One to one learning in the classroom

One to one learning in the classroom


Picture of some of my students using their individual laptops to complete an assignment. Notice the students are doing their individual tasks,yet they are able to collaborate and share ideas. 

 Using different forms of instructional media


The benefits of using different instructional media are evident here.  The students are using a text with visuals and the I phone is used to gain supplementary information.  Clearly the one to one learning devices are a must in the classroom particularly for the older students.





St Vincent and the Grenadines must ensure that students are competitive  in the global market. Access to ICT will  be one way to prepare students.  The government through an OECS policy initiative has implemented the 'one lab top per child' to improve ICT in the schools.  ICT improvement is a priority recommendation for Universal Secondary Education  (USE). This USE implementation meant that the traditional computer lab in one assigned space has to give way for one to one learning in different environments.

The Interactive White Board

Interactive White Board

The IWB is a useful when teaching the younger students.  These students can actually manipulate objects on the whiteboard to promote understanding. I have never used the whiteboard myself but when I saw it used, the teachers used it for power point presentations and demonstration. There were no student interactions with the board. When I saw the lessons, I not think much about how these whiteboards could have been used to enhance the teaching and learning process.  I did not realize that they really could be used to promote interactivity. Ignorance is really a bliss! What made it so sad, is that I was assessing lessons for teaching practicum sessions but I did not comment on the lack of students interactivity with the whiteboard. Now I think about it, the lessons ended up being very teacher centered. The article entitled: Investigation, The Educational Value of Interactive Whiteboards in the 21st Century Classroom by Allan Alach really opened my eyes. This article will make me question if the teacher was still engages in explicit teaching rather than allowing direct student interaction with the board. I will not assess lessons conducted by my teacher trainees in the same way where the whiteboard is used.  There is obvious a need for further training in the use of the IWB.

Using the one computer classroom for global communication

As I reflect on the article 6 Ways to Turn Your 1-Computer Classroom Into a Global Communication Center,  I note that in the Caribbean context, the one computer classroom is used mainly to support content area teaching rather than for purposes such as social networking. Although there is limited used of  VOIP  and messaging connections in the teaching and learning process,the computer is not a main tool to bring experts and other resource persons  from outside into the classroom.

I read Chiaka's article entitled "How to thrive, not just survive in a one computer classroom".  I found it very interesting.  I think most of the strategies suggested are appropriate for young children.  Unfortunately I teach adults so I use most of the strategies suggested by her.  I agree with her that for whole class instruction the use of the projector connected to the computer is the best option.  Picture size is a down side to this.  This problem was acknowledged by Chiaka.