With Teach, the Institute of Technical Education Gets the Most out of Computer Based Learning

In a world that is increasingly driven by technology, it is common for the education and training sector to employ Computer Based Learning (CBL) actively. Aside from keeping abreast of the latest innovations, it has become essential that schools and institutions provide students with sufficient computer systems and software tools. In order to increase learning productivity for students, teachers aim to make full use of their resources in the classroom.

Being a world-class provider of technical education to secondary school leavers and working adults, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) is determined to provide the best technology possible to its students. ITE consists of 11 colleges spread over the Central, East and West of Singapore. In 2005, ITE College East started using Junglebyte Teach, a classroom management system on its Simei campus. Teachers and students benefited from a more productive overall learning experience. As a result, ITE expanded the use of Teach to its 10 other colleges. Today, 280 computer labs in the 11 ITE colleges are equipped with Teach.

The use of Teach has improved the interaction between teachers and students in the ITE colleges. Teachers frequently give lessons and demonstrations to a large number of students in computer labs. With the built-in screen broadcast feature, every student gets an unobstructed front-row view. The teachers do not constantly worry that students seated at the far end of the computer lab are not keeping up with the lesson because Teach delivers high quality real-time broadcasts to every student’s desktop. The software also supports the use of webcams and microphones, which help to reduce the distance between teachers and students. It allows all students to see and hear their teachers throughout the lessons

Even in a large class, students can raise help requests easily and quietly through the one-to-one chat feature. Teachers can immediately see the student queries and respond accordingly. They may even guide the student by taking control of his computer if needed. Meanwhile, other students in the class carry on with their learning without being interrupted. Using Teach, students at ITE no longer have unanswered questions. At the same time, precious lesson time is saved as the teachers do not have to walk around the computer lab to attend to help requests.

Quizzes and tests have always been the most popular way to gauge a student’s progress and performance. Teach has not neglected this point. At ITE, teachers can prepare test and exam questions in advance to be used at a later time. During computer lessons, teachers can even pose impromptu quizzes and surveys to their students. Thanks to the question editing engine within the software, various types of questions can be created swiftly and easily, saving much valuable time.

Teach helps to reduce the teachers’ workload by marking these questions on their behalf. Results of the tests and quizzes are statistically analysed and displayed clearly on the screen in the form of graphical charts. Teachers can see the progress of the class at a glance.

Using the robust features of Teach, teaching and learning at ITE have become much more efficient. Teach has helped the colleges get the most out of classroom technology.