Welcome to our Media, Language and Multiliteracies/Multimedia and Technology Joint Module Blog!
We will be posting messages and uploading documents, links etc across the module and I look forward to reading your posts over the coming weeks.
Best wishes
Sandy, and Pam
The children of today have been born into a time where the role of digital technology in young people’s cultures is expanding. Children are engaging with digital media and using a wide range of technologies in order to participate in social and cultural life (Future Lab, 2010). Therefore, an increased use of technology by children is an inevitable, positive outcome for it is a way of supporting the development of many areas of a child’s understanding; such as subject knowledge. Within my teaching practice, I have observed many websites and interactive games being used in order to support the class’ learning and as a way of informally assessing understanding. As well as this, I have seen frequent use of laptops in the classroom, in aid of developing the children’s research ability.
ReplyDeleteEven though I am feeling excited to develop my understanding of the use of technology within the classroom, I am feeling slightly apprehensive about my current knowledge of ICT; despite being born into an era where I am classified as a digital narrative (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). Nevertheless, I feel it is important that I experience new technologies and learn how to integrate technology and digital literacies into my teaching in order to provide engaging learning experiences for children and to encourage them to effectively engage with “the possibilities that technology offers” (Future Lab, 2010:8). I am most looking forward to visiting Shirley Warren School and experiencing many more new technologies being used within the primary classroom.
Futurelab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum: Digital Literacy in Practice [online] http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf (Accessed: 15/1/14).
Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) ‘Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives.New’ York: Basic Books
Abbey, I agree in particular with the point you have made, of integrating technology into the classroom, because Dean (2010) mentions that using new media in the classroom, provides the opportunity for children to build on their existing knowledge. Dean (2010) argues children gain knowledge by being captivated into what they see, for example by watching a video clip about the titanic. This suggests children should carry on experiencing technology when they start school, in order to be motivated in their learning.
DeleteDean, G. ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms London: Sage
Discuss the following:
ReplyDeleteDo you see the increased use of technology by children as a positive step forwards?
I believe that children should be using technology more often than before because we are living in a heavily technology based environment. It is therefore, essential that children experience using the latest technology that is accessible to them because they will be using the skills that they have developed from experiencing technology throughout their life. There are so many benefits to using technology such as learning through different ways that they are comfortable with and accessing a vast range of information at their fingertips. However, children should have an appropriate amount of access to technology according to their age and should only be used if it enhances learning.
In terms of my experience of using technology I benefit from using the latest forms because I broaden my learning and skills that support me in completing tasks etc. At school experience I have seen the progression that children gain from having regular use of technology and the enthusiasm and enjoyment is shown through the interaction, body language and expressions. Therefore, children should be accessing increased use of technology.
Is this an inevitable outcome in our increasingly digital society or is it something to be resisted, especially within the classroom?
I think that children should be using technology in the classroom as it enhances their learning and supports different types of learners to access their learning. Furthermore, if the use of the technology is effectively planned children will be able to take control of their own learning and learn together.
Justify your opinions with reference to your own experiences, observations and/ or reading.
What do you perceive as the possible challenges of this module for you personally?
One of the challenges for me as a learner on this module would be progressing in the quality of my writing for the blog entries that need to be completed, as I will struggle in being critical enough each week within in my entries.
Improvements made:
DeleteI believe that children should be using technology more often than before, because we are living in a heavily technology based environment. It is therefore, essential that children experience using the latest technology that is accessible to them, because they will be using the skills, that they have developed throughout their life, for example, in the workplace (Edutopia, 2008). Lawyers write up cases, they need to have skills to use Microsoft Word, in order to format the cases to the correct standard. Therefore, it is important to teach necessary skills of using technology, in order to prepare children for the workplace. There are so many benefits to using technology, such as accessing a vast range of information at your fingertips, to deepen your understanding of knowledge (Math Open Reference, 2007). Using technology supports ‘constructivist’ views as children can take ‘ownership’ of their own learning, to learn through their experiences and interactions (Beauchamp, 2012). This increases children’s motivation to learn.
However, children should have an appropriate amount of access to technology according to their age. Due to the increase popularity of using technology in the classroom, especially with the interactive whiteboard, teachers need to be aware of effectively managing the use of the technology in the class, that it is only used if it enhances teaching and learning (Beauchamp, 2012).
In terms of my experience of using technology, I benefit from using the latest forms because I broaden my learning and skills, which support me in completing tasks etc., such as writing assignments. At school experience, I have seen the progression that children gain from having regular use of technology. For example, for a series of lessons children had to make a presentation about the titanic. Each lesson they were getting better at making the presentation, as they were developing new skills. Children should also be using the latest forms of technology because I have seen how enthusiastic they are to learn and that they enjoy using the technology, because of the quality interaction that they engage in with their peers. Therefore, children should be accessing increased use of technology.
I think that children should be using technology in the classroom as it enhances their learning and supports different types of learners to access their learning. Furthermore, if the use of the technology is effectively planned children will be able to take control of their own learning and learn together. As teachers it is our responsibility to move on from some extent of traditional teaching methods, to integrating technology and digital literacy into the classroom (Dean, 2010).
One of the challenges for me, as a learner on this module would be progressing in the quality of my writing, for the blog entries that need to be completed, as I will struggle in being critical enough each week within in my entries. However, I am looking forward to learning about the impacts that digital literacy has on children, and working with the children at Shirley Warren Primary School.
Beauchamp, G. (2012) ‘What is ICT in the Primary School?: Tools and Techniques’. ICT in the Primary School, From Pedagogy to Practice. Essex: Pearson Education Limited
Dean, G. ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) ‘Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms’ London: Sage
Edutopia (2008) Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many. [www] Available from: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction (Accessed: 21/01/14)
Math Open Reference (2007) The Ten Fundamental Reasons for technology in education. [www] Available from: http://www.mathopenref.com/site/techreasons.html (Accessed: 21/01/14)
Abbey & Sidrah, thank you for your entries so far. You have raised some important issues and Abbey, you have done well to draw on the literature to support your discussion. This is a good start for you both and I look forward to reading other people's entries as they get added.
ReplyDeleteSandy
School is only one part of a child’s life and ignoring children’s popular culture as a means of teaching and learning seems remiss; a view shared by my interviewee (Benjamin & Harrett, 2009). Whilst conducting an interview which explored a parent’s attitude towards the use of popular culture within the primary classroom; I was left pleasantly surprised. The interviewee shared the view that popular culture is a huge part of a child’s life, therefore in order to provide an enjoyable and effective learning experience; teachers should integrate popular culture into their lessons. This view is echoed by Marsh (2000) who claims, using popular culture in the literacy curriculum in particular can be very motivating, and can offer the opportunity to share knowledge and expertise in the classroom. Therefore, this material can create a dialogic classroom which enables children to create shared meanings (Kenner, 2006).
ReplyDeleteWhen asking the question ‘Do you believe children should be of a certain age to be taught using popular culture?’ I expected the interviewee’s reply to resemble my own belief; that popular culture should be part of early education. However, the interviewee claimed that children should be at least ten years of age, before they are expected to understand new technologies. The interviewee added, ‘technology is difficult to understand – even I don’t understand it sometimes.’ Interestingly, the interviewee was a parent and of the age of what Palfrey & Gasser (2008) refer to as a digital immigrant. This implies the parent is presuming the children of today will have the same ability or disability as it were, to comprehend popular culture. However, as Prensky (2001) highlights, our children today are being socialized in a way that is vastly different from their parents. Therefore, it is unjustified to assume that including popular culture in lessons will be difficult for today’s children as, children raised with the computer think differently from the rest of us (Prensky, 2001). This notion is further supported by brain plasticity research, which has revealed that brains that undergo different developmental experiences develop differently, and that people who undergo different inputs from the culture that surrounds them think differently (Prensky, 2001).
The fear of popular culture and multi-media within the classroom is not only held by parents, such as my interviewee, it is a fear held by many teachers. As found in the Doctor Who Project (2001), there seems to be a lack of confidence in younger teachers in trying different ways of working with media resources. I too share the feeling of a lack of confidence; however I feel it is already building as a result of the taught seminars as well as my further reading. I will therefore continue to explore and discover new literacies in order to motivate and engage children to learn.
Gaser, & Palfrey,. (2008) ‘Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives’ New York: Basic books
Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II’: Do they Really think Differently University Press, Vol.9, No.6 pp.1-9
Marsh, J. (2000) ‘Popular Culture in the Classroom’, Literacy Today Available at: http://www.nationalliteracytrust.org.uk/pubs/marsh.html (Accessed : 21/01/14)
I agree that children’s popular culture should be used within school. Although, as teachers we need to consider how much time should be spent on exposing children to this content? I also agree with you Abbey that children should be exposed to popular culture at an early age, within their education, because it is believed that most children are experiencing popular culture from the day they are born. Therefore, popular culture needs to be embraced not avoided. This website is very useful because Knorr (2013) provides tips on how to manage the content of media violence, when children are using popular culture, but can be generalised to all forms of technology, and how to use popular culture effectively, so that our confidence continues to grow.
ReplyDeleteKnorr, C. (2013) Impact of Media Violence Tips. [www] Available from:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/impact-media-violence-tips (Accessed: 23/01/14)
Technology is rapidly developing, I see it as a positive step forwards as needs to be embraced by children in schools. I have used the interactive whiteboard (IWB), bee-bots, netbooks, scratch and many more features of ICT in teaching. The children had not been exposed to using scratch and bee-bots in school, so it opened up a new way of learning for them to grasp concepts of coding. Feedback from the children showed how much they loved being independent learners, experiencing the use of technology, widening their skills. I have also witnessed two year olds using Ipads to play games, which shows that technology is learnt from a very young age. Levy (2002) studied teachers and children's attitudes to using the IWB. His findings showed that teachers believed that IWB make learning 'more entertaining' and found that the children were 'much engaged'. Children expressed their experience of using the IWB as 'fun' and 'exciting'. This supports using technology in the classroom to support children's learning. There was an increase in enthusiasm and motivation with the use of IWB from both children and staff's point of views (Smith, 2001). According to Ofsted report (2011) All teachers were enthusiastic about the tools in this new technology offers. It helped structure lessons and saved time scribing. Teachers found the use of ICT attracted the children's attention and provided images and text to suit their needs. They found it promoted group work collaboration and fostered cognitive skills. However, teachers need to have the training to be able to use ICT in the classroom to feel confident using it. I have observed a lot of teachers who are against using technology in the classroom due to their lack of knowledge. There is also the worry that children use technology too regularly, being too dependent on it and become less familiar with writing, using grammar, spelling and other the features of writing. As using technology enables children to spell check their work instead of learning themselves. I have heard from other training teachers experience, that technology helps children with SEN and therefore should be used if it suits the needs of children that earn better through more visual approaches.
ReplyDeleteI feel confident using technology in schools and have done in the majority of my lessons. I question whether I rely on it too much, although I find it a great tool to use especially for starter activities.
Levy, P. (2002) Interactive Whiteboards in Learning and Teaching in Two Sheffield Schools: A Developmental Study. Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield. Available from: www.dis.shef.ac.uk/eirg/projects/wboards.htm (accessed 18.01.14)
Smith, H. (2001) SmartBoard Evaluation: Final Report. Maidstone: Kent NGFL. Available from: www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/ict/whiteboards/report.html#top (accessed 18.01.14)
Office for Standards Education (2011) ICT in Schools 2008-11 An evaluation of information and communication technology education in schools in England 2008–11. Manchester
Kay, I really found your comment interesting about using technology to help children with SEN, as I have little knowledge in this area. I found a document about how to use ICT to support children with SEN, which is very useful. If you would like to have a look the reference is below.
DeleteWoollard, J. (2009) ICT and Special Educational Needs. [pdf] Available from: http://www.itte.org.uk/icttutors/documents/ICTSEN.pdf (Accessed: 27/01/14)
I carried out a placement working in Southampton Hospital and worked with children with SEN and they were given maths games on the Ipad to play with and beat their score. They enjoyed this very much and was more of a game to them than learning maths.
DeleteThe link is very interesting, thank you.
Thank you for sharing this idea. If I had the opportunity of using iPads in my teaching, I would definitely plan for children to play maths games on the Ipad. This would allow progression to occur by beating their own targets and they are motivated to learn maths without realising they are learning about maths.
DeleteThe media often presented negative aspects of the relationship between children and technology, although there are many positive aspects that must be acknowledged, as technology is all around us continually growing (Behan, 2006). I agree with the trainee teacher that I interviewed on the topic of using pop culture in schools. She believed that it is a very good idea to use pop culture in class as it develops children further in the world using different aspects of pop culture. On her last placement, she observed comics and novels being used in lessons with children who learnt better visually. Alexander (2009) agrees that children should develop the use of electronic and other non-print media to enhance their learning. On placement, I have seen children using comics in school which appealed to the children, especially the boys, who loved the colours used and cartoon characters and were engaged in reading them and creating their own. They produced creative and exciting stories which they took their time planning and enjoyed the task. Marsh and Bearne (2005) watching moving-image texts, allows children to pick up on the settings, characters and plots and how they contribute to meaning. However, my interviewee identified how it is vital that the media used should be checked that it is suitable for the children to use. She also observed a lesson in school where children watched a film that they had been reading in class and had to discuss the characters. She noticed that when using pop culture that is of interest to them, they are more willing to learn and are motivated (Marsh et al, 2005). Many parents support media culture, but often they ban it from an early age (Boyd, 1997; McNaught et al., 2000). The interviewee shared that her older brothers were banned from playing games as they were constantly on it too , which resulted in them not doing very well in exams at school. Dean (2010) believes that children need to understand the potential of different communication tools and the power the hold. Therefore having access to using such technology and resources in class improves their understanding and skills to improve their learning.
ReplyDeleteAlexander, R. (2009) Children, their World, their Education: Final Report and Recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review. Abingdon: Routledge
Behan, L. (2006) Using Pop Culture to teach Information Literacy. Methods to engage a new generation. Libraries unlimited:USA
Boyd, B. (1997) Teacher response to superhero play: To ban or not to ban? Childhood Education, Fal, pp.23-28
Dean, G. ‘Rethinking Literacy’ in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms London:Sage
Marsh, J. Brooks,G. Hughes,J. Ritchie, L. Roberts, S. Wright, K (2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new Technologies University of Sheffield (Section 2.10 p.46; Sections 3.2 & 3.3 p48/49)
Kay, what comics did the children use? It would be great to know some examples of comics that are appropriate for primary children. However, I am sure we will discuss some tomorrow in the seminar.
DeleteThey used the popular comics like beano and batman, which seem to be a male focus, but used them when they had time to read, when they were drawing, to find cartoon characters to copy and get inspiration from.
DeleteThank you for sharing your experiences Kay. I would definitely incorporate using comics to motivate children to read and gather ideas for Literacy and Art.
ReplyDelete