Form 5 students recently had an
exciting time reaching out across the globe to students in Australia via Skype.
It was all a part of exploring the
Central Idea- “Technology is the modern language of human expression”. Students
were inquiring into different forms of technology which help in communication
and had conducted a survey in school about how technology is used in
classrooms. We decided to go a step further and connect with a school overseas
to find out how technology is used in their classrooms. It was a great learning
ground for all the students as they got a chance to share their views on the
use of various tools and apps- for education.
It was even more exciting for us
to see how advanced our technology use is, in some areas – allowing students to
teach their counterparts. The students
of Morris Friends’ Primary Years School at North Hobart were ecstatic to see
how we used document camera for construction of angles. They showed a lot of
enthusiasm at the idea of making ‘pen-pals’ and exchanging emails t
o share some
new ideas such as running a book club. Since they had explored an app called
‘green screen’, our students also got excited to explore it in their next ICT
class. Some of our students also explained how they used Prezi for their
presentations this time and offered help to the kids in Australia, in case they
wish to collaborate with them, online, via Prezi. We also shared the way we
have begun ‘flipping our classrooms’ where the main teaching happens online and
students follow up with the task in school.
It was exciting to know that in their school, students in Form 5 get to
carry a laptop to school. This information brought a sudden wave of
anticipation in all our students!
We all had a great time
connecting with people in the other continent, who were 5 hrs ahead of our
time. From weather to technology to reading, we chatted on a number of topics
in about 30 minutes and realized that Technology has actually shrunk the world!
