Reflection on the use of WHD

In a National Education (NE) course which I attended, I had the experience of using WHD in a fieldtrip. This fieldtrip which I attended is identical to the one which my students will be going through as part of their NE coursework in their CCA. WHD in the form on Omnia handphones were given to us and each group were given three. I took one and started navigating using it. The tasks were rather simple because I had to do was to open the web browser and download information from a sever, answer the questions posed when I reached the site and transmit the answers to the server. At the end of the learning journey, marks were tabulated and answers revealed. I remembered commenting to my colleagues how badly designed the task was because the Omnia handphone was used merely as an internet browser and a data transmitting device. There was in fact no real need for us to be physically present at the site to complete the task because the information search could be done in an air-conditioned room using the computers with internet connection instead of out being in the rain or sun. This goes on to illustrate that learning tasks need to be well-designed to optimise the potential of WHD as a learning tool as well as students' learning.