1.
Why the project
had very little effect on the instructional practices employed by the teachers?
a.
Teachers or
students are unwilling to change from the traditional ways of learning and teaching
to using laptop computers which already installed all of the curriculum
materials. Besides, it could also be possible that teachers and
students are unfamiliar to the computers and thus they spend too many times and
energies on how to use it. In that way, they might psychologically resist to
use it so that the positivity and efficiency of both teachers and students will
be reduced.
b.
The selecting of software
in computers or curriculum materials is unsuitable or insufficient for the
needs of instruction. Since those computers and curriculum materials were
provided by school and used without tryouts with learners, once they were unsuitable,
they would have very limited effects on instructional practices.
c.
Pertinence of different subjects is lacked. “It was necessary to consider all the elements of the communication process,
and not just focus on the medium, as many in the audiovisual field tended to do.”(p.19)
Similar to what this chapter mentioned about, besides considering the laptops
and curriculum materials themselves, how to use them by teachers and students
is also important. Furthermore, since there are four subject (math, language
arts, social studies, and science), same instructional way might not be
applicative to all of them.
2.
Strategies that
could have been employed to help mitigate the factors.
a.
A professional
training of computer might be helpful. In the training process, teachers and
student will learn to use the computer and thus they will reduce the costing of
time and energy on dealing with the technical problems during their
teaching/learning time. Besides, in this process, they will be getting familiar
with computer, and become to accept it. I think frequently using is one way to
decrease the psychological resistance.
b.
Before the practice
among the whole school, teaching experiment is needed. In the experiment,
following steps should be considered:
1)
Analyzing the instructional
needs of each subject. This will help to identify the learning needs and goals
of student.
2)
Selecting the
instructional materials. Basing on the learning goals, teachers should identify
which instructional materials will be used to help student to enhance their knowledge
and ability, and thus meet their learning goals. This will help to make sure
that the selected software of computer or curriculum materials are suitable.
3)
Planning the instructional
strategies. Teachers should plan the instructional strategies in order to help
student to master the instructional content and achieve the learning goals.
Especially, the situation of different subject should be considered. This will
help to make the instruction have more pertinence.
4)
Evaluating the
instructional effect. Before putting into practice, evaluating the
instructional effect and improving the details or defects basing on the
evaluation is necessary. This can help to ensure the effectiveness of
instruction.
Also, here is my Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128317393@N06/
Hi Xiao,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with everyone of the points you have made in your post. I also think you make a very important point when you mention that instruction may differ between the four fields of study, I'm not sure anyone else made that point, but I liked it very much. I also think you are correct when you say that if the content is lacking or insufficient then there are bound to be those resistant to adopting the technology, I know from personal experience that I will abandon new apps or other technological advancements if they do not live of to the hype or if learning them is taking up more time than it would be worth to employ the application.
Finally, I enjoyed your photos, you seem to have a good eye for taking pictures, thank you for your post.
Best,
Juan
Xiao,
ReplyDeleteWhen I wrote my reflection I thought in very general terms. You make a great point about how some applications my not apply to each of the content areas and may effect how the technology is used. That is a point I had not considered.
Troy
Your photos were very cool! I also liked the flickr site, I have never used it before and I am wishing I would have taken a look around more before sticking with something I have already used in the past (snapfish).
ReplyDeleteYour idea for an experiment or pilot program is great. The district that I work in recently piloted 2 new reading programs in 2 of our elementary schools. After a full year of piloting 2 programs they chose the program they believed was best. It has so far delivered a good result. The steps that you outlined in your blog would give a full view of things before full implementation. I think choosing a small sample size of teachers and students would be a great way to go through the process you described and help to work out minor bugs or problems before giving laptops to all teachers and students in the 7th grade. Thank you for your ideas.