Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Thoughts on use of technology in a local Primary School

I found it very surprising that there was a huge amount of technology in this school, it seems very well equipped, which I think is not the case in every Primary School (2005, More than words 2). I am a bit worried about the children’s skills in filming and animating since they are only 5. But to help the children get the most of it they are working in small groups so that we have a chance to assist them as much as needed (2012, The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning).

I am a bit challenged with the time frame, as my general experience tells me that when you are working with technology and children it can take more time than planned. We only have 2 * 45 min to do 2 pages of a multi modal book. If we had had a week we could have engaged the group to cooperate as a team on deciding what to represent on the pages (Evans, 2008). But since we do not have the time, it is important that we have a clear plan made in the group before entering school.

Since I am afraid that my own skills on the iPad could be weak I will have to test all the Apps that we will use. That must be important for a more effective teaching. This is also one of the things that concern me about using technology in the classroom. It is constantly changing (Walsh,2010) and you need to be up to date with the newest technology all the time. Most apps and programs I have been tought those last months are all new to me. The ones we use in Denmark are different ones. So I am excited to go into school next week and see how the output will be.

Bibliography
QCA/UKLA (2005) More than words 2: Creating Stories on page and screen.  London: QCA
2012, School of Education. (The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning) [pdf] Durham University: Education Endowment Foundation. Available at http://learn2.winchester.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/286045/mod_resource/content/1/Higgins%20et%20al%20Impact%20of%20Digital%20Technology%20on%20Learning.pdf [Accessed 22 March 2014].
Evans, A.E.. (2008) 'The joys of text' Think, educate, svare [Online] 1, (1) 1. Available at http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=394636 [Accessed 22 March 2014

Walsh (2010) Australien journal of language and literacy. Vol 33 no.3 pp.211-239

1 comment:

  1. As we were only given a short amount of time to practise using the apps, I was also worried about trying to teach children about the app. However, I found myself learning alongside the children which made the experience much more enjoyable.

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