Hope you could come earlier, Dropbox!

Just fed by a new entry about the use of cloud computing by one of my favorite blogs regarding ICT applications. A new free online tool called “Dropbox” is introduced and here is the product introduction video:

[Or see the latest introduction on its website homepage. https://www.dropbox.com/ ]

I cannot wait but quickly download and install “Dropbox” in my computers after understanding what it can help me.

In short, Dropbox is one of the products using cloud computing technology which facilitates the communication and convey of information. As far as its functions of online storage and sharing are concerned, the concept of “cloud” is not new. However, it can allow me to synchronize the documents saved in my different devices. How good and important is it? Let me briefly describe a day during my teaching block as an example.

6:00 Am	Used my main PC at home to finally check the handout I’m going to use in my LOTE class.
7:00 Am	Saved everything I need today into my MacBook Air which is my handy computer to be taken around. [But it does not support many of the software and font I need to teach LOTE Chinese so I cannot use it as my main computer.]
8:30 AM	At school. Download students’ writing sent last midnight from the school computer (because the student teacher did not allow to access the wireless Internet there) and then save the files into my MacBook Air.
8:45 AM	Take the spare time before P1 to correct the student’s writing on my MacBook Air. [The reason why I could not keep using the school computer to do the correction was because the school computer in the common staff room did not support Chinese typing input.]
11:00AM-	Teaching LOTE with a prepared PPT showed by my MacBook Air. Engaged student in typing into the file and saved it as a new version.
14:00PM	Changed lesson plan for the next day after talking with my mentor with my MacBook Air.
17:00PM	Went back to uni. Used uni computer to download film clips to be used in the next lessons because my MacBook Air was nearly run out battery.
21:00PM	Work at my main PC at home. First of all, put all the updated and new built files back into it…..

It can be imagined that how much anxiety can be reduced since I start to use Dropbox.

In other words, having had Dropbox, I do not need USB anymore (as long as I can assess the Internet). Furthermore, I can also easily share the big-size files with colleagues or friends without extra travel to meet in order to share the work with usb and computer. More importantly, my computer file management can be much more clearly and simply than before because I don’t have to worry if I would happen to delete or forget to save the latest file.

Why teachers use or not use ICT in class

There is no LOTE specific classroom available in my placement school although the LOTE faculty is quite big. Four LOTE language courses (Chinese, French, Greek and Italian) up to VCE level are provided with 12 teachers. I have tried to observe as much of these classes as possible and find the use of ICT is various.

First of all, not all of the classrooms are equipped the hardware which teachers may need to teach LOTE. Some classrooms have a TV and DVD player, some have computers, some have one computer and a CD player and some have almost nothing. (The most lucky LOTE class was the one using the ART classroom where is placed with enough PCs, digital TV, two big long white board and spacious room so is able to run role-play, problem-solving or situational activities) It is obvious that teachers in that school need to adjust their way of teaching according to their environment or……..make good relationship with their colleagues so they can swap classrooms when they need.

Secondly, the factors that which day or which period the classes are also influence teachers’ willingness of using ICT. Many teachers prefer to teach vocabulary or sentence structure in the morning with the traditional teacher-centered way and then introduce computer-based tasks as practice in the afternoon class.

Moreover, the beginning teachers tend to use more ICT in class if they are convinced that students will be more engaged while experienced teachers are more confident to engage students without any external assistance. Some of the experienced teachers even informally compliant that log-in takes too much class time. They also believe that computer-based projects just simply give students chances to browse irrelevant websites because the teacher cannot monitor all of the students’ computer activities at the same time.

One of the observed teachers says he uses ICT in his Humanities class but not in his ESL class because the VCE examination is paper-based. It sounds convinced but is still a bit doubtful after a second thought- does the VCE examination result account for the only meaning of language education in school?

A comment from the school Learning Technology leader is very suitable to be used to conclude this jotting: “Using ICT is mainly about attitude but not skills. If the teacher believes it will benefit students’ learning, she/he will manage to make it.”