Information and Communication Technology
(ICTs)
(ICTs)
In this class, we had a general discussion about ICT, its meaning, origin and different stages through history. We also talked about its relevance in teaching, and our perception of incorporating ICTs in our classrooms, and the way to do it.
Some questions, related to ICT and education, e-learning, distance education, online classes, were asked to the audience. To answer them, we conformed four teams of three people to work on it. Then, we all, the teams and the teacher, discussed in class our responses. Finally, the teacher, after listening to us, added more information to complement our answers.
After that, another topic was introduced by the teacher: next generation of internet: native and immigrant. In this respect, we identified ourselves as immigrant in this area and then, we talked about our current scenery and other three sceneries: a) World context, b) Latin America context, and c) Venezuela context.
Later, we talked about our real knowledge in ICT, the way we use it to teach, and the ICT tools we incorporate in our teaching. Finally, we were asked if we use ICT with our students and the frequency we do it.
As homework, we were asked to summarize this class and describe the local context in our work place, focus on the ICT current situation.
Porf. Héctor Escalona
Here you have three interesting links related to ICTs. I hope you like them:
Exploring the local context at Universidad Simón Bolívar-Sede Litoral
on the ICT current situation
I work as an English teacher at Universidad Simón Bolívar-Sede Litoral, this university is located in an isolated mountain in Camurí Grande, Estado Vargas, Venezuela. It is far away from the city, the closer town is a small one called Naiugatá, it is a 10 minutes from the university.
One decade ago, this university had an amazing infrastructure, but in 1999 rained a lot on Vargas State, and a watercourse destroyed the university completely, in an event well known as “La Tragedia de Vargas”. Since then, the university has been rebuilt, but the process has been too long and it has not finished yet. So this university has many weaknesses, one of them is the Internet access.
In theory, the English Department at the Universidad Simón Bolívar-Sede Litoral has 5 English laboratories; all of them with the required equipment and system to teach English as a foreign language, at least, it is hypothesized at the university. But this true does not match reality. These laboratories are just like common classrooms, but with more limitations. All of them have static big desks and computers, but teachers and students are not allowed to use or move them. There is not a specific reason for this situation; people in charge state different versions when they are asked.
This condition makes difficult to incorporate internet into the English classes. There is a room with Internet access, it is known as “Sala OPSU”. In this room, all the students can check their e-mails and consult some web pages, but they are no able to listen to any audio or watch any video there. That is a rule in that room.
So, it is difficult for the students to get Internet access out of the “Sala OPSU”, since many of them are from different areas of the country, so the live in a hall of residence in the small towns nearby the university, where internet access is not efficient, either. Therefore, to surf the net they have to go to the closer city, La Guaira, which is about one hour from the university.
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