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 and the resource materials 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, the World Wide Web access slowing down dramatically,
or a CD 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 methods 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
|