11th July 2007 [First class]
‘Assalamualaikum….’ This very first word from my yet to be familiar lecturer’s voice was the first word Prof. Maznah uttered once she entered my technology class. The greeting attracted me from my subconscious work which was replying my e-mails and led my eyes towards her. I was surprised. ‘This is the face that I have seen before, but where?’ This question kept popping in my mind like popcorn in the hot pan. I tried my best to scan and recognize this familiar face through my stored memories but it did not work much.
Thus, as it supposed to be, the class started and we were introduced to this particular course and were briefed on the requirements of this course which one of them is to do ‘blog’. Realizing that we are required to do ‘blog’, my peers claimed that this particular assignment would not be a troublesome for me at all because they know the fact that I am really keen in technology and decorating my lovely laptop with updated hardware, software, mind ware, installations and decorations have been my main interest since years. Yet, the truth is actually hidden in my secret heart. I am actually a freaking IT blind in doing ‘blog’ and only love my laptop. It is very true as I actually have an online social space which is called Friendster accompanied by spaces for ‘Blog’ yet never been touched.
However, to be positive minded, I decided not to give up and to take this opportunity to improve myself towards the betterment in another perspective of technology which was been eye- folded before by me myself. As technology is concerned, the schools that have always been related to are SMART schools. Suddenly, something crushed into my memories. ‘Yes! I definitely recognize this smile…the smile that I have seen at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Bintang Selatan few months back when I was having my School experience Program (SEP) with Julia and Maisarah’. Suddenly, Prof. Maznah asked ‘who met me during SEP program last months at SKSBS?’ ‘Bingo!!’ I was true. She is the same person we met at SKSBS but she remembers better than me.
On the other hand, talking about SMART school, I should be grateful that I was sent to a SMART school as I really could see the differences of the existence and the application of technology in schools. From my personal point of view, it is undeniable that SMART schools are given priority in the division of technology and these schools get the utmost chances in improving their level of education. However, there is another side of coin faced by SMART schools that is visible to other schools which is ‘how could these provided technology be made more interesting and applicable to young learners?’ This is due to the fact that I overheard comments and feedbacks from SMART schools teachers and students that the use of technology continuously can be boring indirectly hamper the learning processes. For instance, there was a student said that using ‘power point projection’ is only exciting for the first few times and fails to attract student’s attention in the following lesson. Thus, I could clearly see the gist in this context, where teachers should play their roles and try to make full use of these facilities by vary the methodology of using technology in the lesson. This means that teacher can apply ‘pupils- centered’ method of using ‘power point projection’ by allowing pupils to select, match and touch the slides instead of just having teachers pointing and changing the slides [teacher – centered]. As a matter of fact, by allowing pupils to touch, explore and do physical activities, teachers are actually providing supports to the enhancement of language learning. These are almost everything that I have learnt on the first day.
As the conclusion, I presume that it is not over said if I announce here ‘I love technologies! It makes my miserable life easier and exciting’.
‘Assalamualaikum….’ This very first word from my yet to be familiar lecturer’s voice was the first word Prof. Maznah uttered once she entered my technology class. The greeting attracted me from my subconscious work which was replying my e-mails and led my eyes towards her. I was surprised. ‘This is the face that I have seen before, but where?’ This question kept popping in my mind like popcorn in the hot pan. I tried my best to scan and recognize this familiar face through my stored memories but it did not work much.
Thus, as it supposed to be, the class started and we were introduced to this particular course and were briefed on the requirements of this course which one of them is to do ‘blog’. Realizing that we are required to do ‘blog’, my peers claimed that this particular assignment would not be a troublesome for me at all because they know the fact that I am really keen in technology and decorating my lovely laptop with updated hardware, software, mind ware, installations and decorations have been my main interest since years. Yet, the truth is actually hidden in my secret heart. I am actually a freaking IT blind in doing ‘blog’ and only love my laptop. It is very true as I actually have an online social space which is called Friendster accompanied by spaces for ‘Blog’ yet never been touched.
However, to be positive minded, I decided not to give up and to take this opportunity to improve myself towards the betterment in another perspective of technology which was been eye- folded before by me myself. As technology is concerned, the schools that have always been related to are SMART schools. Suddenly, something crushed into my memories. ‘Yes! I definitely recognize this smile…the smile that I have seen at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Bintang Selatan few months back when I was having my School experience Program (SEP) with Julia and Maisarah’. Suddenly, Prof. Maznah asked ‘who met me during SEP program last months at SKSBS?’ ‘Bingo!!’ I was true. She is the same person we met at SKSBS but she remembers better than me.
On the other hand, talking about SMART school, I should be grateful that I was sent to a SMART school as I really could see the differences of the existence and the application of technology in schools. From my personal point of view, it is undeniable that SMART schools are given priority in the division of technology and these schools get the utmost chances in improving their level of education. However, there is another side of coin faced by SMART schools that is visible to other schools which is ‘how could these provided technology be made more interesting and applicable to young learners?’ This is due to the fact that I overheard comments and feedbacks from SMART schools teachers and students that the use of technology continuously can be boring indirectly hamper the learning processes. For instance, there was a student said that using ‘power point projection’ is only exciting for the first few times and fails to attract student’s attention in the following lesson. Thus, I could clearly see the gist in this context, where teachers should play their roles and try to make full use of these facilities by vary the methodology of using technology in the lesson. This means that teacher can apply ‘pupils- centered’ method of using ‘power point projection’ by allowing pupils to select, match and touch the slides instead of just having teachers pointing and changing the slides [teacher – centered]. As a matter of fact, by allowing pupils to touch, explore and do physical activities, teachers are actually providing supports to the enhancement of language learning. These are almost everything that I have learnt on the first day.
As the conclusion, I presume that it is not over said if I announce here ‘I love technologies! It makes my miserable life easier and exciting’.
