I was watching the video on ICT in schools and what I found interesting is their argument that using ICT in the classroom can also help improve assessment systems to develop more clear pictures of learners’ performance. Monitoring attendance and progress and turning information into statistics and data to formulate strategies to improve knowledge delivery to students. Diagnosing areas for improvement is made easy through different computer software.
I personally would love to have the advantage of using such a system. Creating online databases of learner information can aid individual educators and their institutions to offer improved educational programmes suited for their learners’ needs.
Having so many people furthering their education and instilling lifelong learning culture has increased the influx of students. ICT may help educational institutes deal with education for the masses by providing a more flexible system to cater for individual needs.
I agree that having such systems would be very useful especially at post secondary level where very often for political reasons the main aim is to produce numbers and in doing so, quality is lacking. Having systems which monitor students’ progress and performance would be very useful especially when having classes with a considerable number of students all at one go.
ReplyDeleteHaving mixed ability students in such situations is very probable, and students lagging behind might only be identified after a first assignment. If such a system would prevent this from happening then I think it should be the way forward.
Student profiling systems must be dynamic, that is, they should be updated continuously by lecturing staff. This would allow lecturers to see contributions given by their colleagues in the different subjects, therefore every instructor is provided with a more global and hence more accurate picture. As a result, any difficulties which may be impeding a student from learning may be acknowledged.
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ReplyDeleteA student profiling system would be helpful to any lecturer, and as it has been mentioned, it would help see certain patterns, and measure the ability and motivation of the student at an early stage.
ReplyDeleteBut the first thing that enters my mind is this...obviously the profiling system needs data...it needs input. And marks are not enough. It needs remarks, observations, progress reports, and maybe even information about behaviour, social background of the student, etc... Are we, as lecturers willing to take our time to provide this data to the system? Or better still, do we have the time?
I agree with Elaine. We need to recognise the need for a more professional and systematic approach to teaching and such systems are not simply a luxury to colleges but a need for a better educational service. Incorporating time for such research and improvement goes hand in hand with quality assurance.
ReplyDeleteLecturing is not simply delivery and correction. It is to include a system to maintain knowledge delivery strategies in line with the requirements of students and adapting to environmental factors. All of this is to be incorporated as part of our duties and adequate time and resources need to be available for such a system to flourish.
Phasing in such a system would require sound planning supported by policies. Employing such an assessment practice would be a step forward toward College accreditation.
Very good point by Elaine. The ideal world would be that of having this profiling system which is updated all the time, but in the world that we live in this is not always possible. Such a system will need constant reviewing and monitoring in order to be functioning correctly. So the questions posed by Elaine do make a lot of sense. Are we, as lecturers willing to take our time to provide this data to the system? Or better still, do we have the time?
ReplyDeleteSuch profiling systems will be very helpful for the students, parents, teachers and also administrative stuff. With such a system, a number of important strategies can be implemented. Communication and awareness can be much easier having such a system. As with every IT system, the development and maintenance is quite a tedious process, but the resulting benefits will be much more appreciated in the future.
At the IICT institute we have a system were, students and lecturers can give feedback to each other. I find this beneficial for myself and for the students as well. This is sort of a small part of the system that has been mentioned above. I think that by implementing such a system everyone will benefit
There are a number of applications which can be used for this purpose and there is also a number of applications for adaptive testing. This is very important and helpful to use in e-learning courses. I agree with Elaine that we do not have the necessary time to do so. We only teach students for 1 semester i.e. 18 weeks with 4/5 hours per week. In my opinion there is not enough time to get to know the student and do profiles for each student. However in Primary and Secondary schools this would be ideal. I know that there are teacher who create profiles especially in Primary schools but they do it manually.
ReplyDeleteAs correctly stated by James, every semester we meet up to a hundred students; thus making it impossible to create profiles for each one whilst also keeping them updated.
ReplyDeleteApart from time management limitations, it is also important to consider the relationships between lecturer and student. All is well and good when the abovementioned get on well together, can see eye to eye and are ready to co-operate together. Yet, problems arise if the rapport between lecturer and student turns out to be rather problematic. This can lead both daring lecturers and students to pass negative comments about each other which would in turn affect the work and performance of both parties, how the people involved are seen by others, as well as both the lecturers’ and students’ reputation.
The thing which struck me the most in this video was the student profiling system. Since I believe that having this type of student monitoring is a great idea which benefits both the student and educator. The educator can assess where the students' problems lie, thus helping to overcome these difficulties. When the student sees that someone is actually caring for what is happening to him, I think that he will put more effort in his studies and work therefore in the end he will perform better.
ReplyDeleteI agree with James, it would be very positive to crate student profiles, however in the current state of affairs at MCAST IICT it is impossible due to the number of students we have.
ReplyDeleteHaving sad this I think it is the same situation also in secondary school.
It is important that a lecturer or educator get to know his students such that he will be able to choose the learning tools, especial in a mixed ability environment.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bera.ac.uk/files/reviews/ict-pur-mb-r-f-p-1aug03.pdf