Use of ICT in Learning and Teaching

Exploring the world of Reading Eggs !!! Date: 30/05/2018 - Wednesday This blog post is simply inspired from my recent dive into the Reading Eggs program by 3P Learning . It is basically a reading program aimed at improving and enhancing reading skills of kids through online interactive activities and games. I must say it has a very colorful, attractive and a very easy to use interface for kids. Its been almost two weeks or so since I have been using the free trial of the program with the kids at the SOS Children Village Peshawar . I was amazed to see their interest and engagement during the various activities. After a brief introduction kids were able to do the various activities on their own. So what are the highlights of this program and why I would strongly recommend it for kids (whether at school or home). One of the best features is the Placement test at the beginning of the program, every child is suppose to do the test based on MCQs, which assess the child's basic ...

A Look into Finnish Education System Date: 18th April 2018/Wednesday This blog post is simply inspired from my dive into a recent online course by ALO Finland on Eliademy about the Finnish Education, titled " Finnish Education 2.0 - Phenomenal Learning and 21st Century Competencies ". It was a great opportunity to review teaching and learning practices in schools in Pakistan. I am so greatful to my Course instructor Pirjo Suhonen   for  giving me an opportunity to think about innovative practices and changes that need to be adopted in our education system. I consider myself blessed enough for being associated for good 22 years (as a student and employee) with a very prestigious institute of our country i.e #Beaconhouse School System. It was great to see a number of innovative practices being already introduced in Beaconhouse. I would like to begin by sharing what I liked most about the Finnish education system, there are no standardized testing procedures in plac...

Googling it the Google Way - the Magic of Google Classroom Date: 19 Mar 2018/Monday This blog post is inspired by my recent encounter with the amazing Google Classroom [1] .  Initially I thought it will be similar to a traditional classroom set up. On exploring I was able to get a deeper insight into the marvelous features the classroom has to offer. This  can help you flip your classroom. From organizing content for various courses to assigning work to students online, commenting on the homework , collaborating in real time etc are some of the tasks that make this online classroom a dynamic interactive learning experience for all learners. The blog explores each feature below in detail. Though its easy to login to your #Google Classroom using either your personal google for education account or GSUITE for education account set up by school. You can choose to login to your class by various methods either directly through web browser by going to classroom.google.com o...

Googling it the Google Way - Exploring the power of tiny species called Addons! Date: 15th Feb 2018/Thursday  This blog post is inspired by the amazing functionality of the tiny species called Addons [1] . Add-ons are basically programs that enhance the existing functionality of the Google Suite Core Services like Sheets, Docs and Forms. These are created by third party developers , using Google App Script which is based on JavaScript. The best part is you do not need to know with coding language to work with addons, you can use them as easily as you could imagine. Google basically has divided the add-on into three sets , namely add-ons for Sheets,Forms and Docs. these are use for multiple purposes, for example add-on in docs could be used for creating forms (using the DOC to Form add-on), shortening URLs, creating citations and bibliographies, add-on in sheets [2 ] could be used for mail merge, grading quizzes, sharing documents etc) and in forms to create quizzes. Which...

Googling it the Google Way - Exploring Google Expeditions , Google Tour Builder & Google Lit Trips Date: 31 Jan 2018 This blog post explores some interesting ideas worth trying out in classrooms with kids of all ages using the amazing tools that Google offers including Lit Trips, Maps and Expeditions. But as educators we all need to remember that learning journey begins with the learning goal in mind, considering technology as a vehicle to reach learning goals more effectively and efficiently keeping everyone on board. Considering this vehicle offers a lot of potential to explore and take all students through difficult terrains. One can only embed technology meaningfully , when one has a good understanding of both the learning goals as well as the tools available. This blog post will give you an insight of the above mentioned tools and share some ideas of using these in your classrooms. Lets begin with exploring Google Lit Trips [1] . Basically its a project started by...

Googling it the Google Way Part 2 - the Omnibox Date:6th Jan 2018/Saturday This blog post will give you a dive into the Omnibox, which is Google Chrome’s address bar. For most of us it’s just a search bar. This blog post will definitely give you insight into some amazing work you could do with the Omnibox. [1] The word Omni literally means universal, which implies that the Omnibox could be used for any task from searching on the web, searching within a website, to mathematical calculations, finding meaning of word, setting up a timer for a competition of a game, getting information about flights, current weather situation, conversions from inches to cm etc, sending a tweet and so much more. [2] Let’s begin the journey by simple tools and tricks to help you become a master of Omnibox   :) whether easy or complex mathematical calculations, you just need to type your equation inside the Omnibox and press enter. It opens a calculator and displays your result. You c...