Reflection on Constructive tool

Having learnt anout ICT in teaching and learning, I knew that the knowledge of ICT is mandatory for pre-service teachers like us during our training program because such integrated technological knowledge help us to become a prospective teacher to know the world of technology in a better way by which we can apply it in future for the betterment of the students. Keeping all this  importance of technologocal skills in the back of my mind, I understand  that the ICT can be used as a tool in different forms according to the requirements of the learners/students for their better learning and comprehension. In lune with this, today I will be reflecting on ICT as a constructive tool in the teaching field.

The constructive tool is based on the constructivist approach to learning which was emphasized by Piaget. After learning about the constructivist approach, I came to know that the constructive approach is an approach which allow an individual learners  to construct their knowledge and meaning through hands on learning experiences. Moreover, the meaning that the learners have constructed should be influenced by the interaction of their prior knowledge and new events. This approach solely emphasizes on students’ needs to construct their own understanding and make meaning and knowledge from it. Here, the students/learners takes an active role collecting and exploring information based on the topics of their interest, enhancing their  critical thinking, and motivate them to become an active independent learners. The knowledge is built by the learner as they reconcile new information with past experiences, analyze various source materials, and then work collaboratively with others.

After having discussion on the constructive tool, I came to know that the constructive tools are the applications that help our learners to manipulate information, visualize one’s understanding and construct one’s own knowledge. We learned that electronic bulletin boards, MS publisher, DPT, Multimedia authoring tools, social networking tools such as Blogs, Face book, Twitter and simulation are all examples of constructive tools. To have the in depth comprehension on constructive tool ,we were even asked to design one page simulated advertisement in order to attract visitors to our locality which in fact helped us to search and collect relevant information on our locality using the range of sources on the net.

Figure 1:Simulated advertisement designed using PowerPoint, 2020

The use of word, spread sheet and power point help us to organize record, manipulate and present our ideas in an attractive ways such as in the form of memos, reports, letters, presentation and record routine

information.Following are the few examples that i have prepared using word, spreed sheet and PowerPoint.  

Figure 2: Microsoft Word on Math Assignment,                       Isometric Drawing, 2020.

Figure 3: Spread sheet on Action Research                              Data Analysis, 2020.

Figure 4: PowerPoint presentation on  English                       lesson plan,2020.

Therefore, I feel that teachers should explore more and have the knowledge of ICT so that they can make good use of the ICT in their teaching and learning process. This will in turn benefit our students at the maximum level and also provide opportunities for them to explore and be connected with such technologies.

Reflection on Communicative tool

The second tool that I will be reflecting upon is ICT as a communicative tool. After going through about the communicative tool, I came to know that communicative tool is an application which enable an individuals to have an easy communication  between the teacher and the students or amongst students beyond barriers besides time and space. Some of the most commonly used communicative tools are Skype, Gmail, Facebook and video conferencing. Among which, I found that Gmail and online chats are the most popularly used communicative tools across the world in an educational field in teaching and learning process.
For example we are doing almost everything online, the assignments, the presentations and even a simple assigned task through either using email or video conferencing making an effective use of communicative tool.

Figure 1: Teaching and learning through video conferencing.

After learning about the communicative tool, I knew that there are two types of  communications. The first one is the synchronous, which is also referred as real time communication in which users must  be simultaneously connected rather like a telephone call enabling them to have a real time communication. Examples of synchronous communication are chat,telephone call, and video conferencing. The second one is the Asynchronous communication which does not require a constant bit rate. Examples of asynchronous communication are file transfer,email and the world wide web.The table below shows you the examples of types of Synchronous and Asynchronous communication tools for better understanding.

Through the discussion, I also knew that Synchronous and Asynchronous  communication got both positive as well as negative impact while implementing them in teaching and learning process. The advantages of using synchronous communication are that it enables real time communication. Moreover, it is also used for an instructional activities that require higher degree of interaction helping an individual to solve urgent problems however, having slow connection to keep abreast of interest and difficult to make quick comments by slow computer users are the negative impact in this type of communication. The benefits of using asynchronous communication is that it allow us to connect with members in multiple time zones however, vle posts fail to maintain the interest and it discourages learner's participation. 

Figure 2: Use of blog as a communicative  tool.

To sum up, a wide variety of communicative tools are used for external and internal communication. These tools includes mail,email, telephones, cell phones,smartphones, computers,video and web conferencing tools, as well as online collaboration and productivity platforms.Moreover, I aslo learnt that incorporating ICT as a communicative tool plays a vital role in educational field.It is that when communication is effective, both the student and the teacher benefits. Communication makes learning easier, helps students achieve their goals ,increases opportunities for expanded learning and strengthens the connection between student and the teacher. Therefore, using technology as a communicative tool helps in making teaching and learning more meaningful and fun creating an overall positive experiences resulting quality teaching and learning. 

Reflection on Informative tool

After exploration to this module,I realized that the uses of information and communication technology tools have got great impact in teaching and learning process. Teachers across the world make use of ICT in the classroom as an informative tool, a communicative tool, a constructive tool, co-constructive tool and a situating tool in order to have an effective learning progress in the classroom teaching and learning .I feel that integration of such tools in teaching and learning contribute to high quality lessons since they have potential to increase student's motivation, connect students to many information sources, and support active in-class and out-class learning environments . Among which, today I will be talking on the first tool, that is ICT as informative tool.

After going through the discussion on informative tool, I came to know that informative tool is an application that provides large amount of information in various formats such as text, graphics, sounds and videos. All these informative tools hepls to have an interactive and effective teaching and learning  enhancing better comprehension. Moreover, television,radio and internet are used as an informative tools in the classroom, but internet is by far the most popular source of tool used in collecting the information.

Figure1: Lesson plan designed using images and graphics, in PowerPoint, Eng 2020.

For example , designing lesson plan using PowerPoint can grab student's concentration towards learning.The images and the graphics used in the presentation will makes the presentation more catchy in which helps to attract the interest of the the learners. Moreover, the visual aids that we used in presentation will boost their retention power which in fact will helps in better academic performance. 

In addition to that,I also get to understand how we use ICT as an informative tool in our day to daily lessons and some of the positive impact of using ICT as an informative tool. To have effective and more comprehensive classroom teaching, the teachers need to provide students with the information in the begining,during the process or after the activity and let students to construct their own knowledge and meaning from their learning. Thus, information provided by the teachers will in turn helps our students to boost their higher level of thinking such as analyzing, manipulating,  constructing, synthesizing, creative thinking and critical thinking.On top of that , I also learnt that by using ICT as an informative tool, we are more into advanced world getting to know more about ICT skills such as how to integrate relevant ideas,analysis the information, develop information search skills and then to evaluate resources on the Internet.

Figure2 : PowerPoint presentation on Women playing khuru in Bhutan, 2020.

As a concluding point,I knew that  learning is better when we actually make use ICT tools.The integration of ICT in Educational field helps to promote learning by doing and provides access to wide range of up to date learning materials. Moreover,  I aslo learnt that informative tool plays a vital role in teaching and learning as it enriches learning through a combination of video,audio, images , and animation. Therefore, ICT informative tool provides an educational information directly useful to the learners  enhancing and resulting better academic and non-academic  achievement.