Use of technology can help motivate students

Use of technology can help motivate students - They frequently log on to Facebook while in school, to share personal thoughts on current issues or to express their feelings. Their teacher, Miss Nur Ashikin Sapri, and their peers would then give feedback to these Facebook posts. All these, using the Malay Language.

And as part of their assignments, the Tanjong Katong Girls' School students write blog entries and receive feedback from their teacher on their blog content or language use.

These learning experiences are an example of how info-communication technology (ICT) is currently being used in schools.

Miss Ashikin said: "(It) allows students to use the Malay Language more frequently and also provides an opportunity for teachers to engage their students using the Mother Tongue Language."

She added, though, that the use of ICT should also come with an emphasis on cyber-wellness, so that pupils are respectful to each other during tasks such as online peer evaluation.

At Si Ling Primary School, Primary Two pupils were part of a pilot batch who participated last year in Oracy eLand, an ICT-based interactive resource package developed by the Education Ministry. During lesson time, video and audio clips are used to guide them in vocabulary and sentence structure.

Chinese Language teacher Lee Mei Cheng said even shy pupils are enthused to participate in discussions and games using the language: "Students are more motivated to retain the lessons learnt, and their positive feedback also encourages me to use technologies frequently in my teaching." ( todayonline.com )