Teaching and Learning ICT in secondary school
Secondary school teaching is one of the challenging professions that need different techniques in the preparation of curriculum, content to be taught and pedagogic styles necessary to deliver lectures to the learners in order to educate them for future life. The existence of different styles of teaching enhances the student's mastery of the subject in relation to the age and class of student, to changes in time and environment. Information and Communication Technology teaching being a new and evolving field, needs constant change of pedagogic methods to suit the ICT content, programmes and software innovations. This work which is based on the various pedagogic styles of teaching and learning of ICT to develop competence in students and teachers is divided into two parts. Part one will bring out briefly what is secondary education, the teaching and learning methods in secondary schools with those involved in ICT, didactic materials available and the difficulties encountered in teaching ICT in secondary schools in Cameroon. Part two of the work will consist of notes for text formatting, exercises and lesson plans.
Key Words: Secondary education, Pedagogy, Didactic, ICT, Competence, Evaluation and Text Formatting,
L'enseignement dans les établissements secondaires constitue l'une des professions les plus intéressantes qui nécessite différentes techniques dans la préparation des programmes scolaires, le contenu des cours et les méthodes pédagogiques nécessaires pour fournir des outils aux apprenants dans le but de les former pour l'avenir. L'existence de différentes méthodes d'enseignement accroît la maîtrise par les élèves de leurs matières par rapport à l'âge et la classe de l'élève, aux changements de temps et d'environnement. L'enseignement des TICs étant un domaine nouveau et évolutif requiert de constantes mutations des méthodes pédagogiques pour s'adapter aux innovations dans le contenu, les programmes et les logiciels de TICs. Ce travail qui est divisé en deux parties s'articule autours des différentes méthodes pédagogiques de l'enseignement et l'apprentissage des TICs pour développer des compétences au sein des élèves et des enseignants. La première partie de ce travail décrit brièvement ce qu'est l'enseignement secondaire, les méthodes d'enseignement et l'apprentissage utilisées par les TICs, les matériels didactiques disponible ainsi que les difficultés rencontrées dans l'enseignement des TICs dans les établissements secondaires camerounais. La deuxième passe en revue les fiches de préparation, le contenu des cours du traitement de texte enseigner dans les établissements secondaires et les exercices en vue de permettre aux apprenants de développer des compétences dans le traitement de texte qui pourraient les aider dans l'avenir.
Mot clés : Etablissement secondaire, Pédagogie, Didactique, TIC, Compétence, Evaluation et Traitement de Texte.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The teaching of Information and Communication Technologies is essential in secondary educational systems today. The introduction of ICT in this system as a subject and as a tool used for teaching and learning has been welcomed with a lot of enthusiasm. The idea to teach and learn ICT in our secondary educational system and use in the society should first of all identify the objective of teaching and learning ICT, such as teaching with the pedagogic objectives in mind to improve on the students' manipulation of ICT tools and software to better life. ICT use is not only a matter of new possibilities but also brings new implications and challenges. To use these tools effectively and efficiently, teachers as well as students need visions of the technologies' potential, opportunities to apply them, training to support and experience to use them appropriately.
Due to the innovations in education, teachers have the task to be competent to teach ICT using the necessary content that ties with the school curriculum to assist students' understanding and manipulation. Research indicates that the teaching of ICT subjects can change the way teachers teach and that it is especially useful in supporting more student-centered approaches (Haddad,2003). On the other hand, to teach ICT effectively, the teachers need to be comfortable with the new pedagogic methods of technologies along side the rapid evolution in order to incorporate them with the teaching and learning theories. They have to truly abide to effective implantation in pedagogy by exchanging ideas with experts in technology as it continues to influence many aspects of our social and work lives. This aspect will be discussed through the various teaching and learning theories of ICT applied in school.
Text formatting as a section in Computer science programme for Form One and Five
in our school curriculum has become interesting to the educational society and community as a whole due to its importance especially in the production of reports, letters and other documents. Teaching and learning being co-existed to one another in this case need to be carried out in a manner that the teachers and students can better understand the subject content. The teaching and learning of computer science has faced a lot of difficulties at the level of the teacher that is how they are trained to give lectures, infrastructures problems and assimilation of the content by the students. Many scientists have been worried about the improvement of the teaching and learning of the ICT subjects to the extent that, they try to bring out most of the general problems faced and proposed solutions which include the problem of infrastructure and materials insufficiency as one quoted, "one of the greatest challenges to the middle grade science teacher continues to be the improvement of the learning environment (Gabel, 1994)". This problem of infrastructure and the way the subject is taught and learned is not different from that of our educational system.
The low level of creativity of our graduates from secondary schools and universities has pushed certain governments in the developing countries to introduce ICT teaching in secondary schools. What then could be the cause of this lack of competence? Is it the way our students learned or are taught. What competences do we expect from our students and teachers in secondary schools and which content and pedagogic methods can we use to address the situation. These are the points this work is going to look at.
This study will permit teachers and students to change their ways towards ICT and to assist them to know what methods teachers can use to teach ICT and students to learn ICT successfully to permit them develop specific competence.
Secondary school education which consists of teaching and learning involves pedagogic methods, didactic materials and content to be taught in order to bring a change in the students'/teachers' lives and the society as a whole.
According to Celestin Freinet (2005), each person constitutes its own learning and hence it is primordial pedagogically to differentiate teaching style to the expectations of each learner. Here he uses the "natural method" to establish a new circuit in which students were given work to do that concerns their line of studies of family life which facilitates assimilation. It is pertinent to vary pedagogic approaches and practices as a solution to train students who have varied learning strategies.
According to Robertson (1989), teaching means actions undertaken by one person with the intention of bringing about learning in another. Teachers need to use different teaching methods, depending on the objectives they wish to attain at the end of the lesson.
Education can be defined as an activity undertaken or initiated to effect changes in knowledge, skill, and attitude of an individual, groups or communities. The educational system in Cameroon consists of two sub-sectors, the Francophone and Anglophone sub-sector.
In the Francophone sub-sector of education students generally attend secondary schools between ages of 12 and 19. Secondary education is made up of the lower and upper section with four years spent at lower secondary school level and three at the upper secondary school level. After four years, a successful student ends up with the "Brevet d'Etudes du Premier Cycle", "Probatoire" after six years and "Baccalauréat" awarded to successful completers after seven years of secondary level (lycée).
In the Anglophone sub-sector of education, as of the year 2000 to date, students also attend secondary schools between the ages of 12 and 19 although typically the lower secondary school level (first cycle) entailed five years of studies for 12 to 17 years, culminated in Cameroon GCE Ordinary level and followed by two years upper secondary (second cycle) program 17 to 19 years, with the award of the GCE Advanced level upon completion of their studies.
In both systems, technical and vocational secondary schools also exist where students can obtain an alternative education to the general. In Anglophone sub-sector, this again leads to end degree of City and Guides part III (no longer exist but has been replaced by technical GCE) which allows the graduate to go to university or higher level. These changes in education is to ensure human resource development particularly in a society which has moved from pre-colonial, colonial, and post colonial eras as it shares in global educational philosophy in a multicultural heritage, (Cameroonian, German, English and French). Cameroon like the rest of the developing nations strives to ensure that her citizens become productive contributors to a global community. To achieve this, there have been various attempts to reform the educational system which keeps on implementing new reforms to better organize the sector to meet up with the changing world demands. In Cameroon today, the educational system is moving towards professionalisation to permit the youths develop skills to assist them after school to be self- employed and creative. This has led to teaching of ICT and other subjects to students at the different cycles using separate subject contents and various pedagogic means required to re-adapt the system to new reforms.
Generally, teaching in the first and second cycles is similar but the pedagogic styles may differ considering the age of students, class and the content taught to the students. Basically the observatory phase in secondary schools deals with the basic concepts being introduced to get the students acquainted with the elementary material that they will need in the days ahead in higher classes to study the details about the subject and develop some competence after having gone through the cycle of studies.
Secondary education being a pertinent stage of a scholar's level in which he/she starts developing skills of reasoning and construction of knowledge has the following purpose;
- - to prepare students to become adults making decisions and taking responsibility,
- - to prepare for adult life and/or work force how to learn, work ethics, accountability, work in teams,
- - to understand deeper social reality, make the correct choices regarding further studies and to become established professionals,
- - to shape the students characters and personalities in order to easily integrate themselves in the society to contribute to the financial, social, political and cultural development of their country,
- - to acquire more meaningful knowledge and self-awareness in order to cope up with judgment and creative spirit of life and also to develop inquiry attitudes to study historical events.
Pedagogy is the art or science of being a teacher. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction. It is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies. Pedagogy includes "the complexity of relational, personal, moral and emotional, aspects of teachers' everyday acting with children or young people they teach" (Van Manen 2002). Pedagogy which concerns teaching and learning could be discussed in the various ways teaching and learning takes place in secondary schools.
Teaching is defined as a process of transmitting knowledge to learners; Teaching according to Lefrançois (1998) is the process of imparting knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. Teaching can be carried out by telling, persuading, discussing, showing, demonstrating, guiding, directing etc. It involves several kinds of skills, classroom lesson planning, classroom management, evaluating students, selecting subject content, use of specific methods to transmit the content and discuss with students.
- - Motivation: the students should be motivated during teaching in order to follow up the lectures.
- - Interest: the lesson taught should be interesting to captivate the students in class.
- - Readiness: both the teacher and students should be ready for the class.
- - Reinforcement: teaching goes along with both positive and negative reinforcement for improvement of the quality of material and knowledge of the students.
- - Differences among learners: the teacher should be able to identify intelligent and weak students and try to see how to harmonise teaching to the understanding of all the students.
- - Classroom management: the teacher should be capable of organising the class in a manner that teaching and learning can take place effectively.
Teaching moves from general content to specific which means from teaching models, strategies, methods to skills.
- 1) Instructional Method of Teaching
This is a method of teaching prominent in the traditional face-to-face classroom teaching whereby the teacher gives all the instructions on how to go about with his/her subject during lectures.
- 2) Constructive knowledge method of teaching.
In this method, the teacher starts by using existing teaching material and tries to get feedback in order to improve the teaching as to reply to the students' needs and interest. During the course of teaching, the teacher receives inputs such as questions, answers, observations and analyses. He then sees how changes in teaching could reflect on the results by summarising what has been taught, reflections on discussions, questions and answers given by students. The teacher then helps the students to increase their performance through explanation, by giving examples (demonstrations) and if possible practical work.
a) Advantages:
- students are more motivated, efficient, active and attentive due to lowered inhibitions and an increased sense of purpose;
- by eliminating the class division of authoritative teacher and passive audience, an emotive solidarity is obtained;
- students may perform many routine tasks, otherwise unnecessarily carried out by the instructor;
- next to subject-related knowledge students gain important key qualifications like teamwork, planning abilities, reliability, presentation and moderation skills, self-confidence.
b) Disadvantages
- the introduction of the method requires a lot of time for both teachers and students;
- Students and teachers have to work more than usual;
- There is the danger of simple duplication, repetition or monotony if the teacher does not provide periodic didactic materials and pedagogy.
- 3) Direct teaching
This method of teaching is lecturing, drill demonstration, explicit etc; this method helps students to learn material that is well-structured and can be taught in a step-by-step manner.
- 4) Indirect teaching
This method includes inquiry, problem solving, and discovery to generate alternatives to solve problems, explore different possibilities, foster creativity and development of interpersonal skills and abilities. Students taught using this method can achieve a good understanding of the material and ideas and be able to apply the knowledge in daily situations. The role of the teacher here changes from lecturer to facilitator, supporter and resource person; he provides the learning environment, opportunity for students' involvement and feedback.
This method is not appropriate for content memorisation or immediate recall of information learning objectives.
- 5) Interactive teaching
This method of teaching encourages the sharing of ideas between the teachers and students as well as among students.
Learning is defined as the apparent modification of a person's behaviour through his activities and experiences, so that his knowledge, skills and attitudes, including modes of adjustments, towards his environment are changed, more or less permanently. It is an experience which can be described by the use of six elements (physical, spiritual, intellectual, social, emotional and occupational) proposed by (William Hettler, 1984) thus:
- - Physical : Activities or processes relating to the body such as physical security, skills, competences, biological processes, behaviours, tangible assets and work environment are important for the learning process;
- - Social : Activities or processes relating to people, such as personal interactions, relationships, and communication as well as perception of being a valued contributor to support group activities;
- - Emotional : This element addresses issues related to personal feelings and those involved in self-identity and self-regard and promoting individual security;
- - Psychological : Activities that engage or use mental processes and behaviours, especially those elements that pertain to the expectation of outcomes and the realisation of understanding and meanings;
- - Intellectual : Activities or processes that require the use of the mind especially when related to critical or higher order thinking;
- - Spiritual: Activities or processes relating to the spirit, the non tangible or non material, and search for subjective meaning or intrinsic value.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs (physiological & safety; Belongingness, love & esteem; understanding & aesthetics; Self-actualisation and Transcendence) are used as an example of needs based on growth process which consists of a series of levels that could be attained through a continual change or growth process, in order to progress to the ultimate goal of self-actualisation. In a learning activity, the ultimate goal is the objective of learning that can be achieved through a change process. Salmon (2003), proposes a five stage model of online learning and teaching as well, that demonstrates this growth process and bares significant resemblance to Maslow's model.
Taking into consideration the six elements of learning experience, some relationships are outlined between Maslow and Salmon five stage model as shown below;
- - The first stage of Salmon model which is access and motivation goes with the physiological and safety needs of Maslow and the physical element of learning;
- - Stage two which is online socialisation ties with belongingness, love and esteem of Maslow's hierarchy and the social and emotional element of learning;
- - Information exchange goes with Maslow's understanding and aesthetics need and the psychological element of learning;
- - Knowledge construction is related to Maslow's self-actualisation and the intellectual element of learning;
- - Development stage is related to transcendence need of Maslow and to the spiritual elements of learning.
1) Learning by teaching
Students act as teachers in order to improve the learning process, students teach other students the subject using certain content, but also choose their own methods and didactic approaches in teaching. The first attempts using the learning by teaching method in order to improve learning were started at the end of the 19th century.
2) Collaboration learning
Collaboration can be as simple as a two-minute in-class exercise involving pairs of students or as elaborate as a multi-year curriculum development project involving many groups of students. Term-length projects done primarily outside the classroom are the most popular form of collaboration since they require minimal changes to the usual classroom routine. This method of learning can be applied in different domains for example, English students can review each other's work, Computer Science students can develop or debug programs together, and so on. E-mail is one of the most important collaborative tools and it usually serves as the communication backbone for all activities.
3) Project-oriented learning
Probably the most difficult aspect of project-oriented learning is the initial definition of the project (and corresponding formulation of teams). The instructor can provide a list of suggested topics which helps to give students an idea of possible projects. Alternatively, the instructor can provide lists/descriptions of past projects (including links to the actual project materials if available on the web). In addition, students should be provided with a description of the criteria that will be used to evaluate the projects to help them determine the appropriateness of their project ideas.
4) Cooperative learning method
This method of learning involves hand on tasks in which students can develop their professional skills. The crucial point is the modelling of learning as a by product of comprehension. This underpins the constructivist approach to education. Learning by doing works best because performing a task requires learner to think and comprehend at the most testing level associated with problem solving and action. The psychological foundation views learning in three theories as follows;
a) Cognitive theory
This theory holds on the student's scheme as an organised knowledge structure (Bruner, 1990 Gagne, Yekovich, 1993). It recognises that the human mind is not simply passive recipient of knowledge but interprets it and gives it meanings. It focuses on concepts and their relationships. The teacher has to provide the necessary tools for the students in the teaching and learning environment to enable them use their cognitive knowledge to come out with concrete ideas. Piaget, explored the implications of this theory to all aspects of cognition, intelligence and moral development. Many of Piaget's experiments were focused on the development of mathematical and logical concepts. The theory has been applied extensively to teaching practice and curriculum design in elementary stages of education. This theory has the following principles:
- student should be provided with different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive development in the educational system;
- cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations that engage learners and require adaptation (i.e., assimilation and accommodation of knowledge);
- learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or mental operations for a child of a given age; avoid asking students to perform tasks that are beyond their current cognitive capabilities;
- use teaching methods that actively involve students and present challenges.
b) Constructivist learning theory
Constructivist learning theory requires learners to demonstrate their skills by constructing their own knowledge when solving a problem faced with (Piaget, 1971). The constructivist approach to learn must provide not only the environment and the tools for the active construction of knowledge but also the availability of appropriate feedback on the learner's progress. A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner (1966) is that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current or past knowledge. In this context, the learner has to select and transform information, construct hypotheses, and make decisions, relying on a cognitive structure that is schema and mental models for meaningful and organizational experiences that allow the individual to "go beyond the information given".
As far as instruction is concerned, the instructor has to try and encourage students to discover principles by themselves. The instructor and student engage in an active dialogue (Socratic learning). The task of the instructor is to translate information to be learned into a format appropriate to the learner's current state of understanding. Curriculum should be organized in a spiral manner so that the student continually builds knowledge upon what they have already learned. Bruner (1966) states that a theory of instruction should address four major aspects:
- predisposition towards learning;
- the ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured so that it can be most readily grasped by the learner;
- the most effective sequences in which to present material;
- the nature and pacing of rewards and punishments. Good methods for structuring knowledge should result in simplifying, generating new propositions, and increasing the manipulation of information.
c) Social situated learning theory
Learning is carried out as learners exercise, test and improve their knowledge through discussion, dialogue, communication, collaboration, information sharing and interact with others. This learning theory was looked by (Vygosky, 1978) as the way teacher constructs knowledge, thinks reasons and reflects on using learner-centred to teach ICT in secondary school. He argued that the guidance given by more capable orders, allows the learner to engage in levels of activity that could not be managed alone.
However practically, a blend of learning theories is being used by educators who tend to believe that what works in learning situation is a subtle combination of learning theories (karagiorgi & Symeou, 2005). The believe led to the position of three-stage model or learning cycle by (Mayes & Fowler, 1999) which are as follows;
1- Conceptualisation
In this model, the learner's initial contact with other peoples' concepts involves the interaction between the learner's pre-existing framework of understanding and teacher's knowledge which is a new exposition. It is associated with the cognitive learning theory as it focuses on concepts and their relationships.
2- Construction
The process of building and combining concepts through learners use in the performance of meaningful task, for example laboratory work, writing, preparing presentation etc, and the results of such a process are products like essays, notes handouts, laboratory reports which ties with the development of the competence of creativity in the learner.
3- Dialogue
This stage is best characterized in education as dialogue, conceptualization are tested and further developed during conversation with both the teachers and learners. This helps students at the end to development communication skill.
Behaviourist and neo-behaviourist Thorndike (1913), Pavlov (1927) & Skinner (1974) saw learning as a theory that represents the original stimulus-response (S-R) framework of behavioural psychology. These theories underpin basic teaching activity that would include lesson planning, ensuring an orderly classroom, providing clear learning objectives, progress from simple to more complex concepts, the importance of practice and repetition, strengthening learner motivation, ensuring learners are aware of the significance of the subject matter and providing them with an ultimately satisfying outcome.
Gestalts Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka & Wolfgang Kohler (1912) see learning as the transposition of insight of an individual. The term gestalt refers to wholeness or configuration and is expressed in the forms of practise, experiment or use of instrument. Learner begins with simple to more complex relationships. Items which are similar are grouped together in the learner's perception. It gives the learner an insight to the realisation of a problem. For example Kohler (1912) experiment with Chimpanzees, boxes and a hanging fruit showed how a Chimpanzee used insight knowledge to develop a strategy to assemble the boxes to get the fruit.
d) Bloom's Taxonomy
Bloom taxonomy of Benjamin Blooms encourages students to be able to apply what they have learned in new situation and be analytical and creative. It consists of six major stages:
- - knowledge, which enables the students to recall and relate what they have studied;
- - Comprehension, which help students to identify, discuss and describe;
- - Application, which help them to practice, illustrate and solve problems given to them;
- - Analysis, which makes use of diagrams, differentiate, distinguish and test the students;
- - Synthesis, which consist of collection, construct, create and organise materials;
- - Evaluation, this stage brings out aspects to estimate, revise and rate students.
There are two main domains; the affective and the psychomotor domains. The affective domain relates to learning outcome that include emotions, attitudes, appreciations and values. The psychomotor domain involves the use of physical skills in which the students demonstrate their final skills which brings out their competence.
Didactics describes the theories surrounding learning and teaching in an educational context. It is the activities of educating or instructing activities that impart knowledge or skill. Didactics can be general in which case it is applied to all disciplines and specific in which is applied to a specific discipline. Example of didactics materials are; reference material like the school curriculum, textbooks, blackboards, chalk, charts, questions and answers, etc.
Teaching and learning in secondary school helps teachers and students to develop skills which can permit them to perform certain tasks. Teaching and learning has to lay out the competence needed to be developed in order to use content in school curriculum and teaching techniques that will permit the teachers and students to develop the skills. In this light, the content, methods of teaching and learning are very pertinent in the secondary educational level to build up a spirit of creativity in students before they graduate from this level.