Paper Title
ICT Usage in Private Schools Classroom: Comparative Study of Modern Classroom and Traditional Teaching and Learning
Abstract
With the enhancement in technology and improved, easier to access technological inventions, our society is changing as a whole. Technology has not only made our lives easier but is also a source of instant gratification when collecting information. People these days get their information from social media, televisions and various search engines. A string of calculated words can lead to a whole world of unexplored information at the click of a single button. At this rate, it is inevitable that it will soon become a norm to use technology in classrooms all over the world. This paper explores the positive effects of using information technology on students. To find out how the use of technology affects the learning process in students of mixed ability groups. I conducted a simple experiment with a sample size of 100 students of Cromwell College. Half the students were taught using the latest technology such as multimedia and personal computers. They not only participated in various on-screen quizzes and polls but also played short games like searching for a small fact; whoever found the answer first won. The students used e-books instead of hardcopies of their textbooks and were asked to create presentations on various topics. They were given projects and collaborated with each other online by creating interactive mind maps. On the contrary, the other group of students were taught using physical textbooks and lectures delivered by teachers. They had no access to any form of technology in the classroom. Each student was later tested to see how much knowledge they had retained at the end of the experiment. I found that the group who were taught using interactive technology had an average score higher than that of the other group who were taught by teachers the traditional way. With these results, it becomes imperative that we introduce technology in our classrooms to improve the learning and retention of information in students across all ages, genders and socio-economic groups. Teachers who are not comfortable using technology should be trained so that they increase its use in order to benefit themselves and their students proactively.
Keywords - Information Communication Technology, Mixed Ability Groups, Teaching and Learning