Week 11 – The End

Tuesday 19th March 2019

I am sad to say this will be my final post.  My digital technologies module journey has come to an end, these past twelve weeks have been filled with valuable information, new ideas, frustration and laughter.  This module has truly opened up my eyes to the endless possibilities of technology and has given me inspiration to successfully teach ICT within the classroom.  Digital Technology is such a massive part of education today and one of the reasons I am so glad I chose this module, looking back on my first post, it is obvious I did not comprehend how large a scale digital technology is.  Coming here I thought I was going to learn the basics of ICT; never did I realise the amount of different software I would be introduced to.

Every week has been filled with exciting and interesting software that I have never or had very little experiences with.  Having not only been given the chance to research these programmes but to experiment and create with them has been paramount to my learning within this module and has helped me expand skills that I will be able to take into teaching with me.  We have been shown software that can be used across all stages of learning and across all benchmarks within the Curriculum for Excellence, a chance I do not think would be possible in other modules and  since the need to become, ‘digitally literate in an ever-expanding digitised world’  (Scottish Government, 2016)I believe learning about these now, will benefit me a great deal when starting out in my teaching career.

Although I have gained a vast amount of knowledge on this module, I know I still have a lot of work to do, especially with the ever-expanding world of technology. Even in a couple of months there will be new technology that everyone will have to get their heads around never mind in three year’s time, and as Prensky would describe me as a “digital immigrant” (Prensky, 2001), I realise in terms of technology my training will never be complete.  However, I am not afraid of hard work and I realise the more work and time I put in to expanding my digital knowledge the more confident I will become when dealing with ICT.  I came into teaching to hopefully inspire the children in my class to learn and I feel now with the skills and ideas I have gained from this module I will be able to make that happen.

Lastly, I could not finish this blog without thanking the people who made this module so enjoyable.  My fellow class members and of course our lecturer Rae, they have been fantastic, the support and guidance from all of them has been brilliant and has encouraged me to be able to perform to the best of my abilities.  I look forward to hopefully working with all of them throughout the rest of my time at University and possibly longer.

Deborah ♥

References:

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.MCB University Press.

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].

 

Week 10 – Outdoor Learning and QR Codes

 

Tuesday 12th March 2019

This week’s class was all about outdoor learning and the use of QR codes to help promote learning.  QR code stands for ‘Quick Response’ code and is an image-based hypertext link. Basically, it is a 2-dimensional barcode that you can scan using a QR reader or the camera on your smartphone and it links you to a piece of text, images, instructions, websites, maps and much more.  I have used QR codes a lot throughout my working life, so I am familiar with how they work and excited about exploring them in today’s class and relating them to outdoor learning.

“Outdoor learning experiences are often remembered for a lifetime. Integrating learning and outdoor experiences, whether through play in the immediate grounds or adventures further afield, provides relevanceand depthto the curriculum in ways that are difficult to achieve indoors.”  (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2010).  I firmly agree with this quote as some of my best memories of growing up are playing outside with my sister and my friends.  Even now with my own children, our best days out are the ones spent at the beach or park.  However, I feel in schools outdoor learning can be pushed aside easily if the weather is not the best, adults are the worst for not wanting to get wet, whereas children could not care less.  They love nothing more than splashing in puddles, trudging through mud and making adventures outside.  We as adults just need to start wrapping up warm, stick on our wellies and start thinking like children and realise the fun that awaits outdoors.  “…the outdoor environment encourages staff and students to see each other in a different light, building positive relationships and improving self-awareness and understanding of others.” (Education Scotland,2010).

The task for today was to create a treasure hunt using QR codes, it could take any route you wanted, the only rule was to use QR codes.  My group decided to go for a ‘getting to know you’ task, we had to make our lesson a miniature version of what it would originally be as we would not have had enough time to do everyone in class with the amount of time we were given. We thought this would have been a great lesson for children either just starting school or starting a new class year. The idea was for every person to have their own individual QR code which would have a profile about them containing a picture of themselves, their favourite animal, food, colour and if they had any siblings, (see picture below).  Once everyone had a profile created, the idea was for everyone to go around each person, scanning their QR code, ask questions about the person and find out if they had anything in common.  We made a worksheet (see picture below) for the children to collect letters that were in some people’s profiles to spell out a word, to ensure there was an actual end goal and it did not just end up in a group of friends chatting amongst each other.  Unfortunately, we were unable to take this lesson outside the classroom today due to the time restraints, but if we were in a school, we would have had the children going to ask the janitor, dinner ladies, head teacher etc.  Overall, I think the task went well, the group who tried our task out seemed to enjoy it especially since we gave them a reward at the end.  The experiences and outcomes this task covered were:

HWB 0-44a/ HWB 1-44a

I am aware of how friendships are formed and that likes, dislikes, special qualities and needs can influence relationships.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P44)

TCH 1-02a

Using digital technologies responsibly I can access, retrieve and use information to support, enrich or extend learning in different contexts.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P307)

   Once we had completed our lesson, we had to try out another groups treasure hunt.  The group we tried had created theirs in the form of a shopping list, where you had a certain amount of money and you had to figure how much you had left when you bought everything on the list.  They had codes all over the University and outside which was brilliant in promoting active learning and shows you can encourage children to go outdoors no matter what the object of your lesson is.

Overall, today was another class I thoroughly enjoyed, it was great seeing everyone’s different ideas and being able to take part in another group’s task.  QR codes are a great idea to use in schools especially with the intention to take the children outdoors and encourage them to explore their surroundings.  I am even planning on changing my annual Easter egg hunt for my children to QR codes instead of the regular boring clues I have done for the past nine years, fingers crossed it is not a disaster.

Deborah ♥

References:

Education Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning.

Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence.[Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf[Accessed:8 January 2019].

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning.

Week 9 – Games Based Learning

Tuesday 5th March 2019

Today’s class was all about games-based learning within the classroom and in particular Minecraft Education Edition.  I was a little apprehensive at first about this lesson as Minecraft is not something I have used or seen being used before.  Even though as explained, “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.” (How to do Everything in Minecraft, 2014, p3), I have only ever heard of people moaning about how their child is addicted or it is all the speak about.  However, after doing a little background reading and taking the time to download and explore the app, I was pleasantly surprised and can understand how it can become addictive.

Games based learning has so many positive possibilities for children and teachers, the skills children can learn and develop from ICT games are unbelievable.  Beauchamp, believes these skills to be:

  • Strategic Thinking
  • Planning
  • Communication
  • Application of Numbers
  • Negotiating Skills
  • Group decision-making
  • Data Handling Skills

(Beauchamp, 2012, P10)

I agree with Beauchamp and since watching my two children grow up I can see first-hand how much they learn through play.  When they were younger and they started playing with dolls and babies, I saw them develop their communication skills to today when on their iPads and playing games they are developing their decision-making and thinking skills.  One specific game I have noticed this with is ‘Sumdog’, this is a game my daughter plays both in school and at home.  She has been given her login details so she has the chance to expand her learning when at home, which she does, and I must admit it is a struggle to get her to stop playing sometimes. It is a mathematical game, but you can also develop a profile, where you can decorate rooms, collect pets and change your clothes. As you complete the challenges it gets harder which is also great as it is helping them develop their mathematics knowledge.

Our task today was to work in groups and plan an interdisciplinary lesson using Minecraft Education Edition.  I worked in the same group as I have done for the previous two tasks and felt this was the best option as we were all a little unsure of how exactly the software worked, meaning we could take our time and share our new findings with each other.  Although this task was limited to a two-hour timescale, we thought it would be best to take some time at the beginning to ‘play’ about with the app and watch some tutorial clips that were given to use by our lecturer.  These were very insightful and can be found here:

(Microsoft Studios, 2019)

(Shanyaski, S. 2017)

(Boss, S. 2018)

Once we had got our heads around the basics and explored Minecraft, we started on our lesson plan.  We thought since Minecraft is all about survival and developing that we would aim our lesson around renewable energy.  We thought that within the classroom the children would all have an iPad each and work in small groups, with a group building homes with the addition of solar panels, another building wind turbines and also creating water wheels. The possibilities are endless and would encourage children to develop ideas that you would never have thought of, and as Bray (2012) states, “Games-based Learning has the most transformational impact when it is combined with good learning and teaching.”  We realised this would not just be a single lesson it would have to be months of work researching and discovering the different forms of energy to figure out how they work.  Obviously, this lesson would be aimed at second level children due to the previous educational attributes required for the task.  With this in mind we chose four experiences and outcomes that related most to our lesson and also the level the children would be at.  They are:

HWB 0-14a -4-14a

I value the opportunities I am given to make friends and be part of a group in a range of situations.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P14)

 TCH 2-07a

I can make suggestions as to how individuals and organisations may use technologies to support sustainability and reduce impact on our environment.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P309)

 SOC 2-08a

I can discuss the environmental impact of human activity and suggest ways in which we can live in a more environmentally responsible way.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P287)

 MTH 2-17d

Having investigated where, why and how scale is used and expressed, I can apply my understanding to interpret simple models maps and plans.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P205)

Once everyone had their lesson plan finished, we had to present it to the other class members.  This was very interesting as we were able to find out other people’s ideas and all of the ideas were brilliant.  Members of the class are a lot younger than me and have grew up with Minecraft, so they had extensive knowledge of how Minecraft works, and their ideas were amazing. I learned more in-depth possibilities of the Minecraft software just from listening to my classmates, which just goes to show that sharing our ideas will help us to become better educators.

In conclusion, todays class was a strange one, I am still unsure if I like Minecraft or not.  I think this is mainly down to the fact I still cannot work it and I believe this would take a lot of spare time to grasp a deeper knowledge of all the ins and outs of the software.  However, I believe it would be a great tool to use in class and would interest the children, so with that in mind I am definitely going to spend more time exploring the app to allow me the chance to use Minecraft when I become a teacher.

Deborah ♥

References:

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

Boss, S. (2018) The Best Starter/Survival House For Beginners! – Minecraft Tutorial (EASY!) [Online] Available: https://youtu.be/rdqP2IPb_lw [Accessed: 5 March 2019].

Bray, O. (2012) Playful Learning: Computer Games in Education. [Online] Available: https://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/playful-learning-computer-games-in-education[Accessed: 5 March 2019]

Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence.[Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf[Accessed:8 January 2019].

MagBook (2014) How to Do Everything in Minecraft

Microsoft Studios. (2019) Minecraft Education Edition. [Online] Available: https://education.minecraft.net[Accessed: 5 March 2019].

Shanyaski, S. (2017) Minecraft PE on iPad & iPhone basic getting started walkthrough in survival mode [Online] Available: https://youtu.be/EyeqrKKi0SU[Accessed: 5 March 2019].

 

 

 

Week 8 – Animation Part 2

Tuesday 26th February 2019

Today’s lesson is part two of animation and I am very excited, I have spent all week making sure I’ve got all the resources we need, and eventually I finished all my hand-made items.  As you know form last week, we have to create an animation using iStopMotion, the animation had to involve one of the following:

  • recreate a historical event
  • represent a geographical process e.g. glaciation, volcanic eruption
  • recreate a real-life scenario e.g. going to the dentist, shopping
  • explain a mathematical principle.

My group decided to focus our animation around a natural disaster in the form of a tsunami, we agreed that this would be a great lesson for children if they were learning about natural disasters.  Children would be encouraged to discuss ideas and plan how to create their animation, by using storyboards and talking like we did. They would have to do some research into the causes, aftermath and devastation a tsunami can cause and if there are any ways to prevent such a disaster.  In doing this they would be developing their knowledge as well as building on imperative life-skills such as problem solving, confidence and working with others.  As Beauchamp states, “ICT allows pupils to” achieve something that would be very difficult or even impossible to achieve in any other way.” (Beauchamp, 2012, p54).

When looking at the experiences and outcomes for this task, we decided this lesson would be aimed at second level children, due to the complexity of the task and also the level of skills children must already possess to carry the task out.  The ability for interdisciplinary learning in this area is remarkable and allows for a great scope of lesson ideas.  However, we chose three experiences and outcomes that we felt were most relevant, they are:

HWB 2-23a

While working and learning with others, I improve my range of skills, demonstrate tactics and achieve identified goals.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P.85)

SOC 2-07b

I can describe the physical processes of a natural disaster and discuss its impact on people and the landscape.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P.287)

SOC 2-12a

By comparing my local area with a contrasting area out-with Britain, I can investigate the main features of weather and climate, discussing the impact on living things.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P.29)

As you know I was very excited about starting this task and I enjoyed the planning and creative side of the animation but unfortunately when it came to the actual recording of the animation and having to move the figures, I was hopeless.  My patience for fiddling about my awkward items is usually quite good, until today. Having to move the figures the tiniest bit and also making sure you are moving other bits in the background, so it is resembles real life, was so frustrating.  After a while we were all a bit fed up and started to speed up, which then caused us to make mistakes and resulted in the task taking even longer, to agree with (Jarvis, 2015) it can be very time consuming.  Something you would have to be very mindful of within the classroom. With all this is mind though, I was very pleased with the finished result and will definitely think about trying animation when I hopefully become a teacher.

The finished video can be accessed here:

https://youtu.be/xu_hZvaktaA

Animation would be a brilliant tool to use within the classroom, it allows children to explore other avenues of technology and how it benefits their learning.  Although I do believe it takes a certain kind of person to have the patience and ability to develop a decent length of animation film as it really is a slow process, from planning the animation, to the resources you use and the most time-consuming part, making the objects move naturally.  It requires a level of dedication, perseverance and skill.  However, with a structured lesson plan and an understanding of the most difficult areas of animation, I believe children’s life-skills would thrive in this type of task.  I am glad the animation part of the module was spread over two weeks as I think one week would have been rushed and we would not have ended up with the results we achieved.  Likewise, if I was doing this lesson in class I would spread it over a couple of weeks, to allow the children to fully complete the animation and have a clear understanding of animation.  Again, this was a fantastic group I was in, we all work really well together, supported each other and encouraged each others strengths, and I am so glad we are all on this journey together.

Deborah ♥

References:

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].

Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for using ICT in the Classroom.Oxon: Routledge.

 

Week 7 – Animation Part 1

Tuesday 19th February 2019

Today’s lesson was exploring the world of animation and investigating when used properly, animation can benefit and promote learning within the classroom. We looked at the many different animation apps that are available today and how to use these apps.  One of the apps we looked at was puppet pals, having previously used puppet pals within a school setting before I know how much children enjoy using this app and how inventive the children can be when using it. Puppet pals is very easy to use and best suited to children in early or first level, although the characters available to use are minimal, children can use their imagination and add characters or backgrounds from pictures they have taken themselves.

According to ‘Moving Image Education’, animation breathes life into something that wouldn’t normally move, they also believe there are five main types of animation:

  1. Cut-out – this is seen as the fastest and easiest
  2. Stop-motion – can be carried out using plasticine models
  3. Pixilation – when humans become the puppets
  4. Drawn – classic example of this is Disney animation
  5. Computer – this is mostly found in movies and video games and is also known as CGI

(Moving Image Education)

Jarvis, describes animation as, “…the stringing together a sequence of static images, generally so they don’t appear to move.”  (Jarvis, 2015, p89).  He also states, “Animation can have a big visual impact…,” (Jarvis, 2015, p90).  Although, I have never had experience with creating an animation before today, I do agree with Jarvis about how impactful animation can be especially for children. Children love being able to bring their ideas to life and animation is great way of making that possible.

The animation part of the module has been split over two lessons to allow us to get comfortable with the software we are going to be using and to be able to collect the resources we need.  We need to work in groups for this task and I have chosen to work with the same group as I did for the last task, we worked well together and really enjoyed our final product, hopefully we will get the same result this time.  The task was to create an animation using iStopMotion, the animation had to do one of the following:

  • recreate a historical event
  • represent a geographical process e.g. glaciation, volcanic eruption
  • recreate a real-life scenario e.g. going to the dentist, shopping
  • explain a mathematical principle.

As a group we quickly got started and were very excited about what we were going to create, we decided to do our animation on a natural disaster in the form of a tsunami.  Once we had decided what form our animation was going to take, we made up a storyboard, (see picture below).  Then we made up a list of resources we needed, so we could bring it to the next class, between us all we managed to equally share the list of resources between and luckily we all have children and have plenty of little figures and resources lying around the house to use.  However, the creative person that I am, I insisted in making some pieces from scratch as well.  Not surprisingly, this grew arms and legs I spent a full night sticking lollipops, material, card and straws together, but I did enjoy myself (see pictures below). Furthermore, it made me realise the preparation and time that would be needed to carry out a lesson like this and maybe why some teachers shy away from lessons like this due to lack of time and resources.  Since I have never used iStopMotion before, I decided to tinker about with the app as well as carry out some research by looking into tutorial links given to us in class, which I found very helpful and can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/Cw7_OeWpR6I.

To say I am looking forward to next week is an understatement, I cannot wait for all our ideas to come together and to have a finished product to showcase to everyone.

Deborah ♥

Referneces:

 Animation Chefs. (2014) Animating Kids: iStopMotion Tutorial.[Online] Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw7_OeWpR6I&feature=youtu.be[Accessed: 19 February 2019].

Jarvis, M. (2015) Brilliant Ideas for using ICT in the Classroom.Oxon: Routledge.

Moving Image Education website: [Online] Available: https://movingimageeducation.org/create-films/animation[Accessed: 19 February 2019]

 

Week 6 – Internet Safety

Tuesday 12th February 2019

Internet safety, where do I begin!  As you are all aware, I have two young children, who would be classed by Prensky as, “Digital Natives” (Prensky, M. 2001).  They both have iPads and the oldest has a laptop, which they can work better than me and their dad put together.  Nonetheless, I check their iPads religiously for anything suspicious.  Why?  Well, because it is my job to keep my children safe, I need take responsibility as a parent and since I allowed them to have access to the internet, it falls on me and their dad to be responsible for what they are doing when online.  Don’t get me wrong all the parental limits are installed, they do not have access to any social media sites and I have regular discussions with my children about asking for permission to download certain apps and internet safety.  However, both are still too young to understand why anyone would want to do anything bad to anyone, especially on something they regard as merely a toy.  The main reason it terrifies me is how innocent children can be targeted through what they see as something they play with.  I am glad these issues are now being recognised throughout the world and with the introduction of Safer Internet Day, we now have access to a vast amount of information to help us stay safe online.  I feel the introduction of safer internet day is a great idea and encourages people to talk about how to stay safe online and what to do if you feel something has went wrong.  “The most successful schools… in terms of e-safety ensured that pupils knew what to do when things went wrong.” (Beauchamp, 2012. P60).

The aim of today’s class was to successfully make an iMovie to promote internet safety, as discussed previously internet safety and how everyone has the right to consent even within the internet is a major issue today especially for children, as Beauchamp states, “… the key idea [is] that e-safety is not about restricting children, but about educating them” (Beauchamp. 2012 p58).  Today was the final assessment task in the module and I feel the hardest, as internet safety is a big issue right now, I wanted to make sure I was executing this task to the best of my ability and ensure I covered all relevant areas.

I first came across iMovie a couple of years ago when my eldest daughter was talking about it, she was doing a project in school where they had to make their own movie trailer and she was fascinated.  It was all she spoke about when she came home that night and the inquisitive part of me was eager to find out what had got her so excited. So, that night I sat down and investigated iMovie, three hours later I eventually raised my head from the laptop and realised what all the fuss was about.  It is a brilliant and truly inspiring piece of software; the possibilities are endless with iMovie and I can understand why teachers are using it within their classroom and it will definitely be a tool I would use.  The ability to edit your work, shoot scenes, alter sounds and invent any kind of moving video you wish is brilliant. The reason why I was so excited when I heard we were allowed to experiment with iMovie in this module.

  Unfortunately, I did not make it in for today’s class, which I was utterly disappointed about as I said before I love iMovie.  iMovie is another app I am quite knowledgeable of and I was looking forward to creating an amazing video with my group.  All week we have been messaging back and forth different ideas, suggestions of websites to look at for facts and figures of internet safety.  I felt fully prepared to come into class and produce a great video to promote internet safety but sadly I was unwell.  With it being an assessment task I was panicking at the thought of missing out, however, the group of girls I was working with kept me informed by messaging throughout the task, they gave me a list of things that still needed done and I helped edit the final video, which I was more than happy to do.  The only disappointing thing is I never got to star in the video (not).  The finished product was brilliant, I was really lucky to be part of an amazing group who made me feel included even though I missed a good part of the task. We aimed our video at second level pupils and realised that creating an iMovie can cover a vast range of experiences and outcomes within the curriculum such as:

HWB 2-44b

I am aware that positive friendships and relationships can promote health and the health and wellbeing of others.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P17)

LIT 1-01a / LIT 2-01a

I regularly select and listen to or watch texts which I enjoy and find interesting, and I can explain why I prefer certain sources.  I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to create texts of my choice.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P25)

HWB 0-06a / HWB 1-06a / HWB 2-06a / HWB 3-06a / HWB 4-06a

I understand the importance of mental wellbeing and that this can be fostered and strengthened through personal coping skills and positive relationships.  I know that it is not always possible to enjoy good mental health and that if this happens there is support available.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P80)

LIT 2-06a

I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P132)

TCH 2-03a

I can explore online communities demonstrating an understanding of responsible digital behaviour and I’m aware of hoe to keep myself safe and secure.

(Education Scotland, n.d. P307)

The link to access to the completed video is:

https://youtu.be/ZYFsFZ8qAHE

Finally, although I never made it into class today, I have done a lot of research on internet safety, as I said before the internet terrifies me especially for my children.  The ways in which accounts can be hacked, accessing your personal details, people trying to contact you who do not know you, cyberbullying and so much more scares me.  As the digital world grows, I believe it is only going to get worse.  I am one of those mums who checks everything my child is doing, and I will continue to do so whether my children like it or not, I believe that is a rule all parents should adhere to.  Especially when it comes to internet safety, a child might believe an innocent text, adding someone to a chat or downloading a game is harmless but they do not truly understand the consequences that could arise from that innocent action.  Hopefully when I become a teacher, I will ensure that all children I teach will be taught the importance of internet safety and how to use the internet securely.

Deborah ♥

References:

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].

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.MCB University Press.

Week 5 – iPads and eBooks

Tuesday 5th February 2019

In today’s class we were looking into the use of iPads within the classroom.  Having seen iPads being used in schools when on placement and volunteering, I have seen them in my opinion being used both positively and negatively.  I believe there are some great educational apps available, both my daughters have iPads and enjoy using these apps on a regular basis.  However, when I have been in school, I have felt sometimes the use of iPads has been unnecessary, repetitive and tedious. One specific class which had a lot of behavioural issues used the same app on the iPads for every lesson, even the teacher admitted herself that she felt the children were on the iPads a lot.  However, she did have her reasons for doing this, she felt it appealed to their interests, allowed her to move around the class and work with all the children .  I feel this may be the case in a lot of schools and technology is not executed to its full potential, but merely as rewards for good behaviour or the easy option.  This in turn could be down to some teachers not being confident in the use of technology or having full understanding of how certain apps can benefit and expand a child’s knowledge.  Thus, giving me another reason as to why I have chosen this module, I want to be able to execute technology to the best of my ability.

As education secretary Mike Russell states, “The range of mobile devices that are now available and the promise of what they can bring to teaching and learning is very exciting and something that must be embraced,” (BBC News, 2012).  With the help of the Scottish Government’s digital learning strategy (Scottish Government, 2016), hopefully teacher’s reservations will become less apparent, they gain the confidence to work with all types of technology and enjoy the new avenue of opportunities it can open up within their classroom.  In a recent investigation by the University of Hull, which had schools from across Scotland piloting an iPad scheme to see if iPads within schools would benefit children’s learning.  The findings are really interesting and show that access to tablets encourages success in the main areas of the CfE framework (Burden et al., 2012).  Results likewise showed that parents were pleased with the results from the project, they noticed that the project changed their child’s attitude towards school and learning and even felt more engaged with their child’s learning(Burden et al., 2012).  As a student teacher and a parent these findings can only support the promotion of iPads within schools because in my opinion anything that keeps children interested and improves their learning should be encouraged by everyone.

Conversely, there will always be people who will present an argument against the use of digital technologies.  I have recently read an article by Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, ‘It’s ‘digital heroin: How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies’, albeit the title seems a little far-fetched.  Nonetheless, it was a very eye-opening read, doctors in America have studied people with what is known as a tech addiction and can compare the reactions in their brain to be of similar and in some cases worse than those craving heroin or cocaine. (Kardaras, Dr N. 2016).  The argument is there for people to say children who may be in front of some sort of screen at least two to three hours a day in school and then have screen time at home would be too much.  Therefore, forcing the question of is the use of iPads in school really necessary or are we just encouraging children to be addicted to screens.  Where do teachers draw that line of children actually gaining knowledge and skills from using technology, in comparison to it being just merely another game in front of a screen.

Today’s class was assessment task 3 of 4 and the aim was to summarise a well-known children’s book in the ‘Book Creator’ app on the iPads. Thankfully and for the first time so far in this module, ‘Book Creator’ is an app I have not only heard of but used before, with thanks to my children.  ‘Book Creator’ is one of my oldest daughter’s favourite apps, she loves to read and enjoys making up book reviews within the app.  Before class we were asked to pick a children’s book, now, my daughters have hundreds of books and what was meant to be a two minute job of picking a book ended up in the three of us with a pile each of our favourite books, reading each one resulting in a very late bedtime and me with a bag full of books to take to university with me.  I eventually settled on the book ‘Peace at Last’ by Jill Murphy, (Murphy, J) this is one of my favourite books and I love reading it to my children, both of them enjoy it when I change the tone and depth of my voice throughout the story and then they join in with making the sounds.

The reason I chose this book to summarise was for the same reasons why I love this book, the involvement you can get from children is phenomenal, from doing actions, making up different voices that suit the different characters to making sounds that you hear around the house and garden.  Every child has different ideas of how things sound, or act and it is interesting to see their ideas being brought to life especially early years children, the level I feel this task would suit most.  My aim was to make the book more interactive and allow the children to think about the surroundings of their home and what is essential to help you get to sleep. Although it is a summary of the book, I have added in questions throughout such as ‘what other noises would hear in certain rooms of the house and garden?’  Children would then have to make the sounds and discuss with each other if they think this is correct.  There is also a page with lots of animals around ‘Mr Bear’ and it asks, ‘what sounds from the certain animals would keep ‘Mr Bear’ awake?’  Towards the end of the book, I have included a page asking the children ‘What they think happens next?’, I done this so it would allow the children to be able to invent their own ending, hearing there ideas of a different ending would open up another area of discussion as well as encouraging them to listen to other people’s ideas.  The areas of the curriculum that this lesson would cover are:

TCH 0-11a

I explore and discover different ways of representing ideas in imaginative ways.

(Education Scotland n.d. P310)

LIT 0-09b

I enjoy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts and I use what I learn to invent my own, sharing these with others in imaginative ways.

(Education Scotland n.d. P29)

ENG 0-12a

I explore sounds, letters and words, discovering how they work together, and I can use what I learn to help me as I read and write.

(Education Scotland n.d. P30)

Lastly, today’s lesson has been another brilliant class, with lots of great new ideas and information for me to reflect upon.  Every week I am developing more and more ideas of how I can take digital technologies into the classroom and hopefully make my lessons fun and enjoyable for children.  I am now understanding how much of an impact digital technology has within education and I am so glad I picked this module, the knowledge I am building from investigating different apps and software available to me is amazing and truly interesting.  I cannot believe I am now five weeks into my digital technologies journey, the module is flying by and I am excited with what I have learned so far and intrigued to find out what has still to come.

Deborah ♥

References

BBC News. (2012) Education Scotland looks to expand use of tablets computers in schools.[Online] Available: file:///Users/Deborah/Desktop/Digital%20Technologies/Education%20Scotland%20looks%20to%20expand%20use%20of%20tablets%20computers%20in%20schools%20-%20BBC%20News.webarchive [Accessed: 5 February 2019].

Burden, K., Hopkins, P., Male, DrT., Martin, DrS., Trala,C. (2012) University of Hull iPad Scotland Evaluation. [Online] Available: https://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39914/mod_resource/content/2/Scotland-iPad-Evaluation.pdf [Accessed: 3 February 2019].

Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf [Accessed:8 January 2019].

Kardaras, Dr N. (2016) It’s ‘digital heroin’: How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies. [Online] Available: https://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/ [Accessed: November 2018].

Murphy, J. (1985) Peace at Last. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Children’s Books.

Scottish Government. (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. [Online] Available: https://www.gov.scot/publications/enhancing-learning-teaching-through-use-digital-technology/pages/2/. [Accessed: 05 January 2019].

 

Week 4 – Coding

Tuesday 29th January 2019

Coding, a word that has always terrified me. Before this class if I heard the word coding, I automatically thought of computer geniuses sitting in labs typing at mindboggling speeds, creating unimaginable ideas and information, and something I would never be able to do.  Until now and with thanks to the introduction of ‘Scratch Jr’ I now realise even the least technologically minded person can easily use coding and have fun with it.  In today’s society where ICT is a major part of everyday life, coding has now become an essential part of a child’s learning and even has its own benchmark within the curriculum for excellence.  In the 2014 curriculum, education secretary Michael Gove has stated that, “For the first time, children will be learning to programme computers. It will raise standards across the board – and allow our children to compete in the global race.” (Curtis, S. 2013)

                                                                                                                                                                                  (Education Scotland n.d. P311)

Today’s lesson is the second of our four assessment tasks within the module. Before the lesson I done a little research on Scratch Jr and I also asked my two daughters who are aged 9 and 5 if they had heard of Scratch Jr before and I was pleased to hear that both my children are very familiar with Scratch.  My youngest daughter especially got very excited at the thought of me learning how to work Scratch and mostly at the thought of her being able to teach me how to use it.  I downloaded Scratch Jr onto my iPad and I was very surprised with how easily my 5-year-old could navigate her way through the app and how pleased she was with her finished product.  Scratch Jr allows children to start off with the basics within coding, the bright, attractive colours, adorable characters and ability to add voice recordings lets children be as creative and imaginative as they wish.

For the assessment we were asked to create an interactive story combining both literacy and technology outcomes within the curriculum for excellence benchmarks using the Scratch Jr app. Thankfully I had look at the app and examples of good practice that were available to us beforehand at home because I spent a lot more time on it than I first anticipated.  This meant I was able to get straight onto the task when in class and having figured out some of the more difficult parts of the app previously ensured I was not held back in class.  The assessment also had to encourage children to develop their practical coding abilities by experimenting with how they could expand on the lesson I had created.  “As young people create Scratch projects, they are not just learning how to write computer programs.  They are learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively – essential skills for success and happiness in today’s world” (The Lead project, 2014).

With this in mind I created a story about an astronaut who was in space and was a little dazed and confused so he asks the children for help.  Pictures of the different planets appear, and the children have to say which planet is which. There is rewarding sounds when they get it right and also a chance for the children to expand the story, for instance, identify other things that can be found in space.  I thought it would be a good idea if the class were doing space as a topic, hopefully would be a fun carry on activity that would allow the children to expand their knowledge of the topic further as well as developing their coding skills.  I believe this would be a great way to teach coding to children as they would be expanding their knowledge of the specific subject they were learning and also building on their coding skills.  The experiences and outcomes I chose to cover this activity are:

LIT 1-02a

When I engage with others, I know when and how to listen, when to talk, how much to say, when to ask questions and how to respond with respect.

(Education Scotland n.d. P26)

LIT 1-06a

I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in a logical sequence and use words which will be interesting and/ or useful for others.

(Education Scotland n.d. P27)

TCH 1-13a

I can explore and comment on processes in the world around me making use of core computational thinking concepts and can organise information in a logical way.

(Education Scotland n.d. P311)

Overall, I really enjoyed today’s lesson and getting to know my way around the Scratch Jr app was really fun.  It is definitely going to be a go to lesson for me when I hopefully become a teacher, I think it would keep the children engaged and the children would get pleasure from seeing their final product and even presenting it to myself or the class, which would also build their confidence and problem-solving skills. Traits that are getting more and more sought after from further education institutes and employers.  A teacher who has confidence in these areas can no doubt be able to pass these onto their pupils and if you show an interest and enjoyment in digital technologies it will mirror onto your pupils and encourage them to expand their minds further.

Deborah ♥

References

Curtis, S. (2013) Teaching Our Children to Code: A Quiet Revolution. The Telegraph. [Online] Available: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10410036/Teac/[Accessed: 30 January 2019]

Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence.[Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf[Accessed:8 January 2019]

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

Week 3 – Multimodality

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].

Week 2 – Bee-Bots

Tuesday 15th January 2019

Programmable toys and how effective they can be when used in the classroom are phenomenal, they can cover a wide range of educational purposes and encourage even the most reluctant learner to engage with lessons. ‘Successfully educating children in technology means engaging them in purposeful activities’ (Fleer & Sukroo, 1995).  In this week’s lesson we were learning about programmable toys and how they can be used successfully within the classroom.  Before the lesson we were advised to do some reading to help us gain an understanding as to why programmable toys are successful within the classroom and how they can support and develop children’s learning.  This helped me understand the benefits of programmable toys and if you use your imagination, you can apply them to many different lessons.  Having only seen programmable toys being used a few times in schools before, I did not realise the extent of activities they could cover and how you can apply them in the classroom

We specifically looked at the programmable toy Bee-Bot. Bee-Bot is a bee shaped electronic robot that has four arrow buttons, a pause and clear button on its back which you use to programme the robot to do specific moves along a mat.  The mat can be constructed by yourself or you can obtain mats from different websites, you are also not restricted in the type of mat you can use for Bee-Bot either.  As long as the mat is made up of 15cm x 15cm squares, it can be as big, little, long or short as you wish.  This is the first time I have used Bee-Bot, although I have saw it being used in schools before, I have never tried it myself.  I found Bee-Bot to be very robust and easy to use, you can also design templates to place over the robot, so it does not always have to be a bee, which I think is very useful and allows a teacher to be as creative as they wish when using Bee-Bot within the classroom.  Therefore, allowing you to adapt Bee-Bot to fit within any lesson you are planning, and Bee-Bot is a great tool to use to help cover interdisciplinary learning within the Curriculum for Excellence.

First of all, we were asked to design a mat for Bee-Bot and relate it to a lesson that could be taught within the classroom.  I was very excited about this as I am a very creative person and love to able to put my design skills to use.  From the pre-reading that I done before the lecture I gathered that Bee-Bot is more suitable to early and first level within the curriculum and helps build their problem solving, numeracy and literacy skills Something that you would not normally achieve with just using concrete materials and also allows them to have fun while doing so (Lydon, 2008).  Keeping this in mind, I also had to ensure that I was connecting the lesson to at least two of the ‘experiences and outcomes’ (E’s and O’s) within the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and try to ensure it covered at least two of the areas within CfE.  Today’s lesson was also the first of our four assessment tasks within the module, so I wanted to make sure I was making my mat as interesting and fun as possible.

To begin with I came up with the idea that the children would go shopping for ingredients that they would need to make pancakes, I thought I could connect it to religious studies and numeracy as well as technologies.  However, I felt it was starting to grow arms and legs, the more I started to plan the mat and which parts of CfE it relates to the further away from the actual task I was getting.  This is something I struggle with a lot, I can come up with ideas, but I then find myself lost in all the extra work I have got myself into when in fact the extra work is not necessary and can become very confusing.  At this point I took a step back and realised I was going far to off track and decided to change my idea.  I took a different approach this time and actually went through the E’s and O’s and decided on a lesson idea by being able to relate it to an area of curriculum.  Thankfully this helped and I came across a benchmark within the early level of the ‘Technological Developments in Society and Business’ section that asks you to teach children how to recycle.

The outcome was:

TCH 0-6a

To help care for the environment, I reduce, reuse and recycle the resources I use.                                                                                          (Education Scotland n.d. P205)

So, with this in mind I came up with the idea of recycling bins and having the children put the appropriate piece of rubbish in the correct bin.  Straightaway I realised how simple an idea it was but how effective it could be in teaching children the appropriate ways to recycle, something which even adults can struggle with.  I found there was also a way you could relate this to the school environment, as nowadays most schools have recycling bins and are trying to ensure they are being eco-friendly.  I investigated what is the most common bin types and related these to the types of rubbish/ recycling children could come across within their school or home setting.  I settled with four bins; Food waste, plastics, paper or card and glass bottles or jars.  I made the bins brightly coloured  and eye-catching, I also made the pictures of the rubbish as close to real life examples as I could to allow children the correlation between the two.  I also gave the children a real-life scenario for completing the task.  This ensures children feel as though there is a purpose to the lesson and encourages them to try and solve the problem.  Throughout my time at University so far and when I was on placement, I realised this a very helpful tool in keeping children engaged with learning.

   

The activity involved children having to help Bee-Bot tidy the recycling centre;

Step 1 – they would have to choose which item they wanted to recycle first,

Step 2 – they would then have to direct Bee-Bot to the item they have choose,

Step 3 – they would lift the picture and attach it to Bee-bots back,

Step 4 – then direct him to the correct bin,

Step 5 – they would place their picture in the bin they have chosen,

Step 6 – the group of children would then discuss if the answer was correct or not.

The interdisciplinary learning throughout these lessons could be very vast, however I chose three that I feel related to this activity the most.

MTH 0-17a

In movement, games and using technology I can use simple directions and describe positions.                                                              (Education Scotland n.d. P205)

TCH 0-06a

To help care for the environment, I reduce, reuse and recycle the resources I use.                                                                                      (Education Scotland n.d. P309)

TCH 0-15a

I can develop a sequence of instructions and run them using programmable devices or equivalent.                                                     (Education Scotland n.d. P312)

Having now sampled with Bee-Bot and created a lesson where Bee-Bot could be used, I feel it is a resource I would definitely use within my classroom especially at early and first level. Although I would not rule out using it in second level as you could turn the lesson on its head and have the children develop a mat for Bee-Bot to go on, which allows older children to be able to develop their problem-solving skills and to think outside the box almost. Especially since programmable toys are not used within the classroom that often, I feel it is a resource that needs to be utilised a lot more.  I really enjoyed using Bee-Bot and enjoyed this week’s input as I was able to see everyone else in the class’s ideas and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities that Bee-Bot can create within the classroom.

Deborah ♥

References:

Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf [Accessed:8 January 2019]

Fleer, M. & Sukroo, J. (1995). I can make my robot dance. Victoria: Curriculum Corporation.  Children, robotics and problem solving: Technology in the early childhood classroomFaculty of Education, Curtin University of Technology [Online] Available at: http://www.valiant-technology.com/us/pdfs/robotics&problemsolving.pdf [Accessed: 5 January 2019]

ICTopus Article (2008) Sharing Good Practice: Robots in Early Educationby Alison Lydon. [Online] Available at: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39830/mod_resource/content/1/Reading Programmable Toys/ICTopus – Sharing Good Practice – Robots in Early Education  .pdf [Accessed: 12 January 2019]

 

 

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