Assignment 1:

Describe the affordances and constraints of email as an ICT tool for

learning.
Dictionary.com defines email as a system for sending and receiving messages from one
individual to another via telecommunication links between computers or terminals. Email can
also be transmitted to and from other devices like the cellular phones or tablet, providing a
wide range of opportunities, with the availability of internet connection. Unmistakably, email
has formed part of the convergence in Information Communication and Technology (ICT), and it
can be used as a tool for learning in the classroom.
Affordances as discussed by Solomon (1993), is perceived actual properties of
something, essentially being those that determine how the element could be possibly used in a
specific situation. While email is a useful tool in teaching and learning (Kennewell, 2006) alludes
that it ought to be merged with available resources like; teacher skills, upper class culture,
lesson content and students' socio-economic background.
Email promotes interactive learning. It helps students to collaborate and share ideas
through text, pictures or videos on specific topics. Students can respond to another person's
comments and this takes the lesson or discussion further as everyone add their own comment,
in a threaded format. This builds the students relationship as they gain clearer understanding
and deeper meanings from their peers, in most cases. According to the work of John Piajet, the
Constructivist theory sustains this type of learning. Constructivist theory enhances the active
process and the student constructs new information and mental representations.

In my classroom, limited access to the internet or to computers negatively affect the

successfully implemented of using email in my lessons. Students do not use email because the
time table does not allow students to enter the computer laboratory to use the facility during
the school day. That area is mostly occupied by the Information Technology students. I teach
Spanish and this possess a problem to teach students this innovation in learning.
A recommendation can be to use the schools ICT facility to teach the skill to the Spanish
students. To do this, special arrangements must be made first with the principal to obtain
permission for use of the laboratory and for the students to remain after school hours. Further,
letters must be sent home to the parents informing them of this initiative and to receive their
consent with the innovation. When all is done, the teacher will teach students how to log in and
then to create their email addresses. The teacher begins threads of discussions, in Spanish, for
students to respond and develop their writing or communicating ability. This will obviously
improve as we would establish links with other students possibly from other schools and
locations to enhance communication and learning. This action is supported by the Social
Interaction Theory, as promoted by Lev Vygotsky (1978), social interaction plays an important
role in the learning process and proposed the zone of proximal development , where learners
construct the new language through socially mediated interaction.
In conclusion, email is a new and effective ICT tool which fosters teaching and learning.
It can be used to create active learning but at the same time, students do not have sufficient
access to the computer and the internet to use email to assist learning. Despite this, the
teacher can make special arrangements with the students, principal and parents, so that they
can use the schools resources after school hours to teach and practice this task

References:

Dictionary.Com. Retrieved on 20th September 2014; from:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/e-mail
EDTK2030 Information and Communication Technologies in Education. Unit 1
Using Electronic Mail for Teaching and Learning
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1332&context=podimproveac
ad
Social Development Theory. Retrieved on 19th September 2014; from: http://www.learningtheories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html
Teachnology. Retrieved from:http://www.teach-nology.com/currenttrends/constructivism/piaget/

Assignment 2:
Topic: In what ways do students and teachers both benefit from the
emergence of ICT?
Information and Communication Technology (ICT), is a growing phenomenon in education. It
enables a wide range of opportunities using various devices like the internet, computer, radio and
television. According to Tinio (2003), it includes a range of technologies and other resources that
are used to create, communicate, store, disseminate and manage information. In the classroom,
however; there are more direct benefits of ICT for the teachers and the students. Since the
emergence of ICT in education, teachers are better able to support innovative pedagogy, while
students can actively participate in learning and also access personalised learning.

Many teachers use the contemporary approach to teaching as they incorporate ICT to support
pedagogy. In the past, teachers taught with talk and chalk, in the lecture approach. This quickly
became monotonous and it did not completely cater to the needs of each students. Nowadays,
teachers use ICT to plan and execute interesting lessons using a wealth of researched information
and activities on specific topics. Within this practice teachers use the internet in collaboration
with video, virtual learning and computer to enhance instruction, thereby using different
strategies to captivate the students attention and in so doing, they learn the content. According
to (Underwood 2006), teachers have New technologies that provide a good fit with existing
practices. Both methods and practices are developed through the use of ICT.

Additionally, the implementation of ICT leads to active participation of students in and out of the
classroom. Students are quickly become involved in the activities via ICT mediated learning,
especially activities related to the Web 2.0 resources, like in the feedback sessions on YouTube
videos. Students display a fond interest in using the resources to complete tasks and as a result,
they quickly grasp content. According to Stone (1998), students switch between resources and
informational feeds, in their quest to take charge of their learning. Moreover, students collaborate
when using ICT enhanced learning. They comment on each others work and also add
suggestions for improvement.

Furthermore, ICT offers students a personalised learning environment that is catered to fit
individual needs. These needs take into consideration the learning styles, ability, background and
interest of each student. As learning activities are customised to fit each student, each is
empowered to maximise his or her fullest potential. Tinio (2003) observed that ICT can enable
the application of constructivist theories in learning environments. Constructivism was founded
by psychologist Jean Piaget who suggested that learners uses prior knowledge to make sense of
their own learning based on their needs. Students become engaged in their learning and they
learn what is essential to them.

As a teacher, I found this topic interesting because I endeavour to incorporate ICT within my
lessons. I do understand its importance as stated above and I wish to share them with everyone,
so that we can create a more positive, and creative atmosphere where students will feel
comfortable and willing to learn. Also, I chose this topic because it appealed to me as I read it

within the course. The new information is enlightening and it encourages me to strive to do a
better job every day.

In conclusion, the benefits of ICT are numerous to both teacher and students. Teachers can use
ICT to support their methods, plans, strategies and practices. Students actively participate in their
learning with ICT and they also receive personalised learning.

Reference:

The advantages of using ICT in the teaching and learning process. Retrieved on 13th October
2014; from:
http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/959-advantages-of-using-ict-in-learningteaching-processes
Tinio, V. L. (2003). ICT in education. UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information
Programme (APDIP). Retrieved from: http://www.saigontre.com/FDFiles/ICT_in_
Education.PDF
Towards a personalised learning mesh: the implementation of a low
overhead, multipath learning toolhttp://repository.alt.ac.uk/2182/1/rlt7815.pdf
The Value of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in
Educationhttp://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/flyers/
education-ict-benefits-infographic.pdf

Assignment 3:
Topic: Justify the use of Web 2.0 tools for the development of Higher-Order
Thinking Skills. (500 words)

Web 2.0 tools have been highly proven to assist in the development of students Higher-Order
Thinking Skills (HOTS) of students. OReilly (2005) defines Web 2.0 as a perceived on-going
transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of static websites to a full-fledged
computing platform serving Web applications to end users. The affordances of these tools
explain what these tools can do within the realm of the students knowledge, together with other
aspects of the learning environment. Some of these tools are Blogs, Wikis, and Social
Networking programmes like Skype. The advancement of technology has demanded that
teachers adapt new teaching styles in the form of Web 2.0 tools, which support a more
participatory classroom environment, consciously fostering the development of HOTS.
According to Wikipedia, HOTS is a concept of education reform based on learning taxonomies
such as Bloom's Taxonomy. This means that learning occurs in various dimensions of cognitive
processing. Barak and Dori (2009) contended that evidence of higher order skills among students
includes the ability to pose complex questions; ability to express solid opinions; ability to
develop consistent arguments; and ability to demonstrate critical thinking. HOTS are difficult to
learn but are essential because they are applicable in real life situations. This paper proves that
Web 2.0 tools can in-fact be used develop analysis, evaluation and synthesis skills.

Image represents Blooms Cognitive Domains of Leaning Taxonomies. It identifies the Higher
Order Skills.

Research has shown that the use of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom develop critical thinking
skills. This is a skill whereby students take control of their thought via learning, as they reflect
and decide which stance to take. According to McPherson, Wang, Hsu & Tsuei (2007), wikis
help to develop critical thinking as students are expected to work collaboratively to produce one
document on a particular topic. As a result, they need to analyse main ideas, to critique and to
predict when contributing to the production.

Likewise, evaluation skill is developed by Web 2.0 tools like Skype and Facebook. Evaluation is
said to be the review of ones position and being able to make informed judgement based on that
position. When students post responses on the Web 2.0 tools as stated above, they often make
meaning of the initial post in order to respond. Students decide how well their post matches the
original post by comparing and making judgement. Evaluation skill can be developed using Web

2.0 tools. Similarly, Hirose (2011) proved that students developed evaluation skills through Web
2.0 tools when they were able to view a garment design tool as a pattern to make garments on
their own. At the end students had to evaluate how well their garment matched the original
design. The ability to carry out this task builds evaluation skill.

Furthermore, Web 2.0 tools build synthesis as it provides personalized learning and enables the
creation of personal learning environments that consist of a set of interoperating applications and
sustains learning in varied situations, including learning from formal education, workplace
learning, and informal learning (Attwell, 2007; Bonk, 2009; Downes, 2005). In personal learning
environments, students can take control of and manage their own learning, reuse and remix
content according to their own needs and interests, and intermingle and cooperate with others in
the process of learning. Moreover, Web 2.0 tools take students one step further from the
textbooks because students have chance to produce content and to manipulate the content and
this supports students self-efficacy (Conole & Alevizou, 2010).

In conclusion, Web 2.0 has many tools like Skype, Facebook and Blogs which can be aptly
incorporated into teaching to build higher order thinking skills like critical thinking, evaluation
and synthesis.

References:
EDTK2030 Information and Communication Technology in Education. University of the West
Indies course material. Chapters 4 and 5.
Web 2.0 to Teacher 2.0. Computers in the schools [0738-0569] Thomas, Davida yr:2008 vol:25
iss:3 pg:199 -210
Web 2.0 Tools for 21st Century Teachers: Retrieved on Wednesday 19th November 2014; from:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.library.open.uwi.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=95f34380fdd2-4fa1-88f8-a906c65bd223%40sessionmgr4004&vid=1&hid=4106
Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. Retrieved on Tuesday 18th November 2014; from:
http://uwiprimo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=v
iewOnlineTab&gathStatTab=true&ct=display&fn=search&doc=TN_wiki7080087&indx
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AV%22%29%2Cprimo_central_multiple_fe&tab=everything_tab&dstmp=14164420863
63&srt=rank&mode=Basic&&dum=true&tb=t&vl(freeText0)=higher%20order%20think
ing%20skills&vid=OPE
Teaching with Web 2.0 Technologies: Benefits, Barriers and Lessons Learned. Retrieved on
Tuesday 18th November 2014; from: http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Mar_10/article04.htm