b.
Evaluating the Resources Used
In
the case study, the teacher and pupils used a number of resources:
-
Professional software tools, such as PowerPoint and Word.
- Professionally
produced materials, such as a CD-ROM for IT subject knowledge.
- Personally
produced materials, such as slides and question sheets.
-
Materials posted on the web by various agencies.
These
need to be considered in different ways. For the professional
software, the question is "Was it the right tool for the job?".
In the case of Word, this was certainly the case. The teacher
and the pupils were familiar with it, and so it did not distract
them form the subject matter they were dealing with. It also provided
the facilities needed for writing effective reports and question
sheets.
As
for PowerPoint, this was new to the people concerned and so there
were some learning overheads. This slowed down the production
process, but the teacher felt that the skills developed would
be transferred to other situations and so the time taken was well
spent. It also provided a facility to display information in slide
format, which could not be achieved with Word - this was valuable
for the teacher. She did feel, however, that the pupils could
have used a hypertext-authoring tool such as Front Page Express
for their presentations. This would have been a little more difficult
to start with, as the idea of hypertext links would need to be
considered, but was more powerful and flexible. This might be
have been of greater long-term benefit than PowerPoint.
The
following questions may be applied to ICT based learning resources:
- How
much resource-specific learning do I as a teacher have to do
to make the resource work in the classroom, and is it worth
it in terms of time and effort spent and saved?
- How
easy is it for pupils to 'see through' the resource to the subject
specific learning I want them to experience?
- How
technically and practically robust and stable is the resource
when being used repeatedly under different circumstances and
by different learners?
- How
generally applicable is the resource-content, and can I adapt
it once I am familiar with the resource?
- How
well does the resource integrate with other resources and teaching
methodologies I use as a matter of course?
You
should apply these questions to all ICT based resources you use,
and especially in this case study the web sites and the CD. As
you become more familiar with asking the questions, you will of
course become more effective in your use of resources, and they
will in turn begin to pay you back more quickly for the effort
you put into them.
 c.
Adapting the Resources for Different Learners or Work
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