Today I attended my first session of Digital Technology. Walking into the classroom I was not sure what to expect because throughout school I took administration as a subject and had a range of activities to create that would be marked and within this project I created; posters, word documents, power points, excel all related to one area. For example; the opening of a cake shop or to advertise a local sports event. While doing this I used a range of programmes on a computer so I have a background with a handful of computer programmes that I had used many times before so I felt fairly confident. I have a range of skills of being able to type without looking at the keyboard and able to use a range of effects, fonts, spell check, grammar check and animations throughout Microsoft apps.

In the class I learned about what digital technology is within the National Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (Scottish Government, 2016, Annex A) Digital technology is a term used to describe those digital applications services and resources which are used to find, create, communicate and to use information in a digital context.  I think that the use of digital technology within schools helps children develop understandings of what technology is and how they use it in a range of ways.

I also read the National Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (Scottish Government, 2016, pg 3) and found it interesting that not only learners are gaining skills and learning throughout their time at school it is also educators for example; childcare practitioners and teachers as they are attending training courses to assist them in their digital technology skills.  I think this helps as the teachers and childcare practitioners taking on the opportunity of digital technology training courses are positive because it means that children are getting up to date lessons on digital technology through a range of subjects and it allows the teacher to learn new skills that they may not already have known.

The digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (Scottish Government, 2016, Pg 11) contributes towards 5 main educational priorities;  raising attainment, tackling inequalities and promoting inclusion, improving transitions into employment, enhancing parental engagement and improving the efficiency of the education system. I think that this is important because some children may not like using a pencil and paper to create a story as they may feel anxious that they can not draw and they may like to create pictures on computers using different apps and this could help their engagement within a classroom environment. I think that raising attainment and tackling inequality is important because some children who don’t perform as well as they should having a laptop. iPad or another use of technology beside them they may perform better than expected.

The curriculum for Excellence (Education Scotland 2004) has many outcomes relating to digital technologies and Digital Literacy; “As with literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing, digital literacy should be placed at the heart of all learning, not only the technologies area of the curriculum. Digital literacy outcomes could be met in any/all curriculum areas and so all practitioners can contribute to and reinforce them.”

Within the class I also had an opportunity to search around Glow. Previously in trimester one I had some experience of the use of Glow but not as much as I would have liked to. Being able to look at Glow in a bit more depth today felt better as I was able to look around the apps that I had added to my launch pad in more depth and see what was on them. I think this is useful because more schools are becoming more and more digital every day and most schools use Glow as a means to communicate with other teachers in the country and also able to keep communication between teachers and parents so that they are able to see what their children are doing within school.

By attending this session I feel that I have become a bit more confident with the use of Glow and also some knowledge of the use of technology within the education system. It is also useful to know that digital technology contributes towards 5 main educational priorities and that children are benefiting from the use of technology in the world as technology is improving every day.

References

Education Scotland (2004) – Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes [Accessed on  9 January 2018]

Scottish Government (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. [Online] Edinburgh: Scottish Government

[Online] Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf [Accessed on 9 January 2018