Discussion Forum: An effective tool for learning

Discussion forum is one of the most essential tools for teacher and students especially in the digital world. Whereby, students can deepen their knowledge by asking doubts and responding to others questions. It gives platform for all the students to share their views on any topic or clear their doubts which have not been cleared in the class. Though it was meant for assessment purpose, I am enjoying this discussion forum because I get to ask as many questions as I want regarding the topic I m not clear of, and I am learning a lot from this forum by going through others question and responses.

I have no idea on discussion forum till I walk in this college. When my tutor informed us about discussion forum for the first time, I was like, “what the hell is discussion forum? How are we going to use it? What are we supposed to discuss?” lots of questions strike my brain. I really didn’t have any idea on discussion forum when I was at high school. At the beginning, I thought it will be difficult but as I get familiar and more used to it, I started enjoying this forum because I am able ask questions or clear my doubts which I could not do at the class, whereby my learning isn’t limited  to the class. All I have to do is fiddle with some keys and I get lots of response from my friends and it enhanced my learning. 

By using this forum, more students are able to participate in online forums than in large group classroom discussions. It provides the platform for students who do not participate during class discussions to become “vocal” during online discussion. Online interaction allows for further discussion of a topic. It also provides students with enough time to think and reflect on the course material and hence post more thought-out comments to the discussion forum. Students and instructors often think of comments or questions after the lecture and can post them and discuss these inquiries online. The online environment lets us easily create small discussion groups within a large class. The discussion forum is a convenient way to archive and preserve our course discussions. 

Since the discussion forum benefits in many ways, it is imperative that an online forum provides a very conducive environment for both teacher and student in collaboration. With the introduction of discussion forum for students and lecturer interaction, communication among students and with lecturer became easier. Where students will be able to participate in the online discussion and contribute their opinion or doubt in any subject matter of their choice without being shy or afraid of making contributions to topics of discussion. So lastly, I must say that discussion forum is one of the effective tools for deepening our content knowledge by sharing thoughts and views online.

Internet Web Evaluation

On Thursday 11^th April 2019, I was taken through internet web evaluation during Information Communication Technology (ICT419) class. Though I was exposed to some use of ICT since 9^th grade but till date nobody not even the IT tutor taught me about the web evaluation. Internet web evaluation is completely new to me, I haven’t heard about it before.  Till now I have been thinking that whatever information I acquire from internet is accurate and authentic, so most of the time, I tend to rely on internet whenever I am working on assignments.

I was informed that internet web evaluation is very essential because anyone can put anything on the internet and no one overseas what is written on the internet for accuracy. It is also because documents can be easily copied with omissions and errors, or falsified. Now, I came to know that anything found on internet is not reliable, and one must always check whether the source is correct and useful for my needs.

Basically there are five criteria to check the source and they are; accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency and coverage. I learnt that to check for accuracy, one must make sure that the authors’ have provided e-mail or a contact address/phone number. I also learnt that it is important to know the distinction between author and webmaster. To check for authority, we must look at whether the page lists the author credentials and its domain in the URL. With regard to objectivity, one must see whether the page provides accurate information with limited advertising and its objective in presenting the information. For currency, we must look at how many dead links are on the page, and to also look at whether your page is current  and updated regularly and the links (if any) are also up to date. The final one coverage, we have to see whether we can view the information properly-not limited to fees, browse technology, or software requirement.

Since that session, I was made clear why internet web evaluation is important, why we need to evaluate source and how can we assure that our information is correct or useful one that is collected from any source. I personally feel that being a student, it is mandatory and very crucial for all of us to know about internet web evaluation because at most cases, we need to depend on internet while doing assignments and projects. It will be handy if students are well aware of internet web evaluation so that their source of information will be accurate and authorized whereby the assignments and projects will be of quality one.

I have uploaded the presentation slide used by my module tutor while explaining about the web evaluation.

Application of what I drink in

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) includes computers, the Internet, and electronic delivery systems such as radios, televisions, and projectors among others, and is widely used in today’s education field. ICT tends to expand access to education. Through ICT, learning can occur anytime and anywhere. Online course materials, for example, can be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.ICT helps teachers in preparation for teaching.ICT prepares teacher for the use of their skills in the real classroom situation and also make students for their future occupation and social life.I will be giving some insight on application of what I learned during my teaching practice.

I had speck of knowledge about ICT before striding in Paro college of Education (PCE).When I enter the door of grade nine, I opted for computer application instead of economics. I was taken through the names and function of sophisticated devices in front of me till the application of some software and programs lying inside that machine. I have soaked in some skills on how to use Microsoft Excel by creating grids of text, numbers and formulas specifying calculations. That’s extremely valuable for the businesses to record expenditures and income, plan budgets and so on. Now, I came to realize that the skill that I learnt is just a handful of sand and what I don’t know is a vast ocean.

After striding in PCE, I was once again enlightened on uses of Micro soft Excel during first year in Functional Informational Technology (FIT101) in depth. In this module, I was taught to create student progress card by entering formula and manipulating with functions that are already there in the software. I was amazed when an uncountable number of student’s progress card is being generated, after entering student’s marks, manipulating with some keys and function by that sophisticated machine in front of me. I thought for a while, “Wow!! I haven’t done wrong coming to this college, the workload of teacher is being reduced by ICT.” 

The skill that I learnt during first year on making students progress card prove to be a successful one when I reached teaching field for my teaching practice. I did my teaching practice at Changzamtog middle secondary school at Thimphu 55km away from PCE. I was given grade V to educate Science and Math subject. Since I taught maximum subject, I was given an opportunity to make student progress card. I was anxious and as soon as I walk in my room I rummage my cartoon box for FIT note book. With the help of some scribble in FIT note book, I could make student report card for 48 students. I also helped some teachers who are backward in ICT knowledge and enlightened them with the little knowledge I drank in from FIT.

Use of Information and Communication and Technology (ICT) during Developmental Educational Talk (DET talk)

On 25^th March I gave a Development Educational Talk (DET) during English class on the topic ‘Anger management’. To give ten minutes talk on anger management, I have used  Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to come up with the presentation slide. In the process of preparing my presentation I browse internet using different browser like chrome, opera and Mozilla Firefox to get some information. To support my presentation I also looked for video on YouTube. Today I will be talking on how I used ICT in preparing my presentation and what I learned after preparing my presentation and doing presentation in the class using ICT.

During Tshechu holidays when everyone was enjoying and was excited, I was at home anxious about the DET talk. I was wandering on what topic I should give a talk on so I read few books. Even after reading a book I could not think of relevant topic. So I picked my laptop and watched some videos to refresh my mind. I watched couple of videos and finally I came across a video on anger by Sadhguru. Then I thought of giving a talk on anger management. The video isn’t enough for my presentation so I browse internet to get some information on anger management. There was tons of information on anger management where I had to see which information is more authentic and reliable. I ignored the information given on Wikipedia as my module tutor told me that, that site is not that reliable as everybody can write and post there. So I preferred other site. I even used browser (Google scholar) because using that browser you get information uploaded by learned and expert people and I get many research papers there. To get the specific information on my topic I used key words while searching as I was told by my module tutor of Functional Information Technology (FIT101) that to get the specific information, we have to use key words instead of long sentences. 

To make my presentation more interesting and lively, I thought of showing a video at the end of my presentation. So that, the video can sum up my presentation as well as students who learned best through audio and visual can understand better if they haven’t understand my verbal presentation. Keeping those in mind I looked for a video on anger management on YouTube. Where I get to see many videos on anger and I selected the one which is appropriate for my presentation. While selecting the video I looked for something that is interesting and that can be enjoyed by everyone with animation and perfect colour combination. By using the knowledge of hyperlink that I learned in FIT101I have hyperlinked the video with the presentation.

To prepare the presentation on anger management, I used Microsoft power point. With the help of ‘effective power point presentation’ uploaded by my Information Communication Technology (ICT419) module tutor, I could come up with pretty good presentation slides but I don’t know how others will feel about my presentation but from my side it is pretty good. My presentation consists of images and wordings with some animation. I have also kept in mind the font size and color combination to make my power point presentation effective. While creating this presentation I came to learn that power point presentation with images and animation makes an effective presentation.

Overall after preparing my presentation, the day came for me to stand in front of the class with my laptop projecting my presentation slide on the screen with the help of LCD. By using ICT my talk on anger management went well where I had key points and important messages flashed up for the audience on screen which is impossible without ICT. After presentation I came to realize how important and necessary the ICT is for student teacher like us.

I could not upload my presentation slide here but I have uploaded the video that I have used during my presentation.