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[ckhl]

From today's print edition of the National:

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100525/NATIONAL/705249818/0/FOREIGN

[Incedere]

Not all is doom and gloom. At IAT Dubai, 70% of this year's graduating class achieved an IELTS Band of 5 or higher. A 100% increase over the 35% who achieved the same result the year before.

It may be that the introduction of the 1-to-1 eLearning model, and 1 laptop per student initiative has had positive results. There seems to have been a similar change in performance in other subject areas as well.

[ckhl]

It may be

Absolutely. Proving causation to that effect could, well, prove problematic. 70% of IAT grads constitutes what percentage of overall school leavers in Dubai?

[veiledsentiments]

While yes, that is an improvement... wouldn't a band 5 be required for entrance at most UK universities in first year? Or is IAT a secondary school? As I recall that was the band achieved by most HCT grads by the end back in the 90s. Although we always had a handful that came in at that level from the International schools.

As I read the article, I remember that ZU started out saying that with all their computer technology (everyone gets a laptop etc), they wouldn't need a foundations program. We at HCT got a huge laugh out of that fantasy. And, of course, by the third year, they finally gave in and started their 18 month bridge program that they needed from the start the same as HCT.

It is certainly no surprise that there has been no improvement in the schools, there has been no real change to the system yet. The first years of the ADEC/PPP program was mostly just applying band-aids and running in circles. This year finally, they focused on K-3... and in the next few years presumably it will move up the curriculum. Not until the current K-3 students start entering college will we know if it works.

VS

[Incedere]

IAT is a high school, and a lot of these students will go to HCT after graduation.

As for ZU's experience with laptops, I can only surmise that they fell into the same traps that any number of educational institutions run into when implementing 1-to-1 style programs.

Administrations, anywhere, are often prone to see these sorts of programs as a panacea. The plow big bucks into getting the equipment, toss computers about with aplomb, and then scratch their heads when things don't seem to be going as envisioned.

Basically what they are doing is akin to giving out a cheese sandwich and saying "come back with some antibiotics."

But when implemented properly, 1-to-1 programs are incredibly beneficial, especially in relation to EFL.

Take, for example, our young Emirati pupils.

At IAT we deal with Emirati boys...who are not generally known as the most restful, studious sorts. Prior to the implementation of the 1-to-1 model, there were significant challenges to face when teaching EFL in a traditional high school classroom environment. Of the four core skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) I would wager that only writing could really be effectively taught. Speaking was difficult (not enough time for feedback or individual practice), reading was hard to do properly (what did they not understand? how do they sub-vocalize the words?), and listening was next to impossible (two tinny speakers oft fared ill in the face of a restless room.)

Now, that has all changed for me. Take listening, for example.

Now, I can prepare a track, include a transcript, a pre-activity vocab exercise, and a set of exercises that require the student to listen multiple times. When the class begins, I fire off the zipped file, the students put on their headphones, and instead of reigning boys in or trying to manage the room, I spend my time facilitating the activity. The smart students race ahead, no need for me at all, while I can then focus on the students who are having a harder time. I don't get frustrated by having to repeat the same things over and again, nor do I have to weigh competing requests from students. The students simply stop, go back ,and re-listen to a section, sometimes raise a hand and ask a quick question, or open up the transcript, find the unknown word(s) they heard, then input those into their dictionary program. Over the course of the activity, they will have encountered the target vocabulary five to ten times, and have a chance to attempt and re-attempt answers own their own time after class.

In one leap you can turn students who are traditionally extremely teacher focused into much more independent learners. And for the teacher, you start hitting all the EFL hot spots. You radically reduce TTT, you take the teacher out of the centre of the paradigm, and you facilitate what is, essentially, a guided practice environment.

But to do all this, you need to a) have a teacher confident enough about their handle on the technology, and their ability to troubleshoot technical issues, and b) an administration that understands the need for ongoing staff PD, and sharing of best practices.

It's not easy, and it's not impossible. But it does take persistence, effort, and time.

[sliderama]

Incedere,

Wow! What a great post! I'd really like to know more about what model of 1 to 1 IAT has implemented / you are using? Any text references etc...?

[Incedere]

You can find out more about IAT's program here

We use MacBooks with dual operating systems (Windows/Mac). In the English department we try to stay within the Mac OS, using programs such as Photo Booth, Keynote and Garageband for speaking, iTunes and VLC for listening, Word, Pages, and Dictionary for writing, and Word, and Preview for reading. The students use Google Translate while reading, and for multi-skill presentations and projects, we use Keynote, iMovie, iPhoto, and iWeb.

They take to it like fish to water. Books, not so much. But text presented through this medium seems to have more relevancy for them.

[MsDooLittle]

Really interesting post, Incedure, thanks. I too have had fantastic responses from a few small experiments using technology and am keen to learn more. (though technology is no replacement for good teaching...)

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

I've been doing the Listening bits/wandering around the room activities that wuz mentioned for years where I work, but we still have too many teachers who are not tech-friendly.

So, I'm usually the only one who winds up using my materials...sad, really...

NCTBA