Chang, Chew Hung

A reflection on using iTunes U as a platform for teaching and learning Geography will be presented. Arising from an altruistic interest in exploring the affordances of new technology, as well as balancing the pragmatic needs of developing innovative approaches to conducting eLearning lessons, the author developed one of the first iTunes U courses for the National Institute of Education, Singapore - a topic on atmospheric circulation. Available free on the iTunes U store, the free–access course has been subscribed by the public in the order of threefold the number of students in the author’s class. This exposition will consider the issues of the rationale for developing the iTunes U course, the design considerations in relation to the affordances of the technology, and most importantly the limitations and recommended improvements. The presentation will also include a very short demonstration on the functionalities of using iTunes U for learning Geography.

Vietnam’s tourism industry has high growth potential with forecasts of double digit growth in the next few years, as the tourism industry contributed more than 13% of its GPD even during the global economic recession in 2009 (RNCOS Market Research, 2010). With this unprecedented rate of growth in the tourism industry, two important questions arise. What are the causes of this growth and what is the impact of this growth? The Singapore Teachers’ fieldtrip offers opportunities for teachers to deepen their content and contextual understanding of Hanoi, as well as a chance to foray into conducting field based enquiry. In Singapore, a revised Geography syllabus will be implemented for the GCE ‘O’ levels in 2013 for Secondary 3 students. A key feature of this revised syllabus is the use of an enquiry approach in the teaching and learning of Geography to engage independent learning, critical thinking, reflective thinking and enquiry. In particular, the “enquiry approach” proposed in this revised syllabus is contingent on both fieldwork and classroom learning. This workshop draws on the experience in the field to advance the discussion on the enquiry process.

Information Technology is commonly referred to by its acronym IT. But just what does IT encompass and what are the "technologies" of IT that are useful for learning? How will IT enrich a lesson and enable learning? In particular, the question of how different the advent of new ITs such as the World Wide Web (WWW) is from existing ITs such as the video or TV will be examined. Since learning arises from a constructive process of reflection on the material provided and interaction with it, the mere use of IT in lessons may not be a sufficient condition for learning to occur. It may not even be a necessary condition for learning to occur. Furthermore, IT refers to an extremely varied spectrum of "technologies" ranging from plain electronic manifestation of printed material to self-contained, highly interactive, communication-enabled and multi-mediated materials. There exists a problem on the choice of IT for learning. Examples will be drawn from the comparative study of two University Geography courses, one pre-service and one in-service, on the infusion of interactive online web-based courses to enable learning.

The discussion in this paper is based on the online delivery of selected sections of a Climatology Inservice Course conducted at the NIE, Singapore. The various considerations taken while designing the online course are discussed. In particular, the allowance for selfpaced access, reduction in travelling time, visualisation facilitated learning, constantly updated course materials, quizzes tailored based on learners’ progress and the resource-rich nature of the World Wide Web (WWW) are among some of the considerations. Some problems that were experienced during and resulting from the implementation and delivery of the online course are discussed and recommendations have been made to rectify these problems for future runs of the course. For example, the prerequisite that course participants have basic WWW navigation skills is insufficient as many learners do not even know how to archive the information on the web-pages. As a result, more specific guidelines as to what constitute prerequisite skills will be outlined in addition to a mandatory orientation lesson. Examples from this experience may be used as a reference for other online inservice courses.

This presentation provides a brief overview on some key concepts in determining the outcomes of climate change education including the knowledge domains on the science, impacts and management of climate change, as well as taking into consideration the cognitive domains of outcomes such as factual recall, deep understanding, skill in analyzing climate change information, for example. The presentation will also discuss the concepts of awareness, knowledge, attitude and action in developing curriculum for learning about climate change. The ultimate aim of education is not just to “inform people, but to change them” (UNESCO, 1997). It is based on this philosophy that CCE should transform learners from knowing and doing something about climate change to being a global citizen ready to engage the issues of climate change.

This paper will focus on pedagogical considerations and practical issues of designing web-based constructivist learning activities for Geography and Social Studies topics. Specifically, WebQuest designs will be used to create authentic constructivist learning activities. The strategies discussed are most suitable for Upper Secondary Geography students.

In the official launch of Singapore’s “IT Masterplan 2” on 24 July 2002, the Ministry of Education has announced that the efforts in implementing Information Technology into Education should move beyond providing and sustaining Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure into effective pedagogical practices using ICT. It is how these ICTs are used rather than what is used that is important. Indeed, one such aspect of ICT use within Geography education – information seeking within web-based learning will be examined in this paper. Much of current literature on web- based learning highlights the flexibility of the web in providing information and enabling students to perform self-guided exploratory learning (Scott 1996 and Kahn 1998). Little empirical research has been done on the actual information-seeking behaviour in web–based learning, especially in Singapore. This paper examines the interactions between the learner and the web through the browsing behaviours of 16 Secondary 3 students when given a task that requires them to search for information on the web to solve a problem. One of the major conclusions from the data analysis is that the students tend to be engaged in rudimentary information-seeking behaviour that does not extend beyond simple keywords searches and following sequential links from search results.