Reflection on writing the individual assignment

Wrting the individual assignment has given me lots of opportunities to deepen my thinking in this module by answering the questions of how your concepts has informed by the resources from inside and outside the class, why you think the innovative practice(IP) is a good one and how the IP fits the institution. In order to write a good assignment, I have went through many readings retrieved from the internet and webpages.

Also, this assignment help me to think more about the concepts and theories I learned in the classes and how to apply them into a real educational institution.

I had no education studying background before I went to HKU, but I am very interested in teaching people and discover their behaviour. After this semester of learning 6310, I have more thoughts and clear vision about the IP works in educational institution and what factors should we consider when designing the IP.  And lastly, I want to thanks for Peter as he gave me lots of help during the writing process and the whole semester.


Chen.

Case Study Candice‘s part - group presentation LV002

Innovation (Why are these practices considered innovative?)

n       The innovation is aimed at the new approach to teaching Geography using ICT as a source of information for different topics of curriculum of Geography

n       Students develop their abilities to learn independently.

n       The main activity is information searching through the Internet and subsequent development of presentation materials and reports using ICT

n       One more significant detail of this example of innovative ICT use is that students work on topics regarding Geography also during regular lessons of Informatics. So, they have additional chance to use ICT for specific subject matter and also they can practice their skills in ICT use on real assignments regarding specific subject matter. This is a good point to motivate students.

How do these practices transform learning & teaching?

n       Teachers

n       Monitor students’ task progression,

n       Provide feedback to students,

n       Develop teaching Materials,

n       Design curriculum and learning activities

n       Students:

n       Search for information,

n       Presentation of own learning,

n       Electronic presentation of own learning,

n       Peer tutoring,

n     Provide technical support to teachers/other students

What are the contextual factors associated with these innovative practices?

n       A. Meso-level context of the innovation

n       School background

n       School culture

n        ICT in School and Beyond

n       ICT Support Structure in the School

n       B. Macro-Level Context of the Innovation

n       National and State/Provincial Policies

n       National policy on ICT use in education system of Latvia is based on idea that all schools should have at least one computer lab (12-15 computers) with networked computers and Internet connection.

n       C. Thematic Analysis of the Innovation

n       Curriculum Content, Goals and Assessment

n       Teacher Practices and Outcomes

n       Student Practices and Outcomes

n       Kinds of Technology and Ways They are Used

n       Problems and Solutions Related to the Innovation

n       Sustainability

n       Transferability (within the school and the other schools

 By HuYonglang （Candice)

session 7 activity (3)

http://www.naace.co.uk/

What's the purpose and nature of the organisation(s)?

Naace is the National Association for all the people who wish to advance education through the use of technology, more than just computing.They are a community of schools, teachers, those who work in schools and the Education Technology industry who share a vision for the role of technology in improving and transforming learning and teaching. The members  of organisation include teachers, school leaders, advisors and consultants working within and across all phases of UK education.

How are they trying to support innovative practices with IT in schools?Give examples.

1.They intergrate IT technology with primary subject leader courses for computing.This is an extended course over two terms delivered through a blended learning approach including online meetings, moderated online discussions, email contact with the course tutor, online self-study, reading and completion of directed tasks.  It has been refreshed and updated to build the skills, knowledge and understanding that subject leaders will need as they prepare for the 2014 Computing Curriculum, as well as for leading the use of technology to develop teaching and learning across the whole primary curriculum.

2.Naace has developed a Self-review Framework (SRF) support course for personnel who are working with schools and within schools to support their progression through the SRF, with special emphasis on how to achieve ICT Mark accreditation.

This course is aimed at schools engaged on the SRF journey but may also be useful to support providers working with a number of schools.

Session 7 Activity (2)

www.wholeeudcation.org

Purpose and nature of this organization:
Purpose:Encourage everyone involoved in education to look outside the narrow confines, such as examination, national tests or the national curriculum.
Nature: Whole Education is a partnership of like-minded schools, organisations and individuals that believe that all young people should have a fully rounded education, developing the knowledge, skills and qualities needed to help them thrive in life and work. 

How are they trying to support innovative practices with IT in schools? Give examples.
To seeking to build the capacity of member schools at whatever stage of their journey to provide young people with a 'whole education'.

They also host various events across the country to support networking, knowledge-sharing and CPD for school leaders and teachers.

For example:

They seek to develop an awareness and understanding of the need for Whole Education and to promote its values
They work to engage a wider group of stakeholders including parents, young people, employers and higher educationThey strive to enable necessary changes in education policy to support those who would like to provide young people with a whole education

                                                                                                           By Gan Wenwei and Luo Chen
                

Session 7 Activity

What is the purpose and nature of the organizations?
How are they trying to support innovative practices with IT in schools? Give examples
How might their work impact on the Ecosystem which supports innovative practice?
hose one example of their work which best illustrated what they trying to achieve?

Session 6 Activity - Analyzing institutional contexts on the innovation

TOPIC: Innovations in own school or workplace

Hey guys,
I post the topic we should do in the session 6. Please post you own ideas about it here. And my own experience about the innovations in my school as follow:

As you know I had the accounting background in my undergraduate school. And during my studying, we should use the computer to do some financial matters. We should use general financial software and U8 system to support us a better understanding of the accounting when we are going to work in society.

In terms of the general financial software, we should learn deeply in the excel application. In the final of the course we should create a interface like a system which can be used in reality and it must support the financial working. We learnt a lot of the function to support some difficult counting on the computer. It is one of the  most useful course in my accounting course during my undergraduate school.

As to the U8, it is a virtual system that we use it just like we are the worker in different company to do the real working for that company. There are many sub-system in U8, we should learn all the part to get the better understanding of the real work of accounting in the real company. Because in China, almost companies are using this system in their accounting department, so it is also a very useful course.

However, in terms of the accounting studying in the innovative environment is very difficult, maybe different companies use the different system. But for the school education, it is impossible for them the use all the system among their curricula. How to make the connection between school and companies is a big problem. Because accounting is a application curriculum, most of the students will take over the job in the accounting department, so getting  accustom to the system in their companies is very important both for students and companies.

Case Study - Conclusion

We have finished our case study and gave the presentation to the 6310 class. I think we have a good work on that. Thank you for the team members' hard working.

During the Case studying, we came across some problems and exchange experiences and thought to conquer it together.  Some problems we have are:

1. The cases we choose. The first class of this course, Mr Woodhead let us choose the cases from the M2 database. At that time we can not understand each cases background. So, when we analyzed it later, we recognized that we chose the cases were from the different places and it difficult for us to make a connection to each other. However, this is a challenge for us to develop the analysis skills from the case study. 
2. The plan of our case study. Although we chose the case at the beginning of the class, actually, we did not start our studying immediately. We talked about the cases study when we are all free or just said something during our group discussion. So we do not have a well-planed schedules on this.
3. Preparation. We are lucky that our case study presentation is after the reading week. It gave us so much time to prepare it. And in fact we have discussed the preparation of each case and the whole part before the reading week. I post some information before to show us the job responsibility on one another in our group. We did well I think, except some members forgot to post his/her parts on the Blogger.
4. Presentation. After we finished our own parts of the case analysis. We put it together into the PPT. And giving the presentation in virtual environment some times in the discussion room. When we gave the presentation on Thursday, we really get ready. But we have some technology problems before our presentation, and thank you very much to Mr. Woodhead for us to handle it in time. We gave the presentation one by one. And I presented the comparison part. I spent a lot time on that. In the class, Natalie asked us the question about the efficiency of the framework. At first, I did not understand what her meaning. But through that I found there was something important thing I forgot to post on the PPT. So I explained directly which Mr. Woodhead thought it's great. After the class, I asked Natalie the specific question meaning. And I have talked some points of mine with her.

Anyway, this is a very good experience and process for us to work, discuss and present together as a group. We think we really learn something from the case study.