Multimedia and Multiliteracies in the Primary School - Part 1

Informal Blog Task: Multimedia and Multiliteracies in the Primary School: Linking Theory and Practice (Part 1)

Our initial visit to Shirley Warren Primary School was an absolute pleasure. From the outset, the ICT co-ordinator’s passion regarding his specialist subject shone through. Feeling in awe of this enthusiasm immediately engaged my interest in a way that I can only hope to achieve in my own teaching, as this can install a positive zeal for learning through ICT and beyond.

This drive to use ICT to its full potential has evidently been adopted in the whole school ethos, as I was surprised by the vast amount of technology and media resources that the school possesses, including their own radio station. This has been shown by UKLA (2005) to not yet be the norm for all schools, but I believe that it is a step in the right direction to best support our ‘digitally native’ children (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). It may be said that as children are growing up in a digital culture, it is important that ICT is integrated across the curriculum, rather than as an added extra onto topics, as shown at Shirley Warren (Simpson & Toyn, 2012). I was amazed by the extent of what children as young as year R had achieved including great examples of a green-screen equipped depiction of the gunpowder plot, an ‘Art Attack’, a French retelling of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and another use of green-screen to explain the process of mummification all scripted by the children themselves to foster ownership. The radio station resource was of course very impressive but it is also important to note how it is being used in order to engage and enhance learning. For example it formed an insightful incentive for children to arrive at school on time so that they may have a chance to contribute to the radio broadcast, demonstrating how children value the opportunity.

The exciting challenge presented to us was to produce a talking book using iPads, explaining how Shirley Warren support the children’s rights in line with The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNICEF, 1989). Although slightly apprehensive as an English rather than ICT specialist upon seeing the great contribution from last year, as soon as we were thoroughly introduced to the largely intuitive apps literally at our fingertips, I couldn’t wait to get started! One consideration here, however is the rather limited time frame that the session allowed for, preventing us from involving the children in this planning stage.

Looking at issues surrounding the use of iPads, it may be of interest to consider how competent children potentially are at navigating them. From reading other people’s blog posts as well as my own experiences, it may be easy to underestimate the skills that children already possess. To demonstrate this, an example shared at Shirley Warren regarded the initial introduction of the resource to a year 1 class. When asked who had seen an iPad before, all of the class’s hands went up, and perhaps even more illuminating, over half remained raised when asked who had access to a Tablet at home. It is the role of the school therefore, to keep up with the developments that children experience at home, by constantly updating their expertise and resources (Walsh, 2010). This is something that the school acknowledges and has taken steps to overcome. In particular, training has been provided for all staff across the school so that they may feel confident and capable, even including reception and lunchtime staff.

Male and Burden (2013) emphasise that personal digital devices can challenge traditional pedagogy, including but also going beyond the ethical and safety issues highlighted in the blog posts of week 9. With the increased ownership provided, the authority and ownership of the teacher may be undermined (Male and Burden, 2013). Therefore, teachers should find an appropriate balance towards children’s freedom within learning and teacher facilitation. Back to Shirley Warren, children are introduced to technology from Reception, which is fantastic as it reveals how the school is aware that pupils need to be prepared to live in the future digital world (Blake, Winsor & Allen, 2012). This reflects a positive departure from my prior experience in schools where I have seen iPads only used by the teacher as a tool for recording, not something that the class are familiar with.

Further questions that arise from today’s visit…

• How realistic is it for schools to afford this level of technology?
• How can teachers ensure that lesson’s go beyond children’s already extensive experiences with Ipads and tablets from home?
• Is time provided for children to familiarise with keyboard-based typing?
• How much time would a project ideally take to produce effectively?

References

Blake, S. Winsor, D. & Allen, L (2012) Technology and Young Children: Bridging the Communication-Generation Gap. Hershey: Information Science Reference

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

Male, T. and Burden, K. (2013) ‘Access denied? Twenty-first-century technology in schools’ Technology, Pedagogy and Education

Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. New York: Basic Books.

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].

SIMPSON, D and TOYN, M. 2012. Primary ICT Across the Curriculum. London: Sage Publications.

UNICEF (1989) The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, London: UNICEF UK.

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