b. Managing Learning in the Classroom

We have touched on the question of the practicalities of using ICT in the classroom, and the technical question of whether everything you need to have working on a computer will be. The next question is how to manage the people, the space and the equipment/resources in a way that maximises learning.

Whether you are using ICT or not, but perhaps more when you are, your first question here is how to arrange pupils. In the case study the teacher prefers to keep difficult pupils apart, because there is both individual and interdependent learning going on. She also likes to mix abilities, both in terms of subject specificity and IT literacy.

This is one for discussion with your mentor - how will you sit pupils when you have a space where all pupils are using ICT, and how will you arrange them when resources are more limited so that only some can use ICT?

The next question is how to deal with the peaks and troughs of intervention, and how to ensure that reasonably equal progress is being made across the whole class. The mixing of abilities in IT literacy helps with this in our case study, but you will need to decide what is best for you. Another one for discussion with colleagues and your mentor.

Finally, you have to face the question of what happens when one, some or all of your ICT facilities give up the ghost. Here you must imagine the worst happening and ensure that you are prepared for it, and you must do this without making so much work for yourself that the efficiency saving of using ICT is lost.

In the case of this particular case study, it is possible to print up materials as a back-up, and then get pupils to do the work using paper and calculators in the place of the spreadsheet. You won't lose a great deal of the learning this way, though you will of course lose the impact of automating calculations using ICT, and the data manipulation functions of the computer. You'll also lose access to other, new, information from the web sites, if you are unable to get to the web sites.

In summary, you have four issues to consider in managing learning:

• The mixing of abilities when you set pair or group work.
• The arrangement of people in the room, including yourself.
• Keeping on top of intervention, and ensuring that all pupils get equal attention.
• Managing a room full of pupils waiting to use ICT to learn when the power fails.

As you are going through the process of planning and using ICT in this and the other case studies, your mentor will advise you on these matters.

c. Helping Learners Develop their own IT Capabilities