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 web 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 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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