Part 3:
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 were 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 or the World
Wide Web access slowing down dramatically.
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. Here your best bet is to compare what can be
achieved using the game and the web with what can be achieved
with a real game of Chinese Whispers or a taught session where
you explain the concepts in question. 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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