Learning with technology

To reach the level of competency prescribed for the end of the elementary or secondary cycles, the students must have had many and varied opportunities ...

...to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

A variety of types of uses are required for students to fully develop the competency and satisfy the requirements of the QEP. The QEP is best served when technology tools are used as engagers and facilitators of thinking and knowledge construction. Then, they serve the development of the Cross Curricular Competencies of the Québec Education Programme (QEP). This view will affect WHAT tools we choose and HOW we use them. Using ICT in the project process format

Effects with technology VS Effects of technology

Technology can have an "immediate" effect while students are using it. For instance, they may write better constructed and longer texts when they use a word processor. This is an effect we observe WITH the use of technology

Technology can also have lasting effects as a consequence of long term computer-supported work. They might develop the habit of creating an outline of their work and working non-linearly even with paper and pen. They might have developed problem solving strategies or attitudes after having worked with a MicroWorld software like Logo. These are the lasting effects OF technology.

To obtain the lasting effects OF technology we must consider

• Working with tools that provide students with mental models that are durable and independent of the computer
• Engaging students in types of activities in which the technology provides opportunities for developing cognitive habits.
• Being explicit with the students in helping them bridge the "transfer gap", in making the connection, helping them generalise and transfer.

Using technology throughout the project process

All along, plan opportunities for using ICT to develop other Cross-Curricular Competencies and Subject competencies in any one of the phases of the project process. Sample planner for a CCCs Format
Details of several CCCs English	Blank planner for a CCC English

Thinking about technology in the project phases ENGAGE EXPLORE INVESTIGATE CREATE SHARE Set of " ICT cards" used during the workshop to think about and discuss a variety of uses in the project phases. (For a training activity, print on coloured cardboard and cut to create packs.)

Additional Resources to help plan for ICT in the project process

• The class technology toolbox
  What is available in or for your class? This document gives you a list of what your students could use for in each of the project phases
  
  
  
  
• Information Technology Learning Outcomes
  The Eastern Townships School Board offers a continuum of IT Learning Outcomes for Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 . Under the headings "Fundamentals", "Accessing Information", "Processing Information", "Communicating Information" and "Ethics and Etiquette", they propose global objectives, learning outcomes and sample tasks.
  
  
• The Class ICT Expert list
  Kill two birds with one stone. Post a list of students who are ICT experts in one or more ICT areas. This creates a simple context for explicitly tracking the basic technical aspect of the ICT Competency and gives the students access to a group of experts that they can consult if they need help.

FUNCTIONS or uses of technology

Computer-based technologies can be used

• to access information resources. Literacy in the next generation will require knowing how to use and manipulate tools to locate a variety of information in many forms.
  Classroom examples .
• to interconnect communities of learners. The communal learning experience is no longer limited to the students in the same classroom.
  Classroom examples .
• to produce. Knowledge construction requires producing ... producing communications, designing and producing materials, managing information and resources, etc.
  Classroom examples .
• as cognitive tools which support, guide or extend the thinking processes and engage learners in critical thinking ... when the learner is in control of the computer rather than the other way around.
  Classroom examples .

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