We are now at the end of this module and I honestly am humbled with the insight into technology that I never thought possible. I have appreciated the time we got to spend together and three insights have came to light for me:

• Technology is and should be part of the modern classroom.
• It can and should be more than a reward for doing well at traditional learning.
• I am privileged in the knowledge I have in technology and want to aid anyone that feels inadequate feel confident using technology in their classroom.

The Scottish Government agrees and has a whole manifesto dedicated to the teaching and learning of technology in education (Education Scotland, 2017). It has been used as my foundation of not only what I’ll do for assessment tasks, but why and how I planned to create these learning experiences specifically. My confidence in using technology was definitely an advantage but doing this module allowed me to reinforce the knowledge I had but allow deeper understanding of how technology can impact a classroom of learners.

The main thing that I will still have to work on is that – only from experiences in my schooling days where there was one computer in the entire school – technology is not a reward but in fact another means of providing meaningful lessons to a generation of “Digital Natives” (Prensky, 2001). Although the lessons we created were fun this was a byproduct and not the main goal – although if learners are having fun Beauchamp (2012) would agree this creates the opportunity for deeper understanding in the subject. Ultimately – as teachers – we should be aiming for a classroom of successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors and I agree with Beauchamp (2012) that technology is an effective gateway to achieve this.

It has always been in my nature to help those who are struggling in their learning and plan to keep this trait for the rest of my life. I noticed throughout the module that I did have a higher base knowledge – and love – of technology in comparison to those I worked with on collaborative projects. When working in collaboration with those who struggled with technology it allowed me a chance to reflect and think forward about having learners that may – like those I worked with – be disengaged from technology but teaching them to persevere and understand that as a tool can be a unique way to gain the same learning that may be done traditionally (Beauchamp, 2012).

As Shakespeare would say “Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.” I hope that with this blog I’ve shown that the use of technology in the classroom will be a huge facet of my style of pedagogy and that I wish to inspire the next generation of learners to be problem solvers for whatever they may face.

References:

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

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

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Learning And Teaching Through The Use Of Digital Technology: A Digital Learning And Teaching Strategy For Scotland. Scottish Government [Online] Available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf

QR codes are the solution to the problem “how do we condense information into a form that can have a sense of mystery to the passerby?” but are they relevant in today’s society or, moreover, today’s classroom? From our session the consensus – generally – was yes they can elevate certain aspects of learning but no there are other applications that may be more relevant depending what kind of learning would be taking place. A study of a group of students in Bath show that qr codes can increase a students appeal in accessing material via QR codes (Ramsden, 2010).

Taking on this idea of accessing material via QR codes to elevate a lesson we were tasked with creating a lesson – in groups – that used QR codes as the core idea of learning. This lessons was particularly difficult for our group. We would discuss an idea then encounter a problem which would put us back to square one. This really highlights that in today’s classroom we must be ready to have not only a plan B, but – potentially – an unlimited pool of ideas that would work in the event of shortcomings (Education Scotland, 2017). Our collaboration – which was with the same people I have worked with for the last three projects – was the most tense this week as we kept hitting roadblocks with our ideas. Most of our ideas would have been implemented with other applications – for example – if we followed through with our idea of doing a quiz in a classroom we would have better success with Kahoot (a quiz application that shows real-time answers and if they are correct or not). Even though it was tense I would not have changed who I worked with because we have different points of view in terms of accessibility with technology and what our forté is in terms of subject (Parker, 2008).

Ultimately, we decided to use prior learning from this module – that being book creator – to create an interactive book that requires learners to scan the correct items mentioned at the start of the book and find out how much they have spent. And the final product would cover the follow experiences and outcomes with Curriculum for Excellence:
MNU 1-03a – I can use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division when solving problems, making best use of the mental strategies and written skills I have developed. (bold used to emphasise what operation our final product uses)
MNU 1-09b – I have investigated how different combinations of coins and notes can be used to pay for goods or be given in change.

We divided the tasks and created our interactive book which you can find here. [Quick edit – the last QR codes may not work as they were part of a free trial so we could link pictures this trial has now expired]

We exchanged our final product with another group so we can test that they work. Feedback from the other group – which our lecturer agreed with – was that our book doesn’t take that long to complete. This goes back to my reflections in session three and the same question was asked “shouldn’t we be working smarter, not harder?”. I would say that the main issue here was that although 4 hours had pass the idea we presented was something that was created in a quarter of that time – because as mentioned before we kept hitting creative blocks and could not decide. But – and this is where I do agree – we could have added more tasks that we did. If we were to redo this of even update it in the future I would add more pages that have other shopping lists or add layers to the challenge like “You have been given £5 what is the most amount of items that could be bought?” to allow the learners to use as much of the book as possible.

Ultimately, I can understand that QR codes can add to a learning experience but I did not connect with this particular session. I will endeavour to not let my own personal prejudices get in the way of learning – if I have a class that would gain deeper technology understanding from creating and using QR codes I would not be a blockade but use it as the opportunity to grow my own understanding of the use of QR codes.

References:

Parker, G. M. (2008) Team players and teamwork : working with personalities to develop effective teams. [Online] Available: Dawsonera. [Accessed: 12 March 2019].

Ramsden, A. (2010) The level of student engagement with QR Codes: findings from a cross institutional survey. University of Bath, Bath, U. K.

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Learning And Teaching Through The Use Of Digital Technology: A Digital Learning And Teaching Strategy For Scotland. Scottish Government [Online] Available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf

As an avid – although self-labelled – gamer there is much debate about whether games based learning enhances or distracts from learning. Gaming – more specifically video gaming which is what this blog will talk about – has become a societal phenomenon with 86% of 5-7 year old children and 90% of 8-11 year old children gaming in some capacity (Ofcom, 2011). One must be careful with the motive of using games – they should about collaboration and being social rather than be competitive or used to gain status – otherwise a child’s self-esteem could be negatively impacted (Åslund, et. al., 2012). With this in mind we – the practitioner – should be clear with the intention which we want games to be used and this will help keep a classroom under control and help keep learning at the heart of what we’re doing (Beauchamp, 2012). I agree that gaming – when used appropriately – can be an effective way of making learning more interactive and relevant to the learners’ lives which, in turn, should help deepen understanding of the curricular areas being taught at the time.

This session we were tasked with using Minecraft – a game that requires the player to use blocks to create anything – to create a learning activity. I definitely seen a gap in engagement between those who have and those who have not played Minecraft previously – I was in the former – and did sympathise as although basic movement is achievable some nuance aspects, for example crafting, can be difficult to learn. We were working in groups and I was with people that had never used Minecraft before but have seen others play it so what we thought was best was for them to get to grips with the game and try to feel comfortable with the mechanics of the game. Because I have played Minecraft before I didn’t spend much time actually playing the game but went directly into thinking about lessons that we could create with Minecraft at the heart of the learning. I decided to take note of what people – who again have never played the game before – were engaging and connecting with inferring that regardless of age or skill level of the learner they will get something from the experience.

This mind map is a culmination of the ideas that I picked up from listening and asking the people I was working with to collectively get to our core idea. This collaboration for me was most helpful because firstly it almost mimics what it would be like in a classroom environment where I would be going round my learners to hear their input and secondly it allowed me to learn things I had not thought about when playing the game – for example, creating a series of walls from different materials and see which required the least amount hits to break. Ultimately, we decided to go with a lesson plan that required the learner/learners to create their dream home.

This idea – depending on how we gathered stimuli – would hit the following experiences and outcomes within Curriculum for Excellence (CfE):

• EXA 2-03a – I can create and present work that shows developing skill in using the elements and concepts.
• EXA 2-05a – Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through activities within art and design.
• EXA 2-06a – I can develop and communicate my ideas, demonstrating imagination and presenting at least one possible solution to a design problem.
• LIT 2-09a – When listening and talking with others for different purposes, I can : share information, experiences and opinions, explain processes and ideas, identify issues raised and summarise main points or findings, clarify points by asking questions or by asking others to say more.
• MNU 2-11a – I can use my knowledge of the sizes of familiar objects or places to assist me when making an estimate of measure.
• [If we were to take the class on an outing in the local area] SOC 2-10a – Having explored my local area, I can present information on different places to live, work and relax and interesting places to visit.
• TCH 2-09a – I can extend and enhance my design skills to solve problems and can construct models.
• TCH 2-10a I can recognise basic properties and uses for a variety of materials and can discuss which ones are most suitable for a given task.

This was presented to the class and the only main critique was that it may be too free and may end up snowballing into something that becomes out of control. Our group accepts this could happen but only if there were not good teaching and learning practices happening within the classroom environment (Beauchamp, 2012).

This of course begs the questions “is Minecraft the best way of completing this particular lesson?” – in this instance I would say yes. I say yes because, firstly, the amount of resources a learner has is unlimited as the learner can simply “mine” for more of a certain material if required. Secondly, and continuing from the previous point, it is more cost effective to have several computers on for a specific period of time than it would be to have, what could potentially be, a lot of paper or cardboard or whatever may be used to build – of course if an outdoor trip is part of the learning we could use [free] outdoor material but this could dampen the imagination as there are limits to the resources that can be used. Lastly, and most importantly, showing that games can be a foundation of learning shows children that – without realising – they will constantly be learning and improving social interpersonal skills (Greitemeyer and Osswald, 2011). Ultimately if we, as practitioners, can elevate learning and improve a child’s social confidence using games-based learning why should we not?

References

Åslund, C., Hellström, C., Leppert, J. and Nilsson, K. W. (2012) Computers in Human Behaviour. Influences of motives to play and time spent gaming on the negative consequences of adolescent online computer gaming. [Online] Vol.28(4) pp. 1379-1387. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.02.023

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

Greitemeyer, T., and Osswald, S. (2011). The Journal Of Social Psychology. Playing Prosocial Video Games Increases The Accessibility Of Prosocial Thoughts.  Vol.151, pp. 121-128.

Ofcom (2011) Children and parents: media
use and attitudes report. [Online] Available:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/55479/children_and_parents.pdf [Accessed: 8 March 2019].

With reference to last week we must try and engage learners in as many interactive ways possible (Beauchamp, 2012). Today, we try and do this by utilising animation. Personally, and agreeing with Jarvis (2015), by using animation we create an interactive element to a lesson. Animation has also shown improvement in literacy skills for boys aged five to eleven (HMIE, 2007). Ultimately – when used appropriately – animation can be an excellent way to communicate ideas to learners and get learners to be proactive in their learning when they are part of its creation (Pollard, 2008). But, only if we as practitioners are confident in our ability to use the ICT tools required to implement this learning (Education Scotland, 2017).

In this week’s session – continuing from last week – we were to create an animation in groups that does one of the following:

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

Our group had chosen to explain a mathematical principle – more specifically about equivalent fractions – because our group thought it would be a welcomed challenge to try and create a narrative around this subject. Usually – we agreed – fractions would more likely be taught using items like pizza, cakes or chocolate bars. This, in turn, created the said challenge and we discussed a variety of different ways try and translate this to something that could be used as part of a stop motion animation instead of real life. This discussion lead us down a path of crossing over fairy tale characters, Lego, and fractions which – quite frankly – we did not realise was going to work until we put our narrative down on paper.

Over the week between session we divided up creative tasks so that we could start animating as soon as we were in class again. I created items that would be used to make the backgrounds for our animation – and do not want to think about how much coloured card was recycled when something did not turn out just right. I also created the characters that would in the animation and brought a roll of paper to be the background. Overall, I think the creative tasks were divided as equally as they could be but I think we may have been too ambitious with how much we wanted to animate.

In class we started to “film” the animation and we slowly realised that it was going to be a very time-consuming. Our original idea had Little Red Riding Hood travelling to her gran’s house using a map that said one fraction as a direction but coming across forks in the road with one signpost marked with an equivalent fraction and another with a fraction that was not equivalent and this was to repeat three times. But with the nature of stop motion animation that requires several photographs taken in succession to create the illusion of movement (Jarvis, 2015) for our group to get through three different sequences of different equivalent fractions would have been impossible in the time-frame of one input. I am thankful that our group was able to think quick on our feet and I know without them I could not have thought of how to fix the problems we faced as quickly as we did together. Our group had overcome this obstacle by reducing the sequence to only one fork in the road and explaining that set of fractions in as much detail as possible. As I said from last week I am glad I was in the group I was in because we collaborate well and work hard to persevere when we experience shortcomings that are outwith our control.

The final product is something I am very proud of and if teaching does not work out for me I would happily make more episodes of “Little Red’s Fraction Foot Path”. If teaching does work out for me I think this project is something that I would be happy to show my future class – I just hope they do not find out I am the one voicing the narrator.

Please enjoy the final product below, or if no video is showing in your browser click here.

References

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

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE). (2007) Improving Scottish Education The Use Of Ict In Learning And Teaching. [Online] Available: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/6488/7/iseictilat_Redacted.pdf [Accessed: 27 February 2019].

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

Pollard, A. (2008) Reflective Teaching – Evidence Informed Professional Practice. 3rd ed. London: Continuum.

Scottish Government (2017) Enhancing Learning And Teaching Through The Use Of Digital Technology: A Digital Learning And Teaching Strategy For Scotland. Scottish Government [Online] Available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf [Accessed: 28 February 2019].

Being digitally literate goes way beyond reading and understanding words online but understanding that pictures – or in this case animation – are a valid and useful form of understanding the world around us (Education Scotland, 2015). To paraphrase the old phrase that a picture is worth a thousand words, surely many pictures together could tell a continuum of stories. With animation it allows learning to become more tactile – especially if we try to emulate cult classics from the nineties and early two-thousands like Pingu and Wallace and Gromit – using Plasticine or paper cut outs opting to try keep learning away from a device screen until it’s necessary. Then using technology as a way to elevate what is created beyond what could be done without it (Beauchamp, 2012). This, one would hope, would develop a generation of learners that want to use a multitude of ways to create and solely rely on technology to be a better learner.

I have come to find that I am trying to take a step back from my own devices and think “Is there another way to accomplish this?” mostly because I am slowly realising that although technology is easily accessible to me it may not be as accessible to those I will teach and those I may work with – be it due to personal vulnerabilities like poverty or lack of knowledge and confidence using technology (Education Scotland, 2017).

This week we were introduced to tools to create stop motion animation. To clarify unlike when we were making film in our last session it is not a still image with text or music over it then a completely different image after that but a sequence of still images that when put together create to illusion of movement (Jarvis, 2015). Below please find my first attempt at making my own animation.

If we follow the link we can see, although rudimentary, this gives any audience a feeling of motion. This animation was simply an introduction and allowed me to come to my own conclusions about how I may go about creating a bigger project that we are to do next week. Firstly, I am unlikely going to use the figures provided as there are cumbersome and are difficult to kept steady to allow seamless transition from one shot to another. Secondly, I am likely going to take overhead shots rather than face on shots – this should allow steadier camera action and keeps any background more consistent. Lastly, more for when I am in the classroom environment, I would want to make sure that jobs can be divided so that everyone can feel included and valued within a lesson that would ask them to create an animation.

At the end of this session we were to get into groups so that we could create an animation that does one of the following:

• • recreates a historical event
  • represents a geographical process eg glaciation, volcanic eruption
  • recreates a real-life scenario eg going to the dentist, shopping
  • explains a mathematical principle.

I chose to work with two of the people I worked with last week, mostly because we worked very well last week and created something that was spectacular – in my opinion. Also, because we’re not afraid of saying something if it is not working and work together to come up with creative solutions to problems we face – like last week with our filming issue. Next week we shall see if we are able to create an engaging animation that fits one of the rubrics asked and learn more about animation as an education tool in the process.

For part two of this series, please click here.

References

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

Burden, K., Hopkins, P., Male, T., Martin, S. and Trala, C. (2012) iPad Scotland Evaluation. [Online] Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39914/mod_resource/content/2/Scotland-iPad-Evaluation.pdf [Accessed: 14 February 2019].

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

Scottish Government (2015) Literature Review on the Impact of Digital
Technology on Learning and Teaching. [Online] Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39887/mod_resource/content/1/Digital%20Literacy%20Impact%20Review%20.pdf [Accessed 20 February 2019].

Scottish Government (2017) Enhancing Learning And Teaching Through The Use Of Digital Technology: A Digital Learning And Teaching Strategy For Scotland. Scottish Government [Online] Available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf

In the age of social media it is becoming easier and easier for children to be unsafe online and it is our duty as a practitioner to counteract this (Beauchamp, 2012). Beauchamp clarifies that we should not be restricting access for children but educating them to know how to be safe and what to do if they do not feel safe. It is becoming more commonplace that film is used to to help – be it a tutorial or re-enactment of safe internet practice. Keeping this in mind – and following up from last weeks session on eBooks – as both a teacher and a learner if watching a video about online safety will aid in learning; surely making one will achieve this and in a deeper way – if we infer from Burden et. al. from their 2012 study of the use of iPads to enhance learning by making learning more interactive.

Keeping this in mind our session this week has our cohort creating our own video to teach children about internet safety – that was to be edited together using iMovie. This was my first week doing a project that required collaboration and I thoroughly enjoyed not only who I worked with but the final product we created together. As future teachers it is imperative that we share our best practices to aid those who may not feel confident with technology – otherwise this area of learning could be compromised for children (Education Scotland, 2016).

The four of us really hit the ground running. We spent the first half hour of our session brainstorming ideas and collectively we concluded to do a vlog style listicle aimed at upper primary children. For me, this choice was imperative as this would be the age group – in my opinion – that is the most vulnerable and susceptible to online bullying (Lilley, Ball and Vernon). We looked online at resources and found a plethora of lists that gave very helpful advice but the most helpful can be found at ThinkUKnow and Childline.

We then looked at vloggers on youtube to be inspired about the style of delivering the material – we ultimately came to the consensus that our video should be have one of us in front of the camera deliver all the information so the children have a face to connect with and build trust with over the course of the whole video – and that person was me because of my previous experience of acting and my ability to learn lines quickly. This didn’t mean that I was the only one that did any work – far from it. We collaborated to create the script so that our information could be delivered in a way that, firstly, could be understood by the target audience, and secondly, was appropriate for the target audience. Thankfully, one member of our group has children slightly older than our target audience but ultimately knew what they would want to hear if they were that age and we asked what phrases they would use and make the most sense to them – this even went as detailed as what is a photograph called? Is is a pic? Picture? Selfie? The correct answer, according to this child, is picture in this context. Other such details were considered when the script was written to help avoid excluding any child with the language used. I was astounded with the comradery that we had to get through the script quickly this really allowed me to feel like I could be in front of the camera and not feel rushed to just get everything filmed which – I feel – would be a detriment to the message we were saying. This collaboration would not have been achievable if we did not listen to each – a thing that is qualified by Mclean’s (2003) findings that actively listening to others within a conversation helps both parties feel valued when speaking.

Our filming process was the part that came with the most complications that – as a group – we were able to overcome. The main issue was that we wanting to utilise the special background features of the iPhone XR but this could only be achieved using the front facing camera and lighting was an issue which made some backgrounds look distorted. At first what we tried was to use a webcam on one of our laptops but we all felt it didn’t have the video quality that we wanted and we felt – although sitting talking to the camera is the style vloggers used – it looked dated and not to the standard we wanted for the final product so we knew we had to think outside the box to come up with a solution that we would be proud to show. Our solution, required one of us to hold the camera and hold the record button whilst simultaneously being out of frame so they are not seen whilst I make sure to stand in a way that the lighting was not being blocked and was still in frame. Safe to say the dexterity of our team is incredible. We were able to get all the clips of filming we needed and I personally had an enjoyable time creating them.

The final part of the process – and what we were actually learning about in the session – was editing the clips together using iMovie. I could see this in my classroom as being a very user-friendly way to cutting together a whole host of different media that children may create: video, text, still pictures and animations. And, thinking about to last week’s session, allows the learners to take pride and ownership into their learning and assessment (Burden et. al., 2012). Most of the editing was done by our cameraperson but watching them work I was able to gain great insight into using iMovie. It seems very user-friendly and intuitive and I can not wait to interact with it further. Below I have included some screen-grabs from the editing process so it can be seen that it is easy to layer audio, video and text on top of each other.

Overall, creating the video was an enjoyable and – as unbiased as one can be – think it looks terrific and would really engage the target audience. I have included the final product below and hope you enjoy it. If the video does not load below click here.

References

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

Burden, K., Hopkins, P., Male, T., Martin, S. and Trala, C. (2012) iPad Scotland Evaluation. [Online] Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39914/mod_resource/content/2/Scotland-iPad-Evaluation.pdf [Accessed: 14 February 2019].

Lilley, C., Ball, R. and Vernon, H. (2014) The experiences of 11-16 year olds on social networking sites. [Online] Available: https://library.nspcc.org.uk/HeritageScripts/Hapi.dll/filetransfer/2014Experiences1116YearOldsSocialNetworkingSites.pdf?filename=AA58F75CEDE68892A73FB681FE246B8371684F102172D08A780A14959D3BCE5747137B3B2A935011CB8EC3068664FF481AA6D2524E357BAB96C006752CCD756759AD77BD1E389823A55CFAAE74B2EE64F46C611AD1724BE1AC500B025490CCB1CD8D9D26B00674E723A731951BB13FBE2976B614838E6BBB09A8F945BB647E3AD932AFDC63C396AEEE9707281509F2AB83703FE472EA6BD2DFFD2CF2C9426308E56AA075510302368BEF851C07C875CED34F26854183E24B84E3DFD015210882BEA3&DataSetName=LIVEDATA [Accessed: 14 February 2019]

McLean, A. (2003) The Motivated School. London: Chapman.

With our next generation of learners being native to technology (Prensky, M. 2001), we should be using technology to engage and expand the idea of being literate. It has already proven valuable that when children use technology – more specifically iPads – they have positive learning outcomes (Burden et. al., 2012). Children take more ownership of their learning when given the responsibility of a mobile device. As educators our use digital technology should help our learners be able to self-assess and be able to find enjoyment in learning (Education Scotland, 2016).

With this in mind, in this session we were to take a children’s book and create a more interactive eBook using the app “Book Creator”. Our cohort has experienced this application altogether but this session allowed us to take advantage of the many capabilities it offers. I was worried that I was going to face barriers trying to run the application – as I had issues the first time using it before – but when using my own device and taking the time to understand how each tool works I come to realise I didn’t give the application the chance it deserves as a tool for creating multimodal experiences.

I chose the book “The Day The Crayons Quit” by Drew Daywalt as it is one of my personal favourites to read to early primary children and holds a lot of potential to make multimodal. To reiterate from our session two weeks ago for something to be multimodal it must use at least two or more semiotic systems (Deppermann, 2013). For my eBook I went down a path of letting the reader firstly explore their favourite colour – by allowing them to draw on the eBook using this colour – then discover for themselves why each crayon decided to quit. I had each colour crayon spread across the page and the reader could listen in any order to the reason that colour had quit by tapping on them for the audio clip to play. One may argue that this would detract from how a book should be used but for the age of reader that would be engaging with the material – that being early years curriculum – it is about letting a child find enjoyment from the medium (Johnson and Krishnan, 2014).

Overall, I enjoyed this application and plan to create more multimodal eBooks to help our next generation of learners engage with literacy but also learn to enjoy reading.

To look at what I created follow the link below.

References

Burden, K., Hopkins, P., Male, T., Martin, S. and Trala, C. (2012) iPad Scotland Evaluation. [Online] Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39914/mod_resource/content/2/Scotland-iPad-Evaluation.pdf [Accessed: 9 February 2019].

Deppermann, A. (2013) Multimodal interaction from a conversation analytic perspective. Journal of Pragmatics. [Online] vol. 46(1), pp. 1–7. Avaliable: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.11.014

Johnson, M. H. and Krishnan, S. (2014) A review of behavioural and brain development in the early years: the “toolkit” for later book-related skills. [Online] Available: https://www.booktrust.org.uk/globalassets/resources/research/krishnan–johnson-2014-full-report-a-review-of-behavioural-and-brain-development-in-the-early-years-the-toolkit-for-later-book-related-skills-.pdf [Accessed: 13 February 2019].

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

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Learning And Teaching Through The Use Of Digital Technology: A Digital Learning And Teaching Strategy For Scotland. Scottish Government [Online] Available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf

In today’s fast-paced world we must prepare our next generation of learners not only how to use the technology we have today but be ready to create technology for the future. There has been a wide debate about how involved our education system should be in implementing this and one area of computer has been a focus of this debate – coding. Should coding be mandatory learning? Personally I believe so and the English government agrees that at all stages some level of coding or programming must be taught in the classroom (Naughton, 2012). This should elevate our learners to come up with things that our generation never thought possible, but only if we as practitioners are equipped with the knowledge and understanding to deliver these lessons (Education Scotland, 2016).

In this session we were using the coding tool “ScratchJr” to create a story or learning experience that could be used in a literacy lesson. This could’ve been aimed at any stage but I created mine to focus on early years learning as so far I have not focused on this stage of learning. I created a story that introduces children to Matt the cat and Tac the alien and how they they become good friends. It explores different emotions: happy, sad and scared. Also, uses a lot of sounds that are introduced in early years learning. If I used this story in a classroom it would fit the following experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence (CfE):
LIT 0-01a/LIT 0-11a/LIT 0-20a – I enjoy exploring and playing with patterns and sounds of language and can use what I learn.

I was one of the privileged that had a device compatible with the software meaning I am able to keep and share this experience outside of this lesson – unlike with last weeks session where although I do have the final product stored I have no means of using it.

 

I wholeheartedly can get behind the use of “ScratchJr” as a way for children to engage with coding. The interface is very aesthetically pleasing and invites the user to try different blocks to see what can be done: there are blocks that move characters, make them speak, make them repeat code, and the possible combinations are endless. This trial and error approach helped me understand the idea of identifying and fixing a basic algorithm – something that today a child by the end of key stage 2 in England would be expected to know (Curtis, 2013). Having looked around the room and no two people doing anything remotely similar bodes well for using it in a classroom – a practitioner can create an endless variety of experiences and a classroom of pupils could be tasked to created something and potentially no-one would have the exact same thing allowing pupils to have a sense of pride and ownership over work like this. By using coding we move away from a traditional classroom when every child must produce the same outcome in order to succeed. Coding – like life – has endless possibilities and should be experienced to its fullest. This can only be achieved if we make coding a normal part of the school day.

References

Curtis, S. (2013) Teaching our children to code: a quiet revolution. The Telegraph. [Online] 3 February, non-paginated. Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39846/mod_resource/content/1/Teaching%20our%20children%20to%20code%20a%20quiet%20revolution%20-%20Telegraph.pdf [Accessed 3 February 2019].

Education Scotland. (2012) Language Learning In Scotland: A 1+2 Approach. [Online] https://www.gov.scot/publications/language-learning-scotland-12-approach/ [Accessed: 15 January 2019].

Naughton, J. (2012) Why all our kids should be taught how to code. The Guardian. [Online] 3 February, non-paginated. Available: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39847/mod_resource/content/2/Why%20all%20our%20kids%20should%20be%20taught%20how%20to%20code%20%20Education%20%20The%20Observer.pdf [Accessed 3 February 2019].

To look back over our previous sessions, we can see that technology can make a lesson a lot more accessible but only if the tools being used are implemented effectively by the practitioner (Education Scotland, 2016). That being said we were tasked with creating a learning experience that would incorporate the multimodal capabilities of an interactive whiteboard (IBW). We were to achieve this by using the program “ActivInspire” – a program I was unfamiliar with before the module – and use the time to explore the application fully getting a grasp of all the possible lessons that could be produced.

Before tackling this, we must first ask ourselves “What makes something multimodal?” and to put it simply for something to be multimodal it must combine two or more semiotic systems (Deppermann, 2013). There are five semiotic systems which are:

• Linguistic
• Visual
• Audio
• Gestural
• Spatial

As mentioned before I have never come into contact with “ActivInspire” but being the “digital immigrant” that I am, I felt ready to embrace it and what it could do to aid the classroom (Prensky, M. 2001). One of the biggest obstacles I face was being able to open the program; my device isn’t compatible with the application, and the provided MacBooks were not granting me access for almost a quarter of the lesson. As frustrating as this was it allowed me to appreciate that in today’s classroom one must be ready to improvise if the original plan cannot come to fruition.

Once I was able to open “ActivInspire”, then the fun began. It was very easy to get carried away and overwhelmed with what is a vast array of tools and settings that are available. Having taken time before I was able to log into the provided MacBooks, I looked over Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) to try and establish what direction my learning experience was going to take. I then opted to go down the route social studies because up until now I have not yet explored what lessons I would want to produce in this area of the curriculum and more specifically following experience and outcome:

SOC 2-14a – To extend my mental map and sense of place, I can interpret information from different types of maps and am beginning to locate key features within Scotland, UK, Europe or the wider world.

Planning the area of learning I wanted to cover made using “ActivInspire” a little less daunting as knowing what direction I wanted to go in really help it utilising the time available wisely (Cottrell, 2013). The final product was a lesson that required the user to put a country’s flag over where they think that country is on a map and had levels of progression: the first was a map of the UK, then a map of Europe, then a map of Asia, and finally a map of South America. When used effectively in the classroom it would fit the criteria of multimodal as it is visual, it is spatial, and – if used in collaboration – it is linguistic.

Overall, I do understand that making lessons that are interactive will ultimately make a classroom – and its learning – more accessible but the program we used did have its shortcomings. For me, I found using “ActivInspire” very time-consuming; it had taken me almost four hours to create what may be about half an hour of learning. Although one may argue that as long as the learning is done and the learners enjoy and see value in it it should not matter how long the practitioner has spent to create the experience. I would argue that the limited preparation time that teachers have is a barrier to creating this type of lesson. Shouldn’t we be focusing on working smarter, not harder? In doing this, I will also go down the route of not using technology – as it is a wide misconception that for something to be multimodal it needs technology to happen. I understand this was only an introduction to one way of creating an interactive lesson and I will continue to explore and discover how to make more of these, but I would hope to actively inspire my classroom by monitoring new software in the field of interactive education applications.

References

Cottrell, S. (2013) The Study Skills Handbook. 4th ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Deppermann, A. (2013) Multimodal interaction from a conversation analytic perspective. Journal of Pragmatics. [Online] vol. 46(1), pp. 1–7. Avaliable: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.11.014

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

Scottish Government (2016) Enhancing Learning And Teaching Through The Use Of Digital Technology: A Digital Learning And Teaching Strategy For Scotland. Scottish Government [Online] Available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf

 

The modern classroom should reflect the contemporary world and this can be achieved by teaching programming. More specifically, in the primary education context, we can use programmable toys to familiarise students with the key concept of being able to describe and demonstrate a journey (Janka, 2008). In this session, we were looking at the ideas programmable toys can facilitate to achieve cross-curricular learning. The idea of learning through programming dates back as early as the 1960s (Minsky and Papert, 1969). Papert created one of the first programs that was used by children to learn basic programming. This tool is called Logo and having taken the opportunity to try it, I can see (although rudimentary in comparison to today’s aesthetically pleasing programmable toys) this could be used to help children engage with technology to enhance their learning.

Today’s lesson focused mainly on the programmable toy Bee-Bot. Although I never had the opportunity to use anything like this when I was in primary school, I have used online programs that achieve a similar outcome.
The benefits of using such toys include:

• Interactive responsive learning
• Instant feedback received by the learner
• Problem-solving skills developed
• Creativity facilitated
• The learner is in control
• Hands-on learning
• Challenge and enjoyment
• Cross-curricular links (literacy, numeracy and other skills developed)

When thinking of the above, we were tasked to create a Bee-Bot map that develops not only a technologies learning outcome but one that also deliberately incorporate on another subject. We were briefed the week before, and I took that as an opportunity to think of different ideas as I did not want to focus on a numeracy or literacy outcome as I felt this would have been oversaturated. I took the time over the week to look at the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and decided to develop on an idea involving a modern foreign language. I decided to take this route as I thoroughly enjoy engaging with the one plus two languages policy (Education Scotland, 2012) as I see this as an integral role in promoting the four capacities of the curriculum: “Confident Individuals, Successful Learners, Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors. This, in turn, will help learners engage with the wider society” (SCILT, 2012, n.p.).

My Bee-Bot map was made to help cement a learner’s knowledge in identifying animals in French – specifically animals that are typically pets and in turn fulfilled the following experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence:

• MLAN 1-08a – I can recognise labels and environment print. I am beginning to organise images and text. With support, I can sequence images and text to demonstrate my understanding.
• MLAN 1-08b – I can work on my own or with others to demonstrate my understanding of words and phrases containing familiar language.
• TCH 1-15a – I can demonstrate a range of basic problem solving skills by building simple programs to carry out a given task, using an appropriate language.

This was made by having a map that was four squares by four squares with a theme of a pet shop. One square is dedicated to being the shop’s entrance (where the Bee-Bot would start any journey) and there were picture card of animals placed in random spaces. A learner would pick a piece of paper that would have the name of an animal in French. The learner would then program the Bee-Bot to go the space the picture of the animal they picked. They would then put the Bee-Bot at the entrance and turn the picture over which would have the answer on the other side allowing them to check their responce. This refers back one of the main benefits of using programmable toys in learning – getting instant feedback.

I enjoyed making my Bee-Bot map and believe if I was to use it as part of a lesson it would create a positive learning experience. Additionally, I would hope that doing so would parallel Lydon’s classroom findings – that learners would be able to work independently faster than expected (Lydon, 2008). Obviously, these figures should be taken cautiously as it is a small sample size but, in an ever-increasingly digital world, it is clearly an imperative to familiarise children with basic programming.

References

Education Scotland. (2012) Language Learning In Scotland: A 1+2 Approach. [Online] https://www.gov.scot/publications/language-learning-scotland-12-approach/ [Accessed: 15 January 2019].

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 15 January 2019].

Lydon, A. ( 2007) Let’s Go With Bee-Bot: Using your Bee-Bot across the curriculum. TTS Group Ltd.

Minsky, M and Papert, S. (1969) Perceptrons: An Introduction to Computational Geometry. MIT Press.

SCILT (2012) Modern Languages Excellence Report. [Online] https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/publication/2012/05/language-learning-scotland-12-approach/documents/00393437-pdf/00393437-pdf/govscot%3Adocument [Accessed: 15 January 2019]