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Week 12 – The Last Post For Digital Technologies

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The Final Blog

Tuesday 28th March 2017

 

Well, time really does fly! It only felt as though I was coming back after a wonderful festive season and could not really be bothered seeing the Uni’s bare front entrance again! Coming back to the realisation of another year with more modules and more hard work, was a disgusting thought. With the festive spirit having slowly faded out and disappeared and seeing bare businesses and houses again, with the decorations being packed away. I was not looking forward to returning!

 

However, I stuck it up and manged to get through the Monday Morning of a new module but I felt as though I was somehow going to hate the next day with another new module Digital Technologies. The reason behind me thinking I would not enjoy this module was the fact it was to do with technology and I was hopeless with technology. Someone had told me that Scratch Jr. and coding would be included in the program and I thought of the painful memories of school. I absolutely hated computing at school, I thought I was hopeless at it! My teacher always said I was good and should take it on as a subject but I struggled and did not enjoy it. However, this module was NOTHING I had imagined it to be. For all the right reasons. I can well and truly say, that-to-date this has been the most interesting; fun and enjoyable module. I have loved the relevance of every single Tuesday toward using digital technologies in the classroom. In this module you well and truly put your teacher’s hat on and I could not be happier that we did this. I feel so much more confident in how to use different technologies in each of the lessons plans I will make and teach to the children. There was not one Tuesday I dreaded in-fact I always attended and looked forward to the class. For me this was the quickest 12 weeks. I will truly miss my class and the work we did on a Tuesday.

 

The main areas we focused on in the module were:

  • Glow
  • Activinspire
  • Programming (BeeBot)
  • Coding (Scratch)
  • Internet Safety
  • Animation/Movie Making
  • Mobile Devices (eBooks/Nintendo’s)
  • Digital Based Learning (Wii)
  • Digital technology enhancing Outdoor Learning (iPads – photo booth; Pic Collage; QR Reader)

 

I can well and truly say I have learned so much about the above topics. I will remember each week and take what I have learned and use it on my journey to becoming a successful teacher. I will be able to look back at the benefits of these programs and how enhancing and engaging they are for successfully getting children to learn. There was not one week I did not like any of the above digital programs. I will hopefully use them all in my class and in the children’s learning. The most significant thing that has stood out for me is how important it is to have technology in the classroom. I have to admit I thought we were verging having to much technology used in classrooms, but really we are not using them enough or effectively enough. I am surprised how important digital technology is within a classroom. The children learn so much more with the use of different technologies now, meaning all schools and teachers should be using all of the technologies available to them. I say this, as each week with each different digital program an advantage is always the children engage more with what is happening meaning they are engaging more with what they are learning. I hope to see more technology used in classrooms and I hope I am a teacher that uses it, as, it seems to be actively getting children to learn and if that is what is successfully getting the pupils to learn, then we need to use it. It is about providing the best learning experiences for the children and this seems to tick that box!

 

It has been a great journey and I hope you have liked following my weekly journal. If any teacher’s have read this, I hope I have inspired you to use technology more or start if not already doing so. Also, here is the list of all the references of literature and internet articles by other people I used, if anyone wants to read up about them:

 

All the best, and a sad goodbye from me!

Christopher Ewing 🙂

 

References throughout the module I have used:

 

  • Armstrong, 2015 – Education Scotland

 

  • Loveless A. and Babs D. (2002) ICT in the Primary School. Graphicraft, Hong Kong: Biddles Limited, Guildford and Kings Lynn

 

  • Allen J. Potter J. Sharp J. and Turvey K. (2011) Primary ICT. 4th Edition, Glasgow: Learning Matter ltd.

 

  • Education Scotland – Resources

 

  • Leask, M. and Meadows J. Teaching and Learning with ICT in the Primary School (2000) London: Routledge Falmer

 

 

 

 

  • Porter, B., (2004) Digi Tales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories.

 

  • Beuchamp, G. (2017) ICT In The Primary School – From Pedagogy to Practice. 2nd Harlow: Pearson

 

  • Scottish Government (2015) Literature Review on the Impact of Digital Technology on Learning and Teaching [online] Available: resource/content/1/Digital%20Literacy%20Impact%20Review%20.pdf [Accessed: 14 February 2017]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DT Week 1 – Module Introduction/Glow/Activinspire

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Tuesday 10th January 2017

Module Introduction/Glow/Activinspire

This week we set up our glow accounts for our new module Digital Technologies and familiarised ourselves after our Christmas holidays with glow and getting back into the swing of working with computers and listening to lectures and working through tutorials.

 

After having logged on, we began by talking about the point of this module and the point of having digital technologies in the classroom. I found some of the points raised by my other fellow students and by the theorists on the importance of technology very interesting. A good definition  to what digital technology is about is: “Digital technology is a term  used to describe those digital applications, services and resources which are used to: find, analyse, create communicate and use information in a digital context.” (Education Scotland, 2015)

 

An area from my further reading and what my fellow students said to be of similarity is the new importance of digital technologies in the classroom and now how frequently they are used and how much influence they now have. In today’s 21st century we are now: “…placing digital technologies at the heart of learning to 3-18 and beyond.”(Armstrong, 2015)

 

Avril Loveless also thought along the same lines as Armstrong did in the sense that technologies awareness is on the up-rise and it is beginning to have a stronger power in society as we progress in society: “ICT is itself an integratory factor and, within the primary perspective, we are seeing more innovation using ICT in the teaching and learning process than is often evident elsewhere.” (Loveless. A and Dore B. P.x, 2002)

 
We then progressed back to glow and added titles to our own homage and looked at the resources already available to us from the universities webpage. We found such things as: TigTag; Glow Live and Twig on glow. I found the resources available on these titles particularly useful and helped me to think how I would go about using the technology materials within these programs in a classroom perspective. These include all the STEM subjects which are particular important for teaching. They are: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Both of these resources go in-depth within the above subject areas.

 

Glow is a government set-up page that has different apps for teachers and pupils to use. As it is a government page it shows that the government are behind the use of technology in the classrooms. As Loveless said: “governments have prioritised the allocation of resources to making ICT accessible to students and staff in schools, providing opportunities for training teachers and outlining the forms of ICT in the curriculum as a resource to support learning.” (Loveless. A and Dore B. p1, 2002)

 

As we began to finish up for this section, we as a class and as an individual began to think of the point of why Glow would be a good learning tool through the use of digital technology to enhance effective learning. The feedback from everyone was that although some teaching staff have a bad perception of Glow, that actually it was a very successful platform with different apps on-hand for effective, interactive learning. These were the points that we thought best summarised Glow:

  • It is a safe environment for pupils, staff and parents
  • Teachers can create personalised learning and teaching materials
  • A place to interactive and share ideas amongst pupils and staff
  • A range of tools to implement learning
  • The teacher can share information easily and quickly
  • A good way to effectively link the classroom to home life
  • Children have the whole range of Glow to look at, while still being a safe and learning environment.

 

We then moved on to working with Activinspire which is a much more interactive way of presenting information. It is a lot like PowerPoint but allows you to be more interactive with: add-ons; being able to write on the screen; move objects and add objects to the screen. This program helps all the children who are kinaesthetic learning; visual learning and auditory learning. This meaning the program will be very beneficial to all learners within a classroom.

 

We all then got a chance to have a go and make an interactive numeracy game which was both informative for learning while still fun and interactive for all types of learners. Me and my friend made sure to stick to the Curriculum for Excellence guidelines. The outcome we chose was for Early Level and based on Numeracy.

It was as follows: I am developing my awareness of how money is used and can recognise and use a range of coins. MNU 0-09a. The learning based game through learning is attached below.

As Activinspire is mainly used within interactive whiteboards there can be many advantages for such a program to be used. The main advantage that I came across in my further reading was, “the increased pace of lessons that IWBs allow. This benefit has been widely reported by teachers. If the lesson is well prepared, the teacher will be able to use resources quickly and smoothly to move from one point to another.” (Allen, J et. Al, 2011, P.186) This showing both why interactive whiteboards and their programs can have such a positive aspect not only to the learner but to the teacher too.

 

Overall, I am fairly confident with the use of glow but with further practice throughout the coming weeks I will be able to navigate and find things quickly. An area I need to develop is within Activinspire. This a big program with lots of gadgets hidden within tabs within the program. I need to spend time going through each tab and seeing what is available and relevant to use within lessons. To do this, I will download the Primary Activinspire at home and thoroughly look through the program and familiarize myself with what is available. Doing this I will become more confident when navigating and finding things within this program.

 

It was a successful week and I learned a lot!

I look forward to next week!

 

References:

Education Scotland, 2015

 

Scottish Government (2009) Curriculum for Excellence: Experience and Outcomes. [Online] Available:https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/All-experiences-outcomes_.pdf [Accessed: 10 January 2017]

 

Armstrong, 2015 – Education Scotland

 

Loveless A. and Dore B. (2002) ICT in the Primary School. Graphicraft, Hong Kong: Biddles Limited, Guildford and Kings Lynn

 

Allen J. Potter J. Sharp J. and Turvey K. (2011) Primary ICT. 4th Edition, Glasgow: Learning Matter ltd.