New Look! What do you say?

Hi everyone,

After browsing through most of the blogs created by my coursemates for MAE 812, I decided to do 2 make-overs for my blog. As you can see, this is my first attempt at blogging so my first reflection was really formal. So the 1st make-over... I've decided to write more personal reflections and do it in a causal style. 2nd make-over which is still in progress... I'm trying to see how I can link everyone's blogs onto mine (as what some of you have done).

After attending Week 3's MAE 812 lesson, I feel that the teacher, students & ICT are actually interdependent. In order for a lesson to be successful, all 3 elements must play their roles well. For a start, I (the teacher) need to know WHY ICT should be used in a particular lesson. Only then can I move on to create an effective task for students. As far as possible, lessons should provide opportunities for cooperation & collaboration rather than using it as a convenient replacement of a pen & paper assignment.

I shan't go on to summarize what I've learnt during the lesson. Instead, I'll share with you what I have in mind and hopefully, some of you will respond. This year, I'm taking a good P3 class. Most of the kids are exposed to technology. I gave them a journal writing title 'My Dream School' & generated a class discussion of an IT school, using Beacon Primary as an example. In fact, I tried to make myself sound 'smart' by using terms like 'laptop', 'tablet', 'stylus' etc... Guess what? The kids knew what these terms mean and could even go on & tell me more!

Using the idea of a blog that Dr Phillip has started with the intention of letting us give comments & gaining more knowledge, I thought of getting my students to have their own blogs too. In fact, some of them already have their own blogs. I will divide them into groups where they're supposed to post reflections after certain lessons (eg. science). Members in the groups will then respond and generate more discussion from there. This will mean that students need not do their reflections in their Science Journals. They'll do them in their blogs & more students can view their work. I'm just toying with this idea as I'm not sure if I'll be able to assess their understanding well based on their blogs. This can also be extented to English Journals so that more students with creative writings can share them with the rest.

What do you think? Have your say please...