Part Three:
Evaluating the Use of ICT in Teaching and Learning
a.
Evaluating the Lessons
In
the case study, it was fairly simple to see the differences between
a traditionally run lesson and the lessons run using ICT. The
lessons using the World Wide Web and the CD-ROM were often evaluated
as stand-alone sessions, because this was the way the teacher
was able to run them. Where individuals, pairs and groups were
working on different things, and where the course of the lessons
demanded some fragmentation of the class, it was more difficult
to judge. It was also more difficult to judge effectiveness where
technological problems arose, such as computers not working as
they should, the World Wide Web access slowing down dramatically,
or the CD-ROM not functioning fully.
You
will need a framework within which to evaluate the lessons run
using ICT, and the best way to approach this is to use your own
or your school's evaluation framework, paying particular attention
only to the differences between lessons with and without the use
of the technology. The main point is that evaluation is based
on learning rather than on technology, and that your own ability
to evaluate the effectiveness of the learning experience is paramount.
For
this reason, and because it is possible that you will be evaluating
work with ICT that is new to you, I suggest that you do the following:
-
Apply your usual formal or informal method of lesson evaluation
to the lessons where you used ICT in a way you hadn't before.
- Discuss
this set of evaluations - ideally two or three in the first
instance - with your mentor.
- Determine
from the evaluations and the discussions where you would do
things differently in the future, both with the same lessons
and with lessons where the subject matter or the technological
response to the subject matter are common.
b.
Evaluating the Resources Used
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