Essay on My Activities Throughout the Last Semester

The portfolio I have written below describes my activities throughout the last semester. It shows how I had all my classwork done, assignments done and submitted by uploading to the required portal. The objectives set at the beginning of the semester are well-defined in the portfolio. More specifically, since the semester mainly dealt with ICT use and learning, most of the basic ideas in ICT were explicitly taught, and I much benefited. The accomplishments I made are also well-summarized in my portfolio.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The program was primarily on ICT, its uses, and effects, both positive and negative. After our introduction to the program, the teachers apparently outlined our primary objectives, and I was thus supposed to study and ensure that I accomplished all of them. Among the principal goals, one was to develop the ability to understand and use E-learning. E-learning is the use of the internet to get information and study online, even from a remote area, away from your teachers and fellow students. Besides, there was an introduction to the selection of ICT resources for learning, teaching, and assessment.

The other primary objective was to develop the ability to learn and understand the importance of safe and responsible internet use. Understanding the concept of use of policy and proposition to appropriate strategy was taught under this. There was a discussion about the importance of knowing and understanding the safe and responsible use of the internet. I was thus able to outline some of the potential risks for students using the internet.

After learning about the risks, finding and outlining ways to minimize these risks was another primary agenda of this objective. We evaluated the vital protection of student data by implementing relevant data laws. I was able to outline the teachers role and responsibilities in the implementation of data protection procedures and policies. Methods of protecting data on computers and devices were also well-taught by my teachers. The ultimate benefit of this was to help ensure teacher and student well-being while using a computer or any other electronically-transmitting device.

The third objective of the program was for me to identify the types of digital content that can be used in support of teaching and learning and outlining their key features. Digital content can be described as electronic forms of information accessed via the internet, CD, DVD, and television. I was able to learn about some types of digital content that can be used to support learning and teaching. They included: digital courses, animations and simulations, video and audio files, digital reference materials, virtual words and adventure games. The digital content key feature is that it can be accessed both locally and online. Digital content can be accessed locally using a DVD or CD and downloaded from the internet. When obtained online, it is web-based content. Access can be done from anywhere in the world, at any time by anyone, provided there are good internet connection and appropriate equipment. Much digital content is in the form of images, videos, animation, audio, and games.

Other objectives of the program were to identify tools for communication, online collaboration tools, productivity tools, the identity of image, audio and video tools, all that can be used to support teaching and learning and to outline their key features. All these tools can be used in different ways to help boost the education level in most learning institutions.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the program, I was supposed to assess whether any of the objectives set for the semester had been accomplished. Apart from the fundamental goals already discussed and that was definitely achieved, I was also able to acquire knowledge about ICT-related ethical and legal issues. These were subdivided into groups, i.e., netiquettes, intellectual property rights, civil liberties, cybercrimes and the digital divide.

Under netiquettes, I learned that ethics are governing the internet. Despite the fact that anyone anywhere at any given time can access the internet, it does not mean that it is lawless. There are acceptable behaviors on the net, primarily related to the use of e-mail and relay chat. A reasonable explanation to this is the example of keeping paragraphs short to avoid net-jam, use of mixed upper and lower cases being highly recommended and using CAPITALS for emphasis only. Together with these, SPAM or junk e-mails cannot be validly sent, sending hate messages is a crime and being aware of virus hoaxes, urban legends, and chain letters.

I also learned about plagiarism, copyright law, fair-use, software piracy and file swapping as intellectual property rights. Under civil liberties, I discovered that there are issues regarding the right of any individual. These problems included the freedom of speech, personal privacy of records and censorship. Together with these, the cybercrimes (computer-facilitated crimes) are hacking/cracking, dissemination of viruses, denial of services or other attacks, internet fraud, spamming, flaming and pornography. The social and economic issues as learned include provisions for the people with special needs, technological limitations, creation of internet acceptable use policy, user and staff education, and respect for personal privacy and utilization of other limited resources apart from internet.

SOURCES OF DATA FOR REVIEWING OUTCOMES

The student work assigned to me was uploaded to a given link for assessment. These tasks were mostly in groups and presentation did either individually or as a group. The missions were:

1. Task 1: Using ICT to enhance learning (uploaded)-These are external tasks given to do at home and later uploaded to the Moodle. The job was all about safety, security, and well-being. The teacher selected a scheme of work for the ICT subject taught and evaluated my performance. I learned how to use and apply ICT at the student-level.

2. Task 2: National Curriculum requirements -Under this task, I was to determine the following:

How to apply ICT in our department and if it reflected the National Curriculum requirements for our subject. Besides, identification of any explicit references to the use of ICT in our own National Curriculum subject orders was made. I also ensured that these areas are already being covered in our work.

Under this, I was supposed to prepare a short report and expected to present a summary of my findings and then try to answer some questions. They included whether the use of ICT in our school reflects the National Curriculum requirements for our subject. Identification of any explicit references to the use of ICT in the National Curriculum subject orders was necessary. Ensuring that these areas are already covered in our discipline and providing evidence that ICT is dealt with the explicit references in the National Curriculum Framework to a chosen subject was made. The answers from the investigation of the above questions were presented in a short report and uploaded to Moodle.

3. Routine Task Week 5: I was supposed to download an MS word file provided and complete the table then upload the file.

4. Routine Task Week 6: I was supposed to create a short report (500-700 words) on some areas. These areas were on how the teaching of the ICT in the National Curriculum organizes in NCF of Maldives, identifying and commenting on the aspects of ICT that pupils are being taught. Together with these were the ICT capabilities or skills taught at school through different topics and what can be reasonably expected from pupils to bring in as ICT skills.

The task was then supposed to be uploaded for reflection. There was then a group task assigned to differentiate the power of:

Interactive versus non-interactive

Reusability versus Multiple user digital contents for learning

Collaborative Tools

Essential Trends Accelerating Technology Adoption in K-12 Education (Group A & D)

Significant Challenges Impeding Technology Adoption in K-12 Education (Group B & E)

Significant Developments in Educational Technology for K-12 Education. (Group C & F)

In the group, we discussed and presented the findings to the class.

References