Some thoughts on the three cases.
Case: Laptop Case
- For the laptop case, and judging from what the school initiatives and visions' set out to achieve, it appears to be an innovative school that dedicates itself to the integration of ICT.
- It is a well funded school, committed to technical advancement, having deployed 50 locally networked Macintosh multi-media computers to its students.
Innovative Element:
- Laptops are used in all subjects within the school and used for writing, preparation of presentations, communication and Internet searches.
- Importantly, project oriented work makes up a large part of class time and therefore, laptops, as a medium, occupy a key role in bringing collaboration, mutual collaboration, counselling and self organisation /autonomy as part of the learning process.
Conclusion:
- Though the argument for innovation exists, the degree to which is unclear without drilling down into what the teachers are specifically doing with the laptops in their classrooms.
- As a conclusion, it is difficult to determine whether the learning objectives - and its intended outcomes - are most innovative or not. Neither does it clearly describe whether it has positively won over the teachers - one third of the teachers who have been skeptical towards these activities.
- For the laptop case, and judging from what the school initiatives and visions' set out to achieve, it appears to be an innovative school that dedicates itself to the integration of ICT.
- It is a well funded school, committed to technical advancement, having deployed 50 locally networked Macintosh multi-media computers to its students.
Innovative Element:
- Laptops are used in all subjects within the school and used for writing, preparation of presentations, communication and Internet searches.
- Importantly, project oriented work makes up a large part of class time and therefore, laptops, as a medium, occupy a key role in bringing collaboration, mutual collaboration, counselling and self organisation /autonomy as part of the learning process.
Conclusion:
- Though the argument for innovation exists, the degree to which is unclear without drilling down into what the teachers are specifically doing with the laptops in their classrooms.
- As a conclusion, it is difficult to determine whether the learning objectives - and its intended outcomes - are most innovative or not. Neither does it clearly describe whether it has positively won over the teachers - one third of the teachers who have been skeptical towards these activities.
Case: Chilean & Belgium Case
Innovative Element:
- In the Chilean & Belgium case, connectedness was innovative because the Chilean students established international collaborations with Belgium adults. The teacher developed a coordinated activity in conjunction with a colleague in Belgium.
- Technology, specifically the various tools that were applied - e-mail, web-cam & real time computer conversations - broke down distance barriers.
Conclusion:
- However, “connectedness” is not at the most innovative end because the Belgium learners did not become involved as classroom instructors and monitor students’ progress.
Innovative Element:
- In the Chilean & Belgium case, connectedness was innovative because the Chilean students established international collaborations with Belgium adults. The teacher developed a coordinated activity in conjunction with a colleague in Belgium.
- Technology, specifically the various tools that were applied - e-mail, web-cam & real time computer conversations - broke down distance barriers.
Conclusion:
- However, “connectedness” is not at the most innovative end because the Belgium learners did not become involved as classroom instructors and monitor students’ progress.
Case: Fairy Tale
Innovative Element:
In the Fairy tale case, the nature of the project placed students as active learners.
They were given a choice of tasks: writing a new fairy tale, re-arranging an already existing tale, modifying a tale into radio drama, etc. It was clear that the teacher had a student-centered pedagogy in mind. Students were asked to determine what they wanted to do, and how they wanted to do it. At the end, the products created were in electronic & non-electronic formats (hand-written letters, Word documents) that combined the work of their peers either at their school or of the exchange school. All students were involved in designing & creating products, which indicates that learning as a productive process (P.62). They helped each other on the use of ICT and gave each other support.
Conclusion:
- However, as a group, we didn’t believe that there was a innovative use through ICT. Their use of technology included email and word processing. The teacher simply used ICT to enhance traditional pedagogy rather than use ICT to “organize newer forms of open-ended, collaborative, and extended learning activities (p.104)”
Moreover, the project could have achieved the same learning goals if students were to collaborate with students from other classes within the school.
- For the students’ grade levels and learning abilities, it doesn’t seem possible to show the most innovative use of technology as suggested by Nancy Law. These advanced tools include network and collaboration tools, data-analysis software.
So, as a conclusion, we think that, for this primary school - that is located in a rural area - it could be a very innovative initiative.
Innovative Element:
In the Fairy tale case, the nature of the project placed students as active learners.
They were given a choice of tasks: writing a new fairy tale, re-arranging an already existing tale, modifying a tale into radio drama, etc. It was clear that the teacher had a student-centered pedagogy in mind. Students were asked to determine what they wanted to do, and how they wanted to do it. At the end, the products created were in electronic & non-electronic formats (hand-written letters, Word documents) that combined the work of their peers either at their school or of the exchange school. All students were involved in designing & creating products, which indicates that learning as a productive process (P.62). They helped each other on the use of ICT and gave each other support.
Conclusion:
- However, as a group, we didn’t believe that there was a innovative use through ICT. Their use of technology included email and word processing. The teacher simply used ICT to enhance traditional pedagogy rather than use ICT to “organize newer forms of open-ended, collaborative, and extended learning activities (p.104)”
Moreover, the project could have achieved the same learning goals if students were to collaborate with students from other classes within the school.
- For the students’ grade levels and learning abilities, it doesn’t seem possible to show the most innovative use of technology as suggested by Nancy Law. These advanced tools include network and collaboration tools, data-analysis software.
So, as a conclusion, we think that, for this primary school - that is located in a rural area - it could be a very innovative initiative.
Here is a comparison of the 3 cases using a Triple Venn Diagram
venn_diagram.pdf | |
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