Use of ICT in Learning and Teaching

Exploring Scratch - Whys and Hows? Date: 26/07/18 -Thursday This blog post is simply inspired from my recent dive into Scratch . I have never been fond of programming and have always found it extremely boring and complicated. It was my recent experience of working in Scratch that helped change the initial thoughts. This blog post explores the whys and hows of introducing Scratch in schools, in  academy's , at home or in any other formal/informal settings.  Scratch is a programming language , developed by the Life Long Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is designed for kids aged between 8 - 16 years but anyone can use it. A colorful and easy to use interface, easy accessibility, ease of sharing in an online community, trial and error opportunity, interactivity , availability of help tutorials and much more has made it a favorite of people of all ages. It is used in more than 150 countries and is available in 40 languages. My first program in Scratch was t...

Podcasting - Transforming T & L in Schools Date: 15 July 2018/Sunday This time my blogpost explores Podcasting with some insight into why I believe it has the power to transform teaching and learning in schools. So lets begin by digging a little and finding out what are actually podcasts, how do you create them? a look into websites that let you host free podcasts? a list of advantages for using in schools and much more. Join the ride people :) Just to make it as simple as possible, a podcast is a digital file (audio/video) available online and can be downloaded to any device computer , mobile or an portable media player and you can listen to it whenever you want to using our speakers or headphones while driving, sitting, walking , during exercise etc. In other words its on demand radio , the content is different every time, not the same as usual radio station episode every week. It has content to either inspire you, motivate you, increase your knowledge and understandin...

The Khan Academy Date: 2nd July 2018/Monday This blogpost is inspired from my dive into the Khan Academy, which is a non profit educational organization created by educator Salman Khan in 2006 with the aim to develop online tools to assist students develop a deeper understanding of different taught concepts related to Math, Science, Art and Humanities, Grammar, Economics, exams like SAT, GMAT etc. It is a huge repository of interactive quizzes, reading articles  and video based lessons. It is free and anyone can join. I will begin by briefly describing the joining procedure, creating accounts, creating classes and adding students, assign tasks and monitoring progress reports. I have imported my two classes from the Google Classroom. The resource has been used with kids at both the SOS Children Village and Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation (a school for street children in Peshawar). Mostly used for practicing grammar and different math concepts for grades KG and above.I can alw...

The Future Classroom Toolkit and its Implications in Schools in Pakistan Date: 26th June 2018/Tuesday My previous blog post was all about projects initiated by the European Schoolnet Future Classroom Labs, this post will look at another very important aspect of Future Classroom labs i.e the Toolkit. Lets begin by digging in and finding out what the toolkit is all about. The Future Classroom Toolkit is basically a collection of resources, tools and guidance for educators, school leaders, technology providers to bring innovation in schools. The toolkit consists of 5 toolsets, each set guides the educators through a series of steps on how to create a scenario. We will explore each tool set in detail below and then apply each in our Pakistani Schools and try to visualize impact. What is important to remember here is that classroom here does not refer to a traditional four walled classroom but rather any space where learning takes place.  The toolkit supports a whole school a...

Exploring the future of Future Classroom Labs in Pakistan Date: 22 June 2018/Friday My blogpost this time is inspired from my recent dive into the Future Classroom Labs by the European Schoolnet and their 30 Ministries and various industry partners to rethink design, pedagogy and technology in classroom. My blog explores their work in detail and highlights why such a set up is needed in Pakistan, how can this be set up and who can be the driving force behind this, some suggested schools and partners to take up the initiative. So lets begin by exploring what is actually the FCL Future Classroom Labs ? The Future Classroom Labs is created by European Schoolnet and 30 ministries and industry partners to re-imagine and think teaching and learning in conventional classrooms, reorganize learning spaces that cater to the differentiated needs of diverse learners in a class. Classroom here is not a traditional four walled room but any area where learning takes place be it inside or ou...

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...