Module 3 -Activity 1 reflections

In this activity, I thought it really amazing to see other participants' ideas as I typed mine into the brainstorming application. It was also insightful to see the many different roles of the educator and how they were spelt out by the author, Emilia Potenza. I have performed these roles everyday without actually realizing it. I particularly liked that the roles were in order of the duties that we perform. We must first know the students whom we are teaching to design instructions that would meet their needs. Then lead them in a path that would let them unlock their true potential. Then we still have to evaluate our strategies and continue to research to sharpen our skills. Then we have a responsibility to our community and to be the assessor of learning to ensure that it has taken place. I think that the last role comes naturally as we must be knowledgeable in what we teach to students

Activity 9 reflections

After analyzing the STaR chart I thought that it was a rather useful tool to show where my school was in terms of being ICT ready. I learnt from it because it also showed me where need to realistically reach using the available ICT tools which my school has. I will be visiting this tool from time to time to track my school's position  and progress as we embark on making ICT an integral part of daily school life.

Activity 5 reflections

In the activity 5 which dealt with the integrated approach, its challenges and whose responsibility it is to oversee it, I have learnt a lot. The integrated approach, as far as I understand, basically stresses on the reason for using the computer and not how to use the computer to accomplish tasks. I did the latter when I was a student in secondary school and now that I am a teacher I see the importance to teach students the skills that would prepare them for the real world. The challenges that I may face when using this approach may include working with limited resources and the necessary upkeep of students' net books since many of them are in need of crucial parts e.g. chargers, batteries or even keyboards. I do not consider myself entirely computer savvy but  little by little I will attempt to integrate ICT into my lessons.

Assignment 2 reflections

This assignment required a lot of critical analysis and evaluation. The lesson plan that I chose to evaluate from the many was appealing to me as it showed students using ICT to aid in solving a problem at their school. This lesson provided the students with skills that they would be able to use in later on in their lives. I was actually proud to see my strong points being acknowledged by the assessor with ticks and my mark had improved from the previous assignment. However I still do have a lot to improve on. For the next assignments to come I plan on reading ahead and sending them for the assessor to critique.

Assignment 1 reflections

I have learnt a lot from doing this assignment. I think this assignment attempted to test my ability to use skills in computer literacy to apply to a real life situation such as processing the data from the survey that I collected using graphic representation. This was a skill that I had learnt a long time ago but never really used it often  in a meaningful situation such as this. This assignment shows that teachers have to remember to allow students to partake in meaningful transfer of learning with subjects that we teach and link it with the real world setting. However my survey had some flaws which I will do my best to improve the next time around.

Acivity 4 reflections

It was interesting and insightful to read about Vygotsky's theory and Dr. Mitra's findings. They both have similar ideas in the sense that children learn by donig tasks spontaneously. However, it is my opinion that although students can learn on their own, they still need a guide (teacher) to build on their prerequisite knowledge and to steer them in the right direction to be competent in a changing technological world. I have learnt to talk less and allow students to be in charge of their own learning because I believe in this way tasks will be more meaningful to them.

Activity 2 Reflections

After reading the article by Silvia Ferrero, I found myself nodding in agreement with her. It is true that the younger generation find it a bore to use ICT and the various other modern technology because they are termed as 'Digital natives' (they were born into it) while the not-so-ICT-savvy ones are termed as 'digital migrants'. I consider myself partly a digital migrant because I still have more to learn where ICT is involved. I know sufficient to get along comfortably.  I think that older teachers who are digital migrants can do just as well as the younger generation of teachers.