Should curriculum drive technology or Should technology drive curriculum?

(azee, me and aisyah)

Today’s class started off by Professor Dr Raja showing us some pictures that she managed to capture during her school visit in Sarawak last week. Well, she loves sharing pictures with us, which I think is a good method instead of showing us a wordy text at the very beginning of the lesson. But what amazed me was that when I saw those pictures, I could see that schools as rural as in Sarawak have already been equipped with technology tools to enhance students’ learning. Guess, our Ministry of Education has really taken so many steps forward in integrating technology into school curriculum in order to prepare Malaysian citizen for the real world.

Then, Prof has given the title above as an issue to be brought up in our post, which I am doing right now. Well, when I heard this phrase, my mind simply reflected my previous post on ‘technology can support a vision but it cannot be the vision’. So, I said to myself, “Hey, I have come across this before!” Thus, that gave me a wonderful feeling that I firmly answered “Curriculum should drive technology!” And these are the reasons why.

When I searched on the net for some resources to post this blog, I came across ‘NETS’, which is National Education Technology Standards, which is planted to a belief that the world is changing in ways that require learning environments to change to prepare students to meet the challenges of the future. I think this is absolutely true that we can see now; computer is now being integrated into the teaching of many subjects in schools. Even, music lesson is implemented with the aids of LCD projector and a laptop. In my opinion, the word ‘integrate’ itself has symbolized that technology is standing-in as a tool to promote purposeful, engaging learning, by which it enables students to learn in ways previously impossible. So, as we have stepped towards a new era of globalization, this technology should be integrated so that our students are learning in accordance to the new culture. For example, computers, being the dearest technology tools to students now should be a means to reach instructional objectives in the classroom. But as much importance technology is to our lives, we should not let it drive curriculum. Instead, all the curriculum decision should be supported by some technology-based materials.

Teachers, on the other hand, are encouraged to use technology to assist their roles as teachers, for it gives ways for them to be the facilitators of learning and for students to direct their own learning, as well as to build knowledge collaboratively. Teachers, must try by all means to be a computer-using teacher, by which, computers are regarded as a teaching partner, not the object of study. But as much this issue has been raised up, the question ‘how familiar should the teacher be with the technology?’ came into my mind. To be frank, I am still frail at using technology which I think will create anxiety when I go teaching later. So take this simple analogy, driving is comparable to operating computers. You don’t need to know how the engine works, how to repair the car or even how to buy cars to make you know how to drive. To be able to drive, you need to know how to operate the car and understand the road signs. As the driver gains more experience in driving, the level of confidence will increase. The same thing goes to computers; a basic skill is necessary in order to be successful. You don’t need to know how to repair a computer or to know how the computer works to make you know how to use it but rather you should know how to use and operate it effectively in the classroom. Overtime, you will become more experienced and confident in operating it. So, that gave me an idea that even though my knowledge of computer is still superficial, at least I possess the basic knowledge of how to make it work. And that will help me gain more confidence when I teach later.

So, my conclusion, technology should be integrated into curriculum to give paths to students to learn in a global way, but not letting the technology to drive curriculum. Well, you don’t want to stop teaching if there is a blackout in your school, right?

Akhir kata, to all my Muslim blog readers: Selamat berbuka puasa!!!

References:

http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/antifaiff/antifaiff.htm

http://telr.osu.edu/research/pedagogy.pdf

http://cnets.iste.org/students/s_integration.html

http://www.ipenz.org.nz/ipenz/forms/pdfs/Info_Note_7.pdf#search=%22curriculum%20should%20drive%20technology%20or%20technology%20should%20drive%20curriculum%22

http://www.edtech.sandi.net/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=196#search=%22curriculum%20should%20drive%20technology%20or%20technology%20should%20drive%20curriculum%22

Multiple Intelligences

Today we learnt Multiple Intelligences. Actually, this was the second time we were being introduced to this topic. (the 1st one was during Child Psychology subject). So, that gave me and my friends some schemata of what to be discussed in class, which indirectly produced a proud feeling that at least, we knew a lot of what to talk about.

Now, a bit of introduction. Multiple Intellligences was defined by Howard Gardner, a psychologist from Harvard University in 1983 in his book 'Frames of Mind'. At that time he has acknowledged 7 Multiple Intelligences, know as:

• Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
• Spatial/Visual Intelligence
• Logical/Mathematic Intelligence
• Kinaesthetic Intelligence
• Interpesonal Intelligence
• Intrapersonal Intelligence
• Musical Intelligence

But in 1999, Howard Gardner has added two more intelligences into this list in his book 'Intelligence Reframed' which are known as:

• Naturalist Intelligence
• Existential Intelligence

According to Gardner, everyone in this world posssess all nine intelligences in varying amounts. Those intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened or can be ignored or weakened. But, thinking by the mind of a teacher, these Multiple Intelligences are important for a teacher to know, so that by knowing pupils strengths and weaknesses, it would able to help them become successful, by which the idea about teaching can be changed and provision of a range of activities could be done to facilitate learning and most importantly, to accommodate the pupils' Multiple Intelligences. As teachers are the ones who know their own pupils Multiple Intelligences, addressing them would be beneficial as it creates opportunities for the strengths to be fostered and for the weaknesses to be prevailed.

So, in teaching English, most probably people would think only those with Verbal/Linguistic intelligence can survive. But, if we know how to tackle pupils by accommodating our teaching-learning activites and teaching materials to suit their varying intelligences, more or less they would look upon this subject as what their intelligences help them to look at it. These are some suggestions of what teachers could implement in the classroom:

Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence

These are the 'word smart' pupils. They will learn best with language including listening, speaking, reading and writing. They are good at writing, convincing and expressing themselves. So, in motivating them to learn English, teacher could encourage them to write, for example essay, email or even poems. Teacher also could provide text-based softwares such as e-books.

Logical/Mathematical Intelligences

These are the 'number smart' pupils. They have the ability to think abstractly and conceptually. They learn best when there is an involvement of problem solving and data organization. So, in catering to their Intelligence, teacher could vary the text to be exploited in the classroom. For example, instead of giving them a-too-wordy text, teacher may give a text in a form of statistics or charts. Also, if a teacher wants to use a story as a teaching material, it would be good if the teacher could create or find a story which requires problem solving (e.g the story of a bird in a dessert who found a bottle of water, but its beak could not reach the surface of the water). This will give a room for them to develop their intelligence eventhough they are in a language class.

Visual/Spatial Intelligence

These are the 'picture smart' pupils. They enjoy visual form. they have the ability to think in images and pictures and to visualize something accurately. So, whenever possible, teacher could integrate drawing into English lesson. And as much, try to use pictures as a stimuli as pupils at this age love pictures. Animation would be very helpful but games would make this people have fun in learning English too.

Kinaesthetic Intelligence

These are the 'body smart' pupils. They learn best through physical activity and maybe these are the ones who enjoy Physical Education the most. They like to express their ideas through movements. As learning English is attached to words, that doesn't mean the pupils need to be attached to their seating place too. Maybe what the teacher could do is to implement activities which require the pupils to move around. Maybe, by asking them to act out roles as a task might enhance their English learning. Also, if teacher wants to use a song in teaching, teacher could actually ask them to act out the song or create their own movements to accompany the song. This will make the learning environment even more lively.

Musical Intelligence

These are the 'music smart' pupils. They learn best through sounds, songs and rhythm. They also could be classified as good listeners. Knowing the fact that not only these pupils but also other pupils love songs and things that rhyme, teacher could take this opportunity to use songs in teaching, maybe as an appetizer to the forthcoming lesson, as a closure or as the main text itself. Also, as they are good at listening, teacher could implement many listening tasks to cater to the needs of these pupils, not only the time when the mid-term examination is just around the corner.

Intrapersonal Intelligence

These are the 'self smart' pupils. They learn best through metacognitve practices such as getting in touch with own feelings and self motivation. So, in helping them to develop this intelligence, teacher could ask them to think about their thinking through writing, for example by asking them to write journals or by giving them spaces to work on their own. Maybe, they would learn effectively through this way.

Interpersonal Intelligence

These are the 'social smart' pupils. They learn best through interaction. So, in accommodating to their needs, teacher could implement different modes of learning. As being suggested in Constructivist theory, teacher might want to consider giving the pupils to work in groups or pairs, not just individually. It will help pupils with this intelligence to learn better. This includes having discussions or project works or even group presentations.

Naturalist Intelligence

These are the nature people. They learn best through their environment. They also enjoy outdoor activity and field trip. So, the simplest thing that teacher could do, for example if the teacher is teaching the topic 'nature', taking them for a walk around the school would be more effective than showing them a picture on nature. As being suggested by Jean Piaget in his theory of Cognitive Development, primary pupils are able to deal effectively and logically with concrete materials. So, whenever possible, teacher should consider using realia as the concrete material, so that the learning will take place more effectively.

Existential Intelligence

These are the wondering people. So, as much as possible, teacher should give them a space to think of the big picture of a matter and to get them involve with discussions or chats to answer their questions and doubts.

According to Howard Gardner, learning is both social and psychological process. When pupils understand the balance of their Multiple Intelligences, they begin to manage their own learning and to value their individual strengths. As teachers, we should be the ones responsible in helping the pupils to recognize their strengths and weaknessess. Not only we should help them develop their dominant intelligence, we also must encourage them to balance themselves in other intelligences. This would produce specialists among the pupils but with the ability to handle other things well too.It could not be denied that the needs to cater to every pupils' Multiple Intelligences in one class are very demanding, but as our goal is to make the pupils become successful, we should try by all means to cater to their needs through the teaching aids and teaching-learning activities. By doing so, pupils will be able to learn effectively and they are even motivated to have to learn something that they are not good at.

References:

file:///F:/Concept%20to%20Classroom%20Tapping%20into%20multiple%20intelligences%20-%20Explanation.htm

file:///F:/Technology%20and%20Multiple%20Intelligences.htm

Wiki

This week we are learning something new again. It is called 'Wiki'. Sounds cute right? And we felt it even cuter when our lecturer Prof. Dr Raja Maznah told us that our second assignment has a lot to do with this Wiki..haha... Now a bit of information: Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly(file:///F:/Wiki%20What%20Is%20Wiki.htm).

So, today we were so grateful to have Miss Lim to give an explanation on how Wiki works. Firstly, i felt a bit weird as why we should use Wiki to complete this assignment. But thinking again: "Oh! This is technology class. So, we should try to transform our old ways of doing work!".For me it not simple though, as there are 75 of us and we need to take turn to use Wiki so that we will not overright each other's work. Maybe one weakness of Wiki is that, there must be only one people editing Wiki at one time, and that person must lock the page. If not, others might edit it and their works will overright each other's. So, if this happens, don't wonder too much if tomorrow you will not see your last night's work on the page.

This second assignment has divided us into three categories, the ones elaborating Brennen's Principle for English, Science or Maths. So, for this assignment, Azee, Mohanesvary and I choose to work together in a group. Seeing that all of us live so far from each other now, it is more like an advantage to my group as we are living in the same place, thus giving us opportunities to have discussions outside class hour. And as we have experienced working with one another before, hopefully there will be no problem of combining our minds together. Then, today also, the bargaining and crossing-hands session started where we have to 'fight' to get the topic for English (so TESL teachers we are...haha..). But unluckily, my group didn't manage to get it. So, being the 'Maths People', my group has decided to work on environmental-based learning principle and learning through guided activity and discovery principle for Mathematics. Hopefully, we would enjoy doing this assignment as indirectly, we learn to do things differently. If before this we were so attached to Microsoft Words to finish our assignment, now Wiki might change our old method of doing works.