January 2019 – Ross's Reflective Journal

January 29, 2019March 31, 2019

Week 4 – Coding

According to the Collins English Dictionary, coding is “The practice of writing computer programs” (2019) and is a vital skill which must be acquired by all children in today’s modern age. This week in Digital Technologies we explored coding programs and their impact on children. This was informative and also gave an idea of how coding will be used to help us teach children throughout our future careers. Coding is seen as the new literacy of the world as more children are becoming ‘digitally native’ (Prensky, 2001) and understanding the language of computers rather than the English language. Personally, I have never had any experience with the world of coding, so this week was my first time hearing about the benefits and also trying to create my own interactive story while using some basic coding.

As mentioned above, as time goes on, coding becomes more important in the education system as we now have a curriculum which includes the use of this technology but also its importance for the future lives of today’s children. In 2016 it was estimated that there was a shortage of 11000 digitally skilled workers within Scotland (Kennouche, 2016). One of the main purposes of teaching children coding is to make them highly employable in the future as many roles will have changed and working with a computer will be necessary (Goodwin, 2018). Another purpose is that children will gain many other life skills such as problem-solving, creative thinking and logical reasoning. These skills will help children in many situations in all curricular areas within and out-with the school environment. Personally, I think one of the biggest purposes for teaching coding to the children with Scotland’s primary schools is collaborative learning and communication among the class. As Vygotsky once believed, children who socially interact well will gain better results as they can gain more knowledge while working collaboratively with a more knowledgeable other. (Pound, 2006) For example, if a child is struggling to complete the coding task, they can socially interact with a member of the class who may already have acquired this skill which will further develop their knowledge. When older, children will need to be able to communicate with new staff members and within teams to allow them to do many of their jobs. This collaboration while coding allows meaningful dialogue to take place where children can share ideas and work together to create a final product of a high standard (Beauchamp, 2012). I believe that these benefits alone provide enough evidence of why this needs to be included in the everyday classroom. I also think that this could be motivating for the children as it brings a new perspective to subjects such as maths and English. The Scottish Book Trust also believe that coding is good for those who don’t feel at home with writing and reading as it allows them to work with a language which they may have a greater understanding of (2015).

The program we were exploring today was called Scratch Jr. I was lucky enough to use a family members iPad to explore its use before the class which definitely benefited while producing my own story. The Scottish Book trust says that Scratch Jr provides children with the building blocks of coding in a colourful and meaningful way (2015). To use Scratch Jr, the child can choose cartoon characters which they can code to move around, speak or even produce sound. They also have a choice of colourful backgrounds and other objects which can be used in their slides. Some of the tools which I personally like were the hide tool to enable easy transition and also the messenger tool which creates a link from one character to another. This app was also free which is another great benefit.

Today, I created a story where the children had to help the man with their phoneme of the week. I chose the sound ‘sh’ as scratch offered many objects and characters that incorporated it. The man went on an adventure from the shop, to the beach where he found a shell and a ship and to deep sea diving where he found a fish and a starfish which may help with the children vocabulary.

The CFE outcomes I used for my story were:

I can explore and experiment with the features and functions of computer technology and I can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts. – TCH 1-04a
I can use my knowledge of sight vocabulary, phonics, context clues, punctuation and grammar to read with understanding and expression. – ENG 1-12a

I was able to code the man to move around the characters as well as coding the objects to hide when pressed if their answer was correct. I also felt it was important to add a recap slide to the end of my story as I wanted to consolidate all the information that the children had learned. I was also able to insert my friend’s photo into my story as the deep sea diver which would also be something that the children may take interest in. I found the program easy to use and could see where the benefits of coding are vital in the classroom. I collaborated with friends as we shared new skills we had found out as we further investigated scratch and also it got me to think creatively. Of course, not every program is perfect but I could only see one negative to this app. Your story could only be 4 slides long which wasn’t the best as it required you to cram a lot of information onto each slide and made your stories short and sweet.

The start of our story which showcased our aim. This could be used to create learning intentions for the children and also to test previous knowledge.

Here is my friend Chloe as a scuba diver. This is one of the functions which I feel children will be pulled towards.

I really enjoyed using this app due to my lack of coding knowledge, it provided a fun and simple introduction to the digital world. Using this app made me appreciate what the Scottish government are doing as they want to provide the children with the best skills and knowledge which they will use in the many years to come. Coding is an area in which I am excited to learn more about in my own time through further readings and apps but also I am excited to use these apps to teach in my future career.

As far as this blog is going, I would like to say that I am enjoying writing down my weekly thoughts on the subject matter and doing further reading to help benefit my teaching career. I also am getting better as the weeks go on with grammar (I hope) and my vocabulary which will also benefit me in the future.

References used within this blog:

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.

Collins. (2019) Definition of ‘coding.’[Online] Available: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/coding[Accessed: 29 January 2019]

Goodwin, K. (2018) Coding is the new alphabet … but are your kids prepared? The Herald. [Online] 18 February, non-paginated. Available: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16030509.coding-is-the-new-alphabet-but-are-your-kids-prepared/[Accessed: 29 January 2019]

Kennouche, S. (2016) Coding in Scotland: What is it, why you should learn and how to start. The Scotsman.[Online] 14 January, non- paginated. Available: https://www.scotsman.com/future-scotland/tech/coding-in-scotland-what-is-it-why-you-should-learn-and-how-to-start-1-4001065[Accessed: 29 January 2019]

Pound, L. (2006) How Children Learn.London: MA Education Ltd.

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants MCB University Press

Scottish Book Trust. (2015) Five Reasons to Get Kids (and Parents) Coding. [Online] Available: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/teachers-librarians/2015/12/five-reasons-to-get-kids-and-parents-coding[Accessed: 29 January 2019]

January 27, 2019March 31, 2019

Week 3 – Multimodality

It is now the 3rd week of the Digital Technologies module and all I have to say is that I am really enjoying it so far. This week was all about Multimodality which is a subject I have previously learned about through the Literacy for Understanding module. At the time, I wasn’t very confident explaining a multimodal text but after yesterday’s tutorial, I have been able to further my knowledge which has given me a deeper understanding.

You may be asking “What make a multimodal text?” Well, I am here to tell you! For a text to be classed as multimodal, it must feature 2 of the semiotic systems. These are:

Linguistic
Visual
Audio
Gestural
Spatial

Texts can feature these in multiple different ways and individuals will have a variety of methods to create a multimodal text. Patricia Deubel (2010) says that using this technology should do one of three things. It should be a tutor to the teacher by helping them with their technology skills, a teaching aid for teachers to enhance the learning in their class of individuals and it should be a learning tool which provides children with a sound understanding of the subject they are focusing on.

The most common tool used to enhance children using a multimodal text is the interactive whiteboard which can be seen in most primary school classrooms in today’s society. They allow a hands-on approach to learning allowing children to touch the screen which allows an action to take place such as revealing the answer or moving a character or object to the correct position. These are very relevant due to the digital age that we are living in (Beauchamp, 2012). These devices are allowing classrooms to be more captivating, interactive, motivating, dynamic, personalised and memorable. Personally, I like the interactive whiteboards as they can make lessons fun through learning games and they are also very useful to highlight the main parts of a topic. However, they do have their consequences. They are extremely difficult to write as the pens don’t always match up with the screen and like all technology devices, they do have faults from time to time which may require professional assistance.

This week, I used the tool ActivInspire and I have many mixed feelings about this program! Firstly, I have to say that I understand why it is used a lot in the primary schools and it allows teachers to create fun activities and slides for their topics which allows children to interact rather than just watching a powerpoint. Secondly, the mass of tools available is incredible especially for mathematics such as the protractor for the children to use for angles. I also really liked the clock tool as it would make learning the time fun and engaging. However, I had many troubles which will reduce through more practice. It took me a few minutes just trying to learn how to add text! Also, I just couldn’t work out how to add photographs and other media but I did work this out and was able to create a quick resource below. The CFE outcome that I used was “I use practical materials and can ‘count on and back’ to help me to understand addition and subtraction recording my ideas and solutions in different ways”. – MNU 0-03a

In my activity, the children have to help The Hungry Caterpillar to count the different fruits that he eats throughout the week and to help him collect more food. This used the semiotic systems of linguistic due to the test and visual due to the images used. It was also interactive as the children could move objects to help them to count. Below are some images…

This video shows how the source can be used for interactivity.

The front slide which introduces the lesson to the children.

The children have to help The Hungry Caterpillar collect more pears!

This was great fun to produce, however, for my future career I will definitely need to work on my ActivInspire skills as I was still having difficulties at the end of the class but this will come through practice. In terms of Scotland Digital Learning Strategy, I believe that this program can help with all 4 of the objectives to an extent. It helps to develop the skills of the educator while improving access of digital devices to the children as well as enhancing the curriculum delivery to the individuals while empowering the leaders of change as they show great investment in their lessons (Scottish Government, 2016).

I believe that multimodality is incredibly important for the engagement of pupils within the classroom and will be a subject area I will continue to focus on during my studies and when I have my own classroom.

References in this week’s blog:

Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School: From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson.

Patricia Deubel. (2010) Interactive Whiteboards: Truths and Consequences.[Online] Available: https://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/08/04/Interactive-Whiteboards-Truths-and-Consequences.aspx?Page=1[Accessed: 27 January 2019]

Scottish Government. (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government [Online] Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf [Accessed: 7 January 2019]

January 17, 2019March 31, 2019

Week 2 – Programmable Toys

This week in the Digital Technologies module, we focussed on the use and benefits of programmable toys within the early years and the primary school classroom. With a strong link to curricula used within today’s schools, these pieces of digital equipment provide the learner with both fun, engagement but most importantly learning. I feel this is a topic which is extremely important for the modern day teacher as throughout the next few years, there will be plenty of choice for programmable toys and they will be used more frequently. Also due to our “digitally native” children, we need to ensure that we are providing a service which helps their digital needs (Prensky, 2001). In today’s blog, we will explore a brief history of programmable toys, the Bee-Bots and looking at a Bee-Bot mat which I created in this weeks class.

In terms of education, the first use of programming used to inform learners was Seymour Papert’s programming language “Logo” (Transum, 2019). This was a simple design of an arrow which moves after the children input commands. As it moves, a line appears allowing the children to create their own designs or even make symbols. After looking at this myself, I have to say that I found it quite difficult to understand at first but with more practice, I could probably understand the instructions. I can only imagine how difficult this must have been for the children when they first used it. Other programmable robots we have seen in the past include roamers which were also very difficult for a child to use (Lyndon, 2007). However, I cannot make a judgement on these robots as I have never had first-hand experience with them.

The National Centre for Technology in Education (2012) provide some benefits for programmable toys. These are:

They help introduce key concepts to children in terms of technology and also other curricular areas.
Help with direction and sequences.
Encourage Children to work together and communicate.
They have a large appeal to children
They have many benefits in Numeracy and Literacy.
Allows additional support needs children to feel included as they can be non-verbal and still take part.

I feel that these benefits show how programmable toys should be used in the classroom and that they really help with the education of our young learners.

The most popular programmable robot at the moment within our classrooms is the Bee-Bot which has received awards such as the ‘most impressive hardware for kindergarten and lower primary school children on the world educational technology market BETT 2006’ (Janka, 2008). Luckily, before the class, I have been able to use these robots within a primary classroom throughout a placement in my HNC Childhood Practice. I can say every time that I used the Bee-Bots, children seemed to love them. This brought excitement to our lessons and engaged some pupils who at times were quite difficult to work with due to being distracted and other needs. The Bee-Bots are robots which children can programme a sequence of movements and directions using the raised buttons. These are forwards, backwards, left and right. The Bee-Bots may sound like they are only capable of teaching directions but this is where you are wrong. The Bee-Bots can help to teach subjects all over the CFE curriculum and can have great benefits for the child. By using them on game mats, they can show the child how to do the alphabet, how to tell the time, learn French and help to tell a story. The possibilities are endless! Janka (2008) claims that the Bee-Bots require support at all times while Lyndon (2007) claims that they are more practical when the children are independent without teaching staff. I understand both points of view and believe that both are correct to an extent as some activities will need adult supervision due to difficulty but then again some children are ready for independence with particular tasks.

For this weeks workshop task, we had to create our own Bee-Bot mats. I decided to partner up with Chloe as we generally work well together and we both had ideas which worked for the task. We started by planning together in person and over text about what we were going to do, what outcome comes and experiences we would choose and how our idea would allow children to learn. I am so glad we had done this preparation beforehand as it allowed us more time to create the mat while in the class rather than spending time trying to work out what we were going to do. I believe that the preparation is the key to success as if you go in blind with no ideas, you will waste time which takes away from that day’s main purpose. Our idea was a mat themed by Julia Donaldson’s “The Gruffalo” (1999) which is a much-loved children’s book. We decided to use 2 ‘E’s and O’s’ for our mat and these were:

“I can show my understanding of what I listen to or watch by responding to and asking different kinds of questions” – LIT 1-O7a
“I can demonstrate a range of basic problem-solving skills by building simple programs to carry out a given task, using appropriate language.” – TCH 1-15a

To reach these ‘E’s and O’s’ the children would have to guide the Bee-Bot around the mat to meet the characters of the story, Fox, Owl, Snake and The Gruffalo, and answer some questions showing their knowledge of the book before moving on to the next character. The children would need to answer a question (which we provided with our question cards) when they had made the Bee-Bot go over a question mark square. Between me and you, the child would never be able to avoid these spaces as we ensured that every route possible had a question to allow learning to take place. I was really pleased with our end product as it looked good (to an extent) and it is a task which I would have used within the classroom. I am definitely going to use this idea when I go into my career.

This is me trying to draw a plan of the mat. The writing at the other end of this notebook is the preparation for our questions.

The start of the drawing stage. I quickly found out that drawing the characters was much harder than anticipated!

However, I think it could be adapted in some ways to ensure extra learning. We could have made a Bee-Bot cover looking like the mouse so that children are aware that the robot was playing a role and also we could have made the mat slightly bigger to ensure that children can try to programme the Bee-Bot with more commands which allow more problem-solving skills to develop. I really enjoyed this task and aim to create more mats for the future of my career.

I really enjoyed learning more about programmable toys and it has further my knowledge of their use in the classroom environment. I believe that they can help to reach the aims of the Digital Learning Strategy as they can enhance the curriculum for both staff and children as they can make lessons exciting and fun and also it helps to improve the access of digital technologies to children who may not have access within their homes (The Scottish Government, 2016). I personally believe that programmable toys may be an area of strength in this module as I find them interesting and also can see the many benefits to their use. For the future, I would like to explore more of these toys to broaden my knowledge so that I can be an effective teacher in the modern-day classroom.

References within this post:

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] Available: http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 17 January 2019]

Lydon, A. ( 2007) Let’s Go With Bee-Bot: Using your Bee-Bot across the curriculum.TTS Group Ltd.

NCTE. (2012) NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy. [Online] Available: http://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_numeracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 17 January 2019]

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. MCB University Press.

Scottish Government. (2016) A Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government [Online] Available: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf [Accessed: 17 January 2019]

Transum. (2019) Online Logo. [Online] Available: http://www.transum.org/Software/Logo/ [Accessed: 17 January 2019]

January 8, 2019March 30, 2019

Week 1 – An Introduction to Digital Technologies

Hello! I’m Ross and I have decided to take Digital Technologies as my optional module for the second term of first year. I would consider myself to be quite digitally literate as I have a good understanding of digital devices and the levels of communication which can be reached through using an electronic device. I chose this module as its an area of strength which I feel comfortable with but also to help gather some classroom ideas for my future career as ICT has become a large area of the Curricula used throughout education. I also chose this module due to enjoying National 5 admin 5 or 6 years ago. I find the digital world fascinating due to the evolving technology so I am looking forward to the next few weeks exploring new technology programmes which I may use throughout placements or in my own teaching career.

To have an understanding of digital technologies it is important to know and grasp its definition. Therefore, digital technologies can be defined as the terminology which is used to depict any electronic applications, resources and services which help a person find, analyse, create, communicate or use information in a digital environment. In Scotland, we have a digital learning and teaching strategy called Enhancing Learning And Teaching Through The Use Of Digital Technology (The Scottish Government, 2016) which provides local authorities with guidance surrounding the use of digital devices within the classrooms and the importance of technology on the life of the children but also of the teachers. This provides our schools with an aim for the use of digital technologies through the 4 key objectives. These are:

Develop the skills of our educators.
Improve Access
Enhance Curriculum and Assessment Delivery.
Empower leaders of change.

Each of these objectives helps to create a classroom where digital technologies are used in every curricular area and also helping those who may not have access to digital devices within the household environment.

The government have expressed their concern over this area due to the children coming into the classroom already being “Digitally Native” (Prensky, 2001) This means that the children already have a great understanding of the digital technologies that they will be using to further their education. However, that is not to say that all children are digitally native as many have different upbringings and may not have the correct equipment. This is why the government believes it strategy helps to fix the attainment gap in Scotland as they believe that children gaining these opportunities in school helps them to be equal and helps the children foster the creativity, ambition and interest. Also, not all teachers can be described as digitally literate individuals and also need help to improve their skills which this strategy will cover. It can also lead to more engagement within the classroom and also motivates the children to complete tasks which is a great benefit to this strategy. However, I disagree to an extent about their idea that it fixes the attainment gap as many schools use programmes such as class dojo and sumdog which require an electronic device at home to participate. Surely this means that there have to be restrictions for the document. Overall, I think the document in place is fantastic as it shows that our country is matching the digital needs of the children within the modern day classroom.

Throughout the module, we will be covering a variety of topics which I am excited about as I have not worked with programmes and devices in particular areas. These topics are:

Programming and Coding
Interactivity and Multimodality
Games-based Learning
Movie Making
Animation
eBooks and Mobile Devices
Internet Safety
Outdoor Learning
QR Codes.

I look forward to exploring the world of digital technology and hope to learn many new skills which will help me throughout the university and also within the classroom. I hope to learn about new programmes which will help to create future lesson plans incorporating the experiences and outcomes from the Curriculum for Excellence document but I also look forward to an enjoyable module where I can cooperate with peers and write my thoughts and feelings throughout this reflective blog.

This module is going to provide me with lots of new information about digital technology and I cannot wait to see what is in store over the next few months.

References within this post:

Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants MCB University Press.

January 8, 2019

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