Promoting the use of computer lab...

Salam...

The use of computer lab has somehow being neglected by some of the school, especially in Malaysian context. The lab was just being left as it is or just being used to avoid students from walking around. The teacher sometimes prohibit the students from touching the computer because he/she afraid that the students may damage the computer. Although this phenomenon is not happening in all schools, is it still apparent in most of the schools in Malaysia. The vision of the Ministry of Education which is to promote the computer literacy among school children will not be achieved if this unhealthy situation continues to happen. Although some may say that the reason why the teacher does not use the computer lab is because he/she prefers to control the students on their own in the classroom, refusing to use the computer lab at all will not be a good way either, since today’s world of technology demands both teacher and students to at least master the basic skills of computer. Why? This is because the conventional ‘chalk and talk’ way may be ineffective since the demands for a more creative and innovative way of teaching is very high in today’s world of education. It will be such a shame if the students’ mastery of computer skill is higher than the teacher. Hence, there is an urgent need for teachers to equip themselves with enough knowledge regarding computer use in education so that a balance, lively learning environment will be created.

What are some of the activities that can help to promote the use of computer lab? As a teacher, it is essential to know some of the activities that are suitable to be conducted in the computer lab, for instance online discussion. Online discussion can be an interesting, motivating part of a lesson, since all the students are able to actively participate in the conference, voicing out their opinions, comments or even give useful criticism to their friends’ opinions. This is very effective especially for introvert students, who sometimes feel shy to voice out their opinions in face to face discussion. In addition, online discussion can be quite entertaining in the sense that we can insert emoticons, audible, and jokes while discussing about something. However, teacher needs to always be in control since the element of entertainment may keep dragging on until the discussion is not in its right track. The discussion need to always be focus, so that it may produce something beneficial for students’ learning. Examples of online discussion are Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger and many others. By doing online discussion in schools, students are indirectly being taught to stand on their own feet in sharing their own opinion with others, and this will indirectly train them to think critically and creatively while sharing opinions.

Besides that, online games are another interesting activities that can be one of the way of promoting the use of computer lab. Young learners are very familiar with games and by integrating it in the classroom, students are given the opportunity to learn in a controlled, but motivating learning environment. The teacher also needs to play their role in choosing the appropriate games to be played by students in order to match it with the learning objective. This is because not all games are appropriate for teaching purpose in the classroom. Online games such as Freddy Fish require students to think critically to solve problem by using the clues given, and this is a good example of how teacher can sharpen the thinking skills of students by using games in the classroom.

In short, there are many others activities that can be used by the teacher to promote the use of computer lab, for instance blogging, creating e-book, scavenger hunt, and others. However, teacher needs to always be aware with some of the limitations, for instance the problem of computer shortage, the problem of internet access, the unreadiness of the students to explore the technology and many more.

My future classroom

Salam…

My future classroom? The discussion on this issue may be unstoppable, since it is something that you want it to be in the future. You may add on something day by day in order to create your dreamed classroom, especially by integrating your classroom with high technology, powerful teaching aids that may sustain students’ interest throughout the lesson. Technology like Smartboard, Macbook, and Wii may be some of the elements that most of us really interested to integrate in their teaching, and I do admit that I may be part of those people. Since all these technologies have the ability to increase the effectiveness of the lesson taught in the classroom, it will be something worth for both the part of the teacher and the students to implement it in their classroom.

Although the word ‘my future classroom may be all about integration of technologies in teaching, we can widen this scope by speaking on the condition of our future classroom. In my opinion, my future classroom must be well-interactive. This means that the interaction is not just limited between students and teacher and students and students, but the scope of interaction can be increased between the learners and the teaching materials used. How can this happen? We can achieve this for instance by using Smartboard in teaching and learning process. Smartboard is one of the latest technologies that enable teacher to increase the participation of students in the classroom. For instance, the teacher may ask students to come in front and choose the correct answer on the spot using the Smartboard. In addition, Smartboard provide variety of interesting teaching and learning activity, for instance online games and quizzes that will create a safe, lively and non-threatening learning environment. Students may also get immediate feedback using the Smartboard, which will be very good in enhancing students’ motivation towards learning. Using conventional paper and pencil exercise, students may have to wait until one week in order to get the feedback from their teacher. At that point, the students may already forget about what they have learnt last week. As the result, students may feel less interested towards the lesson.

In addition, my future classroom should always be in a healthy condition. The atmosphere in the classroom must always be safe and non-threatening, as this has a big impact towards students’ acceptance of the lesson. This is in accordance with the theory proposed by Krashen which emphasizes that a threatening learning environment will increase the affective filter, and eventually result in the negative affects towards the emotions of the students.

In short, a future classroom may be equipped with all the technological stuff but it depends on the readiness of both the teacher and the students to apply and interact with the technology. Hence, it is essential for me as a ‘teacher to be’ to equipped myself with the knowledge in technology so that my vision of having a future classroom that suit with my demands will be achieved.

Fish philosophy

Salam...

My first impression after hearing the word Fish philosophy was totally different than its real concept. I thought that Fish philosophy is a condition when we are not easily influenced with our surrounding. We are what we are not matter what happens. Why? I am referring this to the special characteristics of a fish itself, a fish never become salty even though it lives in the sea. However, it is good to acknowledge that this new Fish philosophy that I am introduced to got something to do with the education field. FISH! is a skill that provides the process, tools and language to generate the skills necessary to design a workplace full of inspiration, creativity and innovation. This is the point when teachers may apply this philosophy in their classroom. Using its four simple practices which are Be There, Play, Make Their Day, and Choose Your Attitude, a teacher may make a big impact in their classroom teaching. How can we integrate the fish philosophy into our lessons? In my opinion, teacher should always be there with students and guide them in and out throughout their learning process. This doesn’t mean that we are spoon feeding them and train them to become a dependent learner. What I mean is that a teacher should always attend his/her students when they are needed and facilitate them throughout the lesson. Make the student feel that they are appreciated. This will give a very good impact towards teaching and learning, since it has the ‘power’ to increase students’ motivation and desire to learn.

Besides that, a teacher should sometimes include the element of games in the lesson, and this is what we called ‘Play’. Why? We cannot deny the fact that students especially young children like to play, as this is like an escapism to them from the dull world of learning. Students also like the spirit of cooperation in solving the games, the same as the like the feeling of competition. Hence, it is important for teachers to wisely select the appropriate games to be inserted into the lesson, besides create a health competition among students. This will increase engagement of students with the learning process.

Furthermore, teacher needs to treat each student as an individual. Each of them has their own strength and weaknesses, and none of them are the same even though they are twins. Do not judge them based on their mistakes or mischievousness, but try to investigate their family background and daily life activities. Maybe the students just need attention from you. Make their day. Make them feel appreciated by praising them and give positive rewards, and not just punishing them without any solid evidence.

Last but not least, the teacher himself/herself needs to be a good role model to students. Choose your attitude. Be a professional teacher whether in your dressings or behaviour. Whether we believe or not, students are observing every inch of what we are doing starting from the brand of our shoes to our relationship with other colleagues. Therefore, being a good teacher in and out is very important since it actually affect the way our students treat us and our lesson.

One point that I want to add here is how the technology will help in the implementation of fish philosophy. We cannot deny the role that technology played in increasing the effectiveness of classroom teaching. But how is it related to fish philosophy? Of course yes. Using technology, we can also imply the four practices in this philosophy. A teacher can attend their students by using email, or having an academic discussion online with them. Besides that, the teacher may insert games using SMARTBOARD application in classroom, which will create a good, interactive environment in the classroom. Moreover, the teacher may give immediate feedback using the technology, for instance by replying an email to students regarding their homework compare to the conventional way of teaching. This will make students feel appreciated and motivate them to learn.

In short, fish philosophy is one among the other philosophies that is very useful to be implemented in the world of education. It depends on us as a teacher to make use of it for the benefit of our students.

Think again...

Salam...

The presentation for SMARTBOARD was being continued and I was a bit worried since Prof Maznah will just randomly choose anyone from us to present in front. Although I felt grateful not to be chosen for the day, the presentations from my other friends have knocked my mind to think over of my presentation. Some critical issues have been raised by Prof and other tutors which make me a bit doubt about my finished product. Am I putting enough thoughts in my presentation? Am I being critical enough in devising activities for the students? Are there enough elements of creativity being integrated in my presentation? How is my learning outcomes and learning objectives suit with my activities? All of these ‘crucial’ questions keep buzzing in my head and need a clear clarification before I submit my assignment next week.

I noticed that creativity is one of the main subject matter being discussed in the class. The most thing that I remembered from creativity is what being said by my friend, ‘Creativity no need to be expressed using astounding, mesmerizing presentation but it may be something simple, but looks creative”. Forgive me if this is not what being said by my friend, but this saying makes me rethink about the content of my presentation. A simple presentation that demands students to think creatively may be better than a presentation that replicates flabbergasting, fascinating pictures that may confuse students at the end of the lesson. Creativity is something that is very abstract. In my opinion, creativity is something ‘invisible’. You cannot say that something is creative just by observing the surface of the presentation. The surface may look very interesting and attracting, but when you try it, you may feel that it is just like any other ordinary presentation. In contrast, a simple presentation may be somehow very creative after you experience it. That’s how I define creativity, and it may sound a bit weird to others, but for me, creativity is something that is very abstract to observe with naked eyes.

Besides that, I noticed that we need to we need to put more effort since we are using SMARTBOARD as our instructional material. The activities produced need to be something that are different from ordinary paper and pencil exercise; or the use of SMARTBOARD will not achieve it supposed objectives. There is a need to exploit the SMARTBOARD and all its features in order to produce a quality instructional material. The level of interactivity between SMARTBOARD and the students needs to be enhanced, and we ‘teacher to be’ are like a promoter who will try to use this latest technology to enhance the effectiveness of the classroom teaching.

After hearing all the comments, I really felt that need to revise and think again of the suitability of my activity. More effort and critical thoughts, combined with creativity and art of teaching may probably be a good ingredient in producing a better SMARTBOARD presentation.

Presentations and feedback

Salam...

The class for the day was just focusing on the progression of the SMARTBOARD assignment, besides the presentation from the representative of the chosen group. Sincerely, I am very impressed with the guidance and tolerance replicated by the tutors and the lecturer itself when the class just started on the day. Ms. Chin, one of the tutors was busily moving around to solve our problem, besides facilitating us in producing a better presentation in the classroom. In my opinion, she is a very good tutor since she is very open, soft and willing to hear our problem, and we also feel comfortable consulting with her.

The presentation part was very effective for me since I managed to learn lots of things that I may have overlooked before. I now become aware that something that may look good at our eyes may become very irritating for children. Why? This is because the unique characteristics of children and their variability of seeing world is just not the same like us. For example, children are attracted to big, colourful, eye-catching pictures and we as ‘teacher to be’ need to consider this factor in our presentation. Based on the presentation, I noticed that there were many factors that sometimes being overlooked by us. For instance, too many wordings in a presentation for Year 1 pupils may be quite inappropriate for them. As we know, children have short attention span and they are more towards visual learners. Too many wordings will make them boring and confused, which will eventually affect the learning process for the day. Besides that, I noticed that the background that is being used in the presentation also have special effect towards our presentation. Hence, there is a need to be more careful in choosing the background for the presentation; a scenery background may not be quite suitable to teach mathematics for young children. Besides that, some comments were given to the animations used in the presentation. Although it is good to use animations to attract students’ attention, too many animations may distract the real teaching point of the day. Besides that, some comments were given to the fonts and the pictures used in some of the presentations.

From all the comments given, I learnt that producing a good SMARTBOARD presentation is not an easy task as it sounds. The positive feedbacks, the negative feedbacks and the suggestions for improvements from the lecturer, the tutors and my friends help me a lot towards the process of completing this assignment. More effort and critical thinking has to be put on. In addition, the voluntariness of some of my friends displaying their presentation (although it is not yet completed) was really beneficial since it provides rooms for others to improve their presentations.

In short, the class for that day was really useful as it acts like an opening-eye, lead us to be more sensitive with young learners’ needs along the process of completing our assignment.

Searching and editing

Salam...

The process of producing a good activity for my SMARTBOARD presentation was quite tough. I need to find suitable, realistic picture since I am doing the topic about plants. Although there were vast choices of images in the internet, I need to be really careful since some picture may confuse students; especially those who are imported from the other country. For instance, students may have a different view of how banana tree looks like, but the banana tree from the other country may look different at all. As a result, students’ background knowledge will be disturbed, hence giving a negative impact towards their learning. In addition, I also have to photo edit some of the picture, so that it can be viewed clearly by students. As we know, most of the students at this stage are visual learners; they are more attracted to learn if the teacher uses teaching aids that replicate beauty and creativity, besides familiarity with their environment. As a ‘teacher to be’, I need to be aware with this fact so that the teaching and learning process will be more effective and successful for both teacher and students.

Exploration time...

Salam...

SMARTBOARD... you need to explore the board since the board itself is smart. That’s what I think when I want to use the SMARTBOARD for the first time. The process of creating the activities required me to explore and get use with all the functions in the SMARTBOARD, so that I can exploit the board at its maximum level. Why? This is because the activity created must be interactive enough for children to explore it, and this is the main reason why we are actually using SMARTBOARD in learning. First of all, I just try out some of the icons in the SMARTBOARD, and roughly make a simple learning exercise. Although it’s quite difficult at the first time, but with the help of my friends, I managed to understand some basic functions in it. Besides that, I also surf the website officially created for SMARTBOARD, which is smarttech.com in order to obtain enough information regarding the application of SMARTBOARD. The simple tutorial in the web gives me a quite clearer view on how to use SMARTBOARD in teaching.

EFFORT...

Salam...

Prof Maznah has given us the liberty to proceed with our SMARTBOARD assignment for the whole 3 hours class. Since she wants the assignment to be 90% completed by next week, each of us has started to put more and more effort in it. There were also some of us who just started to think about this assignment, and I cannot blame them since this semester is quite tough for us. Most of our works involve the use of technology, and this is not a common phenomenon when we were studying at the teacher-trainee college. Furthermore, I cannot deny that some of us are still adjusting with this so called ‘university life’. However, some of my friends seemed at the last stage of completing their assignment. I think this group of my friends were really wise in dividing their time for all the assignment, and this is sign that everything can be managed if we know how to handle it.

I spent most of my time looking for animated pictures, buttons and arrows since I found that all these were very useful in my presentation later. We cannot deny the fact that children are more attracted to all this ‘mobile’ stuff, since they are also active and like to move around. Besides that, it can also give positive impact towards teaching and learning process. When learners are attracted to the teaching aids prepared by the teacher, their attention span will be prolonged. In general, most children have short attention span; they cannot concentrate on one thing for a long duration of time. In order to cope with this, teacher needs to prepare teaching materials that will attract them to focus and participate in the classroom activity. Therefore, the use of animation during presentation is one of the best ways to capture their attention in the activities. However, it is important for teachers to not use too much animation as this will disturb the learning point as the students will be more focused on the animation rather than the content of the lesson.

Besides that, there are also some points to be considered while choosing the pictures to be used in the assignment. A clear, colourful and relevant picture will be some of the main criteria in choosing pictures for classroom activity, as this will enhance students’ attention and makes the process of acquisition of new knowledge easier for them. In short, there are many factors to be considered in producing this SMARTBOARD assignment and I hope that I will always be aware with the needs of learners along the process of completing this assignment.

FOCUS...

Salam...

The lecture for today was started by the presentation by Ms Chin regarding the ICT and learning principles in primary classroom learning, which I find very useful for us since we are going to deal with ICT in our future teaching. The way the ICT is used in dealing with the principles of the primary curriculum is very useful in classroom practice, since there are massive advantages of integrating ICT in the classroom to support learning process. The use of internet, audio and video in learning may attract students’ attention and prolong their attention span, which will give a good impact towards their learning. Besides that, teacher can use ICT for problem solving, which will sharpen students’ level of creativity in thinking.

Then, the lecture was taken over by Prof Maznah, who is more focusing on our SMART BOARD assignment. The main reference used was a text on the use of interactive whiteboard in schools by Tolley. I realised that it is very important to understand and implement what is written in the text, since it is very much helpful in this assignment. For instance, it is a requirement for us to use and integrate some of the 12 teaching strategies in our presentation, for instance brainstorms, simulations, video shots and others. This will be a bit challenging for me since I am not quite familiar with some of the strategies, but I will take it positively and try to integrate it in my presentation. This is good in the sense that it trained us to be more practical in our presentation, since all these strategies were based on research and practice in the real classroom. Besides that, the text also stressed on the level of interactivity in the classroom, which is crucial especially in the primary classroom. Many of the teachers are just focusing on the finishing the syllabus in the classroom without paying much attention on the participation of students in the classroom activity. This is wrong in the sense that participation of students is one of the good proof that illustrate the understanding of the students in the classroom.

In addition, a lot of thinking was needed for this assignment since there is a need to adopt teaching and learning model such as ADDIE model and Dick Carey model in the presentation, besides learning theories such as behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. This make me realised that this assignment is really like real classroom application for me, and some readings need to be made in order to get a clear view of how to integrate the learning theories in this SMARTBOARD presentation. Therefore, I need to be more creative and innovative in manipulating all the resources around me and make use of it in my presentation. The presentation must be clear, challenging, interactive, and the most challenging part I think is where we have to rationalize whatever we present in the assignment.

This assignment is really a challenge for me and I am now in the process of exploring this new technology in order to be implemented in the real classroom.

SMART BOARD ASSIGNMENT

Salam...

The lecture was started by the reflection of the previous assignment that we have submitted last week. I got to know that there were so many other software that can be used for the video-making assignment, for instance PENCIL 4.0, U-LEAD, POWER DIRECTOR, and others. So, what we can said is that technology is something that never stop; once you find a software that you think is the best among the best, there will still be another software that you have never heard of it, and that software may be better than yours. Hence, the important point here is that technology is for you to explore it, and once you are familiar with them, most of your work will be easy to be settled with just the click on your fingertips.

In addition, Prof Maznah also commented on the way we make the storyboard and the details on the video clip, and most of the discussion were focusing on the misunderstanding of some terms, for instance the word ‘narration’ and ‘the media’ used for the video clip. Some of us have different interpretation for both, and as the results, the answer given were not as expected by the lecturer. I learnt that in certain situation, we as undergraduate students need to be more alert and inquisitive with whatever information that we have doubt in it, especially if it is regarding the assignment. Asking straightforward using ADEC, or just having a small discussion with members from other groups will be very much useful in solving all this sort of misunderstanding.

Besides that, we also received our next assignment, which is closely related with the SMART BOARD short course that we have attended last week. We have been asked to create activities for primary ESL classroom, and since this is a group work, 5 of us will be focusing on 5 different topics. Although this assignment sounds easy, but when the application of SMART BOARD is involved here, there is a need to put more effort in exploring this new technology, so that it may be integrated fairly with the activities. After getting into respective groups, we discussed about the different topic for 5 of us, and some activities suitable for each topic. I realised that we have to widen our scope in searching for the activities suitable for students, so that a more creative, challenging and practical activity will be produced as the output for students. Furthermore, Ms. Chin also displayed the ‘work of art’ of our seniors, which I thought was very much useful for my reference in completing this assignment. I got a wider picture of this assignment by observing the kind of activities producing by my seniors, as lots of creativity and thinking has been put on them. Some of my friends even got the opportunities to complete the exercise, which make the class very much interactive for the day.

Moreover, the latest SMART BOARD software which has been updated with new features especially the animation will promise a very enjoyable journey for us along the process of completing this assignment. A good activity cannot be described with one word, but it can be seen clearly only after we applied it in the real classroom. However, a good teacher will try to put as much effort as they can along the process, as the process is sometimes same as the result. Hence, it is my hope that I can produce my best for this assignment.

SMART BOARD FOR SMART TEACHER

Salam...

Today’s lecture was quite different since we have been given a short course on smart board application in the classroom. This was like a golden opportunity for me since the use of smart board in Malaysia education context was not very well developed yet. In addition, this was not the first time we were exposed to this training, and this is like the refreshment of what I have been attended one year ago. In this short course, we have been exposed to the new version of notebook smart board software (version 10, if I’m not mistaken) which contains many new and improved features, for instance animation tools which is very interesting to be implemented in classroom context. Besides that, our facilitator for today’s training; Fenny was very good, funny and friendly, hence creating a very interactive and comfortable learning environment. Although the early session was quite ‘uninteractive’ since many of us slept quite late, and some didn’t sleep at all in completing the assignment yesterday (including me), the presentation part was very alive since a lot of creativity has been displayed in order to create a good, simple activity to be taught in the classroom. I was very amazed with one of the presentation, in which the presenter is trying to use the new feature in this smart board in order to create a meaningful, fun learning environment. (using spotlight to spot the transportation base on the pictures).

Throughout this training, I have gained a lot of input, especially in the basic function of using smart board. Learning can be made more interactive using smart board, since the participation of students in the activities presented by teacher can be observed clearly. Instead of paper pencil exercise, teacher may ask students to directly come in front and use the attractive, user friendly features in the smart board to solve the problem stated. This will give a very good impact in teaching and learning, since the participation of students are widened, and lessen the domination of teacher in the classroom. Besides that, many of interactive activities can be produced using smart board, for instance quiz and drawing.

Lastly, today’s training session was like an eye-opener for me, since I now realised that if the smart board is ‘well manipulated’ in the classroom, the teaching and learning process can be made more effective for both teacher and students. I cannot wait to explore this technology and the upcoming assignment will be the good place where the first step begins.

ONLINE EDUCATION WEBSITES

Salam...

We were in the fourth week and I felt that times flow like water...very fast. The lecture for today was more focusing on the available online references for teachers in Malaysia, and I did admit that I never heard some of the name! It may be a quite embarrased to say that because as a ‘teacher to be’, I should always be aware with any medium that was prepared for the betterment of teachers. In addition, the challenging world of technology today required teacher to be well-equipped not only with knowledge, but also will the current news and activities relevants to them. Hence, numbers of website like Cikgu.net, Eduwebtv, MOE, and many others has been specially prepared online in order to equipped teachers ,teacher trainees, and educators with useful, current information regarding the world of education. For instance, if we surf Eduwebtv.com, we can explore and make use of massive useful information relevants to teaching profession, for instance latest news on activities regarding Malaysian education that can be watched conviniently and clearly with videos.

Besides that, there was also tv pendidikan which I found very helpful not only for students, but also beneficial in the way that it accelerates ideas for teachers in classroom teaching. Besides that, another education website that I found practical for teachers was ETEMS (English for Teaching Mathematics and Science). This website is just like an alternative way for Mathematics and Science teachers in helping them to enhance their English language skills as the medium of instruction in teaching these two subjects. Interestingly, this website is equipped with modules for both teachers and facilitators, which is like an eye-opener for them in using instruction effectively in the classroom. As we know, since the drastic change of teaching of Math and Science in English, many Math and science teacher faced difficulties in adapting and using English as medium of instruction in classroom. Some of them were not very competent in the language, and others may lack confidence in using English while teaching, since this is not their native language.

Hence, the existence of EteMS can be observed as a practical tools in helping teachers to cope with this kind of situation. Therefore, it is a must for me as a ‘teacher to be’ to always be updated with all this online education websites since it is very useful for my future teaching, as it is loaded with many useful information and updates regarding my very own profession of teaching.

THIRD WEEK LECTURE...

It's already the third week! I feel quite tense since the video clip assignment has to be submitted within a very short period of time. However, I always bear in my mind that if I try to give my best for this assignment, everything will always be alright. The lecture was started by Ms. Chin, who introduced us to ASSURE Model and ADDIE Model. I found out that both of the model have their own benefits in classroom teaching. ASSURE Model, which is an abbreviation for steps of the model stands for analyze learners, state objectives, select methods, media, and material, utilize media and materials, require learner participation and lastly evaluate and revise. ASSURE model is like an eye opener for teachers as it provides alternative way in designing teaching and learning materials. Teacher does not have to depend fully on text book or exercise book. Here the application of technology comes in, and teacher were free to integrate their skill of using technology using this model. Hence, a lively, interactive and interesting classroom atmosphere will be created, compare when there is no integration of technology in the class. Another model which has been introduced to us was ADDIE model. It is a systematic instructional design and model consisting of five phases, which are analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. We can see that both models tend to help teachers and educators in their instructional design, by providing specific steps that are crucial to be practised in the classroom. We can say that both models are good guidance for teachers in enhancing the effectiveness of teaching and learning process, since it wider the range of conventional way of teaching into a more flexible one.

After the explaination by Ms. Chin, we have been given opportunity to continue our video assignment, besides explore and learn many other skills that were needed in producing a good video for teaching in the classroom. Without wasting time, I searched for the video clip needed for my assignment, under the topic of animals. Since it quite difficult to record real video for animals, especially the wild one, I decided to just looking for suitable video clip, and do some editing in order to make it interesting and contained the teaching points that I am going to teach. I found that there were some suitable video for my assignment, and there was some useful teaching points that match with the curriculum specifications that I want to insert in my lesson. Since this assignment prioritise creativity and originality, there was a crucial need for me to turn the video clip that I will download into something 'different' and unique for teaching in the classroom.

While searching for videos, one of my friend approached me and told me that our facilititor didn't actually like the way we downloading the video clip and use it for the assignment, since it doesn't replicate the originality of the idea. I was very worried about that, since my topic is about animals and I cannot imagine how I am going to video clip wild animals like tiger and elephant. In order to clarify this situation clearly, we approached Ms. Chin and ask her about the assignment. I felt so relieved then to know that we can use the video clip in the internet, but it is very important to edit and insert any important teaching points in the video, and the product must be different from the original video clip. Besides that, I felt really touched to see Ms. Chin and En. Hafiz searching for related video clips for my topics, besides giving me some tips in doing the assignment. Thank you...This incident taught me that I need to be calm and always directly refer to the lecturer if there is any doubt in doing the assignment. Besides that, I also got the opportunity to watch my friend's live video clip, which motivate me to do my best for the assignment.

VIDEO CLIP ASSIGNMENT...

The second week lecture was focusing more on the progress of the video clip assignment. After getting the feedback from Prof. Maznah about the details of our video clip, we were now moving into the production stage. There were three main objectives concluded by her which were to inform, to teach skills and to influence the students. Hence, a good effort has to be made in order to turn whats written on the paper into reality.


A good teacher has to be creative and flexible, and there were so many strategies available to be practised in our video making. Some of them were story telling, narration, animation, puppet, comedy, and so on. I realised that a good teacher has to widen their scope of teaching, by not just focusing on the conventional or similar method of teaching. This is due to the increase of demand of students' nowadays who are more attracted to colourful pictures, moving animation and 3D image, since they are exposed through this kind of stuff regularly through medias and internet.


Besides that, there was some uniqueness in the way we were evaluating for this video clip. Each group was given freedom in determining the criteria needed to assess their group , and this can be done by posting it to the forum. Honestly, I really interested in the way Prof set up the task for us.. It gave us freedom in learning and taught us to be an independent learner. Besides that, the credibility of the marks given will not be questioned since we ourselves determined the criteria. Besides that, the three stages of checking which were within group, tutors, and lastly using You Tube. This ensure the quality of the production and the creativity in the assessment process. Since it was for public viewing(You Tube), all of us were becoming more aware with our choice of teaching point, since it has to be clear enough for learning process to take place.


In addition, there was also examples of video presentation displayed in the lecture. This was really helpful as it gave a clearer view on how our video should look like. Now, we should start working on it seriously since this is like a good training for us in manipulating our skills in technology for the use in real classroom practice.

Assignment 1

# How technology is going to affect how your students are going to be learning.

# How you as a teacher will be learning.

In my opinion, technology was one of the practical, useful medium to be used in teaching and learning process in the classroom. It makes some of the ‘impossible’ things translated into reality, for instance the use of animation in teaching students about the concept of earth and universe for science. Imagine how much the effort will it takes by the teacher to prepare conventional teaching aids in order to show the circulation of the orbit, the change of night and day and the location of stars and galaxies. The amount of time and money spent will be so high and demanding, and possibly lead to lack of dedication and productivity of teachers towards their core business of teaching. This is the part where we are really afraid of, as it has massive impact towards the learning progress of the students. The environment of the class will somehow become so dim and depressing, resulting in the lack of the motivation of students toward their own learning. You may think that I am thinking too deeply or just dragging things too much, but we cannot deny the fact that this things may happen if the teacher himself/ herself lost their passion towards teaching after a long period of time.
In contrary, imagine the colour of the world if the technology is efficiently and optimisely applied in the classroom. There will be an interesting, lively, colourful, and interactive atmosphere in the classroom. However, I would like to remind that all these situation are not impossible to be created in the class without technology, but the effort and the effect may be quite reasonably different when you are using technology. Both classes have its pros and cons, and for sure we don’t want to underestimate the effort made by the previous generation of teachers. Stepping into today’s explosion world of technology demands for a better knowledge of a teacher in manipulating as much as the resources found so that the process of teaching and learning will become more effective.
Using technology, students will become more resourceful and independent, since the information was just at their fingertips.
Therefore, it is a must for me as a ‘teacher to be’ to equip and immerse myself into this world of technology, as the readiness of learning really depends on the total immersion in technology-based learning environment. All the important soft skills such as downloading, converting, editing and publishing must be in my grasp so that I can maximize the use of technology in my teaching. I am very grateful to be exposed to this subject of technology as it functions as a platform for me to explore, create, and even polish my skill in technology. However, it was really important for teachers to not be the ‘slave’ of technology and let it do all the teaching, while we just sitting ignorantly in the classroom. Hence, the basic skill of classroom management, classroom control, added with the glory of technology will be a very good ingredient in creating a successful, appealing classroom for both teacher and students.

Reflection : 1st lecture

The first day in this technology class seemed enjoyable for me, although I cannot deny that the feeling of ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘uneasiness’ were always bugging in my heart. Why? The answer was this is the first time I’m taking technology class seriously and it seemed that 80% of the subjects I will take for this semester are revolving around the word ‘technology’. This was really a transformation for me, and I really hope that I will improve myself in this field.
P.L.E.A.S.E. This was the first lecture for this week. This word was an abbreviation for a very deep in meaning, and it itself stands for a very polite expression when we want to ask for something. It somehow portrays the gentleness and graciousness of being a teacher, in which we have to give all the best and contribute what it takes to ensure the best result for our students.
Teachers’ building skill are built through these six alphabets which stands for personalize learning environment and student engagement. The agendas focusing on personalize learning, engaging learning and action research. The way in which we personalize our learning really depends on the way we deal with the learners. Learners should engage in active, collaborative and critical learning in which the level of dependency towards the teacher was at its very minimum level. This will produce learners who are capable of thinking on their own feet and proactive, which sounds so easy but its effectiveness in Malaysian context was not really at its expected stage.
Hence, we can see the importance of scaffolding process as advocated by Vygotsky, one of the prominent people in this field. The role played by the students itself when engaging with his/ her environment, especially with the peers and teachers will be very much helpful if the students know how to make use out of their daily interaction in order to improve themselves.
As for my last words, it is my duty as a teacher to create a meaningful learning with students by involving them in the real –world experience of learning and this may be achieved by the help of technology –based learning environment, in which both teacher and students are ready to learn and live productively in a creative, innovative digital society.

Min aina ila aina...

Bismillahirrahmaanirrahiim...

I start my words with a very good welcoming expression in Islam...Assalamualaikum..

I wonder how many people can understand my title. However, it is actually the only word that I have taught of in introducing myself. Don't forget to check for its meaning...

Anyway...

AHLAN WASAHLAN WA MARHABAN BIKUM...

WELCOME...

TO MY BLOG...

PKEY 3101 2008...

TECHNOLOGY IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

Special gratitude for lecturer, Prof. Dr. Raja Maznah Raja Hussein and tutors for teaching and guiding us because this is really a platform for me to explore the beauty of technology...