Thursday 28 January 2016

Lesson 5.1.4 Apply

General   characteristics and back ground of my Learners:
-The learners I teach are High School students  between the ages of 13-20 years.
- The number of students per class on average is 60 and the school classes range from Senior one up to senior six but I teach from Senior three to senior six. 
-From senior one to senior four are in a level referred to as Ordinary level 'O' Level while the level from senior five to senior six is called advanced level 'A' Level according to the Ugandan curriculum.
-There are no students with mental or physical disabilities.
-The students have diverse cultural backgrounds-both from Uganda and from the different African countries neighboring Uganda; like Rwanda,Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi but majority are from Uganda.
- I teach in a single sex school and therefore all my students are girls because it is a girl’s school.
-Majority of my students come from middle income families and some from poor families.
-Some of my students are conversant with some digital technology platforms like face book watsap and viber but others are totally ignorant of it.
How effectively me and my school prepare learners/students for the digital society?
-My school put up a computer lab. which I use with my student in some lessons but not all.
-The school has computer and ICT study programmes for students at all levels as per the National curriculum from the ministry of Education in Uganda.
-I prepare some but not all digital infused lessons mostly to the students in the advanced level. For the lower levels, the syllabus is too detailed and the school time table is too congested with lessons which creates no room for learners to learn sufficiently while using school computers.  
The achievable changes that I  would you like to make in order to be more innovative in this regard. 
-I would prefer three quarters of the school subjects in the curriculum to be practical oriented And synchronized with digital literacy.
-A permanent internet connection should be put in place using the school computer lab so that as students use computers in the lab can access the internet.
-Students should be allowed to own and carry personal laptops to class rooms so as to limit the rot learning where the teacher is the ultimate provider of the subject matter to the students.
-The National examinations /evaluation of students to be done by both the individual school teachers and then the National Examinations Board; giving at least a percentage of marks for practicals to be awarded by the school teachers of any respective school.
-Provide a router and internet to teachers in the staff room to avoid congestion between students and teachers as they frequent the computer lab to explore the internet.
-The school should put loan facilities for teachers who can not afford to buy personal laptops in a single payment so that they they get and pay in manageable installments as the academic year goes by.
-Lesson assignments should be in digital form, not hand written. 
  END