Information Communication Technology - ICT

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming more predominate within educational settings throughout the world as they develop ways to incorporate different ICT practices and resources into their own educational pedagogies (Bennett & Lockyer 2008). This educational reform is also evident in the educational system within Australia and more specifically, New South Wales. 

Caitlin in your role of a 4/5 classroom teacher, within New South Wales, you may find that your students have a deeper knowledge and understanding of the technology within the classroom. Their prior knowledge may exceed yours and as the teacher, you have to be able to incorporate their expert knowledge and allow them to teach their peers and yourself (Prensky 2001). By doing so you will also develop the skills to be successful in incorporating ICT practices into your daily teaching.

Effective beginning teachers develop ways to positively incorporate ICT. This can be done through the use of an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB), if your room or school is equipped. Through using this, you can access other interactive resources such as YouTube, Notebook, Google etc.

A teacher’s time is very valuable and you can often spend many hours out of the classroom developing your own resources, including: notebook files and identifying other interactive classroom resources on the internet (Bennett & Lockyer 2008).

Below are some basic files and links to specific websites to help you get started. You are able to adapt and structure them to suit the needs of your students.

Teach This is an Australian website designed for teachers to access resources and displays for their classrooms. It gives you access to multiple interactive games and teaching ideas. You do need to sign up and create an account, but for the amount of resources that become available to you it is most definitly worth the membership fee.

Woodlands Junior School in the United Kingdom also offers free interactive resources for a range of different topics and ages. 

The TaLe website is also designed for NSW teachers to effectively incorporate ICT into their daily teaching. The TaLe website is also accessible through the DEC portal, so if you have no access to the internet, you will be able to access TaLe through the DEC's intranet.

Further Readings:

Benjamin, T & Hughes, H 2006, 'Interactive whiteboards engaging students', Curriculum Support, vol.23, no. 3, p44-45.

Bennett S, & Lockyer L, 2008, 'A study of teachers’ integration of interactive whiteboards into four Australian primary school classrooms', Learning, Media and Technology, vol.33, no.4, p 289-300.

Woolfolk, AH. 2004, Educational Psychology, Pearson, Boston, USA.