Ouch my aching shoulders!
Hmm, it has been 6 days since I last had a good sleep or a clear head. I've been on the road to schools in Kelantan, Trengganu and KL, having lugged the luggage, the notebook and the file for the research, a break is most welcome.
Finally the preliminary data collection is done. Talked to more than 30 teachers, 90 kids and many MOE officers. The next thing we need to do is to process the data from the questionnaire and the interviews plus observations.
Let me paint the picture of the classroom with computers. They have beautiful curtains, skirting on the tables, flowers, posters, totally decorated classroom, a real novelty especially in the east coast. The kids looked very comfortable with the new toys, like they have had it for more than 3 months. They seem to know what to do with the tool. They fingered the tool most of the time, even when the teacher was talking or showing things to them. They told me that they use the computer to download games, songs, videos, and in fact surf the internet most of the time. Ever got caught? well, sometimes.... anyway, we do it again when the teacher is not looking.
I would say that the kids are very passionate about using computers in the classroom. However, they need more guidance from the teachers and more monitoring too. Their ICT skills are developing faster than the teachers'. It is unfortunate that the teachers are not given that kind of opportunities to be with the computers all day, I'm sure they would be excellent and if they have more time with the kids they would be able to learn from each other and learning would be more fun!
Teachers need to benchmark good practices, which is still rare. ICT in teaching in learning has its own literature and principles and theories to guide the teachers, however, not many teachers would be reading in this area, which is a shame really, when there is so much they could learn. Learning is an attitude, if we feel that the tool is a burden and that we can still get by using the old way, well, it would be difficult to transfrom, because it is so easy to be doing the same old thing over and over even with the new tools we would still force it to serve us in the old way.
What is the new way for the new tools? It needs someone to keep researching and testing the tools and the pedagogy and the learning to be able to prescribe the right way!
I'll continue the story later. Perhaps after I have processed the data.
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2 comments:
Hi Prof.,
Well, it is a real happiness to hear that kids are loving the ICT tools in that particular school though it is not a surprise since this is the ICT era!
Anyway, it is very true that teachers should be well trainned and well equipped with these skills as to face the challenging wave of ICT in schools and to push for advancement.
Indeed, one word of sincerity, the Technology course has given me a great great exposure to the use of ICT as a future teahcer and I would like to say a big big thanks to all that involve...
I shall too, agree that the passionate fire towards mastering the ICT skills shall be burning, in all, the teahcers and the pupils, as well as in me~
Hi Prof.
Happy to know that you brought in 1:1 computing to Kelantan and Terengganu. Well, you know most of the time these ulu-ulu places are always left behind when it comes to ICT. As a kelantanese, proud to see the progress. At least, there would be an equal distribution in rural and urban. Keep it up Prof. Longing to see the changes. Thank you for the effort.
Regards,
One of your TECHno warriors
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