ICT

Click the play button in the lower left hand corner to hear me speak about some of the ICT tools I have used. There are links to these tools on the Credits page of this wiki. media type="custom" key="11329180"

I believe I have the ability to work collaboratively with other members of the NDC staff to develop and communicate a whole College vision around the improvement of teaching and learning using ICT. NDC has the great advantage that students and teachers have access to laptop computers. This certainly covers the means and I believe that leading by example in my own classes I would be able to spread enthusiasm and knowledge of ICTs so that other teachers were motivated to start using them in their own rooms. I would love other teachers to visit my classes when they have free periods, and if this could be counted toward their personal Professional Development I think it would be even more beneficial for them.

I love using my blog and my students and teacher friends often referred to it to see what new ICT tools I had been using and to explore an array of interesting and educational websites. I have recently been powering my blog up again and reviewing some of the links on it, in anticipation of returning to teaching next year. I find it is a great tool for giving students guidance when using the internet, as I could keep collections of online resources together on the blog for them and save them from accessing sites inapropriate to their age and development. I also gave students the opportunity to have some of the own work published to the blog and had a number of students who subsequently began blogging on their own. I have also found that ICTs can be very effective tools for helping teachers to differentiate the curriculum for a range of learners.



This brings me to the point that: 21st Century Teaching & Learning is not only about using ICTs! It is about cultivating the curiosity and imagination of our learners and giving them the tools to become independent, lifelong learners in their own rite. There are many ways teachers can work towards these goals. For example they might offer students more options in their learning and give them opportunities to learn in ways that are meaningful to them, perhaps students could even be given the opportunity to create meaningful and valuable products as a result of their learning. Certainly, as a teacher interested in the area of ICTs I have had to accept that quite often the students' abilities to use many technology tools far exceeds my own, even when I am the one who originally taught them to use it! This shouldn't be frightening for teachers, but rather be seen as an opportunity to learn and not only teach in their classrooms. Being able to teach a teacher is a very motivating factor for some students.

Some of the ideas I have come across recently can be viewed online: [|Flipped Classrooms] [|The Surprising Truth about what Motivates us] And of course [|Ken Robinson] never fails to motivate 21st century educators.

I keep up to date with current ideas around 21st Teaching and Learning and how to use ICTs in education by reading other blogs and following some extremely innovative teachers on Twitter. Some of my favourites are listed on the Blogroll of '[|Ms Frizz's Blog]'. I have also attended the local network meetings for Teacher Librarians which often involve discussions around the use and implementation of ICTs into the curriculum.