Evaluation       -        General Comments

After a slow start, the Module proved largely to be a good success.   We had initial teething problems with the computers, they had been supplied with “BT” phone lines, and when they were connected to the “Eircom” phone points in the classrooms, the phone line was blown.  This meant a time delay of several days before the fault was pinpointed, the line repaired, and each computers line repaired also.

In our school situation, we have one p.c. in each classroom for a class of thirty children.  We very quickly discovered that time, or more correctly, lack of time in the school day was going to be a problem.  In the initial lesson, a ‘group’ e-mail was sent and clearly this didn’t take much time.  However in subsequent lessons, where each pupil was expected to send an independent e-mail, the teachers found that it took a lot longer than anticipated for each child to send the e-mails.

On a positive note, the children really enjoyed this module, deriving great pleasure out of sending, but more importantly receiving e-mails.  Class teachers commented on the palpable ‘buzz’ in the classrooms when the pupils were asked to check for incoming mail.

Two ‘tips’:

·          I found that my step-by-step handout on how to send e-mails were very helpful to both pupil and teacher.  Once the class teacher went through the handout and explained it, the pupils were able to carry out the required tasks.  This was felt to be a plus on two counts, it gave the pupils independence and a great sense of satisfaction in being able to carry out the task, without having to ask for help.  Equally the class teacher was able to carry on with the lessons of the day without being constantly interrupted by pupils at the p.c.

·          Another feature which I introduced later in the module was the giving of an e-mail address to each class involved.  Previously, whichever class happened to go online first in the day received all the school e-mail.  This was very frustrating, as the pupils in the other classes were deprived of the ‘thrill’ of receiving replies in a direct fashion.  Now that each class can access its own mail on the individual class p.c., the pupils are receiving their replies directly, instead of printed-out copies from another class.

 The use of the Internet has had mixed reaction / success.  This is again largely due to the time factor.  As we only have one p.c. per class, using the Internet is a long, slow and expensive process!  We found that the maximum number of pupils who can work at the p.c. is two, and if they are to explore a website satisfactorily, this takes a lot of time.  The children have not had much opportunity to do so as yet, because the e-mailing took a lot longer than expected and the pressure was on in the previous couple of weeks to get through the work processing lesson.  We hope to get more time in the future to explore the use of the Internet more fully.  The B.B.C. “Using e-mail” website was excellent. (Teacher 1)

 The younger children’s poor typing skills resulted in them requiring extra time to complete their E-mails.  Unfortunately, only one class could work on line at any one time.  This limited the work which could be completed on the w.w.w.  However the children thoroughly enjoyed this module and were enthralled with the volume of information they could access on the w.w.w.  The children were genuinely thrilled to receive replies to their E-mails particularly from their European pals.  (Teacher 2)