Important troll taken by ICT on today's society

                                                             Reflection

Since 18th July of 2008, Bhutan has been pronounced as a GNH driven country where we have the privilege to educate ourselves without having to pay a penny besides other aspects .Under the leadership of successive monarchs , Today almost 90% of our citizens  have been entitled to free education and has given access to various international assistance.

As addressed by his majesty, "climb higher on the shoulders of past achievements- your task is not the fill the old shoes or follow a well trodden path, but to forge a new road leading towards a brighter future." So, as a responsible citizen, I personally feel the paramount importance to be given in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) in order to enhance and shape a effective future to the coming generations.

Having the liberty to learn and teach, I have come to a conclusion where ICT has taken massive troll on individuals overall understanding. It is vital for educators to use computing methods and techniques while teaching that will enable the learners to use their knowledge more efficiently. In this computerized era of 21st century, majority of the task is done with the use of computer or technology and it has become a necessity.  Learners are advantaged with various methods of teachings  with the use of video effects such as slide shows, motion graphics and info-graphics.

This paper describes and analyzes on different types of information and communication technologies (ICT) used in engaging students in better learning. The five types of ICT tools discussed are informative, situating, constructive, communicative tools and co-constructive tools.

From the first session, I could understand the core meaning of information and communication technologies which is a collection of technological tools and resources. ICT is used to communicate, design, develop and manage information's. Examples of ICT in teaching and learning is about enhancing teaching and learning process, motivates students, and helps to achieve the lesson objectives.

The importance, advantages and the disadvantages while integrating ICT in the classroom are, the creativity and motivation of the teacher plays a crucial role in enhancing better teaching and learning process. We must make use of this skill set to educate students on how  and when to use the ICT for learning advancement. The IMPORTANCE/VALUE of using ICT in the classroom includes;

1.      Development of  practical and presentation skills

2.      Helps both the teacher and the learner in knowledge comprehension.

3.      Provides opportunities for teacher and students to operate, store, manipulate, and retrieve information.

4.      Communication; relationship and extraction of information.

5.      Gains more knowledge.

The BENEFITS of using ICT in the classroom include;

1.      Gives a break from monotonous classroom.

2.      Interactive class to improve students’ concentration and attendance.

3.      Encourages slow learners with the online resources.

4.      Teacher can help students with their doubts online.

5.      Students can improve knowledge retention for longer period of time.

Paradigm shift explains that the educational experiences provided today must prepare students for the future. It is important to have a change in paradigm in the process of teaching and learning for a better change. For decades, our country has been trained to traditional pedagogy approach in teaching and learning. The teacher lectures and the knowledge are transmitted from teacher to the learners. Traditional pedagogy ICT takes vital roles in education where students can work online and independently. ICT has brought change and made the nature of work easier.

The shift from teaching to learning will help the student become self-regulated learners. Self-regulated learners are those who are aware of their own knowledge, understanding, knows best of what to do and what not to do. It develops communication and early literacy skills and allows a child to collaborate which helps them develop moral skills. This develops social interaction with friends while working in a team.

 (Digital native and Digital immigrants)

We learnt about the reason why we use technology in our classroom and one of the prominent advantages of using technology is that it motivates learner in learning in the sense it makes the class more interesting and the learning takes place efficiently. With the use of ICT tools, students are fully engaged in their learning process and they perform their given tasks in a collaborative manner. Use of technology in our classroom also improves knowledge retention where students can keep the information that they gained for a longer period of time. It also encourages individual learning and students can learn using life skills through technology.

We also learned on the topic of digital native and digital immigrants. Digital native is when students from kindergarten to colleges are grown up with the technologies. People who have much familiar using computers, videogames, and digital music players, cell phones and other digital tools age falls under digital native. Digital immigrants are peoples who born without much knowledge of technologies but they learn technologies later in life. By learning this two topics on digital native and digital immigrants, I understood that digital natives receive the information very fast at the very young age and they have gained lots of knowledge on the usage of technology. As they are brought up with the technology, they become more knowledgeable and life for them becomes much easier. For the digital immigrants, since they learn technologies later in life, I think it will be challenging for them with the usage of technologies and they won’t learn the same way as the digital native students do. Their ways of learning and the way they believe in the technologies will be different as they are not grown up with the technologies.

 Different learning styles

We discussed on different learning styles. Visual Auditory Kinesthetic (VAK) style helps us design learning methods and experiences that match people’s preferences. Every person’s learning style is different and unique. It can be either or combination of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic in terms of way he or she learns the best. There is no style that teaches all the best. It depends on the individual. Students tend to learn more by hearing, seeing or moving information as a part of processing it. We prefer it in our way to learn and understand. While learning, individual differences prevail. This is why it is important for a teacher to apply different styles of teaching in our daily life as a teacher. Different ways of learning depends on the background knowledge, environment and their understanding level. 

A primary teacher in making must focus on kinesthetic and visual ways of teaching and learning in order to gain their attention and to keep them preoccupied. Kids are always interested in kinesthetic activities where they need to make use of their gross motor skills. A certain interval is must for the kids in order to keep them interested in the class activity. A different learning style develops different skills, such as, social interactions, improves thinking skills and becomes expressive. Right style must be used for the right learner and that would help them learn and understand drastically. Auditory learners learns the best through listening, visual learners learns the best through teacher’s body language, gestures and facial expressions to understand the lesson, and Kinesthetic learners learns the best through games and activities, where there is bodily movements. This is the reason why a teacher needs to include all the styles while teaching for the learning to take place.