Daily Lesson from Life 07 August 2008

1 More Day to the Opening of the Olympic Game in Beijing, PRC!! Wow!!

"Thu, Aug 07, 2008 AsiaOne 'Teacher, you're wrong'

Having Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in Gongshang Primary School wasn't all fun and games when it was first introduced.


First, the teachers had to take extra steps to familiarise themselves with the ActivClassroom technology via training provided by Promethean, the IWB developers.

After the training is completed, teachers would be awarded proficiency certificates that are internationally acknowledged.

However, it can prove to be tricky trying to get used to the interactive board, which functions like a giant touchscreen computer.


"Sometimes I forget to click on the pen icon," chuckled Mr Poon Yain Ping (pictured above), the head of department for science. The students would then point out my technical mistakes and tell me how to rectify them, added the 36-year-old, emphasizing that the IWB has improved his rapport with the students so much so that they would not hesitate to respectfully speak their minds."

Employment of technology to help us work better and perform at a higher level! This is great! Provided the benefits outweighed the costs. Sometimes it is not easy to determine at the outset if that is how things will play out or not!

Lessons for me as a 7e Way of Leaders practitioner are:

1. technology is to serve us. We should not become slaves to the technology. Often time, we have situations where the people had to do a lot more manual work in order for the system to function properly! This is acceptable if it s during the preparatory and start up phases. The devil is in the details and we need to get the details right for the big picture to fit together. However, if this is the standard operating procedure after the system went live, something is terribly wrong!;

2. the softer side of human interaction need not wait for technology to help us close the gap as alluded to by the person quoted in the news report. Human touch is above technology. We can interact with each other anytime we choose to do so. Technology only enhance or create that opportunity to interact;

3. encouraging students to speak their mind respectfully is good. Respectfulness is a reflection of self-respect. As one who respect himself or herself, will be respectful towards others. The response from the teachers must be one that will encourage the students to speak their mind! The students may be wrong. And when they were wrong, don't crucified them. Explain the reasons why they are wrong and help them digest the right answer and internalized it. When we show we can accept criticism constructively, people will open up. Are we open enough?

May the new technology bring more fun to learning and more personal interaction between students and teachers!