I thoroughly enjoyed my first lesson on Digital Technologies as it gave me an insight into the importance of using this in the classroom. I think this is an area of teaching which I am eager to develop. During the class, we read and made notes from “Enhancing Learning and Teaching Through the Use of Digital Technology” which was published by The Scottish Government in 2016 and informed me of many reasons why using digital technology in the classroom will improve learning and teaching. We also logged into our Glow accounts and added to our launch pads. We carefully chose different apps to add to our previous collection. As a student teacher I am always interested in different ways to improve my teaching so that it is exciting and interesting for the children, so I personally think that Glow is an excellent tool to use and I am glad I will have the time to use it in this module.
Digital technology is a term used to describe digital applications, services and resources which can be use to aid lessons by finding, analysing, creating, communicating and using information in a digital context (Education Scotland, 2015).
Due to the reading and note taking we did during the lesson, I have learned a lot about what digital technology is. Prior to this module, I assumed that is was simply using computers or any technological devices, but I now know that much more thought has been devoted into making this teaching technique beneficial for the learners. I also took the time to discover an expression and outcome from curriculum for excellence that is incorporates the use of digital technologies into that specific lesson. The expression and outcome is, “I explore software and use what I learn to solve problems and present my ideas, thoughts, or information” (TCH 0-03a).
As a result of reading “Enhancing Learning and Teaching Through the Use of Digital Technology” which is available on the Digital Technology module on Moodle, I was informed that The Scottish Government plan to achieve excellence from using digital technology as they believe it will raise attainment and equity. Their aim is to:
· Develop skills and confidence of educators in digital technologies to support learning and teaching.
· Improve access to digital technology for all learners.
· Ensure that digital technology is a central consideration in all areas of curriculum and assessment delivery.
· Empower leaders of change to drive innovation and investment in digital technology for learning and teaching.
Learners from the age 3 to 18 will benefit from this type of teaching greatly because not only does it encourage pupils to learn, it also gives them vital digital skills that will make them more employable in the future due to today’s increasingly digitised world. The Scottish Government have taken charge and commissioned “Young Scot” and the “Children’s Parliament” to make sure that using digital technology in the classroom has a positive effect on the children’s education. Children from the Children’s Parliament thought that it made their lessons more fun and exciting and would like to use it more often. The results from Young Scot were that the children felt that digital technology was an important learning aid, they were able to revise and access information quicker. However, although both these results show a positive response both parties both said that there is a limited supply of equipment and the results from Young Scot show that teachers lack knowledge in this area (The Scottish Government, 2016). Therefore, I now realise how beneficial using this teaching technique is and that I will need to achieve a good understanding of it for my future pupils to have a successful education.
Not only have I learned that digital technology makes learning more exciting, but that more educational content is provided online that can support learning, it offers alternative ways for children to learn and they can identify which way best suits them and if assessments are taken digitally then the time taken to mark them is reduced and so the time saved and can be devoted to more teaching (The Scottish Government, 2016).
As I mentioned before, I think that Glow is an excellent tool for finding resources that can help with teaching and with understanding specific learning types. Due to this being a digital resource, it has also shown me another reason why digital technology will benefit education.
Overall, my first experience with this module was very positive, I have already learned a lot of information about digital technology and how to use Glow appropriately. I am looking forward to the next few months of learning and improving my confidence with using digital technology in the classroom.
References
· The Scottish Government. (2016) Enhancing Learning and Teaching Through the Use of Digital Technology. [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/391375/mod_resource/content/2/Digital%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Strategy%20.pdf [Accessed: 9 January 2018].
