Discussion on ICT in the school

Summary of discussion questions

What do you think about how our students learn? Has it changed over the past years?
More use of IT, availability of information. Students don’t all learn the same/ variety of ways. Multitasking, applying knowledge. More opportunities to learn in different ways, more interactive learning, increase in ICT, student technology savvy ‘digital natives’, moving away from more traditional teaching methods, practical involvement, activities, group work, research on internet, interest, more student focused rather than teacher directed, teacher facilitator, multi tasking, more demanding, more options, use of graphic calculators, declining levels of student commitment to learning now we fear this will continue.

What changes will be needed over the next 5 years?
Use of Internet, games, reliable systems computers, advance workshops, scaffolding to solve problems, thinking processes, more computers, training for staff, accepting of new changes, more connection with students, more critical about sources, 24/7, better reliability, class room blinds, subject amalgamation, more access to technology. Some subjects more than others, some subjects not practical to use interactive material, both technological and traditional factors needed to be balanced, mindful of assessment style used. Has potential, exciting challenges ahead. What are teachers going to teach? Students still need to understand underlying principals, methods, basics, must be able to interpret/apply answers they have.

What changes have you already made to your teaching over the last 3 – 5years?
Availability of technology for everyone, more integration, acceptance to change, paradigm change, data projector, internet resources, becoming more open minded to new ways of learning/methods of learning, less paper work/ worksheets, more electronic, more group work, thinking about how we can incorporate into learning, Power point, data projector, ASTTLE, more group work, discussion, integrated curriculum.

What obstacles will be in the way of you making changes needed?
Money, time, space (room), access, choice, class size, availability of technology in the class room, confusion surrounding ICT, willingness to change, too much assessment, trust, old buildings, knowledge/training. Danger of using technology to teach in the same old way, time to change.

The handout information
Over that past few session we have talked about how our students are changing along with changes to the curriculum and assessment. This has meant changes to our teaching practice with the increasing use of ICT resources, (educational technologies).

We all have different ideas and interpretations of these issues and it would be good to discuss these.
What we would like is for you to mix up in groups of different departments and discuss the questions. Could you please appoint a scribe and record responses on the A3 paper.