Activity 11: Final Reflections

Having gone through this module,the journey started out quite smoothly but it intensified when other persons became involved. Vision sharing activities helped me to realise that some individuals are not willing to experiment with new ideas. It was after conducting the survey that I understood why some persons were reluctant to use ICTs in teaching and learning. I am now even more desirous of concretizing my school's partnership with one of the country's major telecommunication company so that we can work together over a period of time to get teachers and students more familiar with ICT and fully integrate it into teaching and learning. I am also confident that my colleagues are now willing to share in implementing the ICT vision of the school. Our major focus would be on professional development and training using existing ICT resources. As knowledge and skills in using ICT in teaching and learning increase, other ICT tools will be sourced. I will support my own continued learning by scouting for any appropriate professional development activities that are available locally,regionally and online and participating in them. I will also share my skills and knowledge with other schools so that I will always be strengthening  my knowledge and skills base.

Activity 10: Partnership Letter

Urlings Primary School

Urlings Village

St. Mary’s

Antigua.

E-mail: Urlingsprimaryschool@gmail.com

12th May 2013.

The Manager

Lime Antigua

Clarehall

St.John’s

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you on behalf of the school as the ICT cordinator. In an effort to make technology an integral part of the school’s curriculum, we are embarking on a project to incorporate ICT into teaching and learning so that our students and teachers can acquire 21^st century skills.

Your contribution to the project would go a long way in improving the teaching and learning environment of the school. We would be very grateful, if you would agree to partner with us in working towards realizing our vision for all learners and educators to acquire the highest quality training, skills and knowledge in using ICTs across all areas of the school’s curriculum so they can be productive and lifelong learners.

I would like to thank you for considering our request to team up with us for integrating ICT. If you have any queries regarding this project, please feel free to contact us at the address given above or at email urlingsprimaryschool@gmail.com.

Yours sincerely,
 

 ________________
Joycelyn Henry
Principal

______________

Temika Christian

Activity 9- Creating a Shared Vision

It is imperative that all stakeholders are included in creating a school's vision in order to obtain mutual support and to ensure proper implementation.

Activity 8- Learning Area Vision

  Vision
 

The vision is for all learners and educators to acquire the highest quality training, skills and knowledge in using ICTs across all areas of the school’s curriculum so they can be productive and lifelong learners. This vision is attained when

-  ICT is used in novel and creative ways to improve students’ achievements thereby encouraging variety in the way the curriculum is delivered and assessed.

- Stronger links are forged with parents and other key stakeholders so that a learning community is created and there is awareness of teaching and learning activities in the classroom.

-  All staff and students are confident, competent and independent ICT users.

-  To provide and environment where there is equity in accessing ICT tools and resources.

Mathematics

ICT will enable students to engage in-depth investigations that are designed to enhance mathematical content by posing open-ended questions that require collecting data, looking for patterns and forming and verifying conjectures and using web-based tools to learn or reinforce concepts and solve problems.

*  Use of automated classroom response systems that will enable teaches to get  and disseminate specific feedback on students’ performances.

*  Use computers and calculators to solve authentic problems.

* Utilization of a variety of web resources for games and simulations. They will visit math sites such as www.mathplayground.com/index.html which is an action-packed site for k-6 students providing engaging games that encourage students to challenge themselves.

*  Students will be allowed to use the CD’s that accompany their textbooks to engage in interactive activities on different topics in the curriculum.

*  Use virtual manipulatives to explore key mathematical concepts.

Social Studies

Develop and model social and cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools as well as computer applications.

-  Use instant messaging to provide feedback to students who are having difficulties completing given tasks or to discuss topics with teachers.

-Set up brainstorming tools such as drop box so that students can organise information by activating prior knowledge on a particular topic to be studied.

-  Collect data using observations and surveys and represent them using a variety of presentation tools that are available on the computer.

-  Students will engage in project based-learning and collaborate and communicate with experts in the community.

- A variety of assessment tools will be used to assess students’ process and product.

Science

ICT will be used to engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using a variety of technological tools and resources.

*  Students will use wikis to collaborate during group projects.

*  Use the internet to conduct researches.

*  Use You Tube videos to introduce lessons or provide students with vicarious experiences on different topics.

*  Use spreadsheet software to graph results from experiments and share them with others.

*  Students will create multimedia presentations for science Fair Projects.

Language Arts

The use of ICT’s will promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify conceptual understanding and thinking, planning and creative processes as well as sharing of information.

-  To encourage reading during vacation, by setting up classroom blog and posting short stories for students to read then comment upon and discuss with their classmates who chose the same story.

-  Teachers will allow students to test the difficulty level of readings using tools in Microsoft words such as Flesch-Kincaid  Readability Scale which calculates the complexity of a piece of writing.

-  Use social media to encourage students to communicate with teachers and peers.

-  Students will be able to spell check and grammar check their compositions for errors before publishing them.

-Create stories using story board and retell them to an audience.

Conclusion

Effective implementation of ICT in learning areas across the curriculum is complex and requires strategic management and coordination within school policies. A shared vision must be developed by all stakeholders since it provides direction at all stages of ICT planning, implementation and evaluation. It also has a compelling heave that inspires and empowers people to help in the realization of the vision and develop a sense of shared responsibility for student learning. Therefore, all visions must be constantly communicated to stakeholders so that there can be mutual support and encouragement among staff as they strive towards realizing the vision.

Activity 7-The importance of vision and the clarifying role of a leader

In both articles, the idea of creating a vision stood out for me.The first article 'Why Vision Matters', the author stressed that without a shared vision there would not be any mutual understanding and co-operation in the workplace. My school as it stands presently does not have an ICT vision and being apart of this course has given me the impetus to work along with my colleagues to create such a vision. The participatory leadership style will help in helping to kick start the ICT integration process at my school. Once persons are given a voice, they tend to be more inspired to participate in change process. In the second article 'The Art of Chaordic leadership" the author is seemingly promoting the harmonious blending of both order and chaos principles where both is in equilibrium.This style of leadership would be irrelevant to my school situation.

Activity 6-Models and stages of Technology change

Educational change must be continuous and ongoing so that the difference can be felt by stakeholders involved. Change cannot be expected until the intended adopters clearly understands the proposed change and leaders of the change process make accommodations for dealing with possible resistance to change. Must change should not be expected in the first instance but as the process becomes more engraved in the teachers, more improvement can be realised.

My biggest feat in achieving technology in my school is intrinsic in nature. There are a few teachers who are just set in their ways and are not willing to change because of workload and there are those who would not change because of the person leading the change effort or because they share different beliefs about integrating ICT into teaching and learning.

So far I have learnt that when introducing technology to a school, you must examine the level of development of all teachers then design professional development and training activities that would adequately cater to their needs.