e-learning

Section 1: Implementation issues and strategies in a face-to-face environment


In a classroom setting, there are a few situations/ issues which can occur. Firstly, students may feel bored from the content of the lesson even though it might be different from normal school times; Hence they would not be motivated to carry out tasks allocated to them.
In this case, the teacher could engage the students more by allowing constant interaction and giving prompts. Provision of appropriate rewards is also a good way to motivate the students.

Secondly, the setting up of the various ICT tools may require time, which will create lag time during the lessons, thus making the lesson no longer tightly knit, but draggy and increases waiting time. This may cause the students to become impatient and it would become difficult to control the class.
A counteract may be that where the teacher set up the appropriate tools beforehand, or acquire the help of an IT professional to cut down on lesson lag time.

In a Computer Laboratory setting, students may face different difficulties in handling ICT in the Lab. Hence, time management on the teacher’s part may be a little tricky as some students may finish their task faster if they are more IT literate, while the other students may lose out in that aspect.
In this case, teachers could minimize the use of ICT on the students’ part( meaning bringing life to the classroom with the use of ICT as a form of visual), or enforce only the simple tools to enable a better and equal platform for all to learn and progress.

In addition, some students may tend to do irrelevant surfing on the net, and that will defeat the purpose of engaging them into the educational activity planned for them.
A possible way out is for the teacher in charge to use the main computer to monitor the various activities of the students. (Eg, the desktop detector/controller where the teacher has access to the screen of the students’ computers.)



Section 2: Implementation issues and strategies in an online environment.


Students at young age ( Primary school ) are often curious, yet clueless of the dangers on the cyber web. Inappropriate content like pornography, articles which encourage violence and illegal activities etc are not filtered. Hence, students may be exposed to such harmful contents and learn from them since they are still unable to judge for themselves what is appropriate, what not. There is thus a high possibility that the students, when exposed to such harmful contents, may get addicted to them unknowingly.
I think that teachers should teach the students how to carry out their own filtering of contents, and how to determine if the resource is inappropriate. They could structure a certain ‘formulae’ for such ‘filtering exercises’. ( Eg: Read, Feel, Think, Action ) Alternatively, teachers could also monitor the students’ use of ICT closely. Parents should also conduct regular checks to ensure that their children are using the ICT for a good purpose.

Netiquette refers to the rules of Internet courtesy. In this case, negative behaviours should be avoided. However, in some cases, students may use crude languages online, or even use the ICT to ‘invade’ the privacy of their classmates, or even defame their classmates based on what they say online. This causes serious inter-relational problems between the students. In some cases, it may even cause the breakdown of relationships and arouse hatred amongst the students.
Teachers should ensure that the students know what they should do and what they should not do. Instructions on the task should be clear, and punishments should be set before the task so that the students may better adhere to netiquette. Students should be taught why and how to responsible users of the internet. ( The appropriate language to be used; how to critique their peers’ work [Poo sandwich] etc.)


Students at young age are also more gullible to the internet threats and may believe in online scams. Thus, they may indulge important information about themselves or their family and friends and put others’ safety in jeopardy. Especially in the case of unknown file sharing and transfers, viruses or other harmful contents may be unknowingly shared.
Under such circumstances, teachers should brief the students properly regarding what the students may meet with online. By giving them a glance into the virtual world and its threats, it is no doubt a good way to warn them and prepare them for any kind of situation they may encounter. Then, teachers should also warn the students about the dangers of divulging their personal information and guide them on what they can give ( Email address) and what they should not ( home address ,passwords, IC numbers ).