ICT Tools to Support Didactic Teaching Methods
Research suggests that learning retention rates are low if we rely largely on our students’ ability to listen. A lecture mode of exposition, or talking to the students like I am doing now, is considered an inefficient way to get information across to students. Research suggests that the more senses we can engage the better the retention of a lesson’s content. Research also suggests that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else! It is in light of these findings that ICT can offer a teacher a number of tools to enrich the lesson’s content or provide ways to make the transfer of knowledge more palatable to the students.
There are numerous technology/software combinations on hand when it comes to presenting or the distribution of information. A typical but not comprehensive list could include the following tools:
- A presentation package (e.g. MS PowerPoint, OpenOffice Impress)
- A word processor (e.g. MS Word, OpenOffice Writer)
- Movie and/or photo editing software (e.g. Adobe Photoshop, MS Windows Live Movie Maker, GIMP)
- An audio file or podcast creator tool (e.g. Audacity)
- An online distribution platform for media like Slideshare.net for presentations, Flickr.com for photos, or YouTube.com for video streaming, etc.
In the rest of this module we will investigate a number of these packages with an eye to integrating them into your Didactic lessons.