Having missed the last session, I am going to reflect on one of the articles that were posted on Edmodo. The one discussing how technology is used as a tool to support instruction. In this article I found many facts that I could relate to. One is how technology itself is the means not the end and how some people regard a technologically conducted class as a class with no teaching as per the old school limiting the teaching process to lecturing students rather than students becoming in charge of their own learning process. It's very true that technology provides more options to the learning process in which students are triggered to search for the information as well presenting their own knowledge in various ways instead of limiting it to traditional assessments and tests. In addition I strongly agree with the point that said how teachers should be involved in planning as well as their own training. Based on previous experience, I second the part where staff training should be accompanied by direct application and model lesson as an evidence of successful trainings because before we used to have training courses after which each was left on his own to apply the training where one was faced with many troubleshootings which couldn't be dealt with at the spot so application is a must to make sure the training paid off and that the staff or teachers would be able to smoothly apply their training in their lesson planning. Team work, sharing experiences and mentoring other teachers are also valuable tools of implementing technology all around school & becoming a general tool implemented easily by all teachers and overcoming many of problems encountered by some teachers who are not technologically oriented.
Heba, I like the first point you mentioned: the fact that teachers should regard technology as a means to facilitate learning and not a waste of instructional time! Also regarding the practice after the training, I surely agree that after our last training , teachers faced a problem implementing some concepts introduced, so yes, an application is a MUST. This is a point that I will take into consideration when planning a new professional development programme for teachers in our school.
I would like to reflect on the related reading about learning styles in applying technology. This was probably one of the most beneficial articles I have read providing not only guidelines to each learning style and its preference but also related links to sites that would accommodate each style. Was also amazed by the fact mentioned about how my own learning style as a teacher would make me more biased to use of the learning tools that fit my learning style & how I need to get put of my comfort zone to adopt more techniques that would help serve students in the same classroom with MI. I would love to apply the diagnostic tool provided with all the studentsand I believe this has to be done at the beginning of the academic year to help the teacher while preparation to tailor the lesson to accomodate as many learning styles as possible which is expected in turn to take a lot of effort but I believe it will definitely be worth it making the lesson more fun, related and help with knowledge retention. As for the controversial other article that learning should focus on the learning outcome rather than the learning style, well as per the debate that went on in class and as declared in class, I believe from my practice that that is the trend we apply most of the time.The learning outcome is usually met however some fall out in the process which again can bring us back to putting learning styles in consideration. As a conclusion I believe that there is no clear cut and a teacher should always be flexible to adopt the technique that best serves her lesson and her students . Thanks a lot for sharing !
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ReplyDeleteHaving missed the last session, I am going to reflect on one of the articles that were posted on Edmodo.
ReplyDeleteThe one discussing how technology is used as a tool to support instruction. In this article I found many facts that I could relate to.
One is how technology itself is the means not the end and how some people regard a technologically conducted class as a class with no teaching as per the old school limiting the teaching process to lecturing students rather than students becoming in charge of their own learning process.
It's very true that technology provides more options to the learning process in which students are triggered to search for the information as well presenting their own knowledge in various ways instead of limiting it to traditional assessments and tests.
In addition I strongly agree with the point that said how teachers should be involved in planning as well as their own training.
Based on previous experience, I second the part where staff training should be accompanied by direct application and model lesson as an evidence of successful trainings because before we used to have training courses after which each was left on his own to apply the training where one was faced with many troubleshootings which couldn't be dealt with at the spot so application is a must to make sure the training paid off and that the staff or teachers would be able to smoothly apply their training in their lesson planning.
Team work, sharing experiences and mentoring other teachers are also valuable tools of implementing technology all around school & becoming a general tool implemented easily by all teachers and overcoming many of problems encountered by some teachers who are not technologically oriented.
Heba, I like the first point you mentioned: the fact that teachers should regard technology as a means to facilitate learning and not a waste of instructional time!
ReplyDeleteAlso regarding the practice after the training, I surely agree that after our last training , teachers faced a problem implementing some concepts introduced, so yes, an application is a MUST. This is a point that I will take into consideration when planning a new professional development programme for teachers in our school.
I would like to reflect on the related reading about learning styles in applying technology. This was probably one of the most beneficial articles I have read providing not only guidelines to each learning style and its preference but also related links to sites that would accommodate each style. Was also amazed by the fact mentioned about how my own learning style as a teacher would make me more biased to use of the learning tools that fit my learning style & how I need to get put of my comfort zone to adopt more techniques that would help serve students in the same classroom with MI. I would love to apply the diagnostic tool provided with all the studentsand I believe this has to be done at the beginning of the academic year to help the teacher while preparation to tailor the lesson to accomodate as many learning styles as possible which is expected in turn to take a lot of effort but I believe it will definitely be worth it making the lesson more fun, related and help with knowledge retention.
ReplyDeleteAs for the controversial other article that learning should focus on the learning outcome rather than the learning style, well as per the debate that went on in class and as declared in class, I believe from my practice that that is the trend we apply most of the time.The learning outcome is usually met however some fall out in the process which again can bring us back to putting learning styles in consideration.
As a conclusion I believe that there is no clear cut and a teacher should always be flexible to adopt the technique that best serves her lesson and her students .
Thanks a lot for sharing !