ICT and engagement in independent learning activities
"When I ask the children to get out the laptops and do their spelling programme, I am greeted with a cheer."
Instant feedback and self-evaluation: New degrees of self-evaluation are enabled by technology. Recording and play-back facilities enable students to gain new perspectives from which they can identify for themselves where improvements can be made. Students are motivated by this opportunity to develop their independence.
High quality packages provide learners with instant feedback, acknowledging achievement and directing the learner towards immediate support. This personalised assessment enhances learning and supports progress at an appropriate pace; action research suggests that higher test results are achieved in all but the lowest ability students.
Enabling enjoyment and pride: Many action research studies describe positive attainment outcomes from undertaking enjoyable work, such as the production of animations or interactive voting system quizzes. In this way subject knowledge, creativity, team work and problem solving skills are developed through engaging and fun projects.
72% of teachers in the ICT Test Bed project felt that taking pride in one's work is a stronger motivating factor than competition or grades, and that ICT enabled this, by presenting work in visually attractive ways, for example. Through action research, practitioners argue that teaching strategies need to compensate for the tendency to prioritise style over quality of content.