Assignment 3:

ICT in your school - do you have a dream?

Use this template to write an evaluation report of no less than 800 words on the effectiveness of your school's use of ICT in which you

• analyse the current state of ICT integration,
• identify key principles for ICT integration and
• make recommendations on what the priorities for development should be.

In order to complete this assignment we recommend that you consider the following steps:

1. Current state: First provide a description of the school's ICT resources and facilities. Include a summary of the staff ICT development levels. Use the framework as the basis for analysing the current state of learning. (5)
2. Key principles: Based on your understanding of this module, identify between 5 and 10 key principles that should influence all activity regarding the use of ICT for learning in the school, including staff development. Provide a clear explanation for each principle that you include. (35)
3. Recommendations: Use the above-mentioned principles and your analysis of the framework as a foundation for identifying the most important activities that should take place regarding ICT Integration. (40)
4. State these as specific outcomes. Place each outcome in order of priority and enter them on a timeline in which you set target dates for achieving each outcome. (20)

Assessment:

Assessment criteria for Assignment 3
You have described your school's ICT resources - the current state	Maximum of 5
You have identified key principles for the use of ICT in your school	Maximum of 35
You have made recommendations based on these principles.	Maximum of 40
You have included outcomes and a timeline in your recommendations	Maximum of 20
Total	100

What to submit:

Save the template as follow: Surname_Name_ANtBAR_Module#_A#

Submit this saved document as a file attachment in email to assessment@schoolnet.org.za with the subject heading "Assignment3".

Activity 9: School Readiness Framework

Group Activity 9 - School readiness

1. Refer to your assessment of the STaR Chart and the Mankato Scale and highlight the shortcomings that such models may have for you in measuring your school's technology readiness. Base this on the understanding that you have developed throughout this module.
   
2. Write a message to your group (using the subject heading "School_readiness") and give them your view on your assessment of these tools. Discuss the views of your group as you read messages from them. What conclusion do you reach as an individual and as a group?
   
3. Make summative comments in your blog.

Activity 8: Impact of ICT on schools

Group Activity 8a - Teaching spaces

1. Reflect on your reading of the first part of the Churchill Report, considering the advantages and disadvantages of different classroom spaces as they can be influenced by ICT.
   
2. Participate in a discussion on the course blog with your tutors (using the subject heading "Teaching spaces") in which you discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different classroom spaces as described in the report. What ideas have you already implemented and what ideas do you think most worthwhile attempting? What are the most serious constraints that you face in re-orgainsing your classroom space for ICT?

Activity 8b - Curriculum delivery

1. Particpate in a discussion on the course blog with your tutors (using the subject heading "Curriculum delivery") in which you discuss this question:
   "Why wait for ICT before examining our teaching methods?"
2. Complete this activity as a whole by making reflective comments in your blog.

Activity 7: Models of Technology Adoption

Group Activity 7 - School staff development

1. Produce a presentation (using a programme such as MS Powerpoint* or similar) in which you outline recommendations for your school's staff development programme. Follow these guidelines:

• you should use no fewer than 8 and no more than 15 slides
• do not use any images
• write only key ideas on the slides
• include separate notes in point form which outline what you will say (you could use the notes panel below the slide in Powerpoint's normal view)
• click here to use this template (first save the file, then open it in Powerpoint)
• you may add slides, change layouts and change text

2. Share this presentation with some of your school's management. Record their comments.
   
3. Share this document with your group online. Include comments about the feedback that you received from your school's management.
   
4. Give feedback to at least three of your group's presentations as they share them online. Provide constructive advice on how they could improve the presentation's contents.
   
5. Write reflective comments in your blog.

Assignment 2

In this assignment you will use the knowledge and understanding that you have gained in all activities up to and including Activity 6.

You will be required to write a critical review of one of the lessons that you accessed during Activity 6. To complete this assignment follow these steps:

1. Open this template and use it to complete the assignment
2. Select one lesson from this list to evaluate.
   
   
   • Grade 1-3 lessons
   • Grade 4 -9 lessons
   • Grade 10-12 lessons
3. Write a critical review of the lesson in between 1200-2000 words. In the essay be sure to justify your view of the lesson with regard to:
   1. the way in which students/learners are gaining rightful access to ICT;
   2. the way in which ICT is integrated according to good principles;
   3. the role of the teacher in tapping the strengths of the technology.
4. Conclude with an evaluative summary of the lesson 

Assessment:

Assessment criteria for Assignment 2
You have identified the ways in which learners are using the ICT.	Maximum of 5
You have evaluated the learners' use with reference to the potential for ICT use in the lesson.	Maximum of 25
You have described the way in which ICT is integrated.	Maximum of 5
You have evaluated the way in which the integrated approach is being implemented.	Maximum of 25
You have described how the teacher uses the technology during the lesson.	Maximum of 5
You have evaluated the extent to which the teacher is tapping the strengths of the technology.	Maximum of 25
You have made a final evaluate statement based on the preceding paragraphs of your essay.	Maximum of 10
Total	100

What to submit:

Save the template as follow: Surname_Name_ANtBAR_Module#_A#

Submit this saved document as a file attachment in email to assessment@schoolnet.org.za with the subject heading "Assignment2".

Activity 6: Role of the Teacher

 Activity 6 - Discussion

1. Participate in a discussion on the course blog with your tutors (using the subject heading "Role of teacher in ICT") in which you discuss Wheeler's view of the role of the teacher in ICT. In this discussion give your opinion on:

• whether ICT is used effectively in all cases that Wheeler describes - comment on cases that concern you most
• the roles that teachers would need to assume in order for teachers to best manage the learning processes in those classrooms.

Activity 5: The myths of Computer Literacy

Group Activity 5

1. Participate in a discussion on the course blog with your tutors and discuss each of these three questions separately. 
   • Using the discussion called "Integrated Approach": Is the integrated approach an alternative (different form of) computer literacy or is it not the same thing at all?
     
   • Using the discussion called "Integrated Approach Challenges": What are the challenges of an integrated approach?
     
   • Using the discussion called "Who's Responsibility?": In a school whose responsibility is it to "teach computer literacy"? What are the most important requirements for such a person?
     
2. Complete the activity by writing reflective comments in your blog.

Activity 4: Is there a need for teachers?

 Activity 4a - Discussion of spontaneous learning

1. Write a message to your tutors (using the subject heading "Spontaneous learning") and discuss these questions:

• What does Vygotsky suggest should be the role of schooled learning?
• How could we make schooled learning more effective?
• What are the key roles of the teacher in schooled learning?
• How can we apply this to the integration of ICT?

Activity 4b - Do we need to teach ICT skills?

1. Write a message to your teachers (using the subject heading "Minimally invasive education") and discuss the following questions:

• What conclusions do you draw from reading about Dr Mitra's work?
• Are there parallels between these conclusions and those you drew about Vygotsky's spontaneous learning?
• What are the practical shortcomings of Dr Mitra's experiments for ICT in schools?
• Reflecting on both readings in Activity 4, what lessons can we learn regarding our own practice in teaching ICT skills, and how can we adapt this practice to make it more effective?

2. Make reflective comments in your blog.

Activity 3: Roles of learners with ICT

Group Activity 3 - Learners' Charter - a collaborative exercise

In this activity you will experience the power of collaboration by developing a Learners' Charter with your tutors. You will produce one collaborative online document. Follow these guidelines to complete this activity.

1. Your brief is, through the use of an online collaborative document, to develop a Learners' Charter. Imagine that this Charter is developed by learners who wish to assert their rights to learn effectively with ICT integration.
   
   
2. First brainstorm the issues that should be raised in the Charter i.e. what are learners' rights to effective teaching and learning with ICT? Using the brainstorm tool that your tutors have set up for you, identify the rights that you think learners should have to effective teaching with ICT.
   
3. After about 2 days of receiving brainstorm updates, evaluate the contributions and identify one item that you would like to add to the charter - one sentence that makes a statement in support of how learners should be able to learn with ICT.
   
4. Now go to the online collaborative document that your tutors have set up. Write your Learners' Charter sentence. This happens on a "first-come-first-served basis". For instance, if someone else in your group has written a sentence about access to ICT, you should choose a different issue to add to the charter or you could decide to comment on a sentence.
   
5. As the process unfolds reflect on the process and, if necessary, discuss with the group how the process can be improved. You are a collaborative group, so you have to solve problems collaboratively as well.
   
6. Provide input to each sponsored sentence and try to improve it and make it more effective and correct as a sentence that describes the rights of learners who learn with ICT. Be critical and positive in your comment. Make sure that everyone understands the issues the way that you do.
   
7. Your tutors will facilitate this process as necessary and provide a timeframe for this activity.
   
8. Complete this activity by making reflective comments in yourblog about the onlline collaborative exercise as well as the Learners' Charter.

Assignment 1

This assignment is to be completed once you have completed Activity 2.

Use this template to insert your survey and your analysis of the results following the outline below.

To complete the assignment follow these steps. First read the entire assignment brief.

1. Record two conclusions that you reached when reading Two generations of teachers: Differences in attitudes towards ICT.

2. State one hypotheses as a causal relationship, for example:

<something happens> because <the reason why it happens>

e.g.
teachers smoke because they find teaching stressful(except that your example should be about attitudes towards ICT, based on the reading) (10)

It may be advisable to check these statements with your tutor once you have formulated them.

3. Design a paper-based survey that will test the validity of the hypothesis (whether it holds to be true or not).
Click here to read more about designing surveys.
Click here to read more about good survey questions.
Click here to see an example survey. (30)

4. Administer this survey to a range of teachers; some who use computers some who do not. You should try to receive at least 20 responses. This means that you should probably hand out more than 20 survey forms.

5. Process your survey results. Create at least one spreadsheet chart of the most illuminating survey data and include this in your report. (10)

6. Analyse the responses. How do the results support your conditional statement? (30)

7. Write conclusions that cite specific data and the data analysis. Declare whether the statement had been supported by your survey or not. Identify further work that could be done to clarify the results. (20)

Assessment:

Assessment criteria for Assignment 1
You have developed a hypothesis statement (stated as a causal statement) based on the conclusions from your reading.	Maximum of 10
You have drawn up and administered a survey form. The questions are of such a nature that they will provide data with which you can test your hypothesis.	Maximum of 30
You have graphed the responses using at least one chart and the appropriate chart type to show a significant set of data from the survey results.	Maximum of 10
You have analysed the responses to the survey and interview. In your analysis you study the data, interpret the data, giving reasons for what you observe and finding connection with the hypothesis statement that you are testing.	Maximum of 30
You have recorded your findings and drawn a conclusion. In recording your findings you refer to specific data in the survey results and as you do so you logically come to a conclusion. If you spot weaknesses in your approach, you record these and indicate how you can improve the process.	Maximum of 20
Total	100

What to submit:

Save the template as follow: Surname_Name_ANtBAR_Module#_A#

Submit this saved document as a file attachment in email to assessment@schoolnet.org.za with the subject heading "Assignment1".

Activity 2: Attitudes and Perceptions

Read the article at the following link Click here to read Two generations of teachers: Differences in attitudes towards ICT then make comments in your blog.

Activity 1

1. Reflect on the readings that you have done. Discuss the following statement by having an online discussion with your tutors:

"It is impossible for a developing nation to compete with developed nations in the field of ICT integration in schools"

2. Write your personal conclusion from this discussion in your blog. Click here to open the blank blog prompts template , then save it in your personal folder for future use. 

Welcome to Module 2

Participant welcome to module 2. We are looking forward to interacting with you in this exciting module.

All the best,
Temika and Bernard