The Importance of Using ICT in the Classroom - Case Study Example

Introduction ICT is beginning to have a great impact on room redesign and curriculum in many countries around the world, including Britain. ICThas revolutionized the way of teaching and learning in the classroom. This is a positive move since it will go a long way in driving individuals as well as organizations towards different solutions to respond to their student’s learning needs. ICT differs from other subjects in a number of ways. First and foremost, unlike all the other subjects, ICT makes the learning of these other subjects easier and more effective. Therefore, the teaching and learning of all the other subjects needs ICT. On the other hand, the teaching and learning of ICT does not directly need these subjects (Eadie, 2001). The growth of ICT in the society is usually reflected in policies aimed at encouraging its use in education as well as educational multimedia development. The role of multimedia in education has been increasing over the years. This has presented a great potential to both learning and teaching (Standardfree, 2009). ICT is very useful in the early learning process of young children (EED, 1997). Moreover an early introduction of ICT gives these children a strong learning foundation. This is because it also helps them to develop other skills important for the learning process such as creativity. This paper discusses the role of multimedia in the classroom. It investigates the importance of using ICT in the classroom. ICT goes a long way in making learning more interesting and meaningful since it motivates and stimulates them. The learning and teaching materials that utilize ICT are designed to accommodate different abilities and needs, which make them fully realize their potential and capabilities. The essay also discusses how ICT supports language and Arabic in particular. The paper also discusses the project’s authoring, including the challenges encountered during this process. Rationale ICT goes a long way in supporting language, which in turn greatly influences learning and teaching in the classroom (Ismail, 2008). For instance, ICT can greatly support the learning of Arabic language, which can then make teaching and learning much easier. It has been proved that students who learn foreign languages at early ages are better placed to master the language properly. There is no better way of fostering this learning than through the use of ICT. It is very important to teach Arabic to young children since this is the best age to teach foreign languages to children. It is much harder to teach older children new languages. This will particularly prove useful to Arab children living in London. The project will also be very useful in the future; when Arabic will be one of the foreign languages taught in UK schools by 2010. Students will have a choice to learn Arabic at schools as it is going to be one of the provided foreign languages in the schools. ICT can greatly help pupils learning Arabic as a second language. Animations can be incorporated into their teaching materials to make it more interesting for these children. Children, by their very nature, are attracted by flashy things such as multimedia (Slack, 1999). Whatever they learn whenever they interact with multimedia is better retained by them, compared to other modes of teaching. ICT uses a suitable mix of learning strategies that help the learners to master basic competencies such as listening, keenness and creativity, which in turn help in promoting a holistic development of the learner. This makes learning more interesting and easier for them. For instance, if a pupil was to learn the Arabic language, it would be much easier for him or her to learn the names of animals and their sounds by simply clicking on an icon with the picture of the animals. It improves the interaction between learning and the real world (Slack, 1999). ICT helps in accommodating the different learning styles among individuals, hence boosting performance (Slack, 1999). The traditional way of teaching makes learning very difficult and is very boring. The introduction of ICT engages most human senses including sight, hearing and touch. ICT creates a learning atmosphere that can accommodate various learning and teaching strategies. Those who may not be good with a particular style of teaching or learning will always find a substitute. This is unlike the use of conventional teaching methods where learners really have no choice whether the teaching is effective or not. ICT ensures that the learners are educated with creative and critical thinking skills, and that they are instilled with suitable values (Williams et al, 1999). The child grows up with all the necessary skills to face life, and not just academic knowledge as is the case with conventional teaching methods. Multimedia can go a long way in increasing self-esteem among the children, particularly the weak ones. This is because it offers an alternative to students who may not be doing well with the traditional forms of teaching. Multimedia will help such students improve their creativity and discover their best method of learning. The introduction of multimedia and ICT in general into the classroom will greatly influence the styles of learning and teaching (Ismail, 2008). The pupils will be more motivated when they use multimedia. It will therefore serve as a ‘hook’ since it sparks a learning interest among these students, hence making it easier for them to learn a foreign language such as Arabic. This is because interest is the most important thing in any kind of learning. Multimedia makes it possible for students to learn at different paces. Some multimedia packages are even tailored to meet the specific needs of students. The use of multimedia has also been known to make students learn co-operatively. The teacher then becomes a guide, problem setter and facilitator rather than playing a central role. The students are therefore made to take charge of their learning as opposed to being pushed around by their teachers. ICT can go along way in fostering teamwork among the young learners. This is because it involves a number of activities that the children can do jointly. Moreover, sharing of ICT facilities in the classroom teaches the children to work together. The project authoring process The project I created is for young children mainly in nursery school. It is about Arabic alphabets and names of animals. I used 2Create Multimedia software to produce this multimedia curriculum resource. The project is only 10 content pages in length and it also incorporates cards and slides in length. This project includes many different features of multimedia as well as comprehensible and non-linear navigational system. The project also makes appropriate use of context and creatively uses multimedia tools. My first task was to choose a topic for my project, where I chose ‘Arabic Alphabets and Animal names. This project was aimed at teaching Arabic alphabets to the children at the same time teaching them the names of animals. The project consisted of ten pages, with the introductory page containing link buttons to the other nine pages. Each of these nine pages has got three Arabic alphabets and three animals. For instance, it could have an Arabic alphabet which is also the first letter of an animal name. Then a button is placed next to the picture of the animal, which plays the sound of the animal when pressed. Other than the Arabic alphabets and animal names, the project also has the recorded voice of my four-year-old daughter. These children are therefore in a position to learn not only the Arabic alphabets, but also Arabic names of animals by simply pressing on buttons. By pressing on a particular alphabet, my daughter’s recorded voice reveals the name of the alphabet. It is even easier to learn the names of animals; pressing on a button reveals the animal’s name and its recorded sound. For instance, the children can press each letter to hear the sound of its name or a recorded sound of an animal’s name in Arabic. I used the voice of the four-year old girl because I think it is more intrusting and attractive to other children. The children will be more inspired when they hear the sound of a young child nearly their age. If I had recorded the sound of an adult, it would not be as intrusting as that of a child. This is because a child is a closer to the learners’ level and age. The project is very user-friendly and simple to use. Each of the nine pages has three buttons that link to the main page, back page and next page. Therefore, the student can go back or forward and even to the main page whenever they want to. This project is very good for children in their initial years, especially those between three to five years in nursery school. This project will help the students to learn Arabic letters and animal names, because it is more interactive and enables the students to take charge of their learning. This project is aimed at motivating children to learn language, Arabic in particular. It introduces them to Arabic alphabets, then goes ahead to teach them the names of animals in Arabic. The story-telling section is aimed at sparking interest, inspiration and motivation in Arabic among the young children. In the course of my project, I made use of Internet and read the national curriculum for early childhood learning. This greatly helped me in organizing the project professionally for young children. On the Internet, I got all the animal pictures, animations and sounds that I needed. Through the national curriculum, I got the country’s approach to early childhood education. My four-year-old daughter’s voice is meant to inspire and motivate the children. I downloaded animal sounds and animation pictures from the internet. I used the Create-A-Story software to record the voices and sounds. In the project, I created a story that is very famous in the Arab culture called Lila and the wolf. I decided to record my voice telling the story in Arabic, my first language, instead of writing it down. This is because I thought it would be much better for the children to hear the story rather than read it. I also wanted the children to familiarize themselves with the Arabic language by hearing it. The Arabian alphabets on the introductory page were animated to make them more appealing to the children Creating this software came with its set of limitations that had to be overcome. First, there was not enough space to do any more downloading because these downloads take up a lot of space. Second, making a mistake meant starting the process all over again, or risk getting into a big mess. To handle this, I had to save it under different names every time I made any changes to the project or edited it. This wasted a lot of time despite having very little time to do the work. This also needed more space on the computer, which was not available on the class computer. It is important both sound and words are incorporated into the children’s learning process. This is because sound will attract the children and as a result learn the words associated with the sound easily. This is a better way of learning rather than using only the words. This clearly shows how useful ICT is in the learning of language, particularly Arabic. Conclusion ICT has become very important in the process of teaching and learning in early childhood learning. It has revolutionized the way of teaching and learning in the classroom. This has as a result helped in meeting the specific needs of the learners. ICT has made teaching and learning not only easy, but also effective. It also enables the students to learn at different paces, unlike in the traditional way of learning where the students have to learn at the same pace. ICT should therefore be incorporated in education curriculum, particularly in early childhood learning. This will give the children a strong learning foundation and also help them develop a number of skills such as creativity and teamwork. References Eadie, G (2001) the Impact of ICT on Schools, Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, Wellington Education and Employment Department (1997) Connecting the Learning Society, HMSO London Ismail, S (2008) ICT in the Classroom, retrieved from http://www2.unescobkk.org, on May 5, 2009 Slack, R (1999) Learning in Cable School, retrieved from http://www.ces.ed.ac.uk, on May 05, 2009 Standard free Website (2009) ICT in the classroom, retrieved from www.standardfree.gov.uk, on May 06, 2009 Williams, D et al (1999) Teachers’ ICT Skills and Knowledge Needs, Interchange No 58, Scottish Office, Edinburgh Read More