Worksheets are always extremely useful to provide written guidance for tasks as well as to assess knowledge and understanding of the lesson objectives given to the learners. Worksheets can be time consuming to produce if similar resources are not already available and also a little costly if large numbers of copies are required that are consumable. However, it is important that worksheets etc are suitably differentiated to cater for the needs of all learners in the group; all learners must be able to access the information as well as be challenged by the tasks set out in the worksheet.
Case studies and videos can be used to link lesson content to real world scenarios to help learners to apply what they are learning into a practical context. This often helps students to understand theory more clearly.
Most colleges will purchase their resources from educational catalogues or from large suppliers who have the contract for supplying schools and colleges in a particular LEA. The cost however can be more expensive than if the college was to seek other suppliers.
I have taught a range of IT based courses from E2E to CLAIT, obviously the majority of my lessons rely upon the use of computers in the delivery of the lesson objectives. It is essential that I have sufficient working computers readily available and enough computers for at least one between two, preferably one computer per learner. At my most recent base I had available fourteen PCs, one interactive whiteboard and projector, and one writing white board.
Each PC had internet access, although this wasn’t essential for the course it was beneficial in many ways, particularly when putting theory into context e.g. the use of different font styles and sizes, bold and underline, clipart and images etc. in documents such as holiday brochures/ advertisements / magazines etc. The internet, together with an intranet, also allows me to save online versions of worksheets for students to download and use directly at college or at home, as well as saving the department money of services such as photocopying. But it also comes hand in hand with the distraction of games websites and email. The learners work can be also be saved onto the PCs or transferred to either floppy disc or CD/DVD so that I have examples of work produced and a back up copy in case the hard copy goes missing.
The technology and availability of PCs is brilliant when it works without problems, however, there are unfortunately frequent flaws and issues and that commonly crop up in my lessons. The most common is the prevalence of broken mice; learners are always breaking the mice which then makes it very difficult to use the PC as few learners are familiar enough with the use of the cursor keys etc to navigate around the programs etc. This small piece of equipment can throw a big spanner in the works and reduces the resources available to use. In addition to this it seems to take an awfully long time to replace the damaged equipment, with the technicians having to order in relatively expensive replacements at a cost of approximately £15, when I could pick them up within a couple of days for £1 at a computer fair; unfortunately the correct channels need to be used and I am not allowed to replace them myself.
The PCs themselves also have frequent faults and problems, which again take a long time to resolve which ultimately means I rarely have all computers up and running in my lessons. Again I do not have permission to fix the problems, despite being a certified Microsoft engineer as the particular centre where I was working had a maintenance contract with an external company. This often results in me having to provide worksheet based tasks for some learners whilst the others complete computer based tasks; this can make the lesson a little disjointed. The only other alternative is to double learners up so that they are working in pairs, however this invariably results in one learner sitting and doing nothing whilst the other does all of the work. The computers are rarely upgraded and so do become out of date rapidly and often run slowly on very limited memories. The particular centre where I was working has recently been overtaken by Kingshurst Technology College so I am hoping that the computers will be modernised and adapted for learners with learning difficulties by providing things such as larger screens and keyboards with larger buttons.
The interactive whiteboard is probably my most useful tool in terms of demonstrating tasks and assessing knowledge and understanding. I use this every lesson to physically show the learners how to carry out a task such as inserting a picture into a document and then editing the size and orientation of the picture. I also use it to assess learning by getting volunteers to come up to the board and actually show me (and the other learners) how to carry out the tasks learnt in the lesson.
In addition to the ICT equipment I always use worksheets to provide assessment opportunities and written guidance. Some of these resources I develop myself and save onto the intranet for the use of other teachers; others I find on the internet and adapt where necessary to cater for the needs of my group. However, it is important that copyright is taken into consideration, and wherever a resource is copyrighted that I want to use I contact the author and seek permission to use and adapt the content. Most authors of worksheets etc are more than happy to share resources as long as they are for educational purposes and the person is not going to benefit financially through there use.
I do try to actively encourage the sharing of resources amongst colleagues by sharing my resources with others on the intranet and making my resource files available for the use of others in the department. I find that this saves me and others a great deal of time as well as helping to improve the development and differentiation of resources.
The nature of the courses that I teach and they type of learners that I frequently have dictate that my lessons need to be very kinaesthetic in nature with strong visual elements to provide additional guidance. The majority of the learners are capable of working competently with computers with worksheets to refer to when needed. Verbal instructions and explanations are always given to reinforce what the learners need to do; this caters for any auditory learners in the group. But ultimately, learners are assessed on what they can physically do using the computer and so the courses are predominantly kinaesthetic.
Learners frequently comment on the resources that I use if they find them particularly useful or difficult to follow; I try to take on board what they have said and sue this to inform the use and development of future resources. Other useful means of assessing the effectiveness of resource provision could include feedback sheets and questionnaires at the intervals throughout the course; and also the analysis of learner achievement against course objectives.
