Sadly this week I was unable to attend the Digital Technologies workshop as I have been feeling unwell. But, as promised to my lecturer, since I have been feeling slightly better this afternoon, I have done my best to catch up.
Today the class was looking at the use of mobile devices, in particular the use of a Nintendo DSi. Since I don’t have one of these (I have a Nintendo DS lite which is a previous model), I was unable to complete some of the tasks which the class worked on today. These being the creation of an animation on Flipnote, and manipulation of my voice using the Nintendo Sound icon. However, from research of what these two icons are and the things they allow you to do, I can see that they would both be very useful in the classroom. Flipnote would allow pupils to create stories in the form of animation, to demonstrate the results of a science experiment through animation, or to explore 2D and 3D shapes as well as volume, area, capacity, symmetry and tessellation. The Nintendo Sound icon would allow pupils to explore the wonders of technology in that it can change the voice of a character to sound almost any way you want it to. This could be added for effect to their stories or for them to replicate the sounds they heard in their science experiment. Furthermore, my colleagues were using Pictochat to communicate with each other. My own Nintendo did have this feature so I was able to play around with it for a little while to remind myself of its simplistic yet exciting concept. Young people are now spoiled with technology which allows them to communicate with each other whenever and wherever they want. This kind of technology is different however, it would allow pupils to send messages and draw pictures to their friends and to their teacher in one of the safest internet environments. This would be a great way to introduce pupils to concepts such as internet safety and what is appropriate to say and share online and through messages. This could also be used for children in early level as a means of exploring the different letters of the alphabet. By allowing learners to write the letters of the alphabet using means other than a traditional pen and paper will allow them to develop their graphic knowledge in a memorable and engaging way. Therefore I found that these three features in fact provide learners with ways to engage three of their five senses. It allows them to use touch through the touch screen, sight through the use of animation, sound through the use of Nintendo Sound. This will help learners to be captivated by the activities and to capture their experience through different senses.
I personally find the idea of using mobile devices in the classroom very exciting for the reasons mentioned above as well as many more. However, there are teachers who are not taken on by the idea, possibly because they are concerned that pupils will go off task and will use these devices for other reasons than learning, where as they may be less likely to do this on a computer screen which the teacher can see. I would argue that it is important to remember that the young people we are currently teaching are in fact the adults of the future. Therefore, we must look to find methods of ensuring that learners are staying on task when using these mobile devices, rather than preventing their use all together. The reasons for this are endless, but the main reason being that we need to prepare our young people to be literate in modern forms of technology if we want them to thrive in the future. Also, as shown in a recent document released by the Children’s Parliament, young people make use of at least thirty different types of technology! The term ‘mobile technologies’ would cover eighteen of these different resources and it is arguable our most modern inventions which are portable. Learners therefore are used to these types of technology and many of them would view their use in the classroom as exciting and fresh.
There have been studies which claim to show that more digital resources does not lead to better educational results. I would agree with this as it is not the presence of technology which leads to better results, it is the use of technology to enhance learning in ways which 40 years ago could hardly be imagined. It is a terrible shame that technologies may not being used to their full potential in classrooms while we are living in a digital age and I believe that it is extremely important that our educators are educated on how to use them as effectively as possible. As Drew Buddie, senior vice chair at Naace, the association for the UK’s education technology community, said:
“It’s not just about shifting traditional lessons onto screens – it’s about allowing pupils to make use of their devices to truly enhance their learning while giving teachers better ways to track individual achievement and personalise lessons.”
Therefore, despite any arguments against the use of mobile technologies in the classroom, it is my belief that we must not act by any fears of what might happen if we take a step forward in our use of this type of technology, but we must thrive on the possibilities of what could happen!
