Reflection (5): ICT as MindTool

ICT as MindTool

What is (ICT)?

It is widely acknowledged that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be used to improve the quality of teaching and learning at any level of education. (ICT) is defined as computer based tools used by people to work with the information and communication processing needs of an organization.

Information and communication technologies offer several opportunities in education:

• First, they can be used as a means of preparing the current generation of students for future workplace.
• ICTs can make the school more efficient or more productive.
• ICTs are seen as means to reform teaching, that is, to stimulate learners to learn actively and independently in a self directed way or in collaboration with others.

What are ICT mind tools?

ICTs are seen as means to reform and innovate teaching that is to stimulate learners to learn actively and independently in a self directed way and/or in collaboration with others. Using ICT in the form of ‘concept maps’ or ‘mind maps’ in stimulating thinking has been a widespread an important area of investigation not only in education but also in other areas. Mind maps have also been used as a means of communication, to help others understand the rationale of an argument or the structure of student’s knowledge, illustrating how ideas are interrelated.

One of the ways of using ICT as a mind tool is: Concept mapping, it is a visual learning approach which is one simple and useful way to organize data while also showing the relationships between the information found. It is an excellent means of getting a look at current levels of understanding. Also it helps student to organize new information and to make meaningful connections between the main idea and other information.

As we can see in the picture, it organizes information by grouping facts and concepts; learning is at a higher level than just memorization of facts. And its easy visualization fosters long-term memory. I think that Visual learning helps students to see how ideas are connected and realize and how information can be grouped and organized. Also students can use diagrams and plots to display large amounts of information in ways that are easy to understand and help reveal relationships and patterns. Finally, Visual learning helps students think critically.

Some useful sites:

1. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SUSE/SEAL/Reports_Papers/Vanides_CM.pdf
2. http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/concept_maps/

Reflection (4): WebQuest

            

What is Web Quest?

  It is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. Also we can say that it is an educational model for the light regulation of information easier for the learner to explore and draw using the computer knowledge and source of knowledge available on the internet, and facilitate the evaluation of student performance and measure the development of higher mental skills as Bloom’s Taxonomy of mental processes such as analysis and synthesis. These can be created using various programs, including a simple word processing document that includes links to websites.

What are the aims of using Web Quest?

  Web Quest gives students the functions and specific activities to enable them to use source of knowledge available to solve the problems raised in addition to learning life skills such as discovery, reasoning and inference and generalization, so the responses when dealing with knowledge is not specified in advanced, but there is creativity and learning an active and sustainable.

  Also Web Quest is a modern and fantastic occupancy and activation of the students to explore knowledge in a planned and sequential through educational activities, methods of technology and work groups such as the methods of problem solving and active learning effective, which makes the student center of educational way.

  Further to know Web Quest allows students to explore specific issue and achieved self-knowledge and achieve the building of his own knowledge and creativity of this, the student can deal with knowledge in a way beneficial process does not depend on the conservation and memorization.

For an excellent Web Quest:

 
Web Quest should be well suited to all levels of students must also contain educational activities and develop the capacities of their different needs and allows them to deal with the educational content and knowledge and develop a balanced personality that stands for all the views and possible solution to the issue of research.

Reflection (3): Inquiry based learning.

What is Inquiry based learning?

"Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning." So Inquiry based learning is mainly involving the learner and leading him to understand.

From what I read and know, the inquiry process is mainly the gathering of data and information and applying them to senses like smelling, tasting, touching, hearing and seeing. For example, infants use inquiry to build their sense of the world, the babies turn towards voices, put things in their mouths, grasp things, and observe faces that come near.

Inquiry depends on the possessing skills and attitudes of students, which allows them to ask questions about new resolutions and issues while they are gaining new information. It also helps in developing the mental process, to think widely and deeply.

I think that traditional ways of teaching are discourage the process of inquiry in this modern age, especially with the huge and magnificent technological development. Because students of this century are more open to new things, looking to know everything surrounding them, so memorizing facts and information is not the most important skill now days, because it is more than just memorizing and asking questions. It is a complex process involved when individuals attempt to convert information and data and try to understand how to make sense out of them and turn them into useful knowledge.

To use every available technology, students insist to learn, know and discover; seeking appropriate resolutions to questions and issues. This development of inquiry skills will enable individuals to continue the quest for knowledge throughout life.

Finally there are several ways that teachers can implement Inquiry-Based Learning in the classrooms such as problem-solving activities, and the use of critical thinking. Also giving students a chance to discover things on their own can make concepts click to where they understand what is being taught . Students prefer this type of learning approach because when they become involved they understand concepts better.