What are ICT Skills and Why do We Need Them?
ICT skills are very important in our line of work, even if you don't think they are. Information and communication technology is the way of the future for almost all businesses that our students will be joining in the future. If we do not use these and teach these effectively, our students are going to be at a disadvantage in their future endeavours. I thought I was teaching my students enough to get by with, as I was the Computer learning teacher to our grade sevens for three years....In hindsight, nope.
Forced Situation - A Change in Learning
My school and A LOT of my colleagues, and to an extent myself, had a little push in upgrading our ICT skills because of the novel coronavirus that has changed many things in the world currently. The push in our district in March of 2020 was straight to Online Digital Learning after Spring Break (I believe that was province-wide) and this included a lot of teachers using online tools more prevalently and some, for the first time. I have always been fairly familiar with the programs that we use in the district and I am my school's "technology go-to," but I kept saying to myself "I will try to implement that next year," so this was a shove to implement for me as well. Teachers in our school used one or all of the following apps during our three months of digital learning (Zoom, Scholatis Portals/Classes, Microsoft):
These apps were used both successfully and not quite so successfully. Before the pandemic and digital learning, about 75% of our students had never used these programs/applications, so it was interesting to try and teach them how to use digital tools digitally. This really did kick start some professional development ambition by my staff and myself on how to use the approved applications by the school board and how to effectively teach them to our students.
Learning Curve
Our district realized how in need its teachers were for Pro-D on these approved apps and they included videos and instructions for both teachers and student on our District Resource website:
Blog Tutorial for Students
Scholantis Assignments Tutorial
Signing into Microsoft Teams
There is also a quick go-to reference for parents and guardians here on our District Site.
I know in my case, I started September with the goal of teaching my students how to access the applications and how to upload or email assignments if we ever went to online school again. This was a lofty goal but one that I took quite seriously and now that it is February, I still have students asking how to upload or email me an assignment, so I am quite frustrated with the prospect, but I know they are learning at least something because not all of my students are asking for the same instructions. I still plan to go ahead with having them continue to add assignments to their portals, send messages through Teams and have them email occasional assignments; practice makes perfect, right?
Final Thoughts
If I ever felt the need to upgrade my own ICT skills and help my colleagues update theirs, it is after the very interesting year that we have all had. Reading an article by Michael Page shows that the 4 latest advancements in information technology are Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Monitoring and Predicting, and Zero-Knowledge Proofs. I know nothing about any of these, but it has given me an appreciation for learning and teaching ICT skills. I am hoping to continue learning about new online applications that I can use within my classroom so that I can prepare myself and my students for a future and jobs that are not even invented yet.
(https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/computer_class.asp)
Works Cited
"4 Latest Advancements in Information Technology." Michael Page, https://www.michaelpage.ca/advice/career-advice/growing-your-career/4-latest-advancements-information-technology. Accessed 20 Feb 21.
Well done review of your past year and some new awareness and goals you have going forward. This reflection shared a lot of the common experience we all felt just about 1 year ago. Your review of the struggles and challenges, as well as the opportunities and examples of success were insightful. A little discussion of the networks you are a part of, and how you have shared, connected, or supported each other is always appreciated. A good link to check out and some useful videos as well.
ReplyDeleteWe too had a similar experience with online learning in the spring in Manitoba. Just as you expressed, the reality of remote learning served as the catalyst and inspired further technology learning for myself and my staff members. We quickly became proficient in Teams, SeeSaw, AtoZReading, NetMaths and Edbsy with little to PD training and support. When September came around and we were once again required to teach in person, I decided to do my part to set us up for success if we found ourselves once again in a remote teaching scenario. As a teacher-librarian I visited each teacher and had a quick conversation about the skills they had acquired and those they hoped yet to develop. When we could find a minute, I walked them through the basic how-to's of the above-mentioned programs. Furthermore, I spent time with each class showing them how to access their files digitally through OneDrive and our library materials through Destiny. We spent some of our valuable class time trying out the other programs to work out the kinks and ensure that all students knew their way around the programs if they had to use them from home. Although this took up an enormous amount of our time this fall, it cemented our understanding of these programs and reduced a lot of anxiety about a potential future return of remote learning. Teaching others was also an excellent way for me to grow in my abilities as well. I was very impressed with the possibilities that these new technologies presented and plan to incorporate them into my teaching moving forward even in a post-COVID world.
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