Monthly Archives: January 2019

Multimodality

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Tuesday 22nd January 2019

We are on week 3 of Digital Technologies and in today’s session we looked the advantages of using multimodal presentations to enhance teaching and learning. During the literacy for understanding module we looked at multimodal texts, so todays session was not entirely new but I was able to build on my previous knowledge of multimodality.

A multimodal text is a way of presenting information through ICT which combines two or more semiotic systems. The five semiotic systems include:

  • Linguistic
  • Visual
  • Audio
  • Gestural
  • Spatial

Using Multimodal texts can “make work more interesting or motivating” (Beauchamp, 2012, p.8). I agree with this as while I was on placement, I saw many children becoming more engaged when their lessons were presented to them in a way which was multimodal. This could be as simple as pictures and sounds included within a PowerPoint presentation. Using multimodal presentations can also highlight the relevance of work to pupils and can allow them to have a better understanding of their work through the use of visuals and sounds (Beauchamp, 2012).

Multimodal texts can be created in many different ways. A popular way of presenting multimodal texts in learning is by using interactive whiteboards (IWB). Interactive whiteboards are available in most Primary Schools in Scotland. I noticed on my placement that children seem to really like using them. Interactive whiteboards allow hands on learning and get the pupils more involved in their learning. A study done showed that pupils who used the IWB in class had more positive grades, motivation, concertation in school and satisfaction with their learning (Karsenti, 2016).

Personally, I think that interactive whiteboards make lessons more fun as they’re very interactive. Children do become more engaged when they are given the opportunity to use the IWB, whether it’s to write up their spelling words or simply match a picture to an answer. There can however be issues with the IWB as sometimes the projectors aren’t aligned well with the screen and the touch from the pen might not be accurate requiring the board to be re-calibrated. IWBs can however be used without any interactivity as these features might not work in a certain lesson and the IWB might just be used to project information (Deubel, 2010).

Today we focused on making a learning experience that could be used on an IWB. We made our interactive games on the computer programme ‘ActiveInspire’. If you’re unsure what ActiveInspire is, it is “a collaborative lesson delivery software for interactive displays” (Promethean World, 2018, n.p). Our task was to work in pairs to create an ActiveInspire slide which followed particular experience(s) and outcome(s).

In my pair we decided to build on the idea of the board we made for the Programmable Toys. We followed the same CfE experience and outcome as last week’s session, this was:

 I can use money to pay for items and can work out how much change I can receive. (MNU 1-09a)

We based our learning experience around the theme of a Supermarket, just like we did with our Programmable Toys grid. Our learning experience was multimodal as we used the semiotic systems of linguistic, audio and visual. The learning experience is aimed towards level 1 and focuses on number, money and measure within the Curriculum.

In the learning experience the child is given a shopping list and they have to pull the items from the shelves into the shopping trolley. While this doesn’t require a lot of thinking it allows the children to have some fun and engage with the game while also making it more relevant to real life.

The children then have to figure out what coins they would use to pay for their shopping. This requires more thinking as they are presented with a selection of coins and they have to decide which coins they would use to get to their total. When placing the coins in the slide we inserted them so there are multiple coin combinations that can make the total. This is good as different children might get their total using different coins, and this can help develop their understanding of money and using different coins.

Before today’s session I had no previous experience of using ActiveInspire. I have learned a lot today and I think ActiveInspire is a great tool to use in the classroom to enhance learning. I really enjoyed using it as I thought it was relatively straightforward to use. I liked how there were tools such as a ruler and a protractor which could be extremely useful in a maths lesson. They also had a resource library that had a selection of images like money or things like animals which can make creating a lesson a lot quicker.

I definitely need some more practice with ActiveInspire. Although I was able to become familiar with it in the session, I was very slow. I found it easy to change the background and add text, knowing how to use these basic features proved to be very useful. It took me a lot of playing around to figure out how to duplicate a slide, but I did find it eventually. The version I had downloaded however did not appear to be the full version as we were missing key elements such as the ‘shape’ tool and we did not have full access to the materials in the ‘resource manager’. I probably will use ActiveInspire in my classroom as I think it is a great resource that can help bring learning to life and some children might be more engaged in learning if it is interactive like this. “Touch displays can become a social learning tool encouraging hands-on experiences, thereby helping children to learn by doing.” (Prandstatter, 2014, n.p).

I feel as though I have learned a lot about ActiveInspire and how it works but there’s definitely room for improvement. I plan to continue to practice using the software so when I’m a qualified teacher I’m able to make the most of this resource.

Personally, I believe the use of technology to show a multimodal presentation does enhance learning. The interactive whiteboards especially are a great tool to use in the classroom as they are captivating, personalised, engaging and motivating which has a really positive effect on pupils learning. Using IWBs children are more likely to enjoy the activity and learn more than if they were just writing from a textbook, hence why multimodal presentations and interactive tools should be used in the classroom.

REFRENCES

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

Karsenti, T. (2016) The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB): Uses, Bene­ts, and Challenges. A survey of 11,683 students and 1,131 teachers. [pdf] Available: http://iwb.crifpe.ca/files/Rapport.pdf [Accessed 24 January 2019].

Patricia Deubel. (2010) Interactive Whiteboards: Truths and Consequences. [Online] Available: https://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/08/04/Interactive-Whiteboards-Truths-and-Consequences.aspx?Page=4# [Accessed: 27 January 2019]

Prandstatter, J. (2014) Interactive Displays in Early Years Classes. [Online] Available: http://connectlearningtoday.com/interactive-displays-early-years-classes/ [Accessed 26 January 2019]

Promethean World. (2018) [Online] Available: https://www.prometheanworld.com/gb/products/lesson-delivery-software/activinspire/ [Accessed 25 January 2019].

 

Programmable Toys

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Tuesday 15th January 2019

This week in digital technologies we were looking at using programmable toys to enhance learning. In particular we were working with the programmable toys called ‘Bee-Bots’. Our task was to create a grid which covered a particular curricular area (such as numeracy or literacy). We had to design the learning experience around some experiences and outcomes from the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). We also had to have a particular level in mind at which our grids were aimed at, although Bee-Bot is most commonly used at early and first level.

There are multiple reasons why programmable toys should be used within the classroom setting. Alison Lydon used Bee-Bots in her nursery class and gave very positive reviews on how the children were concentrated and engaged while also having great fun (Lydon, 2008). Hopefully if I were to use them within my classroom, I would see the same reaction.

Programmable Toys like Bee-Bot allow the children to have hands on learning. They are able to touch and move the Bee-Bot, pressing buttons and receiving feedback through the direction it moves and sounds it makes. The learner is in control when using Bee-Bot. It is not a task where they are following instructions but a task where they are giving them to the Bee-Bot to get a desired outcome. Using Bee-Bot grid games like we created also allows a fun challenge for learners and can help to develop learners problem-solving skills.

Programmable toys are good way to develop understanding of certain topics or curricular areas, while also reflecting today’s contemporary world (Janka, 2008).

In our session today when using Bee-Bot I noticed something I believed might confuse learners. Say you give Bee-Bot a wrong instruction and you want to change the direction he moves, you’d assume you just click the correct button and it will move that way instantly, wrong. You have to click the ‘clear’ button or else it will start the previous sequence and simply add the new instruction to the end. This could be a flaw as if a child was to make a mistake, they would have to enter all their previous instructions again (Janka, 2008). I agree with this, it can be confusing at first and result in some time being wasted if a long sequence is needing re-entered.

I worked in a group of three (myself and two other students), and we mutually agreed to focus on number, money and measure as our curricular area (particularly number and money). We also decided to aim this towards first level learning. We designed are Bee-Bot grid in the theme of a Supermarket. The children would be given shopping lists with various items and prices listed on them. They would have to program Bee-Bot to collect the food items and as they go along work out how much everything costs in total.  At the end of the learning experience they would have to pick the basket with the correct total on it and are challenged to work out their change from a pound coin. This learning experience followed our chosen experiences and outcomes from the Curriculum for Excellence which were:

  • I can use money to pay for items and can work out how much change I can receive. (MNU 1-09a)
  • I understand the instructions of a visual programming language and can predict the outcome of a program written using the language. (TCH 1-14a)

We made our grid by measuring out a grid with 16 squares that were 15cm by 15cm. We drew a start square for the Bee-Bot on the bottom left. We drew and coloured our items of food on a separate piece of paper and blue tacked them on so they can be moved around for different game variations. We added ‘shopping baskets’ which were 3D as we made them out of card, these had various total costs on them and a card asking how much change they’d receive.

I’d say we were successful in creating our Bee-Bot grid as it allowed the experiences and outcomes to be fulfilled while also being colourful, appealing and fun. If I was to change anything, I’d perhaps create more shopping lists and food items so there was a wider variation of the learning experience. I would have also have liked to replace some of the unhealthier food with healthier food and perhaps link this to a health and wellbeing experience and outcome. If I was to use this in my classroom in the future I would laminate the pieces of food and shopping lists to ensure they stay in a good condition so it could be reused often.

Personally, I really enjoyed using the Bee-Bots. I learned how to use them and found them fairly easy to get the hang of. I believe they are a great resource that can allow learning and also reflect the modern technologies of today.  It is really important I know how to use these programmable toys, as in today’s society it is highly beneficial for children to know basic programming skills like this as they are moving forward into a technology orientated world.

“Successful utilisation of digital technology depends not just upon sufficient access to equipment, tools and resources, but also on the availability of sufficient training, and knowledge and support networks for teachers. Providing teachers with this support will allow them to understand the benefits and applications of digital technologies and enable them to use digital technologies effectively.” (Education Scotland, 2012, n.p).

Bee-Bot can enhance a lesson, making it more interactive and fun while also benefiting the children’s learning and giving them the opportunity to use digital technologies.

 

REFERENCES

Education Scotland (2012) Literature Review on the Impact of Digital Technology on Learning and Teaching. [Online] Available: https://www.gov.scot/publications/literature-review-impact-digital-technology-learning-teaching/ [Accessed: 19 January 2019].

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [pdf] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 18 January 2019].

Lydon, A. (2007) Let’s Go With Bee-Bot: Using your Bee-Bot across the curriculum. [pdf] Available: file:///C:/Users/User/Desktop/Uni%20Work%20BA1/Digital%20Technologies/PROGRAMMABLE%20TOYS%2015TH%20JAN/ICTopus%20-%20Sharing%20Good%20Practice%20-%20Robots%20in%20Early%20Education%20%20.pdf[Accessed: 19 January 2019].

Week One Blog Post

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Tuesday 8th January 2019

My name Emily and I’m studying Primary Education here at UWS. I chose Digital Technologies as my optional module as I wanted to build on my ICT skills. At school I did higher admin and really enjoyed it. Administration allowed me to gain experience using computer software’s such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, however I never got to use applications such as IMovie or Book Creator. I’m looking forward to this module as I will be able to become familiar with various technologies that I can use in my classroom as a qualified teacher.

I personally value the use of digital technologies in Primary School. It is important children are able to experience and use current technologies. In today’s society technology is used in work and life in general. The use of technologies such as laptops in the classroom may benefit children who come from a poorer background and do not have these technologies at home. Using digital technologies in school can contribute to closing the attainment gap regarding poverty as all the children have the same opportunities to use digital technologies (Scottish Government, 2016). I agree with the Scottish Government in this instance. If children do not have experience using digital technologies at all they are less likely to have the same opportunities when leaving school and perhaps will find it harder to get a job. So by using digital technologies in the classroom it ensures children get equal opportunities using technology and I think this is a factor that might help close the attainment gap regarding poverty.

During my placement I saw many children who became more engaged with their learning when they had the opportunities to use iPads or laptops. This is also why I believe the use digital technologies in the classroom is important, as using them might engage learners who wouldn’t normally be as engaged. Digital technologies can allow interactions and awards, which children like, as they are growing up playing games on devices such as the iPad. Hence why I believe using digital technologies to support children’s learning is essential, as this is the way they process information and learn.

Students today process information differently as they are a generation that has grown up constantly using digital technologies. For teachers who are ‘Digital Immigrants’ and haven’t grown up with technology it is important they can use digital technologies in their classroom to support the learning for these ‘Digital Natives’. The ‘Digital Natives’ can’t learn with just textbooks and writing, they need the use of digital technologies as they process information in this format (Prensky, 2001). Therefore, I believe it’s important that teachers today can use digital technologies in their classroom so that their students are able to learn in a way that they are used to and enjoy.

By the end of this module, I hope to have increased my understanding of the range of digital technologies available and I’m able to effectively use them in a classroom setting. I did not do the reading before the session which put me at a disadvantage as I was unable to fully involve myself in discussions. For the rest of this module I aim to be more organised and do the pre-session reading so I can get the most out of the workshop.

In my opinion, digital technologies are the future, and teachers need to understand how to use these technologies in order to effectively teach the new generations that have grown up with them. I am very excited to start this module and increase my knowledge of ICT and new technologies.

 

REFERENCES

Marc Prensky (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. [pdf] Available: https://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf  [Accessed 10 January 2019].

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Teaching and Learning through the use of Digital Technologies: A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. [Online] Available: https://www.gov.scot/publications/enhancing-learning-teaching-through-use-digital-technology/ [Accessed 8 January 2019].