| Lead ICT Project |
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In 2006, Crescent Girls School embarked on two LEAD ICT Projects, namely ‘Tablet PC Mediated Instruction in History’ and ‘Motivation Orientation in a Nurturing Technologically Enhanced Environment’. In the first project, 149 students from four Secondary 2 classes were selected to take part in a research project over a period of 10 weeks to ascertain the impact of technology on the teaching and learning of History in the achievement and affective domains. The technology aspects covered both the use of Tablet PCs in a wireless environment as well as the inclusion of technology-integrated Microlessons using the ‘Strategies for Active and Independent Learning’ (SAIL) framework. In this project, two classes were randomly selected as the experimental group while the other two classes form the control group. The Microlessons were designed by the teachers from the school and it consisted of the mediation of Tablet PC for the teaching of three chapters on Singapore History World War II and the Fall of Singapore, The Syonan Years: Surviving the Horrors of War and End of War and Post-War Problems. These lessons were designed based on the basic tenets of Self-Directed Learning (SDL) which views students as responsible owners and managers of their own learning process. SDL integrates self-management (management of the context including the social setting, the resources, and actions) with self-monitoring (the process whereby the learners monitor, evaluate and regulate their cognitive learning strategies). Multimedia contents, such as posters, photos, web links and other resources for these topics, were included in the lessons. These lessons were uploaded on the school’s intranet, Microsoft Learning Gateway (MLG) for students to access during the History lessons. The assessment of the experiment was done through Pre and Post Tests with 149 students as well as a voluntary online self-perception survey of which 127 students responded. The second project attempts to examine the relationship of students’ motivation orientation towards learning and their achievement in a nurturing technologically enhanced environment. The fundamental baseline of learning outcomes lies in the motivation orientation of the students – their perception of the reasons why they are engaging in a learning task. The students’ motivation orientation to learning includes their intrinsic and extrinsic orientation, task value, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy for learning and performance, and test anxiety. Different dimensions on the motivation orientation of 1053 students from Secondary 1 to 3 were assessed and compared. Benefits for Pupils Although there was no significant difference in the achievement scores of the experimental and control groups in the ‘Tablet PC Mediated Instruction in History’ project, the students’ perception survey revealed significant differences amongst the two groups in the level of confidence the students had in handling the different types of skills required in the assessment of history, their engagement in collaborative learning and the motivation exhibited in learning the subject. The findings indicated that the students in the experimental group had shown a significant higher level of collaboration amongst themselves than the control group. This result is also consistent with the teacher’s observations of the students’ behaviour during the history lessons. The students from the experimental classes had discussed more about History and were more likely to share about learning materials with their friends as compared to the students from the control classes. In this study, it would appear that the students from the experimental group were significantly more motivated and interested in the lessons and had looked forward to finding out more about what was taught during lessons than those in control group. The Mobile-Learning Report 1 (Crescent Girls’ School, 2006) has indicated that technology could be harnessed to develop positive attitude in students towards learning. 75% of the Secondary 2 students surveyed indicated that their motivation towards lessons had increased with the pervasive use of technology in the curriculum. 85% of the students had shown that they are now more likely to research a subject area beyond their textbooks. This is an encouraging sign of motivat ion orientation as the students enjoy learning and are taking ownership of what and how much they learn. Staff Professional Development Crescent Girls’ School has existing structured systems already in place for professional development specifically in the area of IT. In alignment to new MOE’s initiatives as well as school’s strategic focus for the year, the following are the new systems put in place for teachers in 2006 Structured sharing during white spaces With the introduction of white space to encourage professional sharing, structured sharing schedules for individual departments were created by HODs/IP and eCoaches together. Different forms of sharing are customised and catered to the department’s needs ranging from peer sharing to training on ICT skills by professionals. Peer Coaching Programme With the pervasive use of technology for teaching and learning at CGS, a unique programme named PeerCoaching@Crescent is set up to further support existing teachers as well as handholding new teachers. The entire programme ranges from design of lesson plans, content creation to lesson observations and evaluations. Department IT strategies To further support the individual departments and to ensure teachers are equipped with various strategies to integrate IT into lessons to bring about engaged learning, a wide range of IT strategies were crafted out by eCoaches together with the departmental teachers. These repositories of IT strategies are made available for all teachers who would like to explore innovative teaching ideas involving IT. Benefits for Teachers With the new systems put in place, it provides opportunities for all teachers to learn and share from one another during white space. It also encourages IT directors and IT eCoaches who are more IT savvy to handhold and level up other teachers. Last, but not least, level co-ordinators and teachers are able to integrate IT more effectively and pervasively into lessons using the departmental IT strategies. Challenges faced There is a need to put in place more robust supporting infrastructure to support teachers and students including replacement of TPC as well as increase of bandwidth for wireless network. With the innovative IT initiatives, our staffs need to have specially customised training programs which currently the vendors are not able to provide. The school is looking into developing a comprehensive ICT Development programme to prepare the teachers and pupils for an ICT-enriched school environment. 3. ICT LEAD Report 1 – Tablet PC Mediated Instruction in History ABSTRACT Technology has revolutionised the current landscape of teaching and learning, offering new potential and possibilities to the learning process. The access to resources, materials, rich media and the potential to personalize and customize these resources will allow students to take greater ownership of their learning and is likely to bring about improvement in their academic pursuit and motivation. Research on the application of technology like the Tablet PC on teaching and learning could be of relevance for History as well. In a knowledge-driven economy, students will need to acquire new 21 st Century skills which will help them innovate with new ideas and experiment with new applications in today’s classrooms. This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 149 Secondary Two students in an all-girls’ school. It examines the impact of technology-integrated Microlessons using the ‘ Strategies for Active and Independent Learning’ (SAIL) framework in the learning of History on achievement and affective domains. The assessment of the experiment was done through Pre and Post Tests with 149 students as well as a voluntary online self-perception survey of which 127 students responded. The research question examines the extent of how the integration of technology mediated instruction with the SAIL framework affects the students’ learning of History in terms of:
For a complete report of project, please click here. 4. ICT LEAD Project Report 2 – Motivation Orientation in a Nurturing Technologically Enhanced Environment ABSTRACT The study examines the relationship of students’ motivation orientation towards learning and their achievement in a nurturing technologically enhanced environment. The fundamental baseline of learning outcomes lies in the motivation orientation of the students - their perception of the reasons why they are engaging in a learning task. The students’ motivation orientation to learning includes their intrinsic and extrinsic orientation, task value, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy for learning and performance, and test anxiety. Different dimensions on the motivation orientation of 1053 students across three educational levels, namely secondary one (347 students) two (344 students) and three (362 students) were assessed and compared. Students were of ages which ranged from 12 to 16. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study examines the relationship between students’ motivation orientation towards learning and their achievement in a nurturing technologically enhanced environment. This study on motivation orientation of the students will provide a useful understanding on the significant factors in motivation orientation that will impact the learners’ academic achievement outcomes. RESEARCH QUESTIONS How does the motivation orientation of the students differ across the three different educational levels?
For a complete report of project, please click here. |
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