Inquiry Based Learning

The first time when I have studied computer subject was at high school and I can remember that most of teachers used teacher centered learning, where the teacher explain to us the theoretical part, then she show us how to do the practical part then she asked us to do it by ourselves as she had done without allowing us to think.

On the other hand, in these few years the way computer subjects are being taught have changed dramatically, nowadays we use inquiry based learning which is seeking information by questioning, we taught the students by “learning through groups” by using brainstorming and problem solving strategies.

We divide our students to groups where each group should choose a project from a list designed specifically by the teacher, I gave them the choice to design brochure, leaflet or poster for their group project using  MsWord, I provide them with a layout and let the group decide what is the design and content to be discussed in the project, so the group project is open ended and more dynamic, and there is no right or wrong way when doing the project since the path taken to a desired project can be reached by various ways, which help the students to search for information and learn on their own with the teacher guidance giving them the opportunity to discover the objectives of the lesson, skills to finish their project, conduct research, analyze results and present their final results.

Inquiry is important in the generation of ideas and transmission of knowledge and it is an essential element in education, learn how to build self directed learning skills, although it can be applied to all disciplines.

Finally, using inquiry based learning is not always successful due to the limitation of time and we should develop the students self confidence, motivation and enhance students directed learning before used this strategy.

21st century learning

In the past, the teacher used only one way (memorization method) during explanation, but today the education has developed, so there are many ways for learning and gain information such as flipped classroom which means online learning.

So the role of the teacher has changed from a lecturer to an advisor and a learning coach, although the job of the home and the class time has changed also, the lectures becomes homework and the class time used for collaborative student homework, experiential exercises, debate and Lab work.

The flipped classroom can benefit in some way to the students because the students can watch the lecture as many times as they need especially to those who suffer from slowness in learning, and to those who missed classes.

In addition, it helps the student to participate in chats with the instructor and the classmates, so the interaction between the teacher to student and student to student will increase.

As well, the student becomes interested in the class because he has a background about the topic and the student will keep pace with the technology, it also helps to prepare children for the future and get them used to take responsibility for their own learning, so teachers can create a fertile environment for creativity, and solving problems becomes easily to students because they can learn more in working by groups.

The flipped classroom can help the teachers in the learning because the lectures can be seen by students all over the world, so students learn from the best sources and it help to facilitate identifying the experiences of others.

Besides that online learning can eliminate the use of the traditional textbook which is linear and flat source of information, and replace it with the digital textbook which is cost effective, convenient and not heavy.

The teacher can save the lesson time for more practice and doing experiments, so he can discover the talents.

But some students may suffer from the flipped classroom because not all students can complete their homework and not all students can understand the one way lesson because they can't raise their hands and ask questions.

Some students have a problem in learning so they need a special treatment and different strategies to gain information, besides that some students may misunderstand the information.

Although the teacher may suffer from this way because he should prepare many applications, assignments and homework's with a contrast questions, and the student not familiar with this way since childhood.

But we can overcome these problems through a good lesson preparation and used the flipped classroom from early ages.

We cannot live without computers

The Computer is very important in our life especially in our schools, as well from my experience as a teacher I use the computer in three modes:

Firstly as a Tutor:

Since I learned the secondary school students, so The curriculum is based on cooperative learning  , brainstorming and learning self strategies, so I give the students some instructions only and the students must use the book, help menu and the Internet to learn more.
 But to develop my skills to serve me as a teacher so I learned some software’s from CD’s and from Internet like Photoshop, Ms Access, Active white board skills, besides that I learned the ICDL course by self.

Secondly as a Tool:

Use the Calculator to calculate the student marks, also the paint to do some graphics, moreover I used the Net support to explain the lessons. In addition I Used the Ms word to prepare the lesson plan, researches, reports, tests and used the Ms PP to prepare Presentations. Besides that I Designed appreciation certificates and cards for occasions using the Photoshop and Ms Word. Finally I prepared movies using movie maker.

Thirdly as a tutee:

Prepare the programs that used during the explanation of the visual basic subject and also I calculate student marks using Ms Excel.

So from the above, I can say that I use the computer as a Tool, then as a Tutor and as a Tutee in the last. And this is strange because I graduated from Computer Science. In my opinion the reason for this is depend on the nature of our work in the schools as a teacher. And I hope through the BTC that I will develop my use of the computer in the three modes.