Month: February 2018

Reflecting on mobile devices and how they have enhanced throughout the years, was brought tom attention recently. Many questions have been brought to the horizon whether mobile devices should be used in education. The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) state that “technology such as game consoles and smartphones are playing an important role in primary-aged children’s education.”

As a learner in mobile devices I believe that they are the new way to engaging children’s attention spans for longer. I also believe that the many applications that you can access from the different stores can help and aid with many situations including education and educational games.

As an educator, I have mixed emotions whether or not mobile devices should be incorporated into the education system and whether not they will enrich children’s learning or if they will distract children.

Challenges that could be faced with mobile devices is the distraction of children due to the applications that include message and fictive etc. This could challenge educators to come up with a solution on how we could resolve this problem and try and make them for an education purpose and nothing more.

When teachers across the board were asked whether they think mobile devices should be in education or not. 39% of teachers stated that children should not have access to mobile phones, while 29% declared that they should have access. Teachers and educators know that children preference for technology both at home and at school is evolving quickly, just as the same rate of technology changing at a rapid speed.

References:

Children’s Parliament (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland: The View’s of Children

[Online] http://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/REPORT_digital-learning-consultation_Childrens-Parliament-1.pdf [Accessed: 21.2.18]

CFE Technologies: Experiences and Outcomes

Animation can be used in schools to portray lessons across the curricular, varying from mathematics to art and design. Beauchamp states that ‘young children do not seperate experiences into different compartments. ICT  is not viewed as a seperate ‘subject’ but something that contributed to all areas of learning’ (2015).

As a learner, I enjoyed the interactive element as it created an element of focus and engagement, it also helped to have the visual representation there as it allowed the illustrations to process better for me personally.

As an educator delivering this lesson, confidence would be the key to portraying it well and effectively. To be able to conquer this we should ensure that we have the computer or other devices set up and prepared before the children enter the classroom but also ensuring we have back up equipment incase the technology does not work.

Curriculum for excellence states that “Throughout all my learning, I can use search facilities of electronic sources to access ad retrieve information, recognising the importance this has in my place of learning, at home and in the workplace” (TCH 2-03b).

References:

›Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: From Pedagogy top Practice. Pearson.

CFE Technologies: Experiences and Outcomes

Movies can be beneficial for classrooms and as the Scottish Government states ’‘There is conclusive evidence that digital equipment, tools and resources can, where effectively used, raise the speed and depth of learning in science and mathematics for primary and secondary age learners’ (Scottish Government, 2015).

As a learner, movie making abled us to work in teams which made it more fun and engaging, once elaborated it then turned into a cinema setting where we were handed popcorn and juice etc which is something that can be incorporated into lesson preparation.

As an educator doing this programme it showed me that Movie Making can be used throughout many curricular areas such as Health and Wellbeing, Numeracy and literacy. It can also help children develop practical and functional skills, critical thinking skills, awareness of e-safety, collaboration skills, ability to find and select information, effective communication and finally creativity.

The curriculum for Excellence suggests that first and second level enables the child to “extend and enhance [my] knowledge of features of various types of software, including those which help find, organise, manage and access information, I can apply what I learn in different situations” (TCH 1-03a/TCH 2-03a).

References:

›The Scottish Government (2015) Literature Review on the Impact of Digital Technology on Learning and Teaching.  [Online] http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/24843/1/00489224.pdf [Accessed: 5.2.18]

CFE Technologies: Experiences and Outcomes

eBooks are recent into the school environment, but can be very beneficial. They are defined as “an electronic version of a printed books which can be read on a computer or a specifically designed handheld devices’ (Oxford Dictionary).

Texts can be more than just books and printed, as listed below these are examples of texts that are stated from the curriculum for excellence: Novels, short stories, plays, poems, spoken word, charts, maps, graphs, newspapers, CV’s, letters, emails, films, games, TV programmes, labels, recipes, text messages, social networking sites, web pages and directions. These are the most popular forms of texts in the 21st century.

As a learner, I believe that eBooks have an advantage over printed books personally as it keeps the reader engaged due to the different qualities such as audio reading where the eBook reads to you while you listen. Personally it enables me to relax and listen to the book and visualise the content of the novel.

As an educator it was brought to my attention that eBooks are more interactive and can be used through many different devices such as; computers, iPads and mobile devices which allows the children to stay engaged for a longer period of time as they are participating in a classroom setting by using the application of Book Creator, this allows children to create their own eBooks on the devices.

Curriculum for Excellence states that by using eBooks it enables to “enhance [my] learning by applying my ICT skills in different learning contexts across the curriculum” (TCH 3-04a).

References:

CFE Technologies: Experiences and Outcomes