Final Thoughts

After finishing the reflections of the course, I believe that I have learned a lot of new strategies about teaching while intenerating the technology. Using the blog as a tool of learning is great, it lets the learner to think and gain new skills of problem solving while searching the internet and looking for more resources of information about the topic. In future the technology will gain more attention from the teachers and how make the learning easy and happy. It will not limit the learning only in the class but it will extend it to all day, whenever the learner is ready to learn. ICT as a mind tool enhances the quality of teaching which provide more planned and organized ideas for the learner that helps him to be objective to the learning.

Games and Simulation in classroom

Games and Simulation

There are many benefits of using games inside the classroom; the most important is to enhance students motivation in learning and make the teaching easy for the teacher to reach the objectives he needs that is related to the subject. We have to choose the game that is suitable, we have objective to let the students play and achieve high level of motivation in learning and problem solving skills.

Future teachers will find effective use of simulation as a teaching method. While using simulation involve learning in certain objectives in order to play the game. Every student could accomplish the objectives expected, collaboration could replace competition and good grades rewarded good learning. Classroom simulations motivate students by keeping them actively engaged in the learning process through requiring problem solving and decision making skills in which the learner is involved as a role plays. Thus participation in simulations enables students to engage in systems thinking and enhances their understanding of systems as well as of social science. Teaching through a simulation requires a time commitment and organizational scheme from the teacher. The role of the teacher includes designing or adapting the simulation to fit the unique needs of a group of students, teaching content and skills necessary to participate in the simulation, observing student interactions, monitoring and adjusting the simulation as necessary, assessing student learning, evaluating the simulation as a learning experience, and presenting the learning activity with great excitement and enthusiasm. Using a classroom simulation is a lot of work but the success of students in a well designed, appropriate simulation is extremely rewarding for students and teachers.

Concept Mapping

Concept Mapping is very useful to identify, understand, and organize the concepts we plan to teach. The students can build their own map by their understanding of the subject. It will make them more creative and motivated because they see all concepts in a good visual map. They can remember the subject and the details by understanding the map clearly. They can put some relations between the categories. When the students use the software to create the concept map they will make the information meaningful to them, they will add more knowledge to what they already know.

There are many types of concept mapping like sequential map and hierarchical map. We can choose which type is suitable to what we need or what we teach.

The students will use the concept mapping in every subject, while they study they can put the topic name then draw arrows to the headlines then to the sub headlines, they can put examples and make relations to other headlines. They can use concept mapping while listening to the lecture which makes it easy to remember the important points in the class.

WebQuest

I think, WebQuests increase student motivation. When students are motivated, they are likely to put in more effort, and their minds are more alert and ready to make connections to the task they required to do.

In my opinion, many WebQuest tasks are designed to address problems or issues that exist in the real world, which makes the task valid. In WebQuests, students use real, timely resources instead of dated textbooks and materials that are only presented from one point of view, so the student can improve his ability in problem sovling.

Due to using WebQuests in tasks that require students to take on roles where they are part of a team that must accomplish the task. They have to become experts on a certain topic and share this information with their group. They know their teammates are counting on them to contribute to the completion of the final task. Because they know their results will be shared with others in some format, often times on the Web, they know they have a real, sometimes worldwide who will see their work. I can use WebQuests with students in secondary school, because they can search and be in group inside and ouside school time. They will gain more skills other than just looking for the right information which they will present in the task.

In conclusion,  WebQuests use higher-level thinking. The questions given to students require more than just finding and spitting back information. They must take the information they research and transform it into something else that they can uderstand and apply in real life if needed. Often students have to evaluate a variety of information sources that contain multiple opinions. 

Cybersafety

The internet is considered to be one of the most useful tools for people to communicate, find information and to buy goods and services.

The security is important because you enter your own data which is danger if anyone got these data he can abuse you by asking for more unwanted things. I think every internet user must buy Antivirus applications, antispyware programs, firewalls.They each protect against a certain kind of threat, and therefore are each individually important.

The internet has a lot of information, there are many sites that offer information but we have to make sure the information is taken from a trusted source like government, trusted companies, and other well known for most of the online users like online newspapers.

The communication is easier with the new technologies but there are safety issues that we must follow to keep ourselves safe from the bad users of can abuse us by sending unwanted content. I think we must be sure to have the correct friends ID's or emails to make sure that they are really our friends, and not to give anyone our own data like visa card number.

 

Inquiry-Based Learning

Inquiry-Based Learning support the Student-Centered Learning but here I think the student will have a wonder or ability to think on his own about the subject or specific lesson then he will reach to the objective by his own technique.

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.” from this proverb I  believe that students must do, think, touch the material by their interest, as example in the class when I show them the menus of Ms word and tell them there are many useful menus that you can use, they will look forward to find them and try to use or search the internet to discover more about the menus.

In my opinion, the student will be confident and have more knowledge about the lesson specially the ICT subjects the students must apply the lesson or they may forget what they have learn. There are some ways of formatting the text the students in the intermediate school will not use in their daily tasks, we must give them a colorful and in their interest to attract them to do more of other subjects projects or exercises by applying what they have learn in the lab.

I will apply this type of learning with the secondary school students, I think they will have a big opportunity to show their interests and will develop skills like critical thinking and be responsible to the learning in future.

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Reference:
The Benefits of Inquiry-Based Instruction

STUDENT CENTERED LEARNING

The teachers are no longer the center of the class, their role is not like before in
only give the information, now the student has a role to choose what to study and when to study.  I think the teachers are only guides the students by giving the instructions on what to look for or what steps to do, then the students have the their way of getting the information and the learn better by searching the subject.

The students are active and participate in learning instead of just listening and taking the important notes. In my opinion, the student will experiment, practice, summarize, read
and write about specific subjects so they will retain the
material  for long time and will relate the subject to the real life than those who do not. The students with this style of learning will be more confidence and can face problems which they will solve and cope with any situations.