TEFL "Learning Resources"

What is a learning resource?

Learning resources are texts, videos, software, and other materials that teachers use to assist students to meet the expectations for learning defined by provincial or local curricula. Before a learning resource is used in a classroom, it must be evaluated and approved at either the provincial or local level. Evaluation criteria may include curriculum fit, social considerations, and age or developmental appropriateness.

Learning resources center's general aim is to ensure learning educational suitable environment that allows learner benefit from any kind of learning resources.

 

Learning resources centers, material ingredients

A) Self-learning auditorium: Self-learning auditorium should facilitate access to all kind of information resources: printed, depending on learning instrument and computerized resources. Then this auditorium should be available, attractive and suitable for student of all grades. Self-learning auditorium includes the following: – Reception and visitors serving area, cataloguing, borrowing and – management. – Reading and perusal area. – Self-learning area (using several resources) – Electronic learning area – Area when can be maintained learning resources (printed and not printed) – Catalogues area (using computer)

B) Group-learning auditorium: The most important characterizing this auditorium is: it has a various equipments and uses, whereas available projectors depend on computer, radio or live presentation through digital camera. There is available, also, flexible furniture which can be reshaped to suit all kind of group and cooperative learning. And it also prepared for simple designing and production of educational materials and several media.

 

Collections

Educational resources are considered as most important element of the center, and without it the center cannot achieve its main role. Building and developing collections to be made according to specific policy, made and adapted in order to satisfy center's goals. This policy should ensure the building and development of integrated collection that can help and enrich

 

educational curricula.

Learning resources center specialist's role

As a teacher, the library media specialists works with students and other members of the learning community to analyze learning and information needs, to locate and use resources that will meet those needs, and to understand and communicate the information the resource provides. The library media specialist is knowledgeable about current research on teaching and learning and skilled in applying its findings to a variety of situations – particularly those that call upon students to access, evaluate, and use information from multiple sources in order to learn, to think, and to create and to apply knowledge. In short, the library media specialist teaches students to use information for critical thinking and problem solving using the information literacy standards for student learning set.

 

A learning resources center's success depends firstly on the range of its engagement in modern learning methods implementation, which gives more concentration to learner role in learning process, and evaluates work mechanism, in learning resources centers on the bases that learning resources center is not a place supported with learning resources accordingly, but educational action and substantial element of different elements of classroom lesson. The Work mechanism in learning resources centers requires following two methods and merging between them.

 

    Benefiting from learning resources centers requires each teacher to implement one lesson weekly (or according to school classes number) in the learning resources center and to depend, in this lesson, mainly on group learning method (cooperative learning) .

    In the second method, benefiting from learning resources centers does not require teacher to implement class lesson in learning resources center, but he has to follow up the same previous procedures, then allow the students to implement their projects referring to learning resources center outside the lesson time, and students to be given, in this case, more time to implement the project, then require do a presentation and discussion in the class.

 

Activities

The learning center implements a group of activities, designed and implemented by teachers in cooperation with center specialist. Methods of implementation of these activities differs according to educational grades and concentrate on implementation of modem educational and learning methods. Such activities are:

    Reading activities: aim to sow reading habits those like; summarization and book presentation.

    Learning activities: these activities are done by student depending on himself to support his learning.

    Educational activities: these activities are done by teacher to support student learning.

    Information search: search on internet and using references.

    Cultural activities: these activities to be done by student in order to improve his cultural level; school radio, seminars, lectures and competition.

    Cooperative activities: these activities are done by students to help center to achieve its aims as a center group.

    Administrative' activities: these activities appear to occupy center with waiting lessons, school meetings and educational coordinator's meetings etc .

    Social activities: the aim of these activities is community service; like anti-terror activity, anti-smoking etc.

 

Guideline to Resources

It is important to select and make effective use of learning and teaching resources, including textbooks, to enhance student learning. Mathematics teams in schools need to select, adapt and develop resources to support students’ learning. Effective use of resources will help students to consolidate what they have learned, extend and construct knowledge for themselves and develop learning strategies and skills for learning. There are many learning and teaching resources for mathematics on this website. In addition to these resources there are also commercial resources available. The following are some examples of what are available:

 

    Teacher Handbooks

    Teaching and Learning Plans

    Students' CD 

    Student’s Interactive Activities to accompany the CD 

    NCCA Student Resources

    Textbooks

    Reference Books / Publications

    Software packages, e.g. Autograph, Excel (free), GeoGebra (free)

    Useful Links

 

    Hands-on Resources

All of these resources should be drawn on to help students learn and broaden their learning experiences. All resources need to be adapted to meet the different needs and abilities of students. In addition teachers are advised to develop their own teaching and learning materials for this purpose.

 

Proper use of resources can make teaching and learning more effective, dynamic and interesting. It is advisable therefore to build up a suitable stock of resources including those listed above. 

If space is available in a school, resources should be displayed for teachers’ information and perusal. An alternative idea is to have a mathematics press available for mathematics teachers to access. A system should be developed to keep track of resources being borrowed at any particular time. An up-to-date list of resources available should be easily accessible for all mathematics teachers.

 

Teachers should be encouraged to use the resources which are available or have been developed. Teachers should also make suggestions for future procurement. It might be an idea to conduct small in-house workshops, demonstrations or sharing of experiences on the resources to provide all teachers with a better appreciation of the resources available within the school. Teachers can also share what they have developed themselves at such sessions.

 

When selecting resources the following principles should be considered:

    - They should be in line with the Learning Outcomes in the Syllabus.

    - They should take students’ prior knowledge into account.

    - They should present concepts and ideas in an active and effective way.

    - They should engage students actively in learning.

    - They should provide knowledge but also scaffold learning.

    - They should provide for students’ differences by offering varied learning activities at different levels of difficulty.

    - Resources used to complement textbooks should promote and extend independent learning in addition to what was learned in class.

    - They should facilitate discussion and enquiry.

 

Problem Solving Questions - Junior Cycle

The purpose of the questions provided below is to begin to shift the the emphasis from teaching problem solving to teaching via problems.

The focus is on teaching mathematical topics through problem-solving contexts and enquiry-oriented environments which are characterised by the teacher 'helping' students construct a deep understanding of mathematical ideas and processes by engaging them in doing mathematics: creating, conjecturing, exploring, testing, and verifying.

 

Conclusion

Learning resources centers are the correct way to activate school library and to amalgamate it into educational procedure as well as it is a part from it, but not among subsidiary utilities. One of the biggest problems that still face school libraries is that school libraries still playing general cultural role lead to isolate them away from educational process. So they became a place to cover waiting lessons and an escape for every lazy teacher, who does not desire to carry out lessons, whereas learning resources centers project has put the center among educational process through its support by necessary technical and librarian equipments needed for teachers educational tasks performance within modem method, and supported these centers with supporting for curriculum educational resources, suitable for age types existing there, so center became a necessary place where teachers run to, to help them to implement their tasks and achieve their educational aims.[1]