January 2018 – Page 2

Digital Technology Week 2

Across the curriculum today, programmable toys are being more and more introduce as they are said to help young develop their knowledge and understanding of the world (Janka, 2008). Research shows that programmable toys allow for interactive responsive learning, developed problem solving skills and engage pupils in cross-curricular links such as literacy, numeracy and so on. Having only mentioned some of the benefits of programmable toys, it is these enjoyments that help our children become confident individuals, successful learners, effective contributors and responsible citizens (Lydon, 2008).

In 2006, the programmable toy “Bee-Bot” was awarded as the most remarkable hardware for lower level primary school (Janka, 2008). A simple design that is a yellow bee is anything but boring. It is a controlling floor robot that enables a child to instruct it to make a journey on a square Friday (Janka, 2008). With a few taps on four colourful buttons, the child enters a sequence of instructions for the Bee to move and rotate across the grid (Janka, 2008).

So how does this toy develop a child’s knowledge and understanding? To develop a child’s numeracy skills, “Bee-Bot” can be used to recognise coins where we could for example, set a task for children to move across a grid, collecting specific coins as they go. The same could be done with sorting and describing shapes where again, by asking the children to move “Bee-Bot” around the grid and landing on specific shapes, asking them to describe the shape and its properties. Directional language can be used by designing the grid to be a street map or shopping market, for example, and getting the pupil’s to instruct the robot to move around the map, using terms such as ‘forward’, ‘backward’, ‘reverse’, ‘left’, and ‘right’. With literacy, each square on the grid could be given to each child and their task could be to create a story, eventually joining the grid and forming a very fun and imaginative story. As well as forming stories, the “Bee-Bot” encourages children to give instructions, which benefit their literacy skills. Their artistic side is developed when asked to create and draw out the grid using their imagination to draw their stories for the “Bee-Bot” to go across.

The “Bee-Bot” is a very good digital activity to engage in children’s learning and develop their knowledge and understanding as well as their digital literacy skills. Of course, for the children to be able to fully engage and understand the concept, it is important to that their teacher is educated in the use of the programmable toy.

After today’s class on the programmable toy, I fully am aware of the abilities that “Bee-Bot” has, as well as the many ways that it can help in children’s learning and developing skills. Our learning criteria for the lesson was to be able to programme “Bee-Bot” to follow instructions and to use it to teach skills of literacy and maths, making links to the Curriculum for Excellence. Upon refection, I can confidently carry out all of the above criteria, having done further researched and participated in an assessment activity.

The assessment activity was to programme “Bee-Bot” to move around a map which we had to design, ensuring we made links to numeracy and the Curriculum for Excellence outcomes. We worked in groups and my group drew a map of a “The Bee-Bot Supermarket”, with three aisles, each consisting of three items of fruit, three dairy products and three confectionary items.Each product had a price tag and the object of the activity for our lesson was for the children to follow a shopping list and programme “Bee-Bot” to move around the supermarket to collect each item on the list. The final square on our grip was the check-out desk, where the pupil would have to present the correct amount of money required to purchase the items (Appendix 1).

The learning outcomes for our lesson were:

TCH 0-09a: I am developing problem-solving strategies, navigation and co-ordination skills, as I play and learn with electronic games, remote control or programmable toys.
MNU 0-09a: I am developing my awareness of how many is used and can recognise and use a range of coins.
MTH 0-17a: In movement, games and using technology, I can use simple directions and describe directions (Appendix 2).

After further discussion, our group came up with further lesson plans, linking to the Curriculum for Excellence, for example, writing the shopping list’s items in French or Spanish.

Overall, my confidence is strengthening every week I come to digital technology. Being do unaware of the learning outcomes that programmable toys have, I would not have been interested in using them in lessons but now having read further research, being taught about them and physically using them, I am confident that I can incorporate them into my lesson plans and ensure my pupil’s will be one step closer to becoming confident individuals, responsible citizens, effective contributors and successful learners.

References

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Access: 16th January 2018]

Lydon, A. ( 2007) Let’s Go With Bee-Bot: Using your Bee-Bot across the curriculum. TTS Group Ltd.

Appendix

Digital Technology Blog – Multimodal

A Multimodal presentation is one which incorporates more than one medium to present information from a variety including words, sound and moving images. Educators who use multimodal presentations are finding ways to increase pupil engagement with the subject matter. “The … Continue reading →

There are many ways of introducing multimodality into the learning environment one of which is ActivInspire. This programme is particularly useful for Primary Teachers as not only does it work well with Smart Board technology it also encourages children to interact with the learning by using the technology themselves. The benefit of this being that the child can have a greater interest in the learning. Meaningful teaching “at all ages should aim to move beyond surface to deep interactivity. One way of doing this is to combine effective talk with the use of ICT” states Beauchamp (2011, p.40). The ActivInspire programme is an ideal way of encouraging this move to deep interactivity as children want to get involved. I have observed this during my time in a classroom, the children were eager to get their hands on the smart board pen and take a turn at the activity.

The level of multimodality offered by the programme varies. One can choose to have a simple level of information combining simple text and pictures to a more interactive presentation for example one that involves movement. The programme offers an ActivStudio and an ActivPrimary option and the latter is particularly user friendly especially in the classroom environment. Multimodal presentations can be more topological (Jones and Hafner, 2012). In other words, it can make more sense. It is difficult to explain a colour, but write it in its shade and observers can see it themselves. This is something that the ActivPrimary programme makes easy.

I have had the opportunity to see the Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) in use throughout my placement experience. ActivPrimary did, in my opinion, add value to the lesson and made the learning experience altogether more positive. For example; it is easy to add a hyperlink to another website or display pictures. Furthermore, I observed that its use promoted confidence as children spoke out to ensure they had a turn using the technology. However, in a journalistic piece in the Washington Post there have been contrary opinions to mine. Stanford University Professor Larry Cuban suggests that there is very little research that will show that IWB technology will improve academic achievement (Cuban, 2010 cited in McCrummen, 2010). In the same article the chief executive of SMART Technologies said, “strictly gathered research data, shows her products work” (Knowlton, 2010 cited in McCrummen, 2010). The article may raise some interesting points of view however, it is 7 years old and published at a time when less than one in four classes (in America) had the technology installed. According to the article general a little there had been some research which suggested teachers noted higher results without the use of IWB technology in a lesson (McCrummen, 2010) however this may also link back to the comments I made in a previous blog where some teachers see the use of technology in the classroom as something else they must master. The article does not comment on the age, experience and interests of the educators.

During the workshop, I had the opportunity to try the ActivInspire programme and I found the experience to be generally positive. With further practice and experience I think I would find value in using it as a complimentary addition to other methods of teaching. On a practical level, it was problematic in some areas, for example when making a mistake, it seemed a bit cumbersome to tap in and out of the pen and eraser. Another difficulty was that to build the lesson seemed to be awkward. It seemed to be very slow and repetitive to add money to our coin piles (the lesson was based around numeracy outcome MNU 1-09a &MNU 1-09b) however as I reflect on that I believe it may have been because of my unfamiliarity with the programme. Also,, the benefit of being able to save the work would mean it can be used again at a later date (one can build up a stock of presentations).

Given the nature of the software is multimodal, it is unlikely that it would be used as a stand-alone platform. One does not envisage using it without making use of the features such as inserting a hyperlink or a picture therefore it can be considered another tool in a Teachers arsenal.

The ActivPrimary toolkit (the pen tool is highlighted).

Selected images from the lesson plan created in the workshop by myself and my work partner.

References
Beauchamp, G. (2011) Computing and IC in the Primary School from Pedagogy to Practice. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
Jones R.H. and Hafner C.A. (2012) Understanding Digital Literacies a Practical Introduction Routledge: London.
McCrummen, S (2010) Some educators question if whiteboards, other high tech tools raise achievement Washington Post USA [online] Available: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/10/AR2010061005522.html [Accessed 28 January 2017].

Digital Technologies- Multimodality (Week 3)

Multimodel texts are a lot more engaging and interactive for the children, it can also increase the attention span the children have when receiving certain information (Prandstatter, 2014). A piece of text done digitally is considered multimodel when it includes at least two of the five of the following semiotic systems- Spatial Linguistic Visual Audio Gestural ‘The … Continue reading “Digital Technologies- Multimodality (Week 3)”

Spatial
Linguistic
Visual
Audio
Gestural

‘The multimodality of technology is another reason to use it, as it allows teachers to present an idea in a variety of different ways to help pupils understand it’ (Beauchamp, 2012, pg.8).

Multimodality improves the understanding the children have for the certain text. Using technology within the piece of writing can help to increase the interest in what is being said but only if done properly which means that the teacher has to have skills necessary for it (Beauchamp, 2012). There has been a large increase of the use of multimodal texts and certain technology by children within the community, therefore, it is crucial that the skills used can continue to be develop to prepare for adulthood (Education Scotland)

Reflecting on my own use of multimodal text, I think it’s a very beneficial feature to use especially with young children. When I was on placement I had to make a powerpoint for primary two’s for a lesson I had with them. They were learning about their senses and were on the topic of hearing. I was able to use text, pictures and sounds within my powerpoint and the children reacted really well to it, also they remained engaged throughout and were very keen on participation. It also let me connect the visual picture of the item to what sound they make and what it’s called and spelled, so, it has the possibility to develop the children’s understanding of their surroundings.

References-

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.

Prandstatter (2014) Interactive Displays in Early Years Classes [online] http://connectlearningtoday.com/interactive-displays-early-years-classes/ [accessed: 26th January 2017]

Education Scotland
https://education.gov.scot

Learning in and through the process of Print Making

This week’s input focused on learning through the process of print. Prior to the input, I decided to research print making in further detail to enhance my knowledge and understanding ahead of the session. I was able to find that print making is “the form and process of applying a work of art to another surface” (Science Leadership, 2017). I was intrigued to discover the various materials that can be used to create your print, ranging from paper, fabric, plastic, polystyrene and card. It is important to remember that in print making, there is more than one version of it’s original made. Reflecting on our ‘Integrated Arts’ module I remember creating our own prints based on the painting ‘Windows in the West’ (1993) by Avril Paton. And from this, I recall using a variety of materials and there being various steps before we had our finished product. I was interested to discover the affect print making had on various artists, it was suggested that print making was revolutionary because it was another way to be creative through art. Through this research, I found that the roots of print making ran far back and since then has collectively grown with more types of printing. This type of art had also made it possible to capture moments of history from centuries ago (Science Leadership, 2017).

Whilst researching, I discovered a lino print of a portrait of a woman by Nancy Bradley. This piece of art really interested and captivated me as I noticed, very quickly, the unique facial expression that the artist managed to capture in the woman’s face. I detected that the expression was one of a bold manner, as if the woman is of a high prestige to others or it could be that she is looking down on others. My interpretation of the woman is that she is strong minded, independent and high achieving. Whilst looking at the piece of art, various thoughts ran through my head such as: I wonder what the woman was thinking in the picture, why did the artist decided to create a woman of this manner, what was the artist thinking when they decided to create the facial expression on the woman’s face. I enjoyed and appreciated the fact that the colors were kept simple, with just black and white, as the value of colors helped me to see where the light was captured on the woman’s face. I think the colors that were used provided a sense of mystery with the painting and provided a good design for the painting. .

Lino Print- Portrait of a Woman by Nancy Bradley.

I felt that with my prior research and experience with print making, I had an adequate amount of knowledge, understanding and skills ahead of this session. During the session, we were all given the opportunity to further develop our knowledge and understanding of printmaking through reading a document by Yorkshire Sculpture Park called ‘Exploring Printmaking’. provides teachers with input on how to use printmaking in the classroom. This document outlines the purposes of printmaking, how it can be used for cross curricular lesson and gives examples of the practical elements of printmaking like how to set up a classroom and keep it tidy. Through reading this document it highlighted to me the significant opportunities that print making can give children, of all ages, as they are able to experiment and explore visual art.

As a student teacher, it is a brilliant opportunity to be introduced to various resources that will help us along our journey of becoming a future educator. A resource like ‘Exploring Printmaking’ allows me to develop my knowledge and understanding of this concept and in turn increase my own confidence and self-esteem in teaching printmaking and using it within the curriculum guidelines. I appreciate the various skills that print making provides for a child such as encouraging them to problem solve, have creative discussions and work effectively with others.

During today’s session we also had the opportunity to begin our artwork for our evocative object. Our evocative objects were to inspire us to create our own concrete poetry. Concrete poetry “creatively operates with space as an additional expressive category by arranging words in non-linear patterns across the page.” (Poetry beyond text, 2018). Therefore, this session gave us the time and assistance to begin our concrete poetry and we were to use this time to express our thoughts and feelings through design. At the start of this session, I didn’t know where to begin or how I wanted to express my evocative object and the feelings attached to it on a piece of paper. As my evocative object was my ‘You Matter Always’ (YMA) card I decided to begin with drawing the YMA symbol. The YMA symbol holds a special place in my heart as I have the symbol tattooed on my ankle to signify the strength of my mum and how she has suffered trauma throughout her life and still has the strength to continue in her life. It also reminds me that I matter always, that my thoughts, feelings and emotions are of value and I should never forget that.

When creating my symbol, I found it very difficult to get the size and scale of the symbol correct. I decided to stick with the same color scheme that my mum went with, I love the colour purple as it signifies ambition, strength, power, peace and independence. It reminds me to continue making goals throughout my life, to be independent and to be strong and not let my worries get me down or stop me from achieving my goals. I began my creation, using oil pastels however I quickly realised that oil pastels can be difficult when trying to merge two colors together. As the symbols colours range from light to dark purple and then some white, to reflect the dark and light within the symbol I wanted to convey this in my drawing. On reflection, it was clear that the oil pastels did not work and therefore I decided to draw the symbol again and this time use chalk. I decided to use chalk as I wanted to feel the colours blend and form together.

Looking at the start of my creative poetry I am not entirely pleased with it and therefore I want to reflect this week on what it is I don’t like about my creation so far and what it is I would like to change. I want to ensure that I make my creative poetry meaningful and convey the message of ‘You Matter Always’ therefore it is vital that I get this correct before this module finishes.

On reflection I feel that this session was of great value. It allowed me to develop my knowledge, understanding and skills of print making. It also gave me the opportunity to use my thoughts and emotions related to my evocative object and express them through visual art which is something I feel should be encouraged in the classroom. When considering using printmaking within the classroom, two things came to my mind and that is that in order to make something more engaging, the work should be more personal or have a connection to something else, a real life connection or purpose. Printmaking can fit into both of these options therefore furthering the chances that I will use it for a future lesson.

References:

Bourn Creative, (2011). Color Meaning: Meaning of the Color Purple. [Online] Available: https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-purple/ [Accessed: 28th January 2018]

Science Leadership Academy, (2017). Printmaking. [Online] Available: https://scienceleadership.org/blog/printmaking-11 [Accessed: 28th January 2018]

Art Grab, (2016). This is Nancy Brandley’s lino print portrait of a woman. [Online] Available: http://art-grab.tumblr.com/post/140696690555/this-is-nancy-brandleys-lino-print-portrait-of-a [Accessed: 28th January 2018]

Poetry Beyond Text. (2018) Concrete Poetry. [Online] Available: http://www.poetrybeyondtext.org/concrete-poetry.html [Accessed: 28th January 2018]

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, (n.d.) Exploring Printmaking. [Online] Available: file:///C:/Users/Suzanne/Downloads/ignite-teacher-resource-printmaking%20(1).pdf [Accessed 28th January 2018]

Digital Technologies Reflection 23.1.18

Multimodality is key when presenting a lesson to the class due to the different ways in which children learn. These features in learning are listed as the five semiotic systems, which include, learning from; linguistics, visuals, audios, gestural and spatial. This is stated by Beauchamp when he declares ‘The multimodality of technology is another reason …

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Communication, presenting and hands-on learning are key factors in teaching as it allows the children to access these systems, which will then help and encourage them to learn. Communication is key as “We must challenge the implicit assumption that speech and writing are always central and sufficient for learning” (Beauchamp, 2012). Personally, I agree with statement as I do believe that throughout life we communicate constantly, through verbal communication and non-verbal communication, so therefore developing this skill of communication should be enhanced in a school environment. Hands-on learning is another element of the learning community as “Touch displays can become a social learning tool encouraging hands-on experiences thereby helping children to learn by doing” (Prandstatter, 2014). As a visual learner, I firmly follow this statement as doing the task and watching what I was doing was helping me personally, process the activity I was participating in.

We should be using multimodal presentation as they cover a lot of things that are appealing to children at the primary age. For example, it captivates, motivates, it is interactive, personalised, dynamic, memorable and engaging, this will then help the children then learn and process the context of the lesson.

The key factor i have learned personally today, would be that yellow and pink backgrounds help children with dyslexia to engage more as the bright colours help focus their mind.

References:

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.

Interactive Displays in Early Years Classes

Digital Technologies – Week 3

The focus of today’s lesson during Digital Technologies, was to learn about the use of multimodality within a learning environment in order to enhance both teaching and learning in the classroom. In addition to this, we used the digital platform: ActivInspire to create a Numeracy interactive activity. We learned that a text is known as …

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We learned that a text is known as multimodal when it combines two or more semiotic systems: Linguistic, Visual, Audio, Gestural, Spatial. This is stated by Beauchamp (2012), “The multimodality of technology is another reason to use it, as it follows teachers to present an idea in a variety go different ways to help pupils understand it.”

The presentation of a lesson can be enhanced and projected to young learners by teachers by using multimodality within all aspects of learning throughout the Curriculum for Excellence. Also discussed by Beauchamp, (2012), “The ability of ICT to present ideas in a variety of ways can help to structure new experiences but only if you as the teacher have sufficient understanding on the area yourself.” With use of the semiotic systems, making a multimodal text to aid learning in the classroom creates a fresh and modern approach to teaching within a learning establishment.”

Activinspire enables engagement from all pupils as we also discussed that using a yellow background with comic sans font is an effective way to prepare a lesson for those with dyslexic tendencies, as this makes it easier for them to read.

My partner and I created a Activinspire flip chart which made an interactive learning experience with regards to using co-ordinates in numeracy, with the CfE level targeted to second level. On one of the flip charts, we had created a basic grid, ranging with coordinates from 1-10 and with many different shapes plotted onto the co-ordinates grid. Here the children were to recognise which shape was which and then determine the coordinates of where that particular shape lies on the grid. Following on to this, using their prior knowledge of where points are plotted on a grid, the children were to click and drag the shapes to the points already stated by the flip chart, which allowed them to show their knowledge and understanding of plotting the correct shape to the correct point on that grid.

Overall, I think that I really benefited from this lesson on using ActivInspire within the classroom, as I know and believe that I will use this within the classroom. I have full confidence in using the digital platform and i am excited to portray lessons to children in a new and exciting way which engages all pupils.

References

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.

Digital Technologies – Week 2

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Commencing onto the second week of the Digital Technologies module, today’s focus was based on the use of programmable toys within education establishments: in particular using the BeeBot. To our advantage, having previously looking at using BeeBot for literacy purposes, we were able to take our prior knowledge of using BeeBot in a numeracy setting. As part of our assessment task, we were to create a BeeBot floor map which represented a numeracy Experience and Outcome, which we then tested out for our lecturer.

With regards to the programmable toys use within education, it can be shown to uphold many benefits to a child’s development throughout the Curriculum for Excellence. Pekarova Janka is in favour of the use of programmable toys within the classroom. There are endless benefits and opportunities which arise from using programmable toys in class settings, Janka explains the benefits of programmable toys: “The curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world.” (Janka, 2008, p.2) In addition to this, The National centre for Technology in Education (2012, p1) provides evidence as to the increased benefits of using programmable toys in education, they state, “[Floor robots in the classroom] help with the development of skills such as logical sequencing, measuring, comparing lengths, space orientation and expressing concepts in words”.

The benefits that programmable toys exhibit are endless, creating an interactive, responsive learning environment for the child. In terms of assessment strategies, educators can observe the children’s literacy and numeracy skills whilst playing with the BeeBot. This takes into account the children’s problem solving skills and sense of creativity, whilst experiencing the enjoyment of this hands-on learning experience.

For the assessment task, my peers and I decided to create a floor mat which contained shapes, represented by everyday objects, such as a clock, book, envelope etc. Alongside this, we created que-cards, which described the property of the shape that BeeBot was to travel to, for example: “Travel Beebot to the shape which has 4 equal sides.” whereby the child would program Beebot to the envelope. This Beebot floor map was targeted at first level, which allowed for the recognition of shapes and describing their properties, using their problem solving and prior knowledge of mainstream shapes.

The experiences and outcomes for this Beebot floor map we created are: “I am developing problem-solving strategies, navigation and co-ordination skills, as I play and learn with electronic games, remote control or programmable toys.” -TCH 0-09a

“I have explored simple 3D objects and 2D shapes and can identify, name and describe their features using appropriate vocabulary.” -MTH 1-16a

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed using the BeeBot for both literacy and numeracy lessons. However, I felt it required a lot of creativity for an educator and I would highly recommend looking up ideas both online or in reading prior to creating a floor map. I will definitely be using this in the classroom in the future as I think it creates a new learning experience which is innovating and exciting for young learners.

References

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How [Online]. Available from: http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 16 January 2018]

NCTE (National centre for Technology in Education) (2012) NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy. [Online]. Available from: http://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_numeracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 16 January 2018].

Digital Technologies Week 2 16/1/18

The focus of our second week in digital technologies was exploring and understanding the importance and influence of programmable toys in the classroom. Programmable toys can be used in a variety of lessons across the curriculum alongside many benefits. Throughout this session, I acknowledged that the use of programmable toys has a positive impact on young learners’ problem solving abilities and creativity skills, produces hands-on and interactive responsive learning and allows the learner control. It is believed that using programmable toys to aid child learning can “help with the development of skills such as a logical sequencing, measuring, comparing lengths, space orientation, and expressing concepts in words” (National centre for Technology in Education, 2012, p.1).

Using programmable toys as a source of learning began in the 1960s when Seymour Papert invented the programming language, ‘Logo’. This provided children with a chance to learn programming as they were able to control the movement of an online arrow resulting in lines being drawn on their screen.

During week 2 of this module, in particular, the use of ‘Bee Bots’ was focused on. Bee Bots are programmable toys which move when an individual presses directional arrows located on its back. Through personally experiencing and being assessed on this learning tool, for me, it was easy to see how beneficial this practical learning would be for children. Using Bee Bots can increase independence for pupils by passing over the control of their learning whilst challenging them. This tool also improves children’s team work skills and their ability to give others written or verbal instructions while simultaneously providing them with fun and enjoyment.

Whilst being assessed on our creation of a Bee Bot lesson, my group and I decided to focus on the Curriculum For Excellence outcome of: “I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts. TCH-101a” Within numeracy, my group and I aimed to provide a lesson to improve children’s multiplication of 3 skills and their understanding on compass points. We created a Bee Bot board based on a treasure hunt that consisted of a variety of 3 times table equations. Once pupils had correctly answered the multiplication their Bee Bot stopped on, a set of cards provided them with instructions for their next move, for example: “move west 1 place”.

By adding the initials of the compass points to our board in the correct positions (N for North, E for East, S for South and W for West), children would be able to visualise where each point was; helping them with their lesson and their ability to memorise the position of these compass points in future tasks.

I found this lesson very interesting and entertaining as I learned the benefits and various ways of using programmable toys in future classroom environments. I thoroughly enjoyed working with others to create a lesson with Bee Bots and being proud of our final result. This session helped me understand how children would gain so much from a similar lesson and how it is a unique way of allowing children to have fun while learning.

Digital Technologies – Multimodality 23/01/18

Within this week’s class of Digital Technologies we focused on multimodality, through this I gained a great deal of knowledge about the importance of multimodal presentations. We also worked in pairs to complete an ActivInspire flipchart, the opportunity beforehand of seeing a few examples and to watch tutorials on how to work it was very […]

Although I was first introduced to multimodality in the Literacy module in semester 1, I was glad we got to reiterate our knowledge during the lesson today as I feel as though it is a very important part of teaching. This is backed up by (Beauchamp, 2012, p100) when he states, “The ability of ICT to present ideas in a variety of ways can help to structure new experiences but only if you as the teacher have sufficient understanding on the area yourself.” Due to this, I am very pleased that my understanding surrounding multimodality has increased significantly. Multimodal texts include two or more semiotic systems, which include; Linguistic, Visual, Audio, Gestural and Spatial. As a student teacher I see the true importance of multimodal presentations, as they will captivate, engage and motivate children, this ensuring lessons stay memorable. This is something that I am very passionate about, as in future years when teaching I always want the children to remember the lessons that I have carried out, this letting me know that they have got the most out of what I have taught them.

Myself and my partner created an ActivInspire flipchart based around Literacy, which covered the Curriculum for Excellence outcome ‘Throughout the writing process, I can check that my writing makes sense”- LIT 1-23a. I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of this flipchart being child led if it was to be carried out, this meaning the children would learn by doing (Prandstatter, 2014). Our flipchart had a jungle theme and the animals included could be dragged into the middle of the screen and have an adjective wrote about them. After this, the last two pages contained lines where all the children would come up individually and write a sentence about the animals and setting, along with including the adjectives that they had wrote. All the sentences would have the flow to make one story, this meaning children would have to thoroughly check their writing to make sure that what they were saying fitted in well with what others had wrote – this matched with the outcome that we had used perfectly. From creating an ActivInspire flipchart I am now able to identify how much the Curriculum benefits from multimodal presentations. This is because of all the different ideas it gave me from mathematics to art lessons, this showing me that learners can benefit from multimodal presentations in any subject.

Therefore, I am now aware how important multimodality is within education, and how it can fit into any area within the Curriculum. I am excited for future placements and years of being a teacher to be able to prepare lessons on resources such as ActivInspire as I feel as though it will captivate all learners through the pictures, sounds, text etc that can be used on it. From my last placement I identified how much children like to be in control of their learning through seeing their excitement of writing on the smartboard or the whiteboard. From this I am going to ensure, where appropriate, that a lot of my lessons are child led.

References:

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.

Prandstatter, J. (2014) Interactive Displays in Early Years Classes. [Online] Available: http://connectlearningtoday.com/interactive-displays-early-years-classes/ [accessed 24 January 2017]

Digital Technologies – Week 1

Within today’s introductory session of Digital Technologies, we as learners reflected upon what digital technology is, the importance of using digital technologies as prospering student teachers in schools and navigating Glow by using our own digital skills. At the beginning of the module, the question: “What do you think Digital Technology is all about?” was …

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At the beginning of the module, the question: “What do you think Digital Technology is all about?” was asked of us by our lecturer. With previous knowledge and understanding of a former discussion I had with a peer, my answer was “Digital Technology is a way in which a young persons learning can be portrayed in a new and modern method. Following on from to our own personal answer and opinion as to what we thought Digital Technologies was, we were given the Scottish Government’s definition of what Digital Technology is. described as “A digital learning and teaching strategy for Scotland.” This enabled me to widen my understanding of digital technology and what lies ahead within my learning journey along the course of this module.

Within the workshop, a worksheet was issued to us, where we were to complete an honest review upon our strengths and weaknesses within our digital skills. In reflection upon my strengths, I found that my skills lie within digital platforms such as: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Throughout my years of schooling, these particular platforms were made mandatory through the different aspects of my learning which enabled my digital technology skills to Excel. This meant I was able to take these strengths I portray to University and beyond my teaching career.

In order to increase our awareness towards the use of Digital Technology within education establishments, we were directed to: “The national Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (2016).” The strategy highlighted the importance of improving education in Scotland in order to give young people the best chances in life through the use of: “The National Improvement Framework” and the “Scottish Education Delivery Plan”. It links Digital Technology to this improvement plan in highly enriching education across the Curriculum in Scotland’s education. Through reflection on this document, it can be noted that digital technology not only develops a young learners skills and digital learning, but also the confidence in their use of technology. In this way, teachers and educators are given the flexibility within their practice to incorporate digital technology within their learning establishments, in order to aid young people to gain skills for life, learning and work, which is highly regarded within the Curriculum for Excellence. In terms of this, the wider economy will benefit by digital technologies incorporation into learning at an early stage in life, as their future workforce will be fully equipped with the skills and knowledge for a range of different sectors involving ICT. The Scottish Government (2016), stated that digital technologies are also aimed to “encourage educators to share innovative and effective practice through digital platforms”. I found it extremely interesting that not only young learners can benefit from digital technology. Parents/carers may see value within digital technology through communicating with their children’s school and supporting their learning.

Overall, I found it extremely insightful when looking into the benefits and value of incorporating digital technology within the Scottish Curriculum for young learners. Not only does it foster creativity, ambition and spark interest for life long learning, but it improves the attainment gap, in which it provides every young person with the same opportunities within their learning experience. This helps to promote equality amongst the children and will further widen their skills for life, learning and work. I am confident that I will enjoy this module and I am eager to see what lies ahead within my digital learning experiences.

References

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing learning and teaching through the use of digital technology. [Online]. Available from: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/391375/mod_resource/content/2/Digital%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Strategy%20.pdf

[Accessed: 20 January 2018].