ICT-mediated Instructions

ICT-mediated Instruction

A well-organized plan to guide how the issues will be addressed in the process of implementating ICT- mediated instruction.

PLAN

To : All staff members of the Morris Vanterpool Primary School

Subject: Introducing ICT( Information Communication Technology) -mediated instruction in our school.

Administrator for this exercise: Hamewatie Narine

Introduction

The Ministry of Education along with our curriculum officers who are in collaboration with some members of the private sectors, aim to change and develop new ways of teaching using the ICT-mediated instruction approach in the various subject areas in order to suit and meet the demands of this modern world of technology in which we are living in. As primary teachers we have to engage in workshops sessions and developmental programmes in order to meet the various needs and wants of our students, parents, the community and most of all ourselves. The professional team put together by the ministry of education is there to advice, guide, support and help us teachers to be able to achieve this goal and keep up with ICT in our school.

In the following you would find a well organized plan in which I have put together in order for us to be able to use Information Communication Technology Mediated instruction at our school successfully.

Justifying the introduction of ICT-mediated instruction in schools

With the use of ICT mediated instruction in schools it will help us teachers in making our job easier and learning more understanding and fun for our students. In our schools today we have a diversity of students who all learn differently and to help us meet the educational needs of our students in order to produce for the future, people who are functionally literate and well educated, then the ICT mediated approach is the way forward for our schools. Howard Gardner states children learn in a various ways which involves the senses of feeling, touching, seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting. For example by being able to use Information Communication Technology in our classrooms all of the various intelligences of our diverse students will be displayed in some way or the other. In our classrooms we have students who grasp concepts differently and with the use of ICT those students who learn by hearing and remembering or seeing and remembering etc, will be able to have a better understanding of concepts taught to them hence we would have more students with great passing results at the end of the term/school year. So imagine if you are teaching ‘nouns’ using a story along with activities about ‘nouns’ projected on a white board/interactive white board, the students will be able to see the story as well as hear it and learn the concepts of ‘nouns’ easily and you would have more interested students who want to learn because of appealing to their different senses in the various ways they learn.

How you will guide the development of school-based policies to guide the initiative.

In order for this to be executed and successful we would all have to cooperatively and patiently follow given guide lines that will be implemented by the ministry of education. First we would have to go through the new developed curriculum guides with the ICT integration in order to understand how to use and plan our daily lessons. Assessment will be done by me as well as the team from the ministry of education in terms of lesson observation and checking students progress report, in order to assess skills, knowledge and attitude deliver by the teachers and learnt by the students. This will be done in order to make any necessary improvements or changes to the implementation of the integrated approach of ICT in the various subject areas and keeping in check with our school based policies.

Areas of prepration for the initiative.

First I will have to have a PTA ( Parent Teachers Association) meeting to inform parents what changes the school will be making and seek their help and cooperativeness in order to help make the necessary changes and getting the needed resources in which the school is going to need to be successful with the ICT integration approach. I am also going to involve our interested parents in our development sessions and workshops so that we can all see and understand the importance of ICT in our school. In our workshops I will use videos and the various ICT tools to show the staff how to plan their lessons and use ICT in their classrooms for various activities, as well as show the parents how they can use ICT at home in helping their children to do homework and reinforce concepts and skills taught by their teachers.

Provisions for students with physical or mental disabilities.

Provisions will be made to cater for learners with physical or mental disabilities in that the integration of ICT will in itself help to eliminate some of their behavior and frustrated problems they experience in writing, reading, hearing and seeing because they will be engaged in motivating and interested activities using ICT tools. Assistant teachers will be provided to help the trained and qualified teacher in delivering the daily programmes to these students so that learning is taking place in some way or the other for these students. The necessary adjustment to furniture and access around the classroom will also be altered by the school’s maintenance officers to ensure that these students are in a catered and comfortable learning environment.

The overall provisions that will be made to monitor and evaluate the initiative.

The provisions that I would have to make in order to monitor and evaluate the initiative are as follow:

I will have a group of qualified IT persons along with education officers working with me, whom I can relate with to get advice or help on what to do in terms of difficult issues in which I would not be able to easily handle.

I will also set up a whatsApp chat with the teachers so that they can contact me easily if they need help with a problem or just need to ask a quick question or me sending a useful video/information to them with the use of ICT in their daily lessons. The email will also be used.

Next I will carry out monthly assessment on both the teacher and students to check the progress to see if any regulations/adjustments need to be made and ensure that the teachers are using ICT in their lessons correctly to meet the needs of their students.

Use evaluation from assessment to get help for the specific teacher or hold workshops/development sessions for the staff to aid with any difficulty or get whatever required ICT resources.

Also set up scheduled time for student who doesn’t have access to a computer or internet at home so that they can use the computer if they need to do their homework.

References:

Howard Gardner(1983) . Frames of Mind. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://www.institute4learning.com/multiple_intelligences.php

Redecker, C., et al. (2011). The Future of Learning: Preparing for Change. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

Butz, C. W. (1989).Student and parent satisfaction with online education at the elementary and secondary levels

(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest (UMI 3143377)