ICT as informative tools

I know different levels of integrating ICT into our everyday teaching and learning process.  The importance of integrating ICT into learning and teaching. The question of how to integrate ICT into classroom is the problem of every teacher.

We can actually integrate ICT into classroom in various ways

ICT as an informative tool

ICT as communicative tool

ICT as constructive tool

ICT as co-constructive tool

ICT as situating tool

Here I will share about how we can use ICT as an informative tool.

ICT as an informative tool

ICT can be used into classroom as an informative tool which means using ICT to solely derive information about a particular topic or anything. We can use computers, televisions, radio, internet or any media to collect information and to gather data.  ICT provides information on content or a concept in various formats such as in image, video, sound and text.

For instance if the teacher uses internet to get information on butterflies and their habitat in the forms of images and text information he/she is actually gathering information about the butterflies using internet. Then he/she uses her computer to create a presentation on that, there the teacher is using the computer to organize the information in such a way that the students can understand and learn. Here ICT is extensively used for getting information about a topic/concept.  IT is used for only gathering and organizing the information.

The advantages of using ICT as informative tool are that learners can get enough information that they are looking for.  They can organize the information in different forms, either in image, video, or sound or text so this can give learners an opportunity to represent their learning in different forms of their choice.

As a teacher I feel that it is always wise to provide a very clear instruction on how to go about with information gathering and collection. An explicit explanation on the activity should be given by the teacher so students don’t get lost in between the learning.

The prominent drawback of using ICT as an informative tool is the information can be misinterpreted or misread. There are chances of learners getting out of topic or concept. The risk of choosing the wrong information. There can be chances of misusing the internet as user may use the internet for some other purposes like watching movies or music videos. There are also chances of getting addicted to computers and internet.

During that session we also did an activity on how to use ICT as an informative tool where we designed an activity for children giving them the clear instruction on where to search the information on the topic by providing link of the topic so that students don’t get lost and time is not wasted.

It is important to know how to use ICT for different purposes in the teaching and learning process. I found that knowing about it can help become advance teacher who is well equipped to stand with 21^st century students. To fulfil every aspect of learning and teaching in the way the learners want.