Weblogs in higher education context.

1.      The value of a weblog in higher education is that it supports creation of autobiographical internet presence and developmental of a critical intellectual voice. It makes people expose themselves to the world by writing about their passion, myths and literacy. They also write situations that are similar to the ones we see in our everyday lives, so we can relate. Blogs help us to explore different kinds of genres in a very interesting way. Weblogs also play a very important role in knowledge acquisition in many people e.g. students and professionals who are not in the same career field. Weblogs help to develop people time intensive approach. Through weblogs we get an insight of peoples professional and personal lives. Weblogs are among other genres that present information about internet resource, especially I higher education context, this is said because reading weblogs can replace reading many thick books, portal and newsgroup in search of a certain book.

2.      I have not yet had much experience about blogs because I was introduced to blogging last year when I was doing my first year. We did not do much we only wrote assignments when we were required to. I feel privileged to have had an opportunity to be exposed to blogging. I only have 6 post on my blog, 5 from my TSD module and 1 from my EFP module. I have seen some other educational sources referring me to a certain blog which contains the kind of information I have been looking for, so just click on the blog’s link and obtain the information. I think writing our work on blogs will make other students copy others work and present the work as their own since everyone will be allowed to see. The mark allocation also creates confusion because you are given work to write on a blog but you are not told marks allocation. That is what causes people to write 5 paragraphs for 10 marks. I think replacing pen and paper with writing on the internet is quite fascinating but it also has its disadvantages like what if the teacher cannot find the work or there is no internet connection and your school work is due in a few hours.

3.      To increase the effectiveness of weblogs in higher education students need to be given a lot of work that requires them to use blogs. In that manner students will spend a lot of time to familiarise themselves using the internet. Students must be encouraged to comment on each other’s blogs. Lectures must provide feedback so that students can know where they went wrong what to fix and what to add.

Fantastic Mr Fox movie review.

One fat, one short and one lean that’s how the three farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean are classified. The chicken farmer Boggis eats like a pig, 3 chickens smothered with dumplings for breakfast, lunch and supper. The duck and goose farmer Bunce eats doughnuts stuffed with a disgusting liver paste which upsets his stomach and gives him a beastly behaviour. Turkey and apple farmer Bean is not fond of food he only drown himself in cider made from his apples. We find Mr and Mrs Fox and their 12 year old male child Ash, the town lawyer Badger, rat and other wild animals. Movies keep audience amused by their sequence of events. How the last scene links to the other and the arising anticipation from viewers. The couple went stealing together but after Mrs Fox told her husband she was pregnant at the wild animal trap at dead door he vowed to stop stealing.  Mr Fox started buying the tree, creating a master plan to steal from Boggis, Bunce and Bean behind his wife’s back. He succeeded but that left the mean men meaner. That’s where the three men fabricated a plan of revenge. The fox’s family lived under a big tree. His window view was the best, any fox would die to have it. Being close to such an amount of food looking at Boggis, Bunce and Bean’s farms filled with all the goodies.

The movie and the book are different, the movie reveals Mrs Fox as a person who no longer wants stolen food meanwhile the book resembles her as a happy thief. In the book the Fox family have four children but in the movie there is only one fox Ash. We see scenes of Ash and his cousin swimming and in a science lab. Dogs are not mentioned in the book but we see them in the movie fed blue berries filled with a high dose of sleeping drugs neither was the electric fence mentioned. There is no part in the book where Rat kidnaps Mr Fox child and becoming a mediator between the animals and the farmers by bringing the letter. Rat is scared of Mr Fox in the book but in the movie he looks at him straight on and fight him until Rat confess where Ash cousin is being held hostage before he dies. The part where the farmers put cider in the hole is not in the book same applies to the boys wanting to bring Mr Fox tail back endangering their lives since the tail is used as a tie by one of the farmers.  The book does not have a chapter where the farmers and the animals finally meet that’s where the animals show violent behaviour by burning buildings around them the human beings show reckless behaviour when they shoot to kill. The book says that in the end they still used the 3 routes to go to where the 3 farmers store their food, in the movie they end up in one combined shop of the 3 farmers. After all is said and done they still did not find the animals. The movie represented Dahl’s classic well with its climax and resolution.

 It was a great movie to watch with all the characters introduced in an appropriate manner with clear view and great sound including the back tracks and voices. My favourite part of the movie was when Ash rescued his dad, Kylie and his cousin when they were trapped inside Bean’s yard with many furious people pointing guns at them. That part was epic they ducked bullets like Neo in the Matrix movie, when they finally got on the motor bike to get out of the yard. This movie is for all age groups but more efficient for young children who are still developing vocabulary and exploring new words. It is utmost suitable for children because they love happy endings for the characters they put out to be the good guys. 

Barriers of ICT integration in SA schools

Barriers to ICT integration in SA Schools

Barriers are stumbling blocks that prevent movement they can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. In this case we are looking at barriers that abstract South African schools to have ICT integration in their curriculum. Competence is one of the barriers. Involving ICT in a school will require commitment to always take good care of the computers and prepare productive lessons for the learners.One must have acquired computer skills because you cannot teach something that you do not know. Lack of access to resources is also a major barrier because some teachers have an idea about ICT but cannot access resources.
Another barrier is that these teachers are afraid of change and they do not have enough time. teachers do not use technological gadgets because they do not take enough time to explore and look at new things they are busy with schedules and day to day activities. They find it challenging to plan/conduct technological lessons, explore different sites to match the information and make sure its relevant to be given to learners. At the other hand they need to place technical problems. Time effects development.

Lack of technical support distracts the ICT integration in SA schools, teachers cannot overcome failure to connect to the internet or slow internet. My high school integrated ICT since we had a computer based CAT, We also had access to the internet doing all the work we needed to do. Lack of effective training is a barrier because teachers cannot teavh something they do not know. Government should provide teachers with opportunities to do computer classes so that they can train and use ICT in the classroom environment. Teachers need training regarding digital literacy to improve learners interest in learning so they can be eager to learn more new things.

My final school year at Mgudlwa FET, Mpumalanga

Mgudlwa FET is situated in Verena a township near Witbank. The place is situated in Mkobola Mpumalanga. The school is aged over 40 years. My parents, aunt and uncle studied there. It is a township with low economic growth, no mall but at least has enough schools, a clinic, a post office, a police station and a petrol station. The place is not fully developed but teachers try by all means to help learners in their education by having extra learning programs. Teachers come early in the morning to have 1hour morning classes sometimes afternoon classes even weekend classes. My matric subjects were; IsiNdebele, English, Mathematics, Life Orientation, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and CAT (Computer Applications Technology).

Teachers rewarding learners for their great work at school

I matriculated on 2013 at Mgudlwa FET. The class of 2013 was the best we even obtained 95% pass rate it was the first time the school has had such a high pass rate.  Our principal tried by all means to help us reach our dreams of completing matric with flying colours because he knew that will open doors for us in terms of careers we want to pursue. The school tried by all means to help us pass they even took us to a camp in September in a nearby home where disable people live since they were not around visiting their parents houses for the holidays.

We had a technological subject named CAT (Computer Applications Technology). We were exposed to working with a computer from grade 10-12. We studied Microsoft word, excel, power point and Microsoft access. We wrote online tests made projects whereby we researched about components of the computer. We would compare different kinds of computers to see which one is better based on their hardware components and software.

Service Learning Reflection

Question 1

1.1.        What is Service Learning?

Service learning= is a form of curricula rise community engagement in higher education and a form of experiential learning. But not all experiential learning can be termed community engagement or service learning. It is a way of thinking about education and learning (philosophy) with an accompanying teaching tool or strategy (pedagogy) that asks students to learn and develop through active participation in service activities to meet defined issues of the community organisations. This is a reciprocity in exchange between students and the community, the service undertake is decided on in collaboration with the community. It is integrated in student’s academic curriculum and provides structured opportunities for them to think, talk and write about their experiences when they reflect during the service activity. It aims at enhancing and extending what is taught in higher education so that students develop a sense of caring for others and a sense of more critical citizenship. Service learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities.

I am reflection on the service learning we had at our campus UMP with the Mareleng primary school pupils

We were hosting a carnival for the Mareleng Primary School on the 5^th of April 2016 as university first year students in the UMP Siyabuswa campus. We woke up in the morning preparing games that the children will be playing and we made the place look attractive for the children’s attention so that they could come to my group, group 16. We decorated the place with the big flier we had with attractive colours which was eye catching. The learners were accompanied by their teachers at about 09; 30 in the morning their teachers helped them to cross the tar road.

GROUP 16

The games we were playing were developing learner’s internal and external systems. We watched how they were socialising with others and their cognitive developments because the games we were playing required them to think hard and critically so. The aim is give those memorable events and help them learn through playing, that’s the best way children learn just as the theorist Howard Gardner states about Multiple Intelligences of children about how they learn. He said that children learn through seeing, listening, singing etc.

1.2.        Do you think service learning is a valuable pedagogy to include in teacher education programme?

Yes. It gives the more practical work of how they should do things when they qualify as teachers they will have needed experience. Students gain academic knowledge and skills, increases student’s self-esteem, promotes personal development and enhances a sense of social responsibility and personal competence.

Examples;

1.    To socialize teachers in the essential moral and civic obligations of teaching, including teaching with ‘care’ fostering life-long civic engagement. To enhance teacher’s ability to reflect critically on current educational practices and their own teaching.

2.    To develop preserve teachers, the dispositions and abilities needed to easily and fully adopt educational reforms such as authentic assessment, teaching with integrated thematic units, focusing on higher order thinking skills and making improvements in school schedules and climate, accelerates the process of learning how to perform a variety of roles needs to meet the needs of students.

Question 2

2.1.        DATA= it is a four step reflection process made up of description, analysis, theorizing and action. We normally use it to reflect on certain events or practice. But as a student I am required to ask help from a lecturer.

Step 1: describe what happened

Step 2: analyse why it happened

Step 3: theorize to improve your practice

Step 4: act to test your theory in practice

2.2.        We had a service learning at our campus which was a carnival. We invited the Mareleng primary school grade r pupils and had fun with them for a few hours. The children seemed to be enjoying the games we prepared for them as they were following instructions and participating at their level best. The carnival was meant to develop learners internal and external systems, it was to see the different skills and interests that the learners had. I think the learners enjoyed themselves as I saw all of them doing different kinds of activities from the 18 groups of student teachers we have in our campus where my group is group 16. Each group had a set of different games varying, in my group we had prepared 4 games for the learners and each game was educational to help learners one way or the other.

The 1^st game we had as group 16 was the balance act game in which we gave the children a spoon and place an egg inside it. They were supposed to run a certain distance without the eggs falling down. Once the egg fall the child has lost a team member will have to come to his/her rescue and touch her by then she will be able to move forward and finish with the game. If the learner reaches the assigned distance she will win and be awarded with a medal.

Balance act game

The 2^nd game was scoring into a tin (scoring game), we used recycled materials like big beans tins and those round balls obtained after using a roll-on. That way their aiming skills and concentration skills were developed they learned while they were playing somehow they did not see that they were learning. They were so excited to find out that we prepared for them coming to our school and the games we played with them were challenging and required children to be physically and mentally active.

Scoring game

The 3^rd game was guessing the animal. We had 4 pictures of animals, a picture of a dog, cow, chicken and cat. The pictures were in A4 papers each and we demonstrated to the children how a certain animal sounded like how it walked how many feet it had. The children had to guess which animal that was each point a learner got he/she obtained a present which was a medal.

The 4^th game was balloon balancing game whereby we gave each learners a balloon to place it on their heads and run a certain distance with them. The one who’s balloon will be on the head for a long time is the winner of this game.

Balloon balancing

The reason we have service learning (carnival) is to understand well our class topic and gain hands-on experience as student teachers as we will soon become teachers and be able to work with children. We explore our values and beliefs we also get an opportunity to act on them. Critical thinking and problem solving skills are developed. Service learning happens to help grow our understanding of diverse cultures and communities, we get to learn more about social issues and their root causes. It improves our ability to handle ambiguity and be open to change, became more flexible. The children gained additional human resources needed to achieve their goals. New energy will be injected to them. It assist to prepare pupils to be leaders of tomorrow.

Children learnt better through the service learning (carnival) because some of the exercise we were doing were good for their body that is also beneficial. Lev Vygostky emphasized the social context learning. That a child acquires habits of thought and judgement largely through interacting with others, he believes that all psychological processes are shared between the child and the adult. If we continue to do good things children will grow to understand that they should also do well. Children have different skills they just need someone to help them to the positive direction (Rogers, humanist theorist). They learn best when they are involved because it is hard to forget something you had done.

The action we can take is to create more service learning to help our communities. If a carnival gives a positive remarks to the pupils it must continue so the children can be eager to learn new things. It is a good thing because they get to be exposed to many different people at a very young age that helps with the social development as they will grow to be independent individuals. We also as student teachers must endure this opportunity of learning (practical) make every minute count. We had a great day doing our service learning all the students and learners enjoyed it you could tell by the atmosphere the cheering and noise that was in the area. The learners loved the game they we running around chasing balls jumping up and down because they could not wait for the next game to begin.