Reflections on the Vision Web Site
On a superficial level, this assignment was a nice way for me to ease into the work load of the course because I wasn't new to web development. But it did make me think about why I was doing this course, because the topic for my site was something that would show my vision for ICT in learning. My recent experiences were foremost in my mind and they were also my main exposure to education and learning (since my own student days, quite some time ago now). So I chose to make a small web site about a vision, my vision, for ICT in education in developing countries.
It's good that academics, educationalists and technologists are thinking about how ICT can be better harnessed to improve learning experiences. The first thing that struck me when I began to think about just what would I do this web site on, was the fact that all too often ICT is used simply to change the way teaching is delivered. Notes were first transferred onto acetate overheads and then onto PowerPoint slides, perhaps bringing most benefit to the teacher who didn't have to get covered in chalk dust whilst writing up formulae and diagrams on the board. Or reducing the need to have photocopies made. What was clear to me in the first couple of weeks of this course was that the big benefit of ICT in education has got to be for the learners. But I was also thinking how this could benefit the kids and adults I had seen putting their heart and soul into becoming more educated in Ethiopia, despite battered chairs (and desks if they were lucky), teachers who often came late or didn't turn up at all, lack of text-books, huge competition for access to the small number of available computers and many other obstacles.
This assignment was, for me, more of a spur to thinking about the whole idea of ICT for learning. As regards my own learning, I made my first banner graphic in Fireworks. Up till then, I had always left the 'arty stuff' to others - graphic designers and colleagues I considered more 'artistic' than me. But I now know how to make basic graphics myself, so I learned a new skill. And guess what, I learned it by having to do it - there's constructionism in action!
