Use of ICT in Learning and Teaching

  Chapter 25: Designing for Inclusion - UDL & Strategies supporting variability Date/Time: 7th September 2024 , Sunday 2:20 am This has been an interesting dive into the  ISTEU online course "Designing for Inclusion". I was able to complete the first module and write about interesting concepts learned from the course. I would agree unintentionally we might be using some strategies that support variable learning among learners. To begin with reflecting on myself, I usually turn on. the captions while watching YouTube videos. I observed several times that I lose attention span after a few minutes, I have to rewind and replay the video. Some time back I started turning on the captions and I read along with the videos. The good thing is I grasp more concepts and I stay focused because my eyes are focused on reading the text on the video. The captions though support people with hearing disability but it supported me too and I can hear well loud and clearly. I also observed whi...

Chapter 24: Designing for Inclusion - Exploring barriers to learning for learners with disability - Part 2 Date/Time: 5th September 2024 , Friday 7:38 pm Sharing some important learning points from the ISTE Course online "Design for Inclusion" module 1. There was an interesting image shared with 3 different individuals who had limb issues. The task asks you to discuss barriers to learning. Each of the individuals who have limb issues will suffer in some way. They might have writing issues, writing speed may be affected, shifting between multiple tabs can be difficult, creating slideshow or presentation will be challenging, coding or programming tasks may also have issues. Carrying devices and textbooks may also be a challenge and support may be required to do usual chores. There was an interesting video where a writer Sinead Burke talks about how her short height is seen as a disability and the problems she encounters on a daily basis. The simplest being the design of un acce...

Chapter 23: Designing for Inclusion - Exploring learner variability and jaggedness! Part 1 Date/Time: 4th September 2024 Wednesday, 4:02 am My key takeaways from the module 1 of the online ISTE course on "Design for Inclusion". Now this was an interesting dive into the course and there were new concepts for me and some needed revision. I really like the concept of Learner Variability,  and the way the instructor explains through examples, it sounds like giving respect to learners who might be unique or different in any way. An example in a video shared talks about the fingerprints being all different and we all know that none of us has similar fingerprints. It is actually the same as having a class of 30 diverse learners coming from varying backgrounds and each is different. The term "Jaggedness" was new for me but quite intriguing. There is an interesting example shared by Todd Rose about two learners having the same IQ level but being different in varying aspects ...

Chapter 22: Teaching Coding, Technology & Computers using Hello Ruby - Part 2 Date/Time: Friday 26th July 2024 2:45 am & Saturday 27th July 2024 3:33 pm  This is yet another interesting blog post about an interesting online training session about “Teaching Coding, Technology and Computers using Hello Ruby”. The post will focus on the first training session on Hello Ruby. As shared earlier the ideas are inspired by the Hello Ruby books and website.This is also a continuation of the  previous blog post. I am sure after reading the two posts more participants would want to join the online sessions and have a great learning experience.  The next task in the session was discussing loops. This is also a very difficult and tricky concept to explain to students in Computer Studies. Since I have taught Computer Studies to students for a long time, I know how challenging it is to teach technical concepts. This begins with a thorough understanding of  the term “algorith...

Chapter 21: Teaching Coding, Technology & Computers using Hello Ruby - Part 1 Date/Time: 25th July 2024 Thursday - 4:25 am & Friday 26th July 2024 - 2:27 am This is yet another interesting post about a great training session online with teachers and an early year school head. It's been a while since I did training sessions online. I was skimming through the Hello Ruby book on “Adventures in Coding” and I came across a wonderful idea of creating an online session for teachers, school heads and coordinators specifically teaching in schools in Pakistan. Hello Ruby is written by Linda Luikus who is a Finland based children's author and illustrator. She has written three books on coding , technology and computers. I skimmed through the Hello Ruby website and thought of creating an interesting , fun learning training session for teachers. This post will focus on ideas shared on the Hello Ruby website and the books. The post will reflect on the content in the training session ...

  Chapter 20: Arts & Crafts is way to enhance creativity in learners  Date:  1st July 2024 Monday 1:18 pm & 2:30 pm This is another interesting post about arts and crafts. I remember writing about the newspaper arts and crafts activity with the amazing learners at the Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation in Peshawar. As shared earlier Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation is a school for street children in Peshawar, which is  doing an awesome job providing quality education to street children in Peshawar. I am honoured to play my part in providing quality education to these learners with immense support and encouragement from Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation. This post will focus an two lessons that were taught before Eid ul Azha. The students made wonderful Eid cards for their teachers and they made an amazing painting using brush strokes. Let us look at the first lesson , I was exploring online arts and crafts activities when I came across a simple yet interesting art act...

Chapter 19: Learning to Code in Scratch - Part 2 Date: 27th June 2024 - Thursday  2:21 am & Saturday  29th June 5:02 am This is also a very interesting post about teaching coding skills in Scratch to the amazing learners at Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation, which is a school for street children in Peshawar. In these days the learners learned how to animate their names in Scratch and practiced creating a scoring game in Scratch. This is a little more challenging and requires understanding of the code. It was good to see the learners eager and keen to learn coding. Coding actually provides opportunity for creativity and enhances perseverence and grit in learners. It enables them to make mistakes and keep practicing to find the right solution. They learn at their own pace. The lesson started with demonstrating how to animate names. I demonstrated using my laptop how to animate the different letters in the first name. This included adding sprites, changing backgrounds, adding mo...

Chapter 18: Learning to Code in Scratch - Part 1 Date: 25th June 2024 - Tuesday 1:32 pm & 2:45 pm This is yet another interesting post about teaching coding skills to the amazing learners at the Ranaa Child Welfare Foundation, which is a school for street children in Peshawar. They are doing an awesome job trying to provide quality education experiences to under privileged children in the society. I am honoured to play a small yet pivotal role in contributing in positive ways. This post will reflect on todays learning experience in Scratch. Scratch is available online and anyone can start creating in Scratch within seconds.  I had started teaching coding skills to learners some two weeks back in Turtle Academy which is important because it teaches learners the very basic skills in coding. We spent some time practicing coding in Turtle Academy and I wanted to revise today but somehow the link was down and neither the learners nor I could work on Turtle Academy. I had already pla...