Looking back on the Module

Formal Blog Task: Media, Language and Multiliteracies/Multimedia and Technology

This blog post is a chance to reflect on the learning and experiences of this module, focusing on the implications for my own future practice and consequent changes in my outlook on digital literacy.

This experience has enlightened me to the prevalence and value of technology in our highly multimodal modern age and how my pedagogy must constantly develop in order to stimulate the ‘digital natives’ that I will be teaching (Bearne and Wolstencroft, 2007; Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). As reflected upon in week 2, the young minds filling our schools have been conditioned through early exposure to varied and diverse media, to expect interactivity in all learning experiences, and it would appear on reflection of this module, that ICT is an ever-changing means to garner their interest and enthusiasm (Bearne, 2003). It is therefore something that I shall aim to incorporate deeply throughout the curriculum (Stafford, 2011). The importance of instilling teachers with the confidence to apply technologies is highlighted by Future Lab (2010) as digital technology has become so embedded in popular culture that it should not be neglected.

As an English specialist, I now acknowledge more than ever how working with technology and incorporating literacy into this is a refreshing change from the more routine elements of the curriculum (Stafford, 2011). Reaching the end of this module, I feel justified in concluding that there is still a place, however for more traditional literacy and that the teacher is to welcome the use of technology as a positive development, but not a replacement of skills such as hand writing. This is a sentiment that was echoed in my parent interview and by Prensky (2001) as well as the blog post on graphic novels that also highlighted concerns over technology undermining the values of the classroom (Scholastic, 2007). Both will have a place in my future classroom with guidance from the National Curriculum (DfEE, 2013) which shapes learning with ICT into finding things out, developing ideas and making things happen, exchanging and sharing information, as well as reviewing, modifying and evaluating work as it progresses (Andrews, 2000).

The nature of the continuous blog task has enabled me to reflect on such concepts as comics and graphic novels, advertising, multi-modal texts, copyright and Tablet technology in terms of how they hold prevalence in children’s lives and education. A key theme has arisen regarding the increased ownership that technological advancement allows children over their learning experiences. Only today at Shirley Warren school, in fact did one of the ICT co-ordinators comment that within the first five years of my teaching career it is likely that more schools will embrace a “bring your own device to school” policy. However, as an adult still in education, I am aware of the potentially negative effect that students having their own devices at hand during lessons sometimes has on their concentration and therefore on the authority of the teacher to focus their class. I do though acknowledge that this is perhaps an inevitable step in the digital age of learning. This relates to the findings of Male and Burden (2013) detailed in my initial blog post regarding Shirley Warren, who emphasise that personal digital devices can challenge traditional pedagogy. Given the emphasis and need for continuous training of teachers highlighted by Dean (2010) as well as the practical experiences, particularly using iPads, offered during this module, I do however feel confident in my ability to engage children in the varied ways that increased access to technology in classrooms demands and look forward to applying and developing these skills with my own class.

References

Andrews, R. (2000). Learning, Literacy and ICE What’s the Connection? Journal into English in Education. Vol. 34 (3). Pp 3 – 18.

Bearne, E. (2003). Rethinking Literacy: Communication, Representation and Text. Reading Literacy and Language, 37(3), 98–103.

Bearne, E & Wolstencroft, H. (2007). Visual Approaches to Teaching Writing London: Paul Chapman

Dean, G. 'Rethinking Literacy' in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: SAGE

DFE/QCA (2013) The National Curriculum in England, DFE/QCA

Future Lab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum: (Sections 3.5 – 3.6 Digital Literacy in Practice)

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

Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L., Roberts, S. and Wright, K. (2005) Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies. Sheffield: Literacy Research Centre

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

Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?’ in On the Horizon 9 (6) (pdf on LN)

Scholastic (2007) Using Graphic Novels with Children and Teens: A Guide for Teachers and Librarians http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/using-graphic-novels-children-and-teens-guide-teachers-and-librarians Accessed 28-01-14

Stafford, T. (2011). Teaching Visual Literacy in the Primary Classroom. Abingdon: Routledge

Final Blog - Evaluation of the Module

This module has been very effective in developing my knowledge and understanding of how digital media and technology can be used effectively in the primary classroom, which is a key focus in the New National Curriculum (DfE, 2014). Prior to undertaking this module, I lacked in skills and experiences of using different technologies in the classroom, however, by engaging in this module and exploring research in this area, I have gained an understanding of how digital technology and media can be embedded into many curriculum subjects, in order to enhance and support children’s learning experiences.

As an English specialist, it has been very useful and beneficial to see how ICT can be embedded into literacy, by exploring digital literacy. Hague and Payton (2010) state that subject learning needs to be relevant to the digital experiences children are having outside of the classroom. This is supported by Cope & Kalantzis, (2000) who argue that literacy teaching and learning needs to change because the world is changing. Therefore, an implication in my future role as a teacher is to use ICT effectively to support children’s learning experiences in not only literacy but other curriculum subjects. However, at first I lacked in confidence and knowledge of how to embed ICT into literacy lessons, but during this module, I explored many ways to incorporate digital literacy into the classroom. One way that this can be achieved is through the use of multimodal texts. I found that digital texts have equal value to traditional printed texts and can help children become effective readers, writers and communicators in and out of the classroom (Walsh, 2010 and DfEs, 2006).  Not only have I explored how ICT can be used within English, I have also learnt how popular culture and popular texts such as comics, can be used as learning tools for children in literacy. Tiemensma (2009) suggests that by promoting popular texts and comics in the classroom, it can help promote positive attitudes towards reading and learning, leading to an enjoyment of reading. Therefore, by exploring this throughout the module, I have a good understanding of why popular culture and popular texts should be used in my future practice.

 This module also enabled me to experience the use of technology first hand in a school setting. By visiting Shirley Warren Primary school, I was able to see how ICT is celebrated and promoted in a school to enhance curriculum subjects. Before visiting Shirley Warren, I had little experience of using ipad apps and was anxious about using them with children. However, by developing my own skills in this area, I am now aware of the educational experiences they provide for children and how they can be used to develop children’s ICT skills (Apple Inc: 2013). They are also interactive, immersive, and engaging (Apple Inc: 2013). This supports a common theme throughout my blogs, which suggests that teachers need opportunities to explore and discover new literacies (Dean, 2010) & have access to training and the technology (Marsh et al 2005). Therefore, through engaging in this module I feel like I have benefitted in discovering new literacies for my own future practice. I also gained the knowledge of how to assess children’s progress and skills in ICT In relation to the learning objectives we had set for the children.

To conclude, by completing a number of different blogs based on readings, seminar discussions, observations and experiences, it developed my knowledge and understanding in relation to new Medias and technology and their impact on Literacy and curriculum subjects. This has added to my personal professional development as a teacher and is something that I will bring in to my future practice as I feel I have more confidence in my own teaching ability in these areas.

 

Apple Inc (2013) ‘Apps in the Classroom: Using iOS Apps for Teaching and Learning’ [ONLINE] Available: http://images.apple.com/education/docs/L523172A_EDU_App_Guide_062013.pdf

Cope, B. & Kalantzis, M. (Eds.) (2000). Mulitliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. South Yarra: Macmillan.

 Department for Education (2013) National Curriculum in England: English programmes of study. London: HMSO

 Dean, G. 'Rethinking Literacy' in Bazalgette, C. (ed) (2010) Teaching Media in Primary Classrooms. London: SAGE

Hague, C, & Payton, S (2010) Digital Literacy across the Curriculum, Futurelab, Available at http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf

 Marsh, J. et al, (2005) ‘Digital beginnings: Young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies’ Literacy Research Centre, University of Sheffield

 Tiemensma, L, (2009) Visual literacy: to comics or not to comics?: Promoting literacy using comics, World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Council, [ONLINE] accessed 01/04/2014, Available: http://conference.ifla.org/past/2009/94-tiemensma-en.pdf

 Walsh, M. (2010) ‘Multimodal literacy: what does it mean for classroom practice?’ Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 33 (3) pp211 – 239

Blog 10 - Shirley Warren Visit Part 2

This week I was given the opportunity to visit Shirley Warren Primary school again, but this time I was able to work with six year one children to produce a multi modal text. The children and I used ipads to create a ‘talking book’ using the ipad app, ‘Book creator’. We based our ‘talking book’ on Article 13, from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which focuses on Freedom of Expression. Book Creator was something I had briefly experienced before in a seminar session, however, by being given the opportunity to use it with children in a school setting, it enabled me to assess children’s ICT abilities and gain a better understanding of the skills and knowledge they have and gain when using technology and ipad apps. It also helped develop my own skills and understanding of using apps for learning opportunities ,as we used a variety of apps including, ‘Veescope’ and ‘imovie’.

At first, I was anxious as to what the year 1 children knew and didn’t know about ipads and the apps we would be using. However, I become aware that not only do they use ipads on a regular basis, some of them also own their own ipads at home. This supports the view that children are growing up as digital natives (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008) and that subject learning should be relevant to the digital world they are growing up in (Hague and Payton, 2010). Also, as the use of ipads supported children’s home experiences, it may have made them more motivated and engaged in completing the given task (Lambirth, 2003). However, just because children are growing up in a world that has a heavy focus on technology, this doesn’t mean all children have developed the skills needed to use certain forms of technology and apps available. We found that within our group of children, each child had very different knowledge and skills of how to use the specific apps. Therefore, this argues the need for teachers to pitch their ICT teaching at the correct level for children to achieve their full potential (Hague and Payton, 2010). If children are ready to explore and work independently, then this needs to be encouraged. In relation to my future practice, at first I was very quick to help and support the children, however, from stepping back I realised that most of the children knew how to use certain aspects of the apps available.

A future target that has come to light from my visit is that it is important to let children provide their own ideas and self-correct their work when editing. For example, in our talking book we used voice recordings. At first the children’s voice recordings were too quiet which meant that the audience of the ‘talking book’ would not be able to hear the children on the recording. However, instead of letting the children provide ideas of how this can be improved, I provided the solution for the children. Therefore, due to discussions and evaluations of my own practice, I now have an understanding that we as teachers need to let children identify errors in their work and provide their own ideas in order to promote independent learning (Allen, Potter, Sharp, Turvey, 2012).  

To conclude, in my own experience I have seen topic and group work be produced in paper topic books and posters. However, after experiencing the use of a ‘talking book’ to present information, I feel that this is a very beneficial way of collecting evidence on topic related areas as it can include sound, animation, movement and videos as well as print and images, which a paper topic book cannot.

 Allen, J. Potter, J. Sharp, J, Turvey, K. (2012) Primary   ICT Knowledge, Understanding and Practice London: Sage, Learning Matters  .

Hague, C, & Payton, S (2010) Digital Literacy across the Curriculum, Futurelab, Available at http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf

Lambirth, A. (2003) ‘”They get enough of that at home”: Understanding aversion to popular cultures in schools’ Reading 37(1) pp.9-13

Palfrey, J. & Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital Natives New   York: Basic Books (Introduction p. 1 – 15)

Reflecting on the module (Week 12 blog post)

This module has developed my understanding of the use of multimedia in the primary classroom, in particular its relevance within the new National Curriculum for teaching computing and English (DfE, 2013).  In my first post I argued how the increased use of technology by children is a positive step forward in our increasingly digital society; the learning from my blog posts and the experiences I have gained within schools and seminars over the last twelve weeks have offered support for this. As a result, this offers implications for my future practice as I now have a better idea of how technology is best used in the classroom; a key skill needed for teachers and especially ICT subject leaders (Kennewall, Parkinson and Tanner, 2002). 

Schools are encouraged to embed the use of ICT across all primary subjects (Futurelab, 2010; Kennewall, Parkinson and Tanner, 2002; and DfE, 2013). This module has demonstrated how ICT can be linked with English through the teaching of multimedia and I am now able to consider the power technology has on enhancing teaching and learning (Futurelab, 2010). My experiences within school have provided me with many implications for using pupil generated videos in future practice. One of these is that subject leaders should understand the need for assessment (Field, Holden and Lawlor, 2002). Today’s learning was particularly helpful as assessment of digital literacy was something I felt less confident with, however looking at the school’s assessment strategy has given be a better idea of how I could assess learning. Looking at assessment profiles has also developed my understanding of the expected route of progression for ICT skills; supporting my future practice as an ICT subject leader, as I will have to create curriculum plans which provide accurate next steps and learning experiences which meet children’s capabilities (Field, Holden and Lawlor, 2002).

In my first blog post I established my own target for the module; this was to ensure that my positive view on technology does not bias my responses to reading and experience. I believe that I have met this target because on all blog posts I have been able to take a critical stance regarding the use of technology in classrooms, looking at its benefits and possible barriers for learning where applicable. This critical stance will help me in my future role as an ICT subject leader as I will have to consider the possible benefits and risks of using technology in the classroom (Kennewall, Parkinson and Tanner, 2002; Bell and Ritchie, 1999; and Field, Holden and Lawlor, 2002).

A good subject leader must work with their colleagues to help develop their skills and expertise in ICT for teaching purposes (Bell and Ritchie, 1999). This module has developed my ICT skills and provided real experiences for me to implement multimedia and I will now be able to teach future colleagues what I have learnt, showing a clear implication of this module. However, I will need to continue to develop my knowledge of multimedia in the classroom to keep up with this increasingly digital society and the digital natives I will be teaching (Kennewall, Parkinson and Tanner, 2002; Pahl and Rowsell, 2005; and Prensky, 2001). This is important because a good subject leader continues to develop their subject knowledge (Bell and Ritchie, 1999; and Field, Holden and Lawlor, 2002).

Bibliography:

DfE. (2013) The National Curriculum. In Scholastic (Ed.) The National Curriculum in England: Handbook for Primary Teachers Key stages 1 & 2. Oxfordshire. Scholastic.

Bell, D., and Ritchie, R. (1999) Towards Effective Subject Leadership in the Primary School. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Field, K., Holden, P., and Lawlor, H. (2002) Effective Subject Leadership. London: Routledge.

Futurelab. (2010) Digital Literacy across the Curriculum. Bristol: Futurelab.

Kennewell, S., Parkinson, J., and Tanner, H. (2002) Developing the ICT Capable School. London: Routledge.

Pahl, K., and Rowsell, J. (2005) Literacy and Education: Understanding the New Literacy Studies in the Classroom. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?’ On the Horizon. NCB University Press, 9 (6).