Enhancing Curriculum using Technology
The question that has directed my exploration into education is best summarized by (Hensen, 2012) “How do we create a fulfilling educational experience that will inspire, challenge, and engage students across all grade levels—as well as give teachers and educators the necessary tools to accomplish the same for their students?” Unless the teachers and educators do not have the right tools, one cannot expect them to develop the capacity to create “…fulfilling educational experience that will inspire, challenge, and engage students…”, (Hensen, 2012)
One of the chief tools in the world today that has been experimented
and explored is Technology. My experimentation has
been my Maths class at a school I worked in. I found a number of advantages in
using technology as well as a number of challenges. For the sake of keeping it
real, I am staying with my own personal experience to compare.
1. Self-Paced
lessons
- (% and
self-study using IT, 2019) gives a precisely designed lesson that was used to
learn Percentages by grade 7 students. This was a self-study lesson with broad
boundaries within which the students could pace it out themselves. Having a
laptop per student with free Wi-Fi made it possible to conduct the lesson in
this way.
- A self-paced lesson
allows students to learn at their pace and not at a standard pace that is set
by the class run by a teacher. It enhances their skills of independent
learning, information processing and time management. It also gives the
students a chance to go as deep as possible in learning. “Differentiation of
content” is possible. (UNESCO, 2004, p.6)
2. International
collaboration
The teachers in the aforesaid school also had a
laptop and Wi-Fi that was free in the school as well as the home (for boarding
teachers). As we explored various websites for resources that were open source,
we also discovered a pool of teachers that were international collaborators.
For example, when I appreciated a set of worksheets uploaded on a website (www.tes.co.uk),
the teacher not only sent me the whole set but also requested to give feedback
on her work. This opened the avenues of connecting with a large group of
individuals across the planet.
3. Time
management
- We used a learning management system called https://www.veracross.com/.
I used it extensively to upload daily data of marks, classwork, homework and
worksheets. I also wrote comments with grades for parents to access. I could do
away with the traditional registers, parents had quick feedback on their wards
and worksheets lost by students could be downloaded by them again from
veracross. Veracross software also did all the calculations for the final
reports once the rubric was inserted.
- Systems such as these, when used properly, go a long way to save time and energy. There is also no worry of losing data as they kept daily backup of the files.I could use the time in developing myself professionally.
As with all ideas, use of technology is not without
its difficulties. However, as the following points will show, the difficulty is
not in the tool itself, but in the way it is expected to be used. "The key to integrating technology successfully is to
convince teachers that they can do something with it that they can't do without
it." (Delaney, 2011)
1. Accountability
for teachers
Using veracross turned the entire system of grading
very transparent. The parent could see the track chart of his or her ward and also
compare the use of veracross by different teachers. Some teachers were good at
managing veracross while some were not. But due to the transparency the
accountability of each was a lot. Hence it led to a lot of stress among the
teachers who were slow on the uptake. Teacher differentiation was missing.
2. Self-management
by students
It is a lot when a student of middle school is
expected to manage a laptop, charger, running Wi-Fi with sufficient battery
back-up. Not all students are capable of it. I would have students walking in a
class based on self-study and say, “My battery is dead” or, “My laptop is at
the helpdesk” or “The Wi-Fi is not working”. Their issues were genuine.
Finally, they were resolved only because of the
students’ love for self-study using web based modules. But precious time was
lost. I wonder if students in India are ready for the skills of
self-management?
3. Status
symbol by stake holders
“When manufacturers and developers
demonstrate tools, they make it look simple, so principals expect teachers to
hit the ground running.” (Delaney, 2011)
The school owners buy the tools of technology based
on the current rage or get swept off by marketing gimmicks. It is also at times
more of a status symbol than a genuine analyses of the needs of the curriculum.
This ends up in increased expenditure on technology, teachers unable to find
fruitful use and frustrated parents who pay for the tools by the hiked fee.
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