Developing Literacy through Information and Communications Technology - a Jamaican School's Project

Abstract

PCF4 // This research developed from one Jamaican school’s desire to make more use of computers in teaching and learning. A literacy project was planned which provided teachers with computer skills, training in the pedagogy of Information and Communications Technology and provided computer-based learning for students. // Investigator observations of teachers from two grades in a primary and junior high school were conducted. This was followed by a KAP study using a structured self-administered questionnaire and a focus group interview. These were used to inform project development. // A computer software package was selected which enabled the students to create their own stories in pictures and words and then print them in book form. The software was obtained as a donation from a private company in England. // Large class sizes and a limited number of working computers meant that classes had to be divided into three groups, each group attending a forty-five minute session per week. These sessions were a combination of demonstration lessons given by the ICT specialist teacher and lessons given by the class teacher supported by the specialist teacher. // The intervention took place between January and July 2006. // Paper ID 152