Handheld Learning

Nastu (2011) states in her article, “Not all that long ago, the term “mobile learning” implied laptop computers and mobile carts that were wheeled from classroom to classroom. Now, as a growing number of students carry smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices that can connect to the internet wirelessly through a cellular as well as a Wi-Fi connection …” (no page given). This demonstrates the expansion of leaning in the classroom setting and validates the potential of it. Handheld learning is learning which because it can take place on a portable device can occur anywhere and anytime. 


QR codes are part of handheld learning as you scan them with a device and they can lead to you a webpage, send an SMS or email or give display text. They are becoming extremely popular and are commonly used in shops for price checks and can be seen on many advertisements.
Click here to see other ways in which QR codes are utilised 


Here’s an example of a QR code:

We were then designated the task of creating our own handheld learning task which Primary 6 pupils would complete. In our group there were 9 pupils and they spent around 45 minutes completing the treasure hunt around campus recording photos and videos on an iPod touch then another 45 minutes creating their videos on Book Creator on an iPad. 

To review our practice we created a poll on pollev.com to see how the children viewed their experience. The results were as follows;
80% of pupils enjoyed the activity
10% of pupils stated it was ok and
10% of pupils stated they did not enjoy it.
So overall the children seemed motivated by the task and it met the Outcome of ‘Enjoyment and Choice’ from the Curriculum. Following that we posed an open question to them, “What did you most enjoy about today?”. Two responses were, 

“I like active learning and using iPads makes learning more fun.” and

 “It is great getting to explore things and trying them out.” 

This supports Piaget’s Theory of Active learners, as cited in Pound (2008) “Learning is supported by action. Children need to experiment actively with materials and experience things in the real world to develop thought.” (p.38). As he argues that children need to be active to stimulate their thinking and learning and from my experiences I agree with this as activities which are of this type motivates pupils and results in lifelong learning.

I think this site would be useful to me in my forthcoming placement as it shows all the Apps which are suitable for young children;
http://www.appolicious.com/curated-apps/52-education-apps-for-preschoolers

References:

 

Nastu , J. (2011) Mobile learning: Not just laptops any more.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/02/25/mobile-learning-not-just-laptops-any-more/

Pound, L. (2008) How Children Learn: From Montessori to Vygotsky – Educational Theories and Approaches Made Easy. London: Step Forward Publishing Ltd 

THe Future Of ICT

The Scottish Government (2004) state in the experiences and outcomes of ICT, “This area of specialist study has particular relevance in preparing children and young people for the challenges of rapidly changing digital technologies. It will enable learners to prepare for more advanced specialised study and careers within computing science.” (no page given).

This reflects how quickly technologies develop and change and as teacher we must prepare pupils for the advances. One way of achieving this is, the teaching of transferable skills through ICT should be highlighted to learners, so that pupils should see the relevance and purpose of ICT in the classroom. Buckingham (2007) explains the importance of this, “By building connections between classroom uses of technology and children’s out-of-school experiences, they have been regarded as a way of capitalizing on the benefits of ‘informal’ learning, and of validating the diverse ‘learning styles’ of different students.” (p.117). To do this, a practitioner must be aware of what is available to support them and current technology ‘trends’ which interest learners. In my past experiences I have used thinking this in my lessons, by getting the children to create their own Facebook pages on their hero and this was a successful lesson as the class were motivated as it was relevant to them.

                                                  Is this a classroom of the future?

 However, the effect of technology could have adverse effects on the children of today’s society too. There is the potential for pupils to become too engrossed in ICT and become disengaged with ‘typical’ classroom exercise involving textbooks. ‘Digital Natives’ are also exposed to more material than previous generations and Watson (2010) highlights the prospective effects of this, “What children get taught at school, and the values they are given by their parents outside school, is diluted by the information and attitudes disseminated by technology, especially by mobile devices over which parents and teachers can exercise very little control.” (p.29)

Muirhead, Hicks and Bishop as cited in Wheeler (2005) discuss the possibilities of technology in schools. They say how it is almost impossible to predict what future technology will be, they talk about how maximise the use of it, “Without visionary leadership, new technologies are unlikely to be widely promoted among teachers, but with insightful and creative head teachers adopting and championing ICT, success is more probable.” (p.161). Overall, I believe a teacher must instil enthusiasm and confidence in the children in order to engage pupils and achieve success in the teaching by creating ICT competent learners, ready to adapt and use new technologies successfully.

References
Buckingham, D. (2007). Beyond Technology. Polity Press: Cambridge
The Scottish Government (2004). Curriculum For Excellence, Experiences and Outcomes. Available at: www.ltscotland.org.uk/.../technologies_principles_practice_tcm4-540...  [Last accessed 23/02/12]
Watson, R. (2010). Future Minds. Nicholas Brealey Publishing: London
Wheeler, S. (2005). Transforming Primary ICT. Learning Matters Ltd: Exeter

Games Based Learning

This week the topic of focus was Games Based Learning (GBL) within the primary school classroom. I had some previous knowledge to build from as we had had a lecture on this earlier in the year and we also had a guest speaker, a fourth year student, come to tell us about her experiences of using GBL on her placement. The games which the speakers informed us about were ‘Dr Kawashima’s Brian Training’- used to improve maths skills, ‘Nintendogs’- which taught younger pupils about caring, and ‘Guitar Hero’- which was used to ease transition from P7 to S1. The software which I have chosen to elaborate on is Brian Training, presented to us by David Miller. Click the link to go to Report:

Brain Training In Schools

‘Dr Kawashima’s Brian Training’ is known as a COTS game, which is created for commercial use but as a teacher we must have the knowledge to manipulate the game so it is suitable to enhance the learning in schools. The research carried out by Robertson and Miller (2011) and it involved 634 primary 6 pupils in 32 schools. The aim was to find out if the Brain Training would improve their number skills and to carry out this the participating pupils did a number test at the beginning of the 9 weeks. The pupils then played the Nintendo DS for 20 minutes every morning with one brain age check a week. At the end of the term the pupils retook the same number test which they sat at the start, and the Nintendo group scored 50% higher than the control group. This demonstrates how using an electronic game can improve children’s academic skills significantly. Here is a video clip which was used to introduce the key concepts of the game to us:

The prospect of using games in class would be beneficial to children as it offers a multisensory, engaging experience. Solomon and Schrum (2007) suggest reasons for this in their book, “Players get feedback throughout the game letting them know whether the strategies used are helping to achieve the objects. Games are built on one or more challenges and have an engaging sequence that keeps the player interested.” (p.90). This instant feedback has the potential to improve pupils self-esteem because they are getting more competent as they improve. Throughout the lectures the concept of Social Constructivism in relation to GBL was discussed, as children who were skilled in the game were beginning to teach other children how to play it. Learning and Teaching Scotland (undated) promote GBL and the elaborate on this on their website, “This framework requires the active involvement of the children in the construction of their own meaning, understanding and developing skill set. Inherent and fundamental to social constructivism is the idea that we also must appreciate that the learner does not operate in a dry theoretical vacuum but within a complex and dynamic social framework.” (no page given). This also interlinks with Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) which focuses on creating higher order thinking through activities and questions. This can be carried out in the class through creating follow activities to extend the knowledge on the software. Therefore, it is vital to have the GBL contextualised and embedded in the curriculum and this will also aid the children to develop transferable skills. Prensky (2006) refers to this notion as situational awareness “Game players get good at taking in information from many sources, pulling together date from many places into a coherent picture of the world, and making good decisions quickly” (p.6). This demonstrates how using GBL can establish lifelong skills for pupils which can be applied in other areas of the curriculum.

In relation to Curriculum For Excellence GLB marries up with the Principle of relevance as ‘digital native’ children of today are bombarded with computer games. The Scottish Government (2004) explain this, “They should see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future.” (no page given). In addition, as it is so relevant to the learners’ lives they would become more engaged and motivated by the learning taking place. This is then backed up by Buckingham (2007) in his book, “By building connections between classroom uses of technology and children’s out-of-school experiences, they have been regarded as a way of capitalizing on the benefits of ‘informal’ learning, and of validating the diverse ‘learning styles’ of different students.” (p.117). Buckingham (2007) also discusses GBL in his book and explains how the game would meet the Principle of ‘Personalisation and Choice, “Yes games also appear to permit more personalized forms of learning and to accommodate different learning styles; and they are often seen to embody the more ‘informal’ approach that educators are keen to co-opt.” (p.102). In addition, the use of games met the capacities of the Curriculum too. For example the Curriculum should enable learners to become ‘Successful Learners’ as metacognitive awareness, a higher order thinking, is developed which allows them to consider their role in the teaching and learning process.

On the contrary to this, there are obstacles which would limit the use of GBL in the primary classroom. A principal issue is cost; it is incredibly money consuming to provide a game and console of a class of pupils. Freitas (2006) lists the barriers of using this method in education and one of which is, “access to the correct hardware including PCs with high end graphics video cards…” (p.16). I believe, however, it is possible to overcome these hurdles with the correct management of the devices, for example giving classes time slots for use and the correct support and training days for staff.

To conclude, I am excited about the prospecting of using GBL my career and I believe it is an motivating way for children to gain and improve on numerous skills. It is also very relevant to current education as it meets the principles of the Curriculum.

For an reflection on the ‘Guitar Hero’ project see Ashley's Blog

References

Buckingham, D. (2007). Beyond Technology. Cambridge: Polity Press

J, Freitas (2006). Learning in Immersive Worlds: A review of game-based learning. Available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/elearninginnovation/gamingreport_v3.pdf [Last accessed 07/02/12]

Prensky, M. (2006).  Don’t Bother Me Mom- I’m Learning. St. Paul: Paragon House.

The Scottish Government (2004). How is the Curriculum Structured? Available at: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/understandingthecurriculum/howisthecurriculumstructured/principles/index.asp [Last accessed 07/02/12]

Solomon, G. and Schrum, L.  (2007).  Web 2.0: New tools, new schools.  Washington: ISTE.

Learning in Immersive worlds

  

Fife Council Visits UoD

We had a visit from numerous ICT specialists from Fife council who demonstrated to us, how the used ICT in the primary schools to develop learning. We got to use software like Comic Life, Pivot and Skoog and it was very insightful to see how I could potential use these as a teaching tool to enhance the learning of pupils. Birney (2012) discussed the aim of teaching ICT in schools as, “Not using ICT as just a skill but making it relevant to Curriculum For Excellence and the experiences and outcomes”. (no page given).

Buckingham (2007) discusses how much computer technology has advanced in recent years, “The possibility of ‘digitizing’ a whole range of different forms of communication (not just writing, but visual and moving images music, sound and speech) transforms the computer into much more than a calculator or a typewriter with memory. It becomes a ,eams pf delivering and producing not just written texts, but texts in a variety of media, and, as a result, the digital screen has become the focus of a whole range of entertainment, information and communication options.” (p.79). With this in mind, the area which I have chosen to look at and reflect on is using music with ICT. We were introduced to the software which was called ‘Sequel’ and it allowed you create your own music. There were an extensive library of instruments, genres and the user has the opportunity to change keys and balance the volume. 


Below is a picture of the Sequel editing screen.

I think the software would be a useful tool to use in the primary classroom because it would allow children’s creativity to flourish as there are so many different tracks and instruments to choose from. This could come as a hurdle in the classroom as pupils may be overwhelmed by the choice but to overcome this as a teacher you could narrow the options down by stating exactly which style of music you wanted them to create. I believe it would also encourage children, who are not competent at music as a subject, to take risks because the instruments you chose automatically blend in together. This relates to Curriculum For Excellence as it covers the ‘Personalisation and Choice’ principle as The Scottish Government (2004) state, “The curriculum should respond to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and talents. It should give each young person increasing opportunities for exercising responsible personal choice as they move through their school career.” (no page given). This software reflects this as, alongside supportive teaching, there are so many opportunities for individuals to develop their skills through using more complex functions; adding instruments at different times, introducing different beats and the chance to record a play a live instrument. Another useful tool was the ability to match a picture to the instrument and this would really appeal to visual learners as it allows them to easily identify what they are choosing and would therefore relate the sound to picture. A negative point about the software is that it looked complicated to use and I feel that if I was to use it as a teaching tool there would have to be a lot of teaching on how to use the software first before children would create their own pieces of music.

Overall, I would feel confident about using the above software in a classroom as it provides a motivating and engaging way to create music. I would probably group the children accordingly so that I would have a range of learners in one group and they would develop each other’s skills and this is known as social constructivism.

From another interesting analyse of using Sequel software see:

Chloe's Blog

And for wider overview of the Fife Council visit see:

Ashley's Blog

References

Birney, J. (2012).   Information and Communication Technology Elective. School of Education, Social Work and Community Education, University of Dundee  

Buckingham, D. (2007). Beyond Technology. Cambridge: Polity Press

The Scottish Government (2004). Curriculum for Excellence: Principles for Curriculum Design. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/11/20178/45862 [Last accessed 05/02/2010]

MIE/ WIKI

WIKI, comes from the Hawaiian word meaning “fast” or “quick” and it is a website where users can contribute and edit text. In relation to last week’s learning a WIKI is a form of asynchronous communication as one person writes on the page then others can view and edit it. The website is a form of communal constructivism as a number of people are all sharing and contributing knowledge. I think this collaborative practice would be a useful organisational tool and will aid people to add and share knowledge.

The next area we looked at was Moving Image Education (MIE) in Creative Scotland (2009) explain this teaching method on their website, “Moving Image Education is about helping young people to question, analyse, explore and understand the meaning of what they’re watching and hearing.” (no page given). Firstly, I related this to my own teaching practice and where I used it in my previous experiences. In one lesson I used a lesson a video clip of World War 2 to introduce a dance lesson. It was highly effective as I told them to imagine it was them in that position and the moving images really contributed to their imaginations. From this I also elicited their movements; this gave the pupils a sense of ownership as they felt like they had decided them. In future, I would like to have the opportunity to work with MIE within the study of films. MIE would fit into the Curriculum because it is developing numerous aspects of the language experiences and outcomes and it also incorporates ICT into learning and teaching. Scottish Executive (2006) explain the increasing relevance of MIE in the Classroom “Traditionally defined as the ability to read and write, literacy is now understood to be the ability to locate, evaluate and communicate using a spectrum of media resources including text, visual, audio and video.” (p.7). This demonstrates how technology is taking a principal role in the modern day classroom.

References

http://www.movingimageeducation.org/analyse [Last accessed 27/01/12]

http://www.scottishscreen.com/images/documents/MIE_ACfE_for_ScottishScreen_email.pdf [Last accessed 27/01/12]

It is important for teacher to be educated about the medias of today as children are exposed to technology and have been for all their lives. Prensky (20011) explains, ( as cited in Gibson (2007)) explains, "They have been referred to as “digital natives” because they are all “’native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet”.  (no page given). Therefore, a teacher must be aware of the technology which pupils are using and try to incorporate it into the learning environment. With the aim of engaging pupils, making it more relevant to them, which is one of the outcomes of the Curriculum For Excellence.

 Today we began by discussing synchronous and asynchronous communication within social media tools. Synchronous is simpler meaning at the same time and we gave examples such as Skype and Facetime, whereas asynchronous is more complex and means not at the same time, such as emails and Facebook. Communities of Practice was the next area of learning today and Wenger (2006) gives a definition, “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” (no page given). I had previous knowledge of how they could be used from the social justice unit in first year but I wanted to build upon my knowledge and make them seem more relevant in the classroom setting. 


We then discussed Belbin’s Model of team building and how this could be applied in the classroom. The manger role would be undertaken by the class teacher and this would be managing, organising and facilitating the learning to aid the pupils. Assigning children different roles would have an impact on the successfulness of the task as each child would have strengths and weaknesses. This group collaboration would induce social constructivism in the classroom as the pupil’s would be learning from one another and progressing in their development.

Here is a picture of the roles which Belbin suggests.

embedding a video