Went for a Hot Potatoes learning tutorial yesterday organized by CITE where we were introduced to the basic functions of Hot Potatoes and how to use it to create quizzes, word puzzles, word jumbles and matching puzzles.

Though it was very functional, I found that the interface was not very flexible, in that we could not adjust the way in which the questions were presented or the format in which everything appeared. Perhaps its just my first time playing around with it and I’m still not familiar with the software. Furthermore the software does not allow for a central ‘pooling’ of the scores students obtain. Hence it can just be used as an enrichment tool or a means for students to revise what they have learnt.

During the short lesson, I managed to create a Vocabulary quiz to revise some words that I was going through with my cousin. I had already went through the words with him last week and this was meant as more of a revision, but also adding on another dimension to it – to make him realise that words have many meanings, but certain meanings do not apply within the context of the passage.

(I’ll try to upload the quiz up to this site in some way or another. )

In each question, he had to identity 2 words out of a list of 5 which would be accurate synonyms for the word mentioned. There were a total of 7 words and at the end, he would click on ‘Check’ Answers where he would be shown his score and be given another chance to redo those which he got wrong.

Of course, the very fact that it was an IT-based lesson with score calculation and buttons to click and press made it much more interesting than if i had given him a worksheet to do. He found the learning exercise very interesting and fun.

However, at the end of the lesson, I realised that he had nothing concrete to keep with him. If I had given him a worksheet, he would have that worksheet which he could use as a reference point in case he forgot the meaning of the words. It really led me to think about the learning value of my small use of ICT technology here. I had simply used ICT for the purpose of making the learner more interested, but ultimately the learning value might have been less than giving him a worksheet. As we know, the problem with learning vocabulary is retention – many words can be introduced, but after a while, we forget them.

I could have made him take down the answers to the questions on a piece of foolscap paper. However, in that case, I could have just given him a worksheet to do rather than spend time creating an ICT “lesson” for him. Also, sometimes ‘clicking’ on a computer screen is less effective in terms of helping people to remember than writing things down on paper.

This small use of ICT really started me thinking about how to effectively implement ICT in my teaching. ICT is not simply about introducing a technology into a classroom so that my students have “fun” – it’s not only about creating a lesson that is “fun”, but ultimately one that is pedagogically effective. The technology itself is therefore only one aspect of an ICT-facilitated classroom and it must come with other supporting material to ensure that learning takes place.  I hope that I will be able to become more adept thru this module in using ICT to really enhance learning, rather than just create a more interesting lesson.