b. Deciding Whether to Use ICT

There seems to be a wide range of options for dealing with this topic. The teacher could:

• Use discussion only, and not use any ICT (or other technology) at all.
• Use a word processor package to create worksheets of wordlist using words relevant to topics in the news at the present time. The learners could select those relevant to their write up.
• Use a worksheet containing words supported with relevant symbols that the learners would need to include in their write up.
• Use symbols that the learners could cut and paste to illustrate the main points of their story.
• Use some video or print materials that the learners could use to identify the main points of their story.
• Use a CD-ROM to illustrate important news events in the past.
• Use the World Wide Web to gather materials from a range of newspaper web sites.
• Use a word processor to create a variety of text formats for the headlines chosen by the learners.
• Have the learners to put stories together to form a newspaper.

Of course, any combination of the options is also possible, but we shall discuss them all, and your work will involve using several of the options alone and together.

Questions for Consideration

• How many of the options above do you feel comfortable about at the moment, and could you suggest any others?
• What are the benefits to using the recently published print and broadcast material?
• What are the pitfalls as you see them to using the World Wide Web to gather background information?
• Look again at the objectives for this case study - do you think any of them match up with the options listed?

Keep a short record of your responses to these questions for discussion with your mentor.

c. Selecting ICT Resources