As I'm not teaching this summer, I can't begin to implement the planned project in my class. But what I can do is to write about it so that when I get back to school, it'll be ready for implementation.
My draft report is due to my partner (I still don't know who that will be, or whose project I will evaluate) by August 11, and it is slowly shaping up. At the beginning of this course I had only a vague idea about what it was going to be, but the readings from Week 5 were truly eye-opening and helped me decide on the topic and the tool.
Webquests present an opportunity for implementing something new not only for me, but also for my students. My plan is to create a long-term webquest that actually consists of several webquests, on the topic of English speaking countries. Groups of students will be given a list of countries to choose from. For each country I am going to prepare a webquest with detailed tasks to avoid confusion. Students will also be given assessment rubrics so that they know what is expected of them. The final product will be in the form of an interactive Power Point presentation given by groups of students. Before the beginning of the project, I think it'll be helpful to show my students how to create interactive presentations. Thus, the project will begin and end with presentations, and as it progresses, the teacher-centered classroom will gradually turn into a student-oriented environment.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Week 6: Giving up control
As this course is progressing, I’m learning more and more about how teaching with technology can make students engaged. I thought that I was integrating technology in my classroom in many of my lessons, when I was actually doing nothing but showing off with colorful slides, lively animations and shiny web-based tools.
I think I am now ready to create a learner-centered environment. I have just read a wonderful post on the What Ed Said blog. In her post, Edna expresses her own past and present ideas about teaching, learning and assessment. The differences between then and now are reflected in my teaching as well.
Among other things, I too used to think that the teacher and the students should perform completely different roles. Today, my students glow with pride when they teach me how to use a web tool or a gadget; I’m committed to lifelong learning and I do it with great joy.
Furthermore, I strongly agree with Edna that the classroom doesn’t need to be quiet. Noise is acceptable if the students are involved in the discussion. Chaos isn’t. If I manage to create an engaging learner-centred environment, chaotic situations can easily be avoided. I know that I still have to learn a lot about learner engagement. But, I am convinced that my answer to Deborah’s question from her Power Point presentation is definitely in the affirmative: Yes, I’m willing to give up control.
I think I am now ready to create a learner-centered environment. I have just read a wonderful post on the What Ed Said blog. In her post, Edna expresses her own past and present ideas about teaching, learning and assessment. The differences between then and now are reflected in my teaching as well.
Among other things, I too used to think that the teacher and the students should perform completely different roles. Today, my students glow with pride when they teach me how to use a web tool or a gadget; I’m committed to lifelong learning and I do it with great joy.
Furthermore, I strongly agree with Edna that the classroom doesn’t need to be quiet. Noise is acceptable if the students are involved in the discussion. Chaos isn’t. If I manage to create an engaging learner-centred environment, chaotic situations can easily be avoided. I know that I still have to learn a lot about learner engagement. But, I am convinced that my answer to Deborah’s question from her Power Point presentation is definitely in the affirmative: Yes, I’m willing to give up control.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Week 5: Focus on inquiry and collaboration
Up to now I have carried out several different technology related projects, but it was only this week that I found out about webquests. This week was a real eye opener for me.
This week I created my first webquest ever. Developing a webquest itself isn't difficult at all, as all we need to do is follow the precise guide on Zunal, but when we want to write a webquest from scratch, it is a good idea that we already know what we want to do, how we plan to carry it out, what is expected of students, what the final product will be and how students will be evaluated. We must dedicate quite an amount of time and a lot of effort if we want to develop a well-written webquest. However, it is definitely worth it, as the possibilities are immense and I'm sure the students will find it motivating and rewarding.
I have made a decision: From now on, the projects in my class will be focussed upon inquiry-based tasks!
I also strongly support my colleagues' suggestion to connect our students. They will significantly benefit from the collaboration with students from different parts of the world, not only in language learning, but also in learning about other countries, their people and their traditions, which will lead to mutual understanding and respect. Last Septmeber I launched a project with my students, called Greetings from the world. They were supposed to create multimedia posters known as Glogsters, about different parts of their own country. We are really proud because we have been joined by 300 students and their teachers from 10 countries who shared their posters with us. My students were provided with the opportunity to learn with and from their peers and this has been a one-of-a-kind experience not only for them, but for me too.
This week I created my first webquest ever. Developing a webquest itself isn't difficult at all, as all we need to do is follow the precise guide on Zunal, but when we want to write a webquest from scratch, it is a good idea that we already know what we want to do, how we plan to carry it out, what is expected of students, what the final product will be and how students will be evaluated. We must dedicate quite an amount of time and a lot of effort if we want to develop a well-written webquest. However, it is definitely worth it, as the possibilities are immense and I'm sure the students will find it motivating and rewarding.
I have made a decision: From now on, the projects in my class will be focussed upon inquiry-based tasks!
I also strongly support my colleagues' suggestion to connect our students. They will significantly benefit from the collaboration with students from different parts of the world, not only in language learning, but also in learning about other countries, their people and their traditions, which will lead to mutual understanding and respect. Last Septmeber I launched a project with my students, called Greetings from the world. They were supposed to create multimedia posters known as Glogsters, about different parts of their own country. We are really proud because we have been joined by 300 students and their teachers from 10 countries who shared their posters with us. My students were provided with the opportunity to learn with and from their peers and this has been a one-of-a-kind experience not only for them, but for me too.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Week 5: I found what I was looking for
One of the issues I’m likely to encounter in my class is students’ lack of motivation. After reading Susan Gaer’s article “Less Teaching and More Learning” (1998) I believe I have found a solution to my problem. The solution is called Project-Based Learning(PBL. Gaer’s article is a real revelation to me.
She gives examples of how she managed to achieve what we are all striving for: a learner-centered environment where the teacher is only a facilitator and where the students perform their tasks with excitement. To learn with excitement? Is it really possible? I strongly believe it is, provided that the teacher thoroughly prepares the project. Although Gaer argues that advanced students will create projects by themselves, I don’t think that this is possible in my school, because the students have been taught in a traditional way in almost all the subjects they have studied so far. However, after a certain period of time and a number of projects carried out, I think they will be able to devise their own projects according to their needs and wishes.
It is important that the project is well-prepared in advance. In order to do this the teacher must understand his/her students and know their learning styles. Students are different, their needs differ as well, and so do their learning styles. I think it might be a good idea to carry out several projects in one class. According to the Sun Associates’s article A Project-Based Learning Activity About Project-Based Learning (2003) there are four types of learning styles:
1) Spatial/Visual learner
2) Language-oriented learner
3) Kinetic learner
4) Logical learner.
In the article, the learning styles are thoroughly explained and examples are given for the teachers to choose what is the most appropriate for his/her class.
She gives examples of how she managed to achieve what we are all striving for: a learner-centered environment where the teacher is only a facilitator and where the students perform their tasks with excitement. To learn with excitement? Is it really possible? I strongly believe it is, provided that the teacher thoroughly prepares the project. Although Gaer argues that advanced students will create projects by themselves, I don’t think that this is possible in my school, because the students have been taught in a traditional way in almost all the subjects they have studied so far. However, after a certain period of time and a number of projects carried out, I think they will be able to devise their own projects according to their needs and wishes.
It is important that the project is well-prepared in advance. In order to do this the teacher must understand his/her students and know their learning styles. Students are different, their needs differ as well, and so do their learning styles. I think it might be a good idea to carry out several projects in one class. According to the Sun Associates’s article A Project-Based Learning Activity About Project-Based Learning (2003) there are four types of learning styles:
1) Spatial/Visual learner
2) Language-oriented learner
3) Kinetic learner
4) Logical learner.
In the article, the learning styles are thoroughly explained and examples are given for the teachers to choose what is the most appropriate for his/her class.
Internet connection
This past week I noticed that our Nicenet classroom was a bit quieter than over the first three weeks. While my colleagues’ absence was justified by teaching, grading, testing or other important events such as a wedding, I struggled with the lack of Internet signal. I spent this week on the Island of Murter on the Adriatic Sea, and before the trip I bought a mobile Internet USB stick. Unfortunately, the strength of the signal was too low and more often than not all I could get was the unwanted “cannot open the page” message.
On Sunday afternoon I went to another island, up north, called Krk (BTW, did you know that in the Croatian part of the Adriatic there are around 1200 islands, but only 66 are inhabited?), where I am going to spend the next 10 days with my family. Luckily, the Internet access doesn’t seem to be an issue here so I’ll be able to fully participate in the discussions of the following weeks.
On Sunday afternoon I went to another island, up north, called Krk (BTW, did you know that in the Croatian part of the Adriatic there are around 1200 islands, but only 66 are inhabited?), where I am going to spend the next 10 days with my family. Luckily, the Internet access doesn’t seem to be an issue here so I’ll be able to fully participate in the discussions of the following weeks.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Week 4: Reading/Writing/Vocabulary Skill-Building
Krajka’s article Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction (2000) gives detailed descriptions on how to teach writing in secondary schools, with emphasis on different writing genres. This article is also an excellent resource of links to web-based materials necessary for teaching writing.
However, there are certain points that I disagree with. Krajka argues that “the teacher's wide computer expertise and his active role both before and during the on-line lesson are the most crucial keys to the success of such a lesson”. While the teacher’s deep involvement in all aspects of a CALL lesson is undeniable, I strongly disagree with Krajka’s argument that teachers should be computer experts if they want to integrate technology in their classroom, because such a notion is likely to influence the majority of un-tech-savvy teachers to refrain from using Interent based resources in their calssrooms. I believe that they must be encouraged to make use of the available on-line materials. Besides becoming aware of a number of advantages of on-line instruction, such as contemporary content, possibility of collaborative activites, no cost (mostly) or the authenticity of web based content, not tech-savvy teachers should be informed about possible technology mulfunctions, which are quite common so that it definitely can’t be their fault if something goes wrong; neither should they feel embarrassed if they encounter a problem that is outside their domain to repair. These are the reasons why they should prepare a “contigency” lesson plan so that they are ready for any uncalled for situation.
Krajka also argues that CALL should be employed in a class with at least four and preferably six hours of English per week. Would this mean that technology can’t be integrated in “general track” secondary schools in Croatia, with only three 45-minute lessons of English a week? I strongly oppose this view. In my opinion, the number of weekly EFL lessons is not an obstacle and it can’t be an excuse for not using computers in the classroom. I would suggest teachers rather skip certain units from the coursebook in exchange for web-based materials, because of the abovementioned advantages for technology-enhanced teaching.
I used to be a teacher who strictly followed the coursebook, only rarely venturing on topics not covered by the textbook. Probably because as a Non-Native English Speaker, the coursebook always seemed to offer a “safe haven”. However, research has shown that computer technologies can enhance vocabulary building and reading proficiency (Constantinescu, 2007). To this I would also add our last weeks’ readings and discussions, in which we emphasized the importance of technology in the acuqisition of speaking and listening skills, along with pronunciation teaching.
Another important point is that coursebook nowadays are accompanied not only by
CDRom-s, but also by the IWB materials and webpages for each of the units. This and the available web-based resources allow the teachers to tailor the required coursebook to the needs of the 21st century learners.
However, there are certain points that I disagree with. Krajka argues that “the teacher's wide computer expertise and his active role both before and during the on-line lesson are the most crucial keys to the success of such a lesson”. While the teacher’s deep involvement in all aspects of a CALL lesson is undeniable, I strongly disagree with Krajka’s argument that teachers should be computer experts if they want to integrate technology in their classroom, because such a notion is likely to influence the majority of un-tech-savvy teachers to refrain from using Interent based resources in their calssrooms. I believe that they must be encouraged to make use of the available on-line materials. Besides becoming aware of a number of advantages of on-line instruction, such as contemporary content, possibility of collaborative activites, no cost (mostly) or the authenticity of web based content, not tech-savvy teachers should be informed about possible technology mulfunctions, which are quite common so that it definitely can’t be their fault if something goes wrong; neither should they feel embarrassed if they encounter a problem that is outside their domain to repair. These are the reasons why they should prepare a “contigency” lesson plan so that they are ready for any uncalled for situation.
Krajka also argues that CALL should be employed in a class with at least four and preferably six hours of English per week. Would this mean that technology can’t be integrated in “general track” secondary schools in Croatia, with only three 45-minute lessons of English a week? I strongly oppose this view. In my opinion, the number of weekly EFL lessons is not an obstacle and it can’t be an excuse for not using computers in the classroom. I would suggest teachers rather skip certain units from the coursebook in exchange for web-based materials, because of the abovementioned advantages for technology-enhanced teaching.
I used to be a teacher who strictly followed the coursebook, only rarely venturing on topics not covered by the textbook. Probably because as a Non-Native English Speaker, the coursebook always seemed to offer a “safe haven”. However, research has shown that computer technologies can enhance vocabulary building and reading proficiency (Constantinescu, 2007). To this I would also add our last weeks’ readings and discussions, in which we emphasized the importance of technology in the acuqisition of speaking and listening skills, along with pronunciation teaching.
Another important point is that coursebook nowadays are accompanied not only by
CDRom-s, but also by the IWB materials and webpages for each of the units. This and the available web-based resources allow the teachers to tailor the required coursebook to the needs of the 21st century learners.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Week 4: Is motivation an issue?
I'm going to integrate technology in my class of 27 16-year-old students, who I'll be teaching for second year in a row.
I already introduced technolgy enhanced learning in their class on two occasions last year: They described themselves briefly in a post on a social networking site, Ning, which I opened for this purpose. Students were extremely motivated to do this task, as their work was published on-line and read by their peers. However, as the Ning network was private and no students from other schools or countries joined us, they soon lost interest in pursuing it any longer. Having had other things to teach, I didn’t encourage them with the introduction of possible new topics, so that the network communication slowly died out.
The other computer assisted lesson was on Earth Day, when I pledged to go paperless, along with more than a thousand teachers worldwide. I introduced the topic of Earth Day to my students with an online quiz, followed by a video listening quiz on more environmental topics. After that I showed them a video on how to make Zimmertwins animated movies. Zimmertwins is a free tool for creating cartoons. Again, this activity sparked students’ interest which resulted in a number of lively animated movies. The activity, however, never gave rise to a series of cartoons created with no teacher incentive.
I don't believe that motivation will be an issue in my class next year, as we all know that students eagerly do what they like. The problem is how to keep them motivated.
I already introduced technolgy enhanced learning in their class on two occasions last year: They described themselves briefly in a post on a social networking site, Ning, which I opened for this purpose. Students were extremely motivated to do this task, as their work was published on-line and read by their peers. However, as the Ning network was private and no students from other schools or countries joined us, they soon lost interest in pursuing it any longer. Having had other things to teach, I didn’t encourage them with the introduction of possible new topics, so that the network communication slowly died out.
The other computer assisted lesson was on Earth Day, when I pledged to go paperless, along with more than a thousand teachers worldwide. I introduced the topic of Earth Day to my students with an online quiz, followed by a video listening quiz on more environmental topics. After that I showed them a video on how to make Zimmertwins animated movies. Zimmertwins is a free tool for creating cartoons. Again, this activity sparked students’ interest which resulted in a number of lively animated movies. The activity, however, never gave rise to a series of cartoons created with no teacher incentive.
I don't believe that motivation will be an issue in my class next year, as we all know that students eagerly do what they like. The problem is how to keep them motivated.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Week 3: Developing aural/oral skills
As my colleagues have already mentioned, the further we go the tougher it gets. However, although this week's task occupied most of my time, I had a feeling that I fulfilled my requirements with more vigour and zeal than before.
Besides Delicious, we were given a number of readings on teaching listening, speaking and pronunciation along with several websites to explore. The most interesting moment for me was to compare how approaches to teaching pronunciation have changed over the years. In Teaching Listening Comprehension P. Ur (1984) argues that teachers should sensitize students to the existence of notions such as rhythm, stress and intonation, but not go further than that. In her opinion, teaching these patterns is completely unpredictable as they are idiosyncratic and thus too varied to have true value in teaching pronunciation.
On the other hand, M.G. Busà in her New Perspectives In Teaching Pronunciation, claims that a more balanced approach to teaching pronunciation has been adopted over the recent years, with a stronger emphasis on prosody. Busà argues that this significant shift occured because of technology and the development of a variety of speech recognition systems.
Teachers nowadays have access to an array of web-based resources that they can use with their students to practise pronunciation. There is no need, however, to completely eliminate a foreign accent, but the fact that a particular accent can be acquired is unquestionable, as seen in this video, where actress Amy Walker repeats one and the same sentence in 21 different accents.
You might also be intersted in The Speech Accent Archive, a project run by the faculty of the George Mason University.
Besides Delicious, we were given a number of readings on teaching listening, speaking and pronunciation along with several websites to explore. The most interesting moment for me was to compare how approaches to teaching pronunciation have changed over the years. In Teaching Listening Comprehension P. Ur (1984) argues that teachers should sensitize students to the existence of notions such as rhythm, stress and intonation, but not go further than that. In her opinion, teaching these patterns is completely unpredictable as they are idiosyncratic and thus too varied to have true value in teaching pronunciation.
On the other hand, M.G. Busà in her New Perspectives In Teaching Pronunciation, claims that a more balanced approach to teaching pronunciation has been adopted over the recent years, with a stronger emphasis on prosody. Busà argues that this significant shift occured because of technology and the development of a variety of speech recognition systems.
Teachers nowadays have access to an array of web-based resources that they can use with their students to practise pronunciation. There is no need, however, to completely eliminate a foreign accent, but the fact that a particular accent can be acquired is unquestionable, as seen in this video, where actress Amy Walker repeats one and the same sentence in 21 different accents.
You might also be intersted in The Speech Accent Archive, a project run by the faculty of the George Mason University.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Week 3: Deliciously Organized
I jumped at the opportunity to create my own Delicious page. Delicious is a social bookmarking site: bookmarking because you can keep all your favourite sites online, so that they're accessible anywhere anytime; and social because you can connect with like-minded people who want to share their favourite links. Is there anything better than sharing and connecting?
Anyway, creating a page was fairly simple, especially with my Yahoo account. I easily installed the Bookmarklet on my editor bar so that I can access the page with just a click.
Adding pages wasn't difficult at all. However, I believe that the Notes part of the bookmark should contain relevant information, so that our network members immediately know what the site is about.
Still, there is one tiny disadvantage. There are no folders on Delicious, you can group your links according to tags only. I think with folders my Delicous page would be easier to browse, but perhaps it's only the force of habit.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
In between weeks
The second week's tasks are completed. I submitted a number of comments to my colleagues' Nicenet posts as well as to their blogs, but right now I'm asking myself if I could have commented more than that. Because it's the diligence and the hard work of my dear colleagues from all over the world that makes me question my work so far.
Up to now I have attended several webinars, but never have my coursemates been so persevering in carrying out their weekly tasks, so willing to provide helpful advice, so responsive to participants' needs as in this course. It is with great pleasure that I'm taking part in this course.
As we're now at the end of the demanding second week, I'd like to show you a video about the importance of librarians, which we discussed in several Nicenet posts. It's a video created by students and faculty of the Washington University. I hope you don't mind that the librarians are singing to Lady Gaga's song Pokerface. Please consider it to be just a little treat for the end of the week.
Up to now I have attended several webinars, but never have my coursemates been so persevering in carrying out their weekly tasks, so willing to provide helpful advice, so responsive to participants' needs as in this course. It is with great pleasure that I'm taking part in this course.
As we're now at the end of the demanding second week, I'd like to show you a video about the importance of librarians, which we discussed in several Nicenet posts. It's a video created by students and faculty of the Washington University. I hope you don't mind that the librarians are singing to Lady Gaga's song Pokerface. Please consider it to be just a little treat for the end of the week.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Week 2: Looking back ... and ahead
We were assigned four different tasks this week. I made a decision to start off with the least demanding task, which in my opinion was web searching.
I thought I knew everything about it, so how difficult could it be? "Everything" ranged from knowing how to use the google searchbox to understanding the difference in the results I get if my query is safely placed between quotation marks.
The first look at the NoodleToons site, showed how wrong I was. A window to a broad scope of various search engines opened up in front of me. Eager to try something new, my first choice was the Virtual LRC. Unfortunately, the hits this search engine came up with were not satisfactory and I didn't recommend it to my colleagues.
I also learned some tricks of the trade, such as the Boolean operators, the + and - characters and wildcards, which Camelia explained so clearly in her Nicenet posts. To this I would add the domain limit searching which I found in a video tutorial on the Washington University Libraries website. It means that if we use a colon with a three-letter domain (:edu) we can narrow down our search to some extent. We can also use the address of the website to limit the results even further.
My next task was a description of my class, which I did both in a Nicenet post and in a blog post, where I also wrote about the ICT in Croatian schools.
The most challenging task was to write objectives in the ABCD style. I did all the readings, both recommended and required, which helped me immensely in setting my lesson plan objectives. The work done by my colleagues was of great help to me as well, especially Azhar's excellent summary of the learning objectives.
The fourth task was to edit pages of our wiki. I'm familiar with Wikispaces, but had never used Google wikis before. What I found out was that they have similar functions so that I easily added two links and placed a blue pin on the apartment building where I live.
And finally, the last task (number 5, in fact) was writing a reflection on Week 2. All in all, it was a demanding week but I can say that I learned a lot and I'm already looking forward to Week 3.
I thought I knew everything about it, so how difficult could it be? "Everything" ranged from knowing how to use the google searchbox to understanding the difference in the results I get if my query is safely placed between quotation marks.
The first look at the NoodleToons site, showed how wrong I was. A window to a broad scope of various search engines opened up in front of me. Eager to try something new, my first choice was the Virtual LRC. Unfortunately, the hits this search engine came up with were not satisfactory and I didn't recommend it to my colleagues.
I also learned some tricks of the trade, such as the Boolean operators, the + and - characters and wildcards, which Camelia explained so clearly in her Nicenet posts. To this I would add the domain limit searching which I found in a video tutorial on the Washington University Libraries website. It means that if we use a colon with a three-letter domain (:edu) we can narrow down our search to some extent. We can also use the address of the website to limit the results even further.
My next task was a description of my class, which I did both in a Nicenet post and in a blog post, where I also wrote about the ICT in Croatian schools.
The most challenging task was to write objectives in the ABCD style. I did all the readings, both recommended and required, which helped me immensely in setting my lesson plan objectives. The work done by my colleagues was of great help to me as well, especially Azhar's excellent summary of the learning objectives.
The fourth task was to edit pages of our wiki. I'm familiar with Wikispaces, but had never used Google wikis before. What I found out was that they have similar functions so that I easily added two links and placed a blue pin on the apartment building where I live.
And finally, the last task (number 5, in fact) was writing a reflection on Week 2. All in all, it was a demanding week but I can say that I learned a lot and I'm already looking forward to Week 3.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Week 2: Placing my class in broader context
All elementary and secondary schools in Croatia have free broadband Internet access via ADSL and are equipped with at least one computer lab. In 2005, the Ministry of Education introduced computer literacy training as an integral part of teacher education programs in the form of ECDL courses. Approximately 5,000 elementary and secondary school teachers obtain the European Computer Driving License every year.
The Ministry also launched the project of providing free e-mail addresses for all the students and teachers in elementary and secondary schools as well as the creation of schools’ websites. All the teachers and students have been given a digital identity, which enables them to use various services, such as online courses that teachers can use in class, E-courses for teachers, E-learning academy, E-library, online quizzes and the distant learning portal (LMS) among others.
In reality, of course, things work in a different way. The majority of my students own a computer with Internet access and are well-versed in at least one form of the new web-based technologies, but sadly, computers come only as a distraction from learning. Only rarely do they use computers for learning.
As for teachers, although most of them are computer literate, they don’t go beyond the basics. Nevertheless, they still want to enhance their teaching with technology, which brings me to the point of the number of studetns who share a computer.
26 computers for 500 students doesn't sound promising at all. Add to this a growing number of "tech-savvy" teachers and what you get is a mad scramble for the two labs. Hence it is that we have a sign up list for the labs, run by the IT teacher on the first come first serve basis. I don’t have to tell you how frequently she is buttonholed by ‘tech savvy’ teachers who want to book a lab before anyone else does. Because the teachers who sign up will never give up their "right", no matter how urgently other teachers need the lab.
This is a photo of one of the labs:
The Ministry also launched the project of providing free e-mail addresses for all the students and teachers in elementary and secondary schools as well as the creation of schools’ websites. All the teachers and students have been given a digital identity, which enables them to use various services, such as online courses that teachers can use in class, E-courses for teachers, E-learning academy, E-library, online quizzes and the distant learning portal (LMS) among others.
In reality, of course, things work in a different way. The majority of my students own a computer with Internet access and are well-versed in at least one form of the new web-based technologies, but sadly, computers come only as a distraction from learning. Only rarely do they use computers for learning.
As for teachers, although most of them are computer literate, they don’t go beyond the basics. Nevertheless, they still want to enhance their teaching with technology, which brings me to the point of the number of studetns who share a computer.
26 computers for 500 students doesn't sound promising at all. Add to this a growing number of "tech-savvy" teachers and what you get is a mad scramble for the two labs. Hence it is that we have a sign up list for the labs, run by the IT teacher on the first come first serve basis. I don’t have to tell you how frequently she is buttonholed by ‘tech savvy’ teachers who want to book a lab before anyone else does. Because the teachers who sign up will never give up their "right", no matter how urgently other teachers need the lab.
This is a photo of one of the labs:
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