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:

  1. Apply your usual formal or informal method of lesson evaluation to the lessons where you used ICT in a way you hadn't before.
  2. Discuss this set of evaluations - ideally two or three in the first instance - with your mentor.
  3. 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