ICT Support Group

Background

Holy Family Junior School has a staff of 16 teachers. All members of staff have completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 of NCTE Training. However there was a general feeling amongst teachers that more specific guidance was needed if Computer Hardware and Software was to be used successfully as an educational tool in the classroom. Ongoing training with relevance to teachers' immediate needs was required.

Proposal

It was suggested that interested and available teachers would meet on a Tuesday evening after school to share expertise and to support each other in exploring ICT. The duration of each session would be thirty minutes.

Support Group Objectives

• To share ideas on the integration and appropriate use of school software in the Curriculum.
• To experiment with this software and to become familiar with it.
• To swap ideas and to share expertise.
• To learn how to use peripherals such as the scanner and the digital camera thus making them more inviting to use during the school day.
• To find solutions to immediate ICT Problems that teachers were experiencing.
• To investigate ways of using ICT to enhance learning, visual display and classroom/school organisation.
  
  Organisation
  The group meets weekly in the Computer Room. An agenda is set during the previous week based on suggestions from members of staff. Presently the Computer Resource Teacher facilitates the group, however class teachers with expertise in the Topic of the Day lead the group for that particular session. Sessions are short but practical.
  Examples of topics covered:
• Saving to folders/floppy disks
• Changing words on the scrolling marquee screensaver
• Teacher Options in Wordshark
• Digital Camera Photography
• Making flashcard/charts using MS Word and many more…….
  
  Outcome
  We have given ourselves the time to think and learn.
• Teachers are happy to attend the session as discussion and practice are relevant and helpful.
• Teachers help each other during the session and this co-operation continues during the week. We are all becoming experts in different areas, thus the same teachers are not always being called upon to solve the problem.
• Confidence is building.
• We are now beginning to value ICT in Education when it is used in an educational and integrated way.
  
  This model of in-house training is only in its infancy. We hope to keep up the good practice and continue on the infinite learning curve of technology.