5/02/19

Hi,

today’s workshops were about the use of mobile technology in education in particular IPads or tablets. As I have said in previous blogs, it seems digital technology in schools has become a prominent and clever tool to assist teachers in bringing a more interactive and fun learning experience into their classroom. There is no doubt in my mind since becoming more familiar with digital devices and how they can be used within the classroom that they are a very effective tool in enhancing teaching and engaging children. I think this is primarily due to the change in the way in which young people go about their daily life’s surrounded by digital devices which shape their communication and learning with the world around them. Mobile phones and tablets allow children to personalise their communications, learning and accessing of information.“ there is little doubt that the ownership of a personal device, such as an IPad, significantly increases the levels of motivation and interest shown by students in their work at school leading to greater engagement and autonomy by students” (Burden et. al, 2012). Laptops offer good opportunities for games, word processing and research but it has been found that many of the features of a mobile device can provide better ease and speed of use as well as great readily accessible Av tools such as a camera, voice recorder and video. Reading is also enhanced with e-books which allow direct interacting with the text such as highlighting to find word meanings (Andrews, D., 2012). Another asset to iPads or android devices are “apps”. There is a vast array of these some of which are used regularly in primary teaching. They help children to develope their creativity and promote in many instances collaborative learning. “use of creative applications and features in this manner liberated many students who did not previously see themselves as ‘artistic’ or musical” (Burden et. al,2012). Tablets can be used across curricular areas successfully, being integrated seamlessly within lessons and tie in nicely with curriculum for excellence experiences and outcomes. It is a real eye opener to see how these devices have changed the Pedagogy of teachers as well as the methods children learn.

Today we were tasked with learning about and using the app called Book Creator. We were asked to select a children’s book prior to the workshop and to use the story to create our own e-book. An ebook is basically a digital version of a printed book. Book creator is an application for iPad which allows the user to make an ebook of their own. I decided on The very Hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle as it is a firm favourite of my own children. The book is very colourful, has counting, days of the week, exploration of feelings as well as the nature aspect. Therefor I felt it covered many subjects from the curriculum including maths, literacy, health and wellbeing. I added pictures from the book of some of the food the caterpillar ate and asked questions such as “how many”?, “what is it called”? and “how did he feel”? The ebook can be read one to one, in pairs or in small groups. I felt this would test children’s listening skills, encourage collaborative working and make the story more memorable by sharing and exploring with their peers. At the end I added a sound tab with the question “how do you think the butterfly got his beautiful colours?” My intention was that this would encourage the children use their imagination and to share their ideas with each other. I decided some of the learning outcomes and experiences would be early level and as follows:

• MNU 0-02a I have explored numbers, understanding that they represent quantities and I can use them to count, create sequences and describe order.
• LIT 0-01c I joy exploring events and characters in stories and other texts, sharing my thoughts in different ways.
• LIT 0-04a I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices or learn new things.
• LIT 0-096/LIT 0-31a 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.
• HWB 0-01a I am aware of and able to express my feelings and I am developing the ability to talk about them.

Exploring and using this app on the iPad allowed me to experience what I could do as a teacher with this sort of application. Not only was it quick to put together but it was fun for me too. I could imagine how the children would interact with my ebook and could see the wealth of learning it would provide and how much of the curriculum for excellence I could cover using this sort of technology within my classroom. It was not difficult to use and I could see it enhanced lessons beautifully making it a great resource. I am looking forward to exploring other apps like this one and can envisage using it in my future teaching.

Logging off until next week…

References

Burden, Hopkins et al (2012) Ipad Scotland Evaluation. University of Hull

Andrews, David (2012) An Apple for the teacher: are iPads the future in class. The Guardian. [Online] 13th August, non pagination. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/aug/13/schools-secondary-schools

[Accessed: 11th April 2019]