Teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin. The teacher teaches so that learners could learn. It is possible that, in spite of a teacher’s teaching, learners don’t learn; it is likewise possible for learners to learn even if the teacher does not teach. But it is generally accepted that the better a teacher teaches, the greater the likelihood that learners will learn.
If a laptop is a powerful teaching tool in the hands of a teacher, it becomes an indirect learning tool for learners. In many schools laptops and other computers are still not available to learners. In such situations a teacher can use a single laptop to improve the quality of teaching which, in turn, could lead to improved learning.
Of course, for technology to have an effect on learning, it should be freely accessible to learners. It is not recommended that you hand your personal laptop to the learners of your class, but if there are computers in the school they will be useful in different ways.
• Rich learning resources on the internet and other electronic media will be available to learners.
• Each learner could learn at a pace that is comfortable to the individual.
• Computers are very useful for ‘drill and practice’ exercises, helping learners to hone their skills.
If your school do not yet have computers available for learners, do not despair. Use the time to develop your own technical skills. These skills are essential if you wish to guide learners in the use of technology, once learners gain access to it. When you are proficient in the use of technology, you are in a powerful position to help learners to make optimal use of any technology that may be made available to them in the future.
In the meantime, use your laptop to improve your own teaching – this should have an immediate positive effect on learning in your classroom.
| related link
Lesson preparation is one way in which you could use your laptop as a teaching tool. Preparation is an aspect of teaching that is often neglected. A laptop allows you to type lesson outlines, gather teaching resources, and prepare assessment tasks – the best part of it is that you can save your work for next year.
If you want to use the laptop in a more direct way to present lessons, the small screen will be a problem. It is impossible for a large group of learners to see what you display on a laptop’s screen. For this you will need a projection device such as a data projector or an interactive electronic whiteboard.
With the aid of special programs – presentation software – you will be able to prepare presentations to use in your lessons. The presentation may include text (words, lists, descriptions or definitions), pictures, diagrams and even video clips.
Your lessons will be more interesting and effective if you use presentations in a variety of ways.
• Introduce sessions with a captivating picture, diagram or quote, thereby setting the scene for the session and helping the class to focus on the purpose of the lesson.
• A picture is worth a thousand words – illustrate important points, or difficult concepts, by means of interesting images.
• A video clip will capture the attention of the learners.
• You do not have to go through the laborious process of writing notes on the board – simply prepare them ahead of time and display them at the appropriate points in your lesson. Just think about it, you can use these notes over and over, without the need of rewriting them.
• During a class discussion, type learner suggestions and ideas and display them for all to see. These notes can be saved and used repeatedly in subsequent lessons.
• Some educational software packages lend themselves to being used as teaching aids.
• Display worked examples to a class in a step-by-step fashion.
There are many resources from which information could be obtained for your presentations.
• The internet is a rich source of pictures and video clips.
• You can take your own pictures with a digital camera and incorporate them in your lessons.
• Some interactive electronic whiteboard suppliers make their databanks of educational material available to teachers
• Colleagues may be willing to share their resources with you.
Many teachers feel, after having used a laptop in the class for a while, that they never want to be without this useful teaching tool again.
| related link
Have you ever thought about what your dream computer would be?
An interesting blog posting by Dan Gross gives a glimpse into the thinking processes of someone who is contemplating this question.
Would it be a desktop or a laptop?
What are the factors making a computer a perfect fit for you? Size? Power?
What would your dream computer look like? And what would you do with it?
| related link
Every day or two we are informed of yet another wave of retrenchments.
In many instances layoffs are done indiscriminately. For example, when a company closes down, everyone in the organization is without a job. However, sometimes arbitrary rules are applied to determine who will be retrenched, such as the LIFO principle – the last ones in will be the first to be out . Some companies may also use a downsizing situation as an opportunity to move closer to their employment equity targets.
In the current economic climate nobody has absolute job security. Even people employed by the state, or contracted to state-run projects, could be affected when cut-backs are considered.
Layoffs are sad for the victims and their families, but may present a good opening for an organization to get rid of its dead wood.
Dead wood is defined as "people in a group or organization who are not useful any more and who need to be removed". During an economic squeeze, organizations can no longer afford to carry dead wood, even if it was tolerated during more prosperous times. If staff members have to go, it makes sense to let go of the useless ones and retain the useful ones.
Successful organizations will allow the get-rid-of-the-dead-wood rule to guide their downsizing strategies, rather than directives such as LIFO and EE.
Employees who treasure their jobs want to ensure that they are not regarded as dead wood – they must go out of their way to prove that they are valued fruit-bearing branches of their trees. This may just save them from the pruning knife of the retrencher.
| related link
The phrase Total Cost of Ownership – often referred to as TCO – means exactly what it says. When the term is applied to a laptop, it refers to the accumulated costs incurred from the time you purchase the device until you dispose of it.
It is a mistake to think only about the purchase price of a laptop. There are many other costs that must be considered as part of the total cost of ownership of the machine.
An analogy may help to explain the concept of TCO.
A ten year old boy, Thabo, wanted a dog. He saw all his friends walking around with their dogs but his parents could not afford to buy one for him.
Then they heard that puppies were available at no cost from the animal welfare society. Thabo’s father rushed out to select Fluffy, a cute puppy with some Labrador blood in him. The boy was ecstatic.
At first the puppy ate leftovers from the table and slept in the house. As he grew, his appetite increased and he became too big for the box in which he slept in front of Thabo's bed. The family could not afford a kennel, since their resources were already stretched to the limit by the dog food that was required by the growing dog.
At this time the municipality passed a by-law demanding that all dogs be neutered or spayed, or else a tax would be levied for permission to keep the dog. Thabo’s parents could not afford either. A distemper epidemic broke out among the dogs in the neighbourhood, and the cost to vaccinate Fluffy was high. The family realised that they were faced with a dilemma: the boy and the dog were inseparable, but they could not afford to keep the dog any longer.
What went wrong? Simply: they did not consider the total cost of ownership of a dog before they took Fluffy home.
Owning a laptop is similar. A teacher may acquire one at no cost, or at a fraction of its normal purchase price, but could forget about the cost of keeping a laptop.
Before rushing out to bring a laptop home, do the wise thing: calculate the total cost of ownership. Then consider if you can afford one.
| related link
Back Next
Kobus van Wyk - Blog
|
      Copyright © Kobus van Wyk 2008
|
|
Calendar