Overall Reflection

Overall Reflection

After eight weeks in the UAQ Basic Education school (cycle 2), I realized that this was a rich learning experience for me. I was able to observe the learners in nature and how they are reacting according to their age and characters. I also learned that the new generation has a high intrinsic motivation toward use of technology if they are provided with the appropriate teaching/learning resources. I also noticed that learners react differently in each subject regarding if it’s their favorite subject or not or the teacher has a role in motivating them. Moreover, it was enjoyable to implement my action research with its new approach of teaching and learning in the school and seeing the productive results of my AR.

The school as a learning context:

The learning atmosphere in the school needs to be improved because I noticed that there is less focus on the learning and a lot of emphasis on unnecessary activities and events that have been hold in the school. I agree that some of the activities that some schools set can be related to student’s educational objectives. Unfortunately, I did not see any relevant educational events for student’s learning in UAQ Basic Education School. Therefore, I suggest that the school either rearrange the type of activities with its objectives that should hold for students or put more emphasis on the learning aspect because based on my observation in different classes with different grades I believe students are distracted with events in the school rather than focusing on their learning.

The ICT course:

I discussed the ICT course content issue from the first semester that I went to visit the school and observe ICT classes. I think the ICT course needs to be improved to meet the learner’s needs in the classroom because the CD is focusing on some themes of the ICT which basically the students learnt in earlier grade levels. I also believe that the CD cannot be counted as a curriculum to be taught; it is rather a supplementary resource that the teacher uses within the class resources.

The school administrators and teachers:

I learned about the administration work and how the organization is being runned by the principal. However, I felt the principal needs some counseling in her field to manage her school better and to focus more on the educational aspects rather than the reputation of the school. The fact that the principal is holding activities for the school reputation and inviting important people such as the UAQ Educational Zone director to see the attractive events will not improve the education or student’s learning.

Moreover, most of the teachers are stressed with the extra workload that the principal gave them to prepare for the school activities and take part in it made the teachers more dislikable to provide the appropriate learning support for their learners or even providing a constructivist learning environment.

Implementing my AR:

The blended learning approach aimed to engage the learners in the learning and introduce them into formal virtual learning environment where they can use discussion forums, blogs…etc as educational tools. Some of my findings at the end of my teaching practice are that students liked the idea of having an online and face-to-face learning environment more than the classroom based learning, students were able to express their thoughts through writing and they improved their writing and communication skills.

Myself as a learner:  

As far my skills are concerned, I think I improved my problem solving skills when I tried to independent with my colleague Hayat in solving the challenges that we faced in the work environment such as extra work that we were given and classes to teach.

I also improved my communication skills when I communicated with the principal, my SST, the teachers in the school and the learners professionally. I also improved my thinking skills because most of the time I did reflective thinking with my colleague about the school and how should it be improved. Moreover, I feel working in teams make relationships stronger, sharing new ideas with others and learning from others as I did with my colleague.

To conclude, every work experience is valuable to me when I learn and construct my knowledge and improve my skills from this learning experience. This is the last work experience for me in my academic life in the Educational Technology program and I believe it is the start of my career and where I learnt a lot as a beginner researcher to do a small scale research within a school context. I learnt with my students as I taught them through understanding their interests, needs and abilities. I learnt that each individual learn differently than others and therefore I need to vary my teaching strategies to meet their needs. I also improved my communication skills through working in a professional environment.