Classroom | Rebecca's Reflective Journal

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!

Today, the 7th February 2017, was World Internet Safety Day. It is all about raising awareness of internet safety and making sure that young people are well educated about online behaviour and that parents and carers are well trained in the possible dangers of the internet and how best to deal with them. As an aspiring teacher I found it extremely useful to learn about and gain access to resources which I will be able to reference as support when I am faced with teaching pupils about internet safety. Today my tutor told us something which made a large impact on me. He told us that we must treat going on the internet like going outside. Although it is indoors and may appear as though it is constricted to one safe room, it is the complete opposite! I would even go as far as to argue that the internet can be an even more dangerous place than the outdoors as it can expose any person to any number of dangerous people and environments; often many more dangerous people than the number who physically live near them.

Stranger danger is discussed with young children before they are able to understand what it means. The internet, I feel, is a particularly scary place because for some reason, most of us are happy to accept someone as our ‘friend’ or to allow someone to ‘follow’ us, who in fact is not our friend at all! People need to understand the dangers of posting personal information online as this can often be viewed by anyone who wants to see it and can track them to know more about you than you would want a stranger to know! People online can hide behind the mask of a profile, which may or may not hold true information about them. They are free to make up any character they wish, making it easy for them to manipulate people into believing their lies. I felt that I was exposed to the dangers of this, especially the very real dangers of grooming throughout my time spent in late primary school and secondary school. However, it is clear that as technology is ever advancing, social media is becoming more and more popular with children who are way below the recommended age of use. Social media is not confined to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Apps such as Snapchat and games which allow people to play live against each other while talking through headphones or online messages also fall in to this category. This means that just as children are introduced to stranger danger, they must be introduced to internet safety.

Stepping away from the idea of false profiles, I feel that there is a sense of competition between young people to have the most ‘friends’ or ‘followers’, meaning that hopefully they will get the most ‘likes’ on their posts and pictures, which is thought of my many as a measure of popularity and beauty. This can give people a sense of confidence but it also provides a whole new platform for bullying and insecurities. We are constantly faced with edited photos of unrealistic looking people and an obsession with the ‘selfie’. This is an unnecessary pressure that seems to be effecting more and more younger children. Social media is something which should be enjoyed, not abused. It is therefore imperative that we teach our future generations about how to behave online and how to deal with anything which seems even slightly strange or anything which has upset them.

We were provided today with a link to CEOP ThinkUKnow materials which had many videos helpful tips about how to teach internet safety to different age groups and how to deal with reports of anything suspicious or unsettling happening online. I found this to be very helpful as I know that this is a resource which I will need to become very familiar with over the years! We were also provided with links to lesson plans for different age groups of children to use on World Internet Safety Day. These gave us materials to use and instructions of how best to use them along with powerpoint presentations and ideas of questions and prompts to use to guide discussions within the classroom. I have saved these resources onto my computer as I feel that they will definitely come in handy one day. Although we are becoming more and more aware of online dangers and working to improve how we deal with them, I believe that due to the long period of time in which social media did not exist, there are still many people who do not see the true extent of the dangers of the internet and this is something that we, as educators, must do our very best to deal with.

By helping people to stay safe online, we are helping people to stay safe in the world. What could possibly be negative about that?

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