Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is an innovative and new area of education. It is extremely young compared to most other areas of education that have had centuries to master. Therefore there are many fun and inventive ways that teachers are currently interpreting the ICT domain on the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS).
During my second semester placement teaching block at a school with amazing students, I used the time to experiment with the implementation of some new kinds of projects. I was teaching a year 8 science class on the topic of sound. The students were organized into groups of three and had a choice of one of three projects; make a music video, poster or presentation on the chapter about sound. This gave students the chance to use ICT, if they wanted to, to create something engaging. In turn, enabling them to learn about the topic on sound through the process of creating it. And finally communicate their project to their classmates.
There are three dimensions in ICT VELS and I believe this project touched on all of them. They are ICT for visual thinking, creating and communicating. The standards can be view at:
VELS ICT Standards
ICT for visual thinking
Students are able to use and learn visually through the use of ICT such as Power Point presentations, computer simulations, interactive programs and many other things that can be used on netbooks or projected onto a screen in a classroom.
Some schools and classroom may lack projector facilities. However with modern innovative technologies that don’t break the bank too much, an enthusiastic teacher can overcome this with a mini usb projector. A mini usb projector runs off two usb 2.0 cables and does not require any external power. Very portable! An example of one that I bought can be found here:
Innocube – mini usb projector
( I bought this one for about $170 but there are cheaper ones for as little as $100. )
Additionally, if you search for “mini usb projector” you will find many on the market. However I have not been able to find any in Australian computer/electronic stores.
ICT for creating
This mainly focuses on students’ use of technology to create things. This could be students making presentations, music video or any other project that a teacher can dream up. My year 8 science project on sound is a good example of this, where students are able to work together in a team to share their skills to create a music video or presentation. The poster was not as much ICT based however many of the posters used images from the internet.
ICT for communicating
This covers many forms of communication that can be viewed in ICT VELS. This covers things from blogs, online projects, email, search engines and computer presentations. An example is the groups presenting their projects to the class to communicate with the aid of technology.
In conclusion, ICT in education allows for exciting fun new projects and rich learning experiences that can be enjoyed by all. There are many new technologies being created every day and hopefully our students will be creating them too.
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