ICT Elective

  The use of ICT within teaching in schools is on the increase. It is an effective strategy teachers use to engage pupils in their learning as it is fun and active. As a result of this, I decided to study ICT for my chosen elective. I understand how to use ICT at a very basic level. Therefore I hope the elective will provide me with various ICT based teaching strategies, develop my understanding of how to use these strategies and build up my confidence to enable me to use them in my placements.


  In first year, we learnt how to create our own avatars using "DoppelMe". These are cartoon representations of ones self. The use of avatars is a successful way for teachers and pupils to protect their identities when using blogs and social networking sites. We also created voki's using 'audacity' - talking avatars. Within the Modern Foreign Languages module, we created wiki's which are collaborative websites. We also participated in some game based learning in which we experimented with a Smart Board, Wii, DS, Ipod and an Ipad. This gave me the opportunity to identify how game based learning can enhanced childrens' learning. My favourite ICT activity was when we created animated films. This was great fun and would require the pupils to use a range of skills to complete. First year helped develop my understanding of why ICT is important to the children's learning and how it can create a more effective learning environment.


My Animation






  The first week of the ICT elective provided me with an insight to what I will be learning throughout the module. I am looking forward to creating another animation in the hope that I can use my previous knowledge and experience to create a better one. The 'bear exchange' is really exciting because it will provide me with the opportunity to see what other teaching students are doing in other universities in other countries. Hopefully through this experience, I will gain the confidence to practise this within a classroom of my own. I believe the children will benefit from this because they will be able to learn about children's lives and cultures who are from different countries and are the same age. We are also going to create projects within small groups in which we will create a movie and a wiki space. The topic my group has chosen to create a project on is "People who help us". I am looking forward to working with my group to develop this project. We will also be looking at game based learning in greater detail. I feel I will benefit from this because I still do not know how to use the different types of technology in order to enhance children's learning. Lastly, I hope this elective will support and develop my reflections, as I will be writing these within my blog at the end of every week.