Tuesday 22nd January 2019
“Multimodality involves the complex interweaving of word, image, gesture and movement, and sound, including speech. These can be combined in different ways and presented through a range of media.”
(Bearne, E. And Wolstencroft, H. 2007, P1)
Today’s class was all about multimodality and how beneficial the multimodality of technology can be when used in the classroom. Multimodality is when a form of communication contains two or more of the five semiotic systems. The semiotic systems are:
- Linguistic – the use of words
- Visual – the use of pictures and colour
- Audio – the use of sound
- Gestural – the use of speed and movement
- Spatial – the way you organise and position your design and layout.
The ways in which education is taught today has advanced massively since I was at school (which I know was a long time ago) but since I have left school the advancements within technology specifically have ensured that teaching can now be delivered in many different and interesting ways. It can also be beneficial and appeal to all children, no matter their learning abilities because combining the semiotic systems allows the teacher to make the lesson more fun, creative, motivating, inspiring, interactive and dynamic.
“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, p.8)
When I was at school the best form of digital technology available to us was an overhead projector and even this was only used on special occasions. Today’s children are growing up in a world full of digital technology, from easily accessible technology in their homes such as computers, phones and the internet, to school where most children have access to smartboards, IWB (Interactive Whiteboards) and iPad’s. With this comes the problem of children being more digitally aware than the teachers, which in turn can result in teachers maybe shying away from certain technology for the fear they are unsure how to work it. However, with the introduction of ‘The Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy’ by the Scottish Government, it is hopefully ensuring teachers are going to be given the opportunity to sufficient training to help overcome their digital technology fears (Scottish Government, 2016). With this in mind I feel the Digital Technologies module is going to help me immensely with my teaching career as three weeks in I have already been introduced to forms of technology I have never worked with before and I look forward to exploring what else is this module has instore for me.
A form of multimodality we were to specifically look at today was Activinspire, which is a software that can be used to develop slides that can be presented to the class through an IWB. It allows children to be interactive with a lesson as they can be involved with the design of the slides, they can also adapt the slides to see their progression throughout and it encourages children to learn by doing. Although I see myself as someone who can grasp things quite quickly, I really struggled with this software, naively I went in thinking it was really similar to power point, but I was wrong. Activinspire has a lot more to offer from the vast range of different icons and tools to being able to import videos and voice recordings. Having spent most of my time in class navigating around the activinspire software I was still struggling to use it to its full potential. Luckily one of my class members came to my aid and helped me with some of the parts I was struggling with and showed me easier ways of using the software and how to make it look more appealing. Which I was very grateful for and showed that if we all work together to enhance our abilities and support each other through our University experience, we will become successful learners and educators.
In my activinspire flipchart I decided to carry on the theme from my Bee-Bot activity and keep it to recycling. I thought I could expand on it a little by making it a step up from the Bee-Bot task and make it interactive by adding sounds when the rubbish was being put in the bin and also so children could see the action of the rubbish actually being put in the bin. The pictures of the bins were more relevant to real life and what children would see in their homes and at school. The task was for children to choose a piece of rubbish that was placed around the screen, they had to decide for themselves what bin the rubbish belonged to,they then had to drag the piece of rubbish to the bin and place it inside. The experiences and outcomes that relate to this activity would include:
TCH 0-06a
To help care for the environment, I reduce, reuse and recycle the resources I use.
(Education Scotland n.d. P309)
TCH 1-09a
I can recognise a variety of materials and suggest an appropriate material for a specific use.
(Education Scotland n.d. P310)
TCH 0-15a
I can develop a sequence of instructions and run them using programmable devices or equivalent.
(Education Scotland n.d. P312)
Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take pictures of this task as I was unable to download the software on my own computer, I had to use one from the University and forgetting this I handed the laptop back in without taking pictures. Nevertheless, I have learned from that mistake and will ensure I am always taking pictures as I go through my tasks and not leave it till the end.
In conclusion, I feel as though I am slowly getting used to navigating my way around glow and getting the hang of all the new technologies that are being shown to us. I now understand how some teachers chose to shy away from digital technology as it can be quite daunting and time consuming trying to get your head around a new piece of software alone never mind with a class of thirty children. However, as I stated earlier, I believe getting to explore them at this stage will definitely build my confidence and allow me to figure out where my weak points are, which in turn gives me the chance to know where I need to put the extra work in. Having in depth knowledge of different technologies will also allow me to keep my teaching skills interesting and engaging and it is always good to have tricks up your sleeve in case you have a challenging class.
Deborah ♥
References
Bearne, E. and Wolstencroft, H. (2007) Visual Approaches to Teaching Writing Multimodal Literacy 5-11. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School; From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson Education Limited.
Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf[Accessed:8 January 2019].
Scottish Government. (2016). A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. [Online] Available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/enhancing-learning-teaching-through-use-digital-technology/pages/2/. [Accessed: 05 January 2019].
