March 2019 – Ross's Reflective Journal

March 30, 2019March 30, 2019

Week 11: A Final Reflection

11 weeks have gone by and the digital technologies module has sadly finished. After visiting the various technologies over the last few weeks, I am going to give an overall reflection surrounding the module, my own skills and what I wish to take from the module as a whole.

In the introductory class to the module, we were given a self-assessment success wheel which we were to pinpoint our levels of knowledge before researching any of the digital technologies. Now in week 11, I have decided to revisit this wheel and fill in where I think I have made progress.

The Success Wheel where I have shown progress.

As you can see in the image above, I have made progress in all but one section of the wheel. For ActiveInspire, I have gone from very little knowledge to having a good knowledge of the programme. There is definitely further reading and practice required before I can say that I have excellent knowledge. I know I need to practice with ActivInspire as it was probably the section of digital technologies I had the most difficulties with. I think it’s a good programme for the classroom so I will defiantly be changing my level of knowledge. For me, I only feel confident saying I have excellent knowledge of programmable toys and the iPads. The module let me explore the world of programmable toys further and I am now successfully able to plan using the experiences and outcomes of CFE as well as being able to create my own resources. I already have many ideas of how I will use these toys within my future classroom. As for the iPads, I have had the realisation of the number of activities that can be planned within the classroom using the technology. The possibilities are endless and I look forward to exploring it further in my own classroom. In terms of games based learning, outdoor learning, glow, coding and easy speak microphones, I feel that yes I did see some progress in these sections however I haven’t reached the potential of my knowledge. I know that this is because I just need more practice with the technology involved and I will gain these experiences in future placements and in my teaching career. I do feel however that I could use all of the technologies mentioned successfully and confidently in the classroom and I am quite excited to be able to test out this technology with children but also explore further technologies which may not be relevant in this day and age.

A section which we explored which wasn’t mentioned in the above wheel was animation. I just want to say that my idea of animation has changed and I can see where it would be relevant in the modern day classroom. I definitely think I need practice in this area before teaching it in the future as I am still having flashbacks to that lecture! I think this leads me on to a further reflection I have made over the past few weeks and that is teamwork. I usually would say that I am a good team player and that I work well in a team but this module made it evident to me that I prefer to work in teams with 3 people rather than a larger group because I felt it was harder to take everyone’s ideas into consideration and also voice my own opinions as I can be quite a quiet character at times. However, I think I need to mention my levels of confidence which have dramatically changed throughout this module. I have surprised myself at how much I have been able to talk out in front of the class and give answers as I usually keep my opinions to myself. I also was able to present in my group and has made me realise that preparation is key as I stumbled through that presentation and with the help of a plan, it could be made better.

As I wrote these reflections, I thought about Scotlands Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy (Scottish Government, 2016) and where I could see connections being made. The aims of this strategy are:

Develop the skills and confidence of educators in the appropriate and effective use of digital technology 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.

I would say that through the use of technology, I was able to develop my skills and my confidence and with this new knowledge I would be able to improve the access to the “digitally native” classroom in my future career (Prensky, 2001). I also think this module helped me to see how technology can be used in a cross-curricular context and how technologies could become the central aim of teaching. I also think that by using the technology the last few weeks, it has empowered me to want to teach it but to also have the ability to one day being able to teach it successfully and innovate it within the classroom.

There is definitely a lot that I am going to take from studying this module. This module has emphasised to me the importance of technology within a primary school classroom and why it is vital for us to open up the opportunities created by technology to all members of the class. It has also allowed me to think creatively about what I could do within my own classroom in the near future. I cannot wait to use the Beebots again as well as programmes like Scratch to allow growth not only in the children’s digital skills but also in all other curricular levels. I also think this module has proven to me the importance of critical thinking and reflections. By reflecting and critically thinking, I have been able to see what I need to improve on but also give my own opinion not influenced by others thoughts and feelings. These are skills which I will take into my teaching career are it is important for teachers to think critically and also reflect on their lessons.

To conclude, the digital technologies module provided me with practice and examples of the technology used within today’s classrooms. It also showed me the importance of reflection and allowed me to see where my skills need improvement for the future. It also allowed me to further my learning of Scotlands policies and allowed me insight on others professional opinions of technology being used in the classroom. I have enjoyed this module and will take all that I’ve learned into my own career.

References used within this blog:

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 at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505855.pdf [Accessed: 30 March 2019].

March 20, 2019March 31, 2019

Week 10 – QR Codes and Outdoor Learning

Digital Technologies allow children to explore many different skills and explore various environments. This week we focussed on QR Codes and the outdoor learning environment. A QR code is “a pattern of black and white squares that can be read by a smartphone, allowing the phone user to get more information about something. QR Code is an abbreviation for quick response code”(Collins, 2019). Before attending this class, I had never really explored QR codes and their use as I had never needed to use them. However, I quickly found out that QR codes are becoming more popular in the primary classroom. This week I was able to learn about their usage, how to create my own and also trying to create a child-friendly activity which could be used in my own future classroom. We also had a focus surrounding outdoor learning and its positive impact on the children learning. This also allowed me to reflect on my own activities in the past which I had conducted outside.

QR codes are useful in a variety of ways. They enable a link between the code and the device providing additional information on a subject. By scanning QR codes, the person or people viewing the device can see images, web links or messages which could give instructions, ideas or facts surrounding a particular topic. You may see QR codes on company billboards which will provide people with further information about the companies job or how they can be of service to the individual. Now you may be thinking “how can this be used within a classroom environment?” Well, it can be used for a variety of activities or reasons such as

Book Reviews
Treasure Hunts
Facts on Class Topics
Interactive Activities
Questions for the Class
Youtube Links
Databases

I think one of my favourite ideas for these QR codes are for providing extra activities for those learners who finish early (Mauk, 2017). This would be useful as it allows the class teacher to continue helping the other children with the class activities while stimulating the brains of the other learners giving them a further understanding of the topic. I see why QR codes are useful in education, however, reflecting on the knowledge that I know, I do not think this would be the first method I would use in my classroom. I think that they take too much time to create using the online QR generators as the activity may only take a couple of minutes. However, I do think it would support the ‘digitally native’ classroom so maybe I just need to try and have a better understanding of the technology behind QR codes and continue to practice planning my own activities (Prensky, 2001).

Another aspect looked at us this week was the importance of outdoor learning in a school environment. It is thought that when a child has a learning experience outside, it will remain relevant to them in later memories. This is because the child can see topics learned relating to their own real-life context (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2010). Learning outside can also be seen as fun and motivational encouraging the children to partake in the activities. It’s also thought that the outdoor environment allows children to roam more freely exploring their surroundings and its a more natural setting for children than the classroom (Maynard and Waters, 2007). Outdoor Learning is a subject which I have been aware of the last 3 years due to my NC and HNC in Childhood Practice. I have been able to conduct activities in the outdoor setting in both the nursery and primary school setting. Thinking back now, I can say that these activities were more engaging for the children as they loved to be outside and enjoyed a new setting from the day to day classroom. All the children that I have worked with have always preferred the outdoor learning sessions that I held and I think that it is important to cater to the child’s needs. This is an area which I will continue to support in my future classroom.

Outdoor learning also relates to the Scottish Governments Policy of Getting It Right For Every Child (G.I.R.F.E.C). This policy includes the Shanarri Wheel which states aims which schools should try to achieve [The Scottish Government, 2018).

When in relation to outdoor learning, the segment of active can be achieved as we can encourage exercise in the outdoors, respected can be achieved as outdoor learning includes cooperation, responsible can be achieved as responsibilities can be given out in leadership games, safe needs to be achieved as we must ensure the outdoor environment cooperates with the schools health and safety policies, healthy will be achieved as the children again are gaining time to exercise and use the outdoor area, achieving will be achieved as games including technology can be used where the children must aim to achieve the final answer or goal and nurtured can be achieved by ensuring that we are catering to the child’s individual needs. This is incredibly important to achieve as this is how we as teachers can show that we understand that every individuals needs matter and we need to ensure that we understand the importance of getting it right for all.

So where can we relate QR codes and outdoor learning? That was our task for today’s class as we all had to create a digital QR treasure hunt! Using an online QR generator, we created a variety of QR codes which all conveyed different questions, hints and answers. We began by planning out our locations and questions and what topics we should be using.

This was our planning sheet for the activity!

As you can see in the image, we decided to focus on a maths revision game. This allowed our peers to search the university while gaining the educational benefit of maths questions. A critique we got about our activity was that it was very broad and if we had focused on one area of maths it may have had made more of an impact. Creating the QR codes was a challenge as we quickly learned that long messages do not show up properly and we would need to reduce the number of characters we had been using. Also, this was very time consuming so in the future, I would like to find a program which may create these at a faster speed. However, I was impressed by how easily we could generate a new code. Our activity consisted of our peers having to scan our codes to answer questions to receive a letter to create a mystery word at the final destination. The word was ‘Calculator’ to ensure we were focusing on the main theme of maths.

Here we are placing our QR code and testing that it operates with the mobile device.

The other group provided us with some positive feedback which I would like to reflect on. They said they enjoyed the challenge of finding each new code. This to me was important as challenge and enjoyment are 2 of the 7 design principles (Education Scotland, 2010). By giving the children a challenge, it can help to stimulate their minds and provide a more beneficial experience. They also said that the time was good as it would probably take the children slightly longer. On reflection, this would work well as you do not want to create an activity which you have spent an hour on for it to last around 2 minutes. This is why I will ensure that I will create activities which last for a good period of time. My personal opinion is that I would use this idea within my classroom and I am leaving today’s class with a more open mind about the use of QR codes in an educational setting. I think I would take the other groups advice by focusing on one area of maths rather than expanding it to many other topics. I also feel this activity could be used with many other parts of the curriculum.

The CFE code that was used for this activity was:

” I can use digital technologies to search, access and retrieve information and am aware that not all of this information will be credible” – TCH 2-02A

There was also many maths experiences and outcomes which could be achieved due to several topics our group focused on. As mentioned above, in the future I will be choosing one topic to help children have a better understanding.

After these further reflections and the creation of our activity, my mind has been changed slightly and I will be trying to incorporate QR codes into my classroom. I think the book review idea is my favourite as an avid reader, this would be helpful for the children to see another child’s point of view. I think outdoor learning is important in today’s society and I will support it within my own practice. I cannot wait to implement all of the above ideas into my own teaching career.

References within this blog:

Collins. (2019) Definition of ‘QR code.’[Online] Available: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/qr-code [Accessed: 20 March 2019].

Learning and Teaching Scotland. (2010) Curriculum for Excellence Through Outdoor Learning. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/documents/hwb24-ol-support.pdf [Accessed: 20 March 2019]

Maynard, T, Waters, J (2007) Learning in the outdoor environment: a missed opportunity?. Early Years.[Online] Volume 27(3) pp 255-265. Available: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09575140701594400?needAccess=true [Accessed: 20 March 2019].

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

The Scottish Government. (2018) Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC).[Online] Available: https://www2.gov.scot/gettingitright[Accessed: 20 March 2019].

March 7, 2019March 31, 2019

Week 9 – Game Based Learning

With 86% of 5-7 year-olds and 90% of 8-11 year-olds playing games on a regular basis, it is important for teachers to understand the basics and how they can enhance their lessons through game-based learning (Ofcom, 2011). This week is all about the games that children play on their devices, consoles and laptops which contribute to their own learning. As well as discussing these games, I had the chance to explore the world of Minecraft to see its educational benefits and also see from my own perspective what skills could be acquired through playing a game. I also focussed on answering and speaking out in front of the class and now have many personal reflections to share with you.

So firstly, I need to explain what game-based learning is and also how can it enhance the classroom. I would define game-based learning as games on an interactive device which provide the children with educational benefits. An important point is that we need to ensure any games that we chose to use are age appropriate for the classroom and that they truly can teach children something meaningful which can continue to help them through their school career. Marc Prensky (2003) states that game-based learning can be ‘motivational’ and can also help our learners to be interested in school. This is because these games can be cooperative and result-oriented. This helps to support their digitally native needs (Prensky, 2001). It is also thought that if we use the games properly within the educational setting and have good teaching and learning, the child can be impacted greatly. However, in many primary school settings, technology is used for reward and entertainment, we must remember to use them for learning and to make our classroom more interactive. (Bray, 2012) Games based learning also has many benefits for the child. These include:

Increasing the child’s mental capacity
Increasing strategic thinking and problem solving
Developing hand-eye coordination
Helping children to concentrate especially those with additional support needs
General skill reading (TeachThought, 2017).

These benefits are excellent, especially for cross-curricular subject areas. We could combine a problem-solving game with mathematics which could help the child have faster strategic thinking. I think we also need to remember that as time goes on, authorities are putting a large emphasis on play-based learning. These games would support their aims. We could allow children to use these games in class as long as we remember to tell them the aim of our lessons so that they don’t go off on a tangent (Beauchamp, 2012). I think this appeals to me as I quite enjoy playing games such as the Sims (which could be argued to be educational) and I do see where there could be benefits in the classroom environment. My only worry is in previous placements I have seen children whose behaviour was not at best receive “computer time” when it should not have rewarded and I hope that I never fall into that trap. I cannot wait to use games in my classroom as it will be more interesting for the children.

This weeks task allowed us to explore Minecraft: Education Edition as we had to use the game to see how we could use it for educational benefits within the classroom. I was able to have more knowledge on this subject compared to others in the classroom as I have played it in my previous years and knew a lot of the controls. I had never played the education edition though, however, I have heard a lot of good feedback surrounding it. Recently, they have created a 30-hour curriculum called coding with Minecraft (Mojang, 2019) This allows children to take 30-45 minute lessons in coding which would tie in with the CFE technologies curriculum. I thought this was so clever as it also shows how game-based learning can unify a group of individuals. I was actually shocked at how much more was available in this edition as it had many educational benefits. However, before I started to explore these educational inputs, I had to play a game and decided to make a house while having 2 dogs to keep me company!

To name a few, children could explore the periodic table as all elements were available to construct in the game. The children can access a lab table, element constructer and compound creator. In the element constructer, it lets the child explore the making of an element. They input the electrons, protons and neutrons needed and an element will appear. Once they have made these elements they can put them in the compound creator to combine them. They can then use the lab table to explore what happens when they combine compounds. I think this is genius! This makes chemistry fun!

Here I have combined 2 hydrogens and an oxygen to make H20!

Here I am making Sodium Acetate from 3x hydrogen, 2x oxygen, 2x carbon and a Sodium!

Other benefits include being able to use a compass properly, survival skills and also how plants are grown to be made into the food that we eat today. This is also a collaborative game as multiplayer mode is available which is a great idea for a class activity as children will be able to play together to work on the same task.

Our task was to get into groups and make a mind map of ideas and then put our ideas into a lesson planner where we would explore the cross-curricular activities available in the game. To create our mind map, we all just put our suggestions onto the paper and then further discussed where this could be seen in the Curriculum for Excellence. We divided our ideas into the curricular areas and began to look at the principles of learning and tried to make some connections.

Once ready, we went onto our lesson planner where we decided to choose 4 different activities which we were willing to talk to the rest of the class about. We decided to focus on Maths, Social Studies, Language and Science. For Maths, we decided on an activity that deals with fractions. The children would be given questions such as “Give 3/5 of the sunflowers to your friend” and they would have to collect 3 of the 5 sunflowers from the garden and give them over. This could be done with any Minecraft item and as fractions is a hard concept to grasp, this could make it slightly more interesting. For social studies, we decided that the class could be studying Scottish histories such as Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle. They would then need to go into Minecraft and build their own castles and implement features from their topic to show their understanding. This could be really creative for some children and you would receive a variety of work. The language was next and we decided that it could be a basic storytelling activity. The children would have to play some Minecraft and then do some story writing on what they achieved or what they wanted to do next. This again would get a variety of responses which allows the children’s imaginations to flow. Finally, we did science. I really liked the chemistry equipment that I found in the game and thought about how players in Minecraft have to dig to find the elements to help them progress. We thought that the children could find the ore and then they would need to use the new science materials to enter the protons, neutrons and electrons, create a new compound and show their creations. This would help them to have a better understanding of where elements such as iron come from and it would be fascinating to see which children have sufficient problem-solving skills. These are activities I will definitely use in my classroom and will adapt as the game develops.

In terms of CFE outcomes and experiences, I think it’s fair to say that there are many that could be used for the game as a whole. I think the outcome that emphasis’s Minecraft is ” I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts” – TCH 1-01a. This is appropriate as there are many subject areas to explore within the game. I hope I get to use this game in my future career.

The presentation was a moment of realisation for myself. I usually don’t like to speak in front of the cohort due to how shy I am and how I usually stumble my words. When our group went up to present, we decided I was doing the talking. Of course my mind went into overload and I began to panic as we were first. I was so happy with myself as I was able to talk about our entire lesson plan and explain my concepts well enough for the class to understand. I need to improve my confidence when speaking but I think this can be worked on. I also want to mention that in the future, I will prepare what I am saying in advance as trying to work it out while at the front was not the best strategy. I also proved myself wrong about speaking out as I was able to offer feedback to my peers without worrying about panicking. Trust me, this is progress since September where I usually don’t give a lot of answers. This is not the class that I thought I would develop this skill but I am pleased that I have made this progress. I also want to comment on the teamwork this week. After last weeks stressful animation session, I can conclude that smaller groups are definitely better for myself to concentrate but to also give my own thoughts and opinions. I will continue to work on all of the above.

I really enjoyed this weeks session as it opened my eyes to game-based learning. Before I finish this blog, I would like to provide a link to some lesson plans which Minecraft have published themselves which dive into many different subject areas for their education edition. This is: https://education.minecraft.net/class-resources/lessons/ (Mojang, 2019). I really cannot wait to be qualified as this is a resource which I will definitely be using in my own classroom to make lessons more motivational and interesting.

References within this blog:

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

Bray, O. (2012) Playful Learning: Computer Games in Education. [Online] https://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/playful-learning-computer-games-in-education [Accessed: 6 March 2019].

Mojang. (2019) Download the Computer Science curriculum from Minecraft: Education Edition today. [Online] Available: https://education.minecraft.net/class-resources/coding-with-minecraft/[Accessed: 6 March 2019].

Mojang. (2019) Subject Kits. [Online] Available: https://education.minecraft.net/class-resources/lessons/[Accessed: 6 March 2019].

Ofcom. (2011) Children and parents: media use and attitudes 2011. [Online] Available: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens/childrens-parents-media-use-attitudes-report [Accessed: 6 March 2019].

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

Prensky, M. (2003) Digital Game-Based Learning. ACM Computers in Entertainment.[Online] Volume 1(1) pp1-4. Available: http://www-cgi.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/Web/People/smrobert/SAMpapers/game_learning/gamebased_learning.pdf[Accessed: 6 March 2019].

TeachTought. (2017) 6 Basic Benefits of Game-Based Learning. [Online] Available: https://www.teachthought.com/technology/6-basic-benefits-of-game-based-learning/ [Accessed: 6 March 2019].