According to Yook-Kin Loong & Herbert, (2017) teachers are expected to use all forms of technology in the classroom in order to improve the learning process using all forms of Information and Communication Technology. Therefore, use of ICT pedagogy in learning is due to the fact that teachers are becoming more confident in using ICT in the classroom. The use of games at the primary level, social media, and multimedia production in middle school and above is becoming the norm in many schools.
However, in my role as ICT teacher and integrator in a primary school, I found that we, as teachers, are still somehow far away from the latest trends, software, and applications that we should use in the primary classrooms, as the updates and the modification of games and software are rapidly changing. So, I have created a proficiency course that is targeted to teachers on how to successfully integrate ICT pedagogically in the classroom.
The course will help boost the teachers’ confidence to use technology in the classroom as this course is hands-on. Teachers are expected to use the software, applications, and multimedia production tools within 8 weeks. The course is 100% online. It is delivered using Google Classroom as a Learning Management System where a teacher can and are expected to learn how to use Google Classroom with their students in the upper primary level. Google Classroom requires a certain level of proficiency in reading, typing, and using email, that it is not really suitable for students below third or fourth grade. According to Bates (2014), there are many factors to consider in choosing the correct LMS and that is where Bates created a model called SECTIONS stands to guide course administrators and creators on how to choose the most useful LMS for both the deliverer and the receiver.
Karagiorgas & Nieman (2016) mentioned that the rise of gamification started in Google trends as a term and google research tools are responsible for the popularity of the of gamification. In addition, they explain both categories of the games that are used in education in general as gamification which uses game-like features such as levels and points. The game is used to learn a subject or a strand of a subject, for example, multiplication or the use of punctuation. While game-based learning approach is where some games provide solutions, practice, or training on a subject such as a word bingo or video games in languages studies.
In this course, I want to focus on explaining how to use some games that are very popular with this cohort of students in order to get the students engaged in the learning process. Mathematics and Language use is being reported within my school as boring subjects that have no drill, and practice that is fun and engaging. So, I have chosen to deliver to the primary teachers in this course the use of Games such as Minecraft, Lego, and introduce the implementation of a great classroom management application called Dojo.
On the other hand, I was thinking to use Google classroom because of the hands-on assessment that I was looking to assign to the participants in order to get the best out of them in terms of using the software themselves so they can have the confidence to utilize it in their classroom. I have designed a variety of assessment that we, as teachers, really use in a classroom. So, I have chosen an individual assignment as a personal project that teachers can select from any subject with which they feel comfortable. Then we have included a group project where we try to foster the collaboration in the classroom among the primary students. The quiz is a way that primary school teachers can get some numerical data. Finally, we designed a case study assignment where, as a teacher, we find some issues within the classroom that are out of the norm, so we seek advice and we try to accommodate this case if it is a student-based case such as a talented student or a challenged student. The participant should choose one case and report on it and investigate the use of ICT in this case and how they can help this student or issue. Therefore, I chose the second option of the assignment to make sure that I am including a variety of assessments. These tasks have success criteria and grading system.
Finally, participants will be able to have access to all the tutorials to every software or app that was included in this course for personal records in the future. I used Google Forms for quizzes and course evaluation by the participants. It is a great tool for participants to use so they can re-use it in real life with their own students.
In sum, I am trying to create a course that is fun, engaging, and with lots of interaction for primary teachers as if they are the real primary students that would use these tools and develop these skills on one hand and enriching the ICT pedagogy of the primary teachers it the classroom, on the other, so they can be confident when using these tools with their students. The choice of LMS was familiar and popular among school teachers and the assessment was hands-on projects and activities.
References
Bates, T. (2014). Choosing and using media in education: The SECTIONS model. In Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/9-pedagogical-differences-between-media/
Karagiorgas, D. N., & Niemann, S. (2017). Gamification and Game-Based Learning. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 45(4), 499-519. doi:10.1177/0047239516665105
Loong, E. Y., Esther Yook-Kin Loong, & Sandra Herbert. (2). Primary school teachers’ use of digital technology in mathematics: the complexities. Mathematics Education Research Journal, , 1-24.