BEd ICT specialism. As you can imagine before starting my teacher training I did lots of work experience in schools to set me up for what was to come and to build my knowledge on learning. However, I had never thought to question how technology was used around the school before. Throughout the course, we have learnt many ways to teach interactively. This does not necessarily mean teaching ICT as a subject, this means that we have learnt to use technology to benefit learning across the curriculum. For me this is really exciting as my specialism isn't just contained to a specific hour of the day.



Throughout my work experience, before starting university, I had always seen IWB's as useful because they stored previous notebooks and allowed the teacher to show children websites on big screen, and also I had never really questioned why classrooms would need to have more than the standard one computer in the corner of the classroom. 

When going into my placement on Monday morning I was suddenly so aware of which technology the school incorporated around the building, but also the ways that it could benefit each of the pupil's learning. I really don't think I've been able to be so critical or evaluative before until my perspective changed. From first view my classroom had an IWB and two computers. Obviously I questioned why this was. Was it because there were better ways for the teacher to present the lesson? Or was it because she was unaware of the many uses the board could bring? From the BEd I have seen so many ways an interactive whiteboard can be used to benefit the pupils and in this case it is just being used as a fancy way to jot things down. I have learnt technology needs to involve the children to create interactivity in their learning, rather than being used to exchange information.

Despite, the next day I was excited to see use of laptops in the school. At first I was a little negative that there were only enough for one between two in a class of thirty, but in some ways this promoted group work and collaboration as the children had to work together, sharing ideas to produce the piece of work. This was also productive in the few children that I noticed were lacking computer skills as their partner was able to show them new features or tools.

Today was a different experience all together. This afternoon we had a timetabled music lesson, I couldn't remember ever being part of one so I was definitely looking forward to it, although it took me by surprise. A man from the Devon Music Group had set out MacBook Pros around the classroom (he apparently comes in every week to take the lesson). The software was Garage Band, perfect for a music session. He then simply showed them an example from the class before, read out the learning objective and let them go. This was such an effective method as the children were able to be as creative as they liked with software, playing around with synths, bass' or just fun sound effects. Even those who normally find it difficult to concentrate started by adding some crazy sound effects, but later took them out when they found good alternatives. This whole lesson taught me that pupils often need to experiment and be imaginative in their learning and from this they will benefit the most.


Even if I had been a part of this fantastic music lesson before starting my degree, I would not have noticed the ways in which the technology was positively affecting the pupil's progress. After just over two months at Plymouth University I now see the use of ICT in the classroom completely differently as it needs to be a tool for supporting interactive learning rather than a tool to help teachers alone.

So yeah, loving my first teaching placement and hopefully I'll get round to sharing some more thoughts on it soon!

@HannahSheltonTT

5 comments:

  1. Your perspective certainly is changing and your perceptions on the use of ICT as an effective teaching and learning tool will be challenged as you visit more classrooms and schools. As you have found, some classrooms will have tech they don't utilise due to a myriad of excuses whilst on other occasions you will see tech being used in the most inspiring ways.

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  2. What a week. It does sound like you are getting a really varied experience. For me IT is a tool, not the focus of the lesson, even an IT lesson. I love the experience of the music lesson, but you have to facilitate really effectively with such a loose structure. Great experience though!

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  3. Thank you for the comments, it's good to hear other people's experiences and views on the topic!

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