ICT Training for Teachers

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Secondary Core - planning for learning with ICT

Module 7	Contents
	Introduction Activity OBJECTIVES QUESTIONS SELF EVALUATION  Forward to Module 8 Back to Secondary ICT Core Map Back to T@LENT Web Site Map

Introduction

Planning a lesson in which ICT is used to support, and hopefully enhance, learning involves careful consideration of a number of issues including:

• deciding on the appropriateness of the exercise,
• identifying links across relevant programmes of study,
• selecting appropriate strategies, resources and ways of working,
• concerns of assessing and monitoring learners success in terms of ICT capability and
• evaluating the performance of the teacher.

There are a number of models of teaching ICT and some debate as to which is the most appropriate. As with many areas of teaching the best method will depend on many factors and teachers who are flexible in developing their plans for using ICT will decide on the most appropriate approach for a particular lesson.

Successful models include:

• ICT co-ordinators as classroom support teachers effectively team teaching where ICT is being used,
• curriculum areas or years taking responsibility for covering part of the ICT curriculum and developing the necessary focussed expertise,
• non-teaching adults providing instruction in the use of ICT with small groups of pupils where necessary,
• separate ICT lessons where the content is set by a curriculum area and negotiated with an ICT co-ordinator,
• encouraging pupils to become experts in a field of ICT and helping each other to develop wide capability as directed by the teacher (this raises questions of the teacher’s confidence when pupils clearly know more about ICT than she/he does),
• ICT co-ordinators operating in a flexible learning centre where pupils come to fulfil ICT-based tasks within other curriculum areas sent by their teacher.

Certainly there is a great deal can be gained in many ways from teachers working together in developing an ICT curriculum that enhances learning in a wide range of curriculum contexts. There are often many instances of successful teaching with ICT, sometimes isolated, but worthy of sharing with teaching colleagues as examples of good practice which can form the basis of wider adoption and development. Collaboration of this kind also provides a view of ICT professional development needs in the context of the requirements of a department, year or school as well as individual considerations.

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Activity

To plan a lesson in which ICT will be used to enhance learning and through which learners may progress in their ICT capability

OBJECTIVES

1. To be able to identify clear intentions for the use of ICT to enhance learning
2. To relate appropriately the use of ICT to the content of another curriculum subject
3. To adopt appropriate strategies for teaching with ICT tools
4. To assess ICT capability and to take opportunities to reinforce or develop this as appropriate
5. To relate planned experiences to Programmes of Study
6. To identify criteria against which success could be measured in evaluating the lesson

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QUESTIONS

• How can you use ICT to support learning?

Reflect on your scheme of work and identify possible opportunities for using ICT to support your teaching. List possible options in your order of preference.

• What do you want to achieve in the host subject and in ICT?

  Take your highest priority and identify your aims both in terms of the host subject area and ICT. If there is conflict decide to reconcile it or take your second highest priority, and repeat until you are comfortable.

• Where do the host subject and the ICT programmes of study overlap?

  Use national curriculum documents to identify overlaps between programmes of study. Construct a lesson plan to exploit the overlap, including strategies to be used, resources required and success criteria.

• How will you assess progression in both subjects?

  Identify key formative and diagnostic assessment objectives and use national curriculum level descriptions of attainment targets to see how overlaps might be exploited for summative assessment.

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  SELF EVALUATION

• Were you successful in planning a lesson in which ICT was/could be used to support learning? What criteria do you use to measure you success?

  To be able to answer this you need to spend some time on deciding what criteria you use to measure success. The aims and objectives should give some of these but you might well have others. Your initial criteria might no longer be appropriate, how would you change them if that is the case?

• What challenges did you meet in relating requirements of your chosen subject and ICT?

  These might be considerable and require involvement by a colleague or professional development. it is worth not only listing challenges but also explain how they were dealt with.

• What practical measures were/would be necessary to adopt because of incorporating ICT?

  In a more general way, list the measures and/or issues that you consider would be significant in incorporating ICT in your teaching.

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