Having been in school, share your observations and reflections in terms of the use of technology/new literacies.
My experience at Shirley Warren Primary School has alerted me
to how education is transforming through rapid developments in technology, and
how it can be used to meet the demands of digital literacy in the 21st
century. Dean (2010) remarks that
technology is the most common means by which we receive information,
nevertheless the education system does not place enough emphasis on it in
learning and ‘children need to know the potential of readily accessible
communication tools and the power they contain’. From our observations at
Shirley Warren however, the school proves to value technology and uses it
effectively to maximise impact on pupil learning.
Throughout our day at the school, we supported the children
in presenting statistical data using iPads. Over the two sessions, the children
used animation and sound to present visual progress in creating pie charts using
the apps, ‘I can animate’ and ‘Garage Band’; a PC to access a website to create
bar charts; film to narrate their conclusions; search engines to find pictures,
and the app ‘Book Creator’ to add text, colour and to arrange the format. Working
with the children, I was surprised by their expertise in using the iPads and
the technicality of their language; for example, using words such as ‘import, ‘export’
and ‘air drop’. It was clear the children had been using iPads in learning for
a while as they used the apps efficiently and never required adult assistance.
What I found daunting yet amusing concurrently was that I felt I was learning
from them, and working with them
expanded my knowledge of iPad technology. To me, this is a positive development
in education, as technology is rapidly changing and children need to be
equipped with the right technological skills and knowledge to match these
changes.
What I also noticed was a high level of enthusiasm and
enjoyment in using the iPads. Upon their research, Clark and Luckin (2013)
consider this is due the ‘the finger driven iPad interface’ which ‘can motivate
and engage students keeping them interested in content for longer’. This allows
many children to interact with the device at the same time, enhancing social
communication in ways that ‘desktop, laptop and even netbook computing with
their mouse- driven screen, “individual” peripherals, fixed location, weight
and overall design do not’ (Clark and Luckin, 2013). Observing the children,
there was consistent interaction between them and with us adults in discussing
their ideas and reflecting off eachothers responses. They would often switch
iPads to contribute to and review eachothers work, rather than just sticking to
one given task. This developed their teamwork and assessment skills to produce
a presentation they collectively worked on.
Another point made by Clark and Luckin (2013) is that iPads support ‘seamless learning’, in the sense it allows learners to quickly change
learning contexts ‘from formal to informal or personal to social and to take
control of their own learning.’ Palfrey and Gasser (2008) also consider this as
they remark ‘Digital natives… perceive information to be malleable; it is
something they can control and reshape in new and interesting ways.’ This is an
important attribute to have in the 21st century, as information is
no longer communicated solely through written/ printed text but through multimodal
technologies. Through the many apps the children were using and their diverse ideas;
the children demonstrated awareness of multimodal communication.
The experience I had at Shirley Warren has informed me that I
need to deepen my understanding of how iPads function; research some apps I
think I could use effectively in practice and consider learning contexts I
think they would be suitable. I have now got first-hand evidence that iPads are
an asset to learning and I have every intention of using them in future
practice.
Bibliography
Clark, W and Luckin, R. (2013) What the research says: Using iPads in the classroom. London:
London Knowledge Lab.
Dean, G. (2010) Rethinking Literacy. In: Bazalgette, C. (ed.)
Teaching Media in Primary Schools. SAGE
Publications Ltd, 51-60
.
Palfrey, J and Gasser, U. (2008) Born digital: understanding the first generation of digital natives.
New York: Basic Books.
Did you find that the knowledge the children had and their skills at technology use were higher than you expected?
ReplyDeleteHow did you feel about the pupils being better at using the technology than you?
ReplyDeleteFor their age range, their skills and knowledge using technology were higher than expected, as they worked far more independently and efficiently than I thought they would. However, given that technology is a huge part children's lifestyle now, I expected the children to have some degree of competence and understanding of how they work, so I was not completely overwhelmed by this. In terms of how I felt about them being better at using technology than me, my instant reaction was negative, as I thought that technology had been imposed on the children too much to the point where I thought they could be learning more useful skills than knowing how to 'air drop', as an example. However, upon reflection it made me realise that what are 'useful skills' today have changed, and using digital technologies competently is now useful skill. So actually, I thought it was was a positive thing that the children were better at using them than me.
ReplyDelete