Boys, Laptops and Learning

For years, researchers, educationalists and policy makers have said that ICT raises the level of motivation, and if used wisely, can have an impact on boys' achievement. As Chris Comber, a lecturer in Education at Leicester University said “boys are more confident in ICT and use it more frequently, so it seems to be an obvious leap to say let's use ICT as way of re-engaging boys in learning” http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/nov/19/elearning.technology. The issue with this accord, however, is how to can we utilize this resource effectively, so boys are both engaged in the learning process as well as gaining new knowledge and skills.

At an Independent Boys School in Melbourne’s southern suburbs, a Grade 5 teacher has spent the last three years trying to investigate the best ways to incorporate ICT into the everyday curriculum so this can be achieved. By utilizing the 1:1 computing available, the curriculum has been tailored to involve an interactive program, where boys create work on the various programs that are available on the computers as their tools. This work demonstrates students understanding of the topic being taught and is used as an assessment piece for the unit of work.

During the session at ACEC, the presentation will show you how ICT can be integrated into each curriculum unit taught throughout the year. The session will also demonstrate how different programs such as Kahootz or Comic Life are tied into the initial planning of the units. It will show examples of how to improve student skills in each program, ideas about how to maintain enthusiasm and assessment ideas for each task.

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