Pupil use of ICT: an
improvement to
learning?
by Caleb Oluwafemi
- Sunday, 1
December 2013,
11:10 AM
Over the last two decades the Department of Education has invested a
substantial amount money in making ICT an integral part of schools.
Government led initiatives, such as the National Grid for Learning,
along with other schemes implemented by Local Education
Authorities and other independent groups have strived to modernise
the classroom and provide pupils with the skills they would need to
operate in a world that is increasingly becoming ICT dominated. With
this said, the primary goal for this surge of ICT in the classroom is to
provide a holistic approach to teaching pupils. But the question now
presents itself: has the pupil use of ICT in the classroom led to better
pupil learning?
Nowadays, the use of ICT in the classroom is usually categorised
under the pedagogical term known as E-learning; a term which in
itself consists of subcategories such as Educational Technology,
Information and Communication Technology, Computer Aided
Learning, Computer Aided Assessment, Computer Mediated
Communication etc. Essentially, these forms of E-learning
implemented via audio, video, blogging, webcam, interactive
whiteboards, tablets, mobile devices, virtual classrooms etc.
There are many reports circulating the pedagogical sphere – e.g.
Steve Higgins’ Does ICT Improve Learning and Teaching in
Schools –which maintain that the schools that invest in E-learning
generally see an improvement of an ‘average’ class of pupils.
Drawing from my own experiences of pupil use of ICT in schools I
would agree with such reports as I have seen various forms of Elearning (when teaching English) which I believe had a positive
impact on pupil learning.
One form of this E-learning was a poetry lesson wherein pupils had to
work in groups and each group was given a laptop. The task was to
create a video clip (using the laptop webcam) where they had to
creatively recite a poem according to their interpretation of it. I felt
that this task not only exercised the pupils’ imagination but
encouraging them to actually engage with the poem; thinking about its
form, structure, language, themes, tone etc. and most importantly how
they would then rearrange/recreate that in video form. In the following
lesson, the pupils’ written responses to the poem had significant
improved to the initial one they did prior to the video clip lesson; it
was evident that they had a better understanding of the poem.
Another form of successful E-learning that I experienced was outside
of the classroom, pupil homework. In the school that I am currently
based at, E-learning has been incorporated with homework as much as
written work. There is a school internet platform known
as Fronter where teacher upload homework tasks and pupils can then
access it at home. So for example, a teacher in the English department
set her year 9 pupils homework in regard to the Shakespeare/Globe
project they were working on. The pupils had to contribute to an
online discussion about the issues on Globe’s rule to only use
male actors (how it reflected the thoughts of Elizabethan society and
the ethical issues from a modern point of view). The fact that this
discussion was online meant that the pupils could have an effective
debate with each other (whether they shared like or unlike views),
encouraging them to develop their thoughts. Furthermore, the fact that
it was online allowed the students to draw information from the
internet to enrich their opinions.
As well as experiencing E-learning that work well, there have been
instances where I have doubted its effectiveness in terms of improving
student learning. There was a lesson which I observed a year ago in a
south London school. The class had all been given tablets with PDF
worksheets which they worked from. In this case, the tablets where
just a modern replacement for the paper worksheets (which is helpful
financially and environmentally) however there was no sign that It
improved the quality of pupil learning.
Finally, more and more schools have seen the pupil use of ICT as
solution to SEN issues. For instance, students that suffer from
disabilities such as dyspraxia (where writing becomes extremely
painful) and those with speech problems are given devices (a laptop
and a speech production device) to allow them to keep up with the rest
of the class.
What have your experiences in terms of pupil use of ICT in the
classroom been?
Are you in favour of pupil use of ICT?
What sort of impact have they had on effectively improving student
learning?
Re: Pupil use of ICT: an improvement to learning?
by Natalie Bubbear - Sunday, 1 December 2013, 5:09 PM
I do think that teachers and schools often allow students to use technology with the
impression that it will increase their interest in what they are learning. To some extent I
think this can work- students will probably be more invested in the task if they are given
the opportunity to work in a different medium. But you could ask them to write on a
blackboard with chalk and it would probably be just as much of a novelty as using
technology.
There have been times, however, when I have thought that students contributing to online
discussions in class would have been quite helpful (for example- using the online post-it
note board). It just seems too much of a hassle when students are not allowed phones or
laptops in school though.Â
Your suggestion that students with learning difficulties such as dsypraxia might find using
technology more beneficial is interesting. Does anyone know whether this might be true of
students with dyslexia too? I have been told to keep PowerPoints simple, with a large font
and yellow background (very garish) to make it easier for dyslexic students to read.
Re: Pupil use of ICT: an improvement to learning?
by James Hudson - Sunday, 1 December 2013, 6:16 PM
I agree that the use of pupil-based E-learning can be incredibly effective as a motivational
tool, if structured properly. While I disagree that technology in the classroom should be
dangled in front of students in a carrot and stick type bribe tactic, I have witnessed the use
of e-learning as a motivational tool in the department I am based within. The department
makes use of an online blog called 'Edutronic'. Staff post classwork, homework,
powerpoints from lessons, and all sorts on there. It's the online hub for the department.
Students and parents can access the class sylabus and class work with ease, so that
communication between school and home is effective and constant. Parents can see exactly
what their kids are doing in class, as well as what work they should be completing at
home.Â
However, a very interesting aspect of the Edutronic blog is its role as a publisher of student
work. Student's will often be asked to upload homework to the blog, for other students and
teachers to comment on. As soon as I was informed of this by the head of department, I was
told of a famed child from the previous year who uploaded a beautiful poem that he'd
written. His piece was an instant success with various teachers (both inside the school and
out), who would share the poem with their colleagues and friends. The page has around
3,000 hits, and the boy has a new confidence with writing as a result. I thought this to be a
true success story of E-learning in the classroom, and very inspiriational.Â