Set Apart (Day 1)

What If?

News that I have to be quarantined for the next 10 days came upon me as a shock. “You would always think that it will happen to others and not to yourself.” This sentiment rang true to me as I ponder the “what ifs”. What if I didn’t take over Yien Qing’s lesson on Tuesday, what if it were another student from another class or another school. 

I guess all the what ifs will just remain as it is, what if. Ultimately, I believe that God has a plan for this to happen in my life at such a time. Hopefully as I pen down my thoughts and look back at what I’ve written over the course of the next 10 days, I will find the answer. 

Feeling of guilt and loss weighs heavily on my heart today. I cannot hug and kiss the one I love, even though we are in the same house, I am unable to speak to them face to face for fear of passing something unknown and invisible. How will Shirleen manage without me around her? Will this take a toil on her health? How will Wati manage the children given that even before this she seems so impatient around them? A thousand and one questions keep weighing on my mind.

But as I meditate, the one thing that I believe God is telling me today is to continue to be faithful. It’s not enough to just be faithful once but I need to continue to be faithful especially when things are not going well (which definitely describes the situation I am in right now). He is also reminding me that my family, my health, my wealth is not MINE but HIS. These are HIS children and HIS daughter. I need to trust that God is looking after them as well and that I need to do all I can to be good stewards of what belong to Him.

Dear God,

Help me know you more each day as I take a step back from my busyness and reflect on who you are. Help me to know you more and more each day, Amen.

Shifting house...

Dear all,

I've shifted to Wordpress... find me there...

enochng.wordpress.com

Cheers,

Of Google Labels and Docs

Even though I've used gmail for awhile already. It's only after edumail changed to iCON that I've realised the full 'power' of google apps.

Labels

Have you tried using labels? If you haven't you don't know what you are missing! Welcome to the world of organised mail. Having problems finding old mails that you need? Then look no further than labels.

Just by labeling important emails, you can easily track go to those emails by clicking on the labels. As HOD IT, I receive tons of emails from vendors promoting their products. Although I may not need it now, it doesn't mean I may not need it in the future. If I don't label it, I may not know how to search for it as they all come from different vendors with different subjects. So all I do now is to group them all under the same label (I called it ICT External Scan) and viola, all emails from vendors promoting their products!

Google Docs

Now this is priceless! It is not just the fact I can store documents online where it is accessible anywhere, anytime. What's better is the collaboration capabilities. With Google Docs, I can share documents with others and they can even update the document stored in my account. So I don't need to keep track which is the most updated copy of the document. It will automatically be updated. You don't even need to save, it automatically saves after you type in it!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, the best way is to go try it for yourself.

Surveys

This is also under Google Docs, by just creating a form, you have the power of surveys in your finger-tips. The best part is the survey form can be sent directly to your colleagues' email and they can fill in the survey form straight from their email. No more additional log-ins or going to other websites just to fill in the survey form.

Results? It is sent directly to your Google Docs all nicely collated for you. One word to describe all this, WONDERFUL!

Don't you just love Web 2.0!

My first Prezi presentation!

This is my attempt at creating Prezi presentation.

This prezi is a proposed ICT Curriculum for BLGPS.

I initially thought it would be difficult to create something so stunning but I was wrong. It took me less than 10 min to create this and I did not have to use any pictures.

Enjoy...

ICT Curriculum on Prezi

iCTLT '10 Conference Day 2 - The Excitement Continues...

 Hi all,

Today was the 2nd day of iCTLT '10 conference and a lot more things to learn from all these incredible presenters. I'll attempt to summarize all the salient points that hit me hard.

Personal Learning Network (David Warlick)

I personally love hearing David speak. He speaks with such great insight and clarity (Prezi is an amazing presentation tool btw).

Anyway, David mentioned that as master learners (which all teachers should be), we should have our own Personal Learning Network (PLN). Now, this can be as easy as just going to your colleagues or friends nearby for help. However, with the internet, our learning network becomes almost boundless. Thus it is possible and important for us to find grow a network of people that can help us do our job.

So, how do we grow our own PLN. We start by looking at the tools available to us that we can use to collaborate and network with others.

Here are the list of possible tools we can use:

• Blogging - great way to share your ideas and learn what others have to say as well
• Podcast - some good podcast that talks about IT in education are edtechtalk.com, ted.com and epnweb.org.
• Social Networking - like Facebook, Twitter, etc

Essentially, how we can grow our PLN is just start by paying attention to a few good writers. Soon you'd realise those good writers also pay attention to other good writers. If you feel it is worth paying attention to them as well then you will now pay attention to them (get it?).

Now with so much conversations going on, what you need to do next is to Mine the Conversations. By using websites like technorati, which is a search engine for blogs, and search.twitter.com, which is a search engine for twitter, you are able to mine for the right conversations.

After mining the conversations, it is good to start Mapping the Conversations. One good way is to use RSS feeds and netvibes.com so ensure that you get the latest information.

I was totally blown away by David's sharing because I never saw the use of these tools in such a manner. He really used these tools so differently and to his advantage. It really showed me that learning is not difficult at all. It gave me a new perspective to the use of applications like twitter and blogs. I will blog and tweet more often as it will now be used for learning rather than just chatting with friends.

Problem Based Learning with Real Life Scenario (Michael Furdyk of TakingITGlobal)

This session really gave me better insights into how we conduct problem solving for our pupils. Do we just give them fantasy or outdated problems to solve? Or do we give them authentic and real problems to solve.

What are the real problems of today? Things like global warming, Tsunami, Earthquakes, Teenage Pregnancy, Drug abuse, etc. The list goes on and on. So why not get the pupils to look at these problems and think of ways in which they can help solve or create awareness.

"Problem Based Learning should be fertile, open-ended questions that is rich, real and relevant to pupil's life."

Michael's company TakingITGlobal is doing just that for pupils all around the world. With numerous projects and contests, pupils can look at these problems and try and do something about it. Michael suggests using the Guide To Action, found in the resource section of his website, to kick-start Problem Based Learning for our pupils.

I personally felt that this is just what our pupils need. They need to see that what they are learning is relevant to the real world. I think it's time we get our pupils to start making a difference in where they live and play. If we don't prepare them for the real world, then we are not teaching them anything worthwhile.

Conclusion

It has been a great two days at iCTLT '10. I will look back at this conference with great fondness. This conference has helped me formulate a lot of my thinking and planning. I can begin to effect some changes and set clear directions for my department to prepare our pupils for the 21st century!

I hope to go for iCTLT 2012.. hehe...

iCTLT '10 Conference Day 1 - The Excitement Begins...

Hi all,

Today marks the first day of the iCTLT conference. First we had a keynote session by David Warlick. Check out his sharing and handouts here.

Keynote by David Warlick

The main message he put across during his keynote session can be summarized in three points

1. We are teaching a new generation of learners,
2. living in a new information environment.
3. We are preparing them for an unpredictable future.

He mentioned that it is sad that while our pupils are 21st century citizens, yet they are stepping into a 19th century classroom everyday. We, as educators, have the responsibility to teach them how to teach themselves. We should not teach literacy but teach literacy habits. We should build in a learning lifestyle. Therefore, we should be master learners.

What does it mean to be literate in this day and aged? It means to:

• Read to expose what is true
• Express ideas compellingly
• Employ the right information

We really need to look at the way we teach our pupils in this day and age. What worked for us cannot work for them anymore.

Spotlight Session

I went for several concurrent sessions after that. The first was a spotlight session on Web 2.0. What is exciting is the fact that the speaker is compiling a list of Web 2.0 projects. I'll publish the URL of his e-book as soon as it is ready. Look out for it!!

Private Tutor for learning Maths for Foundation Pupils

myHomeTutor Maths CD was used to improve the grades of Foundation pupils. This was interesting and it can be something we can do for our Foundation pupils.

IPW (Huamin Pri)

Huamin Primary has their own IPW programme which cuts across all subjects. Each level would have its own theme and at the end of the project, there would be an end-product which they would showcase during their IT and Innovation Carnival. End-product would be something they create with ICT (e.g. animation, powerpoint, word document, etc) Different subject teachers would grade the relevant parts of the project.

The project would span 1 term where there would be 4 weeks of teaching the content and application. The next 4 weeks would be done on their own time after school. Pupils would be allowed to go into the labs after school to complete the work on their own. This promotes self-directed learning and for them to collaborate on their own.

Game for Grammar

Programme was done 1 hour each week for 6 weeks. Pupils used a literature text as the context of their game. The text gave them the story behind the game while they had to come up with the grammar questions on their own using grammar guidebooks and their textbook.

Game was created using Game Maker which is a freeware. According to the presenter, the software was quite easy to learn as they used only 2 sessions to teach it.

Pupils were very excited creating the game and it made learning grammar that much more interesting.



Had a great first day learning from the presenters as well as from the other delegates. Looking forward to Day 2!!

iCTLT '10 Pre-Conference Learning Journey Day 2