This week in Digital Technologies we continued to look at Games-Based Learning, and in particular we looked at the video game Minecraft. I was apprehensive at playing the game, as it was something I had never played before. Thankfully, we had a group of Digital Leaders from a local primary school to show us how to use Minecraft.

Before the pupils arrived, we watched a few YouTube videos to show us what Minecraft was, the aim of the game, and the basic tools on how to create a Minecraft World. At first, it looked very complicated and confusing, as the graphics did not seem to be very modern. However, there are many children in today’s society that play Minecraft frequently so I tried to have an open mind whilst exploring the game. According to Magbook (2014) “Minecraft is a worldwide phenomenon. Since it was first released back in 2011, it’s been taken to the hearts of thousands and thousands of gamers.” The Digital Leaders from a local primary school arrived and they showed us how to use it and what creations they had made. The pupils created various objects such as scenes from Harry Potter, shops, and houses. If they are in the same room, they can share their worlds with each other to see what they have created. There are so many possibilities and I thought it was a great stimulus for their imagination. The pupils explained that Minecraft can be used for literacy, technology, health and wellbeing, and many topic areas such as the Romans, Titanic, or the Egyptians. The task for the day was to design a World by creating objects using Minecraft.

Video games are extremely popular in today’s society. Ofcom Report (2011) states that “gaming is hugely popular in the UK with almost 86% of 5-7 year old children and 90% of 8-11 year old children using gaming devices regularly.” As a student teacher, I think it is important to integrate Games-Based Learning into the classroom. As Ofcom suggests, children are using their gaming devices regularly, therefore teachers should embed it within their learning. It will keep pupils interested in the task at hand, it is something they relate to from out of school and it can stimulate creativity.  Beauchamp (2012, p.9) suggests that “Children spend most of their time on games not found in schools.” However, if schools introduced games to children during a lesson, they may start to use it outside of school and this can have an great educational impact on them. Bray (2012) suggests that “in a classroom setting, games  should not just be used as rewards or for entertainment  but as a whole new approach to learning.” The game part is only a small part of the task, but if the game is introduced as a stimulus and is then followed by a task, the children are more likely to be engaged and enthusiastic. In addition to this, Beauchamp (2012, p10) states that there are many skills that could be enhanced by playing ICT games such as strategic thinking, planning, communication, application of numbers, negotiating skills, group decision-making and data handling skills. All of these skills are very important and can benefit the child’s learning.

Links to Experiences and Outcomes:

“I can communicate clearly when engaging with others within and beyond my place of learning, using selected resources as required. “LIT 1-10a

“As I play and learn, I enjoy exploring interesting materials for writing and different ways of recording my experiences and feelings, ideas and information.” LIT 0-21b

“In everyday activity and play, I explore and make choices to develop my learning and interests. I am encouraged to use and share my experiences.” HWB 0-19

(Education Scotland, 2004)

“I can explore and experiment with sketching, manually or digitally, to represent ideas in different learning contexts.” TCH 1-11a

(Education Scotland, 2016)

After exploring Minecraft, I have found that it is a great game for stimulating the imagination. It enhances so many valuable skills in pupils that can be applied to many curricular subjects. Video games are played by children outside of school so by using them in class it would keep them engaged and interested in the topic. It was interesting to gain the knowledge of primary school children and I learned a lot of valuable information from them. Games-Based Learning is something I would use in my classroom because it is important to keep subjects interesting and make the learning enjoyable.

References

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

Bray, O. (2012) Playful Learning: Computer Games in Education. [Online] Available: https://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/playful-learning-computer-games-in-education [Accessed: 19th March 2018]

Education Scotland (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy and English. Experiences and Outcomes.[Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/literacy-english-eo.pdf [Accessed: 19th March 2018]

Education Scotland (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Health and Wellbeing. Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/health-and-wellbeing-eo.pdf [Accessed: 19th March 2018]

Education Scotland (2016) Curriculum for Excellence: Technologies. Experiences and Outcomes. [Online]Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/Technologies-es-os.pdf [Accessed: 19th March 2018]

Ofcom (2001) Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes [Online] Available: https://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/playful-learning-computer-games-in-education [Accessed: 19th March 2018]

MagBook (2014) How to Do Everything in Minecraft.

Pixabay. [Online] Available: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/?q=minecraft&hp=&image_type=all&order=popular&cat=&min_width=&min_height= [Accessed: 19th March 2018]

This week in Digital Technologies, we learned about animation by using the applications, Puppet Pals and iStop Motion. Firstly, we looked at Puppet Pals on the iPad. As a pair, we had to create a fairy tale story using the Puppet Pals application. Personally, it took a little while to familiarise myself with how to change the scene and move the characters in and out of a different scene. Although, once I was familiar with the concept of it, I thought it was a really useful tool, as children can talk and record the story whilst moving the characters. It was really effective. It would be something I would use in my classroom.

iStop motion was the other animated application we looked at today. I also found this slightly tricky to use at first but after playing around with it for five or ten minutes it became fairly straight forward to use. Jarvis (2005) suggests that “Animation involves the stringing together a sequence of static images, generally so that they appear to move.” We used lego to create a space story, using only music and pictures. By combining these together it created an animated video. The only drawback is that it is very time consuming.

However, animation has a “big visual impact” (Jarvis, 2005). Using cut out animation is the easiest technique to begin with. “Animation breathes life into something that would not normally move (Moving Image Education). There are five main types of animation according to Moving Image Education : Cut out which is the quickest and easiest; iStop motion for example using plasticine models; pixilation where humans become puppets; drawings for example the Disney animation; and computer such as games and movie. Animation can be used to enhance learning. Bertrancourt (2005) suggests that there are three easy that animation can do this. It can enhance the learners’ visual representation, it illustrates information processes and it can provide an interactive element. I think animation should be used in classrooms as it has many benefits to a child’s learning. Technology is changing at a rapid pace in today’s society, and Beauchamp (2012, p 66) feels that “ICT equipment is part of pupils’ everyday life, so should be part of their everyday play.” I think this is vital for children as technology will keep them interested in their task as it is something they use everyday. ICT allows children to create things that they would not be able to achieve in any other way. e-Inclusion also uses digital technologies to help children with learning difficulties and minimises the problems they face with this. In addition to this, teachers must be confident with using digital technologies. As technology grows teachers may be worried by new technologies so it is important that they do not pass this onto young children, as they should be exploring these new technologies (Beauchamp, 2012).

Experiences & outcomes for animation:

“I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts.” TCH 1-01a  (Education Scotland, 2016)

“I can use a range of graphic techniques, manually and digitally, to communicate ideas, concepts or products, experimenting with the use of shape, colour and texture to enhance my work.” TCH 2-11a  (Education Scotland, 2016)

“I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.” LIT 0-01c (Education Scotland, 2004)

“I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience.” LIT 1-20a / LIT 2-20a    (Education Scotland, 2004)

Overall, I enjoyed using Puppet Pals and iStop Motion on the iPads to create stories. I think it is a very beneficial tool for the classroom. However, iStop Motion is very time consuming so this is something that as a teacher I would have to be mindful of when creating a task. It is something I would use often in the classroom even though I think it is a fun and useful application.

References

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

Education Scotland (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy and English. Experience and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/literacy-across-learning-eo.pdf [Accessed: 28th February 2018]

Education Scotland (2016) Curriculum for Excellence: Technologies Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/Technologies-es-os.pdf [Accessed: 28th February 2018]

›Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom: A Very practical Guide for Teachers and Lecturers. Routledge.

›Moving Image Education. [Online] Available:  https://movingimageeducation.org/create-films/animation [Accessed: 28th February 2018]

In our Digital Technologies class today, we learned about the importance of internet safety. It is a pressing issue within society and children must be made aware of these issues and know what to do if something goes wrong. It is vital that children know who they are talking with on the internet and the dangers of the internet.

The aim of today was to create a story through iMovie, sending a message of online safety. According to Beauchamp (2012) “the key idea [is] that e-safety is not about restricting children, but about educating them.” It is vital that children can approach their parents/teachers/carers with any issues that arise around the internet. In society today, the internet plays a prominent role in children’s lives, therefore it is important that if they use the internet that they be safe whilst online. The most successful schools will ensure that pupils know what to do when things go wrong (Beauchamp, 2012).

iMovie is a great application for children to create digital stories. Porter (2004) suggests that digital storytelling begins with the notion of sharing a story digitally through  imagery, text, sound, voice, music, video and animation.  This will be the principle hobby of the people in the world today.  I think digital applications such as iMovie are great for children’s imagination. It allows them to create whatever they want in whichever way they want to.  Literacy skills, practical skills and communication skills  can be improved by using Digital Technology. “The digital environment provides a unique opportunity to empower people of all ages to manipulate, combine and distribute their self-expressions as living stories that can be sent into the world and through time (Porter, 2004, p 35).

For our assessment, we created a trailer based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. In our trailer Little Red Riding Hood was texting who she thought was her Gran. However, it was actually the big, bad Wolf. Little Red Riding Hood was not aware of this and continued to text the Wolf and they agreed to meet. She then realised it was not her Gran she was texting all along.  In this case, Gran’s phone had been stolen and someone else was pretending to be her.  This conveys that not everyone you speak to online is who they say they are. At the end of the trailer, there is advice on what children should do if someone they do not know is contacting them. They should speak to their parent/guardian/carer, visit the CEOP or childline website for advice.

Digital technology is a great tool and can be very useful in helping with literacy, numeracy, and health and wellbeing. The Scottish Government (2015) go further and state that there is indicative evidence that the same can be said for some aspects of literacy, especially writing and comprehension. Digital technologies appear to be the appropriate means to improve basic literacy and numeracy skills, especially in primary settings. However, it is important to acknowledge that things can go wrong online. As teachers, we must be a role model for children and ensure we gain children’s trust so that they are able to come to us if something does go wrong.

Overall, I think iMovie was another great tool that can be used in the classroom. It allows children to be creative by creating stories on the iPad. It is a different from the traditional pen and paper for writing a story, however it can be just as effective. They can use video recording, pictures and add sound effects and also add props and dress up for it too.  It gives them the opportunity to act out a story and create their own dialogue. It’s literacy in the modern way. This would give them the inspiration to create their story then write it down, as they created it themselves. I would definitely use this in my classroom as I think it would be very effective. It also covers the health and well-being topic to ensure children stay safe online.

The Curriculum of Excellence experience and outcomes for this subject:

“I can extend my knowledge of how to use digital technology to communicate with others and I am aware of ways to keep safe and secure.” TCH 1-03a  (Education Scotland, 2016)

“I can explore online communities demonstrating an understanding of responsible digital behaviour and I’m aware of how to keep myself safe and secure.” TCH 2-03a  (Education Scotland, 2016)

As I play and learn, I enjoy exploring interesting materials for writing and different ways of recording my experiences and feelings, ideas and information. LIT 0-21a  (Education Scotland, 2004)

Videos & Pictures

References

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

Education Scotland (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy and English Experiences & Outcomes [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/literacy-english-eo.pdf [Accessed: 13th February 2018]

Education Scotland (2016) Curriculum for Excellence: Technologies Experiences & Outcomes [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/Technologies-es-os.pdf [Accessed: 13th February 2018]

›Porter, B. (2004) Digi Tales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories. Bernajean Porter Publication.

›The Scottish Government (2015) Literature Review on the Impact of Digital Technology on Learning and Teaching. [Online] Available:  http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/24843/1/00489224.pdf [Accessed: 13th February 2018]

In our fifth week of Digital Technologies, we learned how to use the application Book Creator on the iPads and the benefits of using an eBook for children and educators. Today we had to complete an assessment where we had to create two eBooks. The first one we created was Life as a Student at UWS. The second eBook was to create the summary of a well-known children’s book. I thought it would be a very challenging assessment as I had never used the eBook application before.

The Oxford dictionary defines an eBook as ” an electronic version of a printed book which can be read on a computer or a specifically designed handheld device” (Oxford Dictionary, 2018). Book Creator is an easy way of making your own eBooks through an application on the iPad. It is a very useful tool that can make different books such as, children’s picture books, comic books, textbooks and many more. There are many benefits of using eBooks. According to Beauchamp (2012, p81) “eBooks use many modes of communication which includes visual representation, sound, movement, gesture and language.” It is a great way of communication with others as it has various tools available. Moreover, it can also provide personalisation. By allowing pupils to write down their thoughts and feelings in a variety of ways. For example, they can write, record sound and video, draw, and even combine them together. This depends on their age and ability (Beauchamp, 2012, p101). Ebooks are considered to be multimodal as they combine two or more semiotic systems. Altogether there are five semiotic systems which are linguistic, visual, audio, gestural and spatial. By using eBooks this covers all of these semiotic systems. Another advantage of an eBook is “being small and highly portable with very small power requirements, eBook readers and tablets work in a tremendous range of environments” (Jarvis, 2005, p146-7). This is especially useful for children as they can take their device outside the classroom and use it to take pictures or record videos or sound. This is something I can relate to as I went around the UWS campus taking pictures, videos and sounds whilst creating our eBook. According to Education Scotland (2009), when planning for learning in any curriculum area it is important for practitioners to make sure that children have access and encounter a wide range of texts of different types, in different media. Examples of texts are novels, short stories, poems, CVs, letters, emails, graphs, timetables, films, games, reviews, text messages and so much more.

The Experience and Outcomes for this task  are:

TCH 1-01a “I can explore no experiment with digital technologies no can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts.”  (Education Scotland, 2016)

TCH 0-11a ” I explore and discover different ways of representing ideas in imaginative ways.”

(Education Scotland, 2016)

LIT 0-21b ” As I play and learn, I enjoy exploring interesting materials for writing and different ways f recording my experiences and feelings, ideas and information”     (Education Scotland, 2004)

Overall, I think that eBooks have many advantages in the classroom and are very useful for developing literacy skills as well their technology skills. Book Creator is a very flexible, easy tool to use and is easily accessible. Book Creator allows children to use their imagination and record their ideas and thoughts. EBooks can also be used as a teaching tool and therefore children can be left to follow instructions on their own. This can improve their problem solving skills. This is also useful for the educator as one group could be working on the eBook whilst the teacher focuses on another group.  I would definitely use this tool in the classroom. I found the assessment task challenging today as there was a lot to do in the time we had but I enjoyed the challenge and learned something new that I could use in a classroom.

References

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

Education Scotland (2009) Building the Curriculum 4. [Online] Available: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/288517/0088239.pdf [Accessed: 6th February 2018].

Education Scotand (2004) Curriculum for Excellence: Literacy and English. Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/literacy-english-eo.pdf  [Accessed 6th February 2018].

Education Scotand (2016) Curriculum for Excellence: Technologies. Experiences and Outcomes. [Online] Available:  https://education.gov.scot/Documents/Technologies-es-os.pdf  [Accessed: 6th February 2018].

Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for Using ICT in the Classroom: A Very Practical Guide for Teachers and Lecturers. Routledge

OxFord Dictioary (2018) [Online] Available: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/e-book  [Accessed: 6th February].

In our fourth week of Digital Technologies, we looked at the concept of coding using the Scratch Jr application. Scratch Jr is an introductory programming language that allows children aged 5 and up to be creative and interactive by creating their own stories and games. Children can add programming blocks together to make characters move, sing and talk (ScratchJr, 2017).

When children create programs, it allows them to develop their creative thinking skills, logical reasoning skills, problem solving skills and their collaboration skills (Scratch Jr, 2017). “Scratch was developed for young people to help them develop creative learning skills for the 21st century” (Scratch, 2017). According to The Lead Project (2014), “Scratch is designed for exploration and experimentation, so it supports any different learning style.” It can help support teachers in many different subjects such as maths, literacy, art, music and information technology (The Lead Project, 2014). The ability to code computer programs is a vital part of literacy in society today. Some people believe that coding is the new literacy. Coding can aid people in learning important strategies for problem solving, the communicating  ideas and designing projects (The Lead Project, 2014).

The aim of today was to complete an assessment by creating our own adventure story using Scratch Jr on the iPads. Initially I thought it would be a challenging task. However, after following the activity card instructions on how to move characters, change the backgrounds and add speech, it became easier to do. My activity started off with an under the sea theme with animals that live under the sea. I started off the story with a fish looking for his friend and the task for the children would be to write about what they think will happen next. As a teacher, I would also ask them about the animals that are in the story and what other animals could live under the sea. In addition to this, I would also ask questions about how the characters are feeling throughout the story and how that made them feel. This would give children ideas for writing their part of the story and open up their imagination, whilst also learning about animals that live under water.

The Experiences and Outcomes that are covered within this activity are:

“I can create, capture and manipulate sounds, text and images to communicate experiences, ideas and information in creative and engaging ways.” TCH 1-04b/2-04b, (Education Scotland, 2016)

“I enjoy  exploring events and characters I stories and other texts and I use what I learn to invent my own, sharing these with others in imaginative ways.” LIT 0-09b/LIT 0-31a,   (Education Scotland, 2004)

Codeacademy is another website that provides various coding languages. It can be easily accessed at school and at home. This means that children can log into the browser at school, log their progress and pick up where they left off. They would also be able to use this resource to set homework, do quizzes and play games.  In addition to this, teachers can use lesson plans for all levels throughout school and is an effective way of checking homework (Telegraph,2014). The ability to code computer programs is a vital part of literacy in society today. Some people believe that coding is the new literacy. Coding can aid in learning important strategies for problem solving, communication of ideas and designing projects (TESL-EJ, 2017).

Today was my first experience of coding, and I thought it would be really complex and difficult to understand. However, it turned out to be simple and straight forward as I followed the instruction cards. As a student teacher, I would use Scratch Jr in my classroom as it has many benefits for the children, and also for me as an educator.  It  would increase and improve the children’s imagination skills,  literacy and numeracy skills, problem solving skills, and logical skills. In addition to this, Scratch Jr can be tailored to any subject which is very useful and effective as a teacher.  As individuals we must keep up with the digital technology that is readily available to us. In education, we should use this to our advantage to ensure that children grow up understanding how to use technology surrounding them and not be afraid to use it. Overall, Scratch Jr is easy to use, is readily available on the internet browser and is free to use. It is an effective resource for the classroom.

References

Education Scotland (2004) Curriculum for Excellence : Literacy and English. Experiences and Outcomes.  [Online] Available:  https://education.gov.scot/Documents/literacy-english-eo.pdf [Accessed : 30th January 2018]

Education Scotland (2016) Curriculum for Excellence : Technologies. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/Technologies-es-os.pdf [Accessed : 30th January 2018]

Scratch (2017). [Online] Available: https://scratch.mit.edu/ [Accessed: 30th January 2018]

Scratch Jr (2017). [Online] Available:  https://www.scratchjr.org/teach/activities  [Accessed:30th January 2018]

Telegraph (2014) Teaching our children to code: a quiet revolution [Online] Available:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10410036/Teac…[Accessed: 30th January 2018]

TESL-EJ (2017) [Online] Available:  http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume21/ej82/ej82int/ [Accessed : 30th January 2018]

›The Lead Project (2014) Super Scratch Programming Adventure: Learn to Program by Making Cool Games! No Starch Press.