Welcome to this module entitled "ICT and Learning". Our aims are:
You may already use ICT in your teaching to a greater or lesser extent, or it may be an area you have managed to avoid until now. Whatever your subject specialism, you will have to engage with this topic at some point, and it is our hope that this material will help you to do that, perhaps for the first time, or perhaps in a little more depth than time may have permitted in the past.
Whatever your level of engagement with this topic, you will bring your own views, perhaps based on hearsay, experience, research, previous learning, or a mix of all these. We'd like to help you to explore these views, and perhaps challenge or extend them.
We'd like you to keep one thing in mind as we begin this journey — ICT is another tool you may choose to add to your 'teacher's toolkit'. Once you are familiar with this tool you may use it whenever you feel it is appropriate to do so. The emphasis here is on the word 'appropriate'. A carpenter wouldn't use a chisel when a saw is needed, and neither should a teacher use ICT when face-to-face interaction is appropriate. But in order to know when it is, or is not appropriate, we need to know our tools.
This module is designed in nine separate sections, some necessary, others optional. Depending on your degree of confidence with ICT you may choose to skip some of the options.
To help you make this decision we have included an ICT self-assessment for you. Fill this form in honestly and grade yourself to see if you already have the ICT skills you will need to complete this module. If you are weak in any of the skills you are advised to complete the appropriate section, or to seek additional support. We have also included an Action Plan to help you to map out your own development needs.
Section 1-3 and 8-9 are mandatory. Section 4-7 are optional, depending on your skill level in these areas. If in doubt, take a look at the sections to see if they are of interest to you. Each section has an associated activity and we recommend that you summarise your conclusions from these activities and retain them as written notes for future reference.
To begin this module you should start with section 1 - ICT