English and ICT

ICT and teaching literacy

Evaluating software

Student teachers encounter a vast range of equipment and software in their placements. We do not feel that it is possible to provide them with prior experience of these resources at the university for the following reasons:

• The expense of buying such equipment and resources is prohibitive.
• Continuous developments in this area make it difficult to keep up to date.
• Disparities between schools would not allow us to represent the complete range.

We therefore accept that we can only hope to introduce student teachers to a limited range of resources and equipment and must then rely on school experience to further this knowledge and experience. However, we are very aware of the importance of encouraging student teachers to evaluate the resources they encounter, in order to make considered judgements on their value in supporting children's learning. For this reason we provide them with an evaluation task, which requires them to complete an Evaluating Software. This focuses their attention on key features of the ICT resources and their role in developing learning. Completed forms are posted on the student intranet within a relevant learning environment where they can then be accessed by other student teachers.