Information and communication technologies in schools: a ...

150
ICT IN SCHOOLS
A HANDBOOK FOR TEACHERS
Everything written on VR-paper with a VR-stylus is instantly erasable
(though it is actually being saved as backups for later evaluation). Thus a student
can have any number of tries until a more or less satisfying result is reached.
Students can address a teacher orally or have an online conversation to share
their doubts, troubles, feelings, and thoughts concerning the task, without disturbing
classmates. The teacher, meanwhile, can watch on a multi-screen display
what is happening on each student desktop simultaneously. If you want to focus
on Mary’s or John’s desktop, you can enlarge their particular screen. You can
whisper in their ear something encouraging, soothing, reproaching, or enlivening,
as well as giving them a helpful hint while remaining unheard by anyone
else. You can also point with your finger to this or that character or word, even
grasp it with your hand to change its position.
If you think it desirable, you can address the whole class and draw everybody’s
attention to a typical or rare and interesting problem under consideration,
and then let them return to their individual work. At the end of a class period,
the teacher has the full records of every student’s activity, and thus will be able
to track and evaluate what they have accomplished.
Learning oral speech by the deaf
The visual and tactile representation of speech patterns can be instrumental in
teaching deaf-mute children to speak. Students are given a visible or tangible
sample pattern of a particular vowel, consonant, syllable or word. They are asked
to articulate corresponding sounds while watching on the display what is being
actually produced by their vocal apparatus. Next they are requested to compare
and evaluate achieved results against a sample. If considerable discrepancies are
detected, students are asked to repeat the procedure in order to improve their
articulation until it is as close an imitation as possible of the sample.
Foreign language learning
As is well known, the most effective method of learning a foreign language is to
live in the country concerned. This is the basis for a natural approach to learning
languages even when one cannot be physically there.
A pre-ICT version of this approach was called immersion and consisted of a
series of role-play games controlled by a qualified teacher. CD-ROM versions
provide similar simulated interactive environments with sounds and images. The