Teaching using ICT

oNE STRUGGLE WITH MY iCT INTEGRATION WAS – Not ever having used an interactive white board before, and needing to teach myself how to use it.

 Interactive white boards are very new within classrooms and i never used one within my schooling. Whilst I have seen them used in other PRAC situations I never had the opportunity to use them myself or learn how to operate them. This caused an issue on my first lesson with my mentor teachers when I had suggested we use the interactive white board to write on. I couldn’t get it to work properly and my mentor had no idea either, I quickly substituted the black board for the lesson. But I was disappointed we couldn’t research and write on the same devise. We were looking at habitats and researching different animals whilst taking notes. Whilst the lesson still worked it was delayed by the inability to use the resource. It was clear it wasn’t successful and that I needed to substitute another resource as quickly as possible to make sure we kept the children on track. The interactive white board wasn’t working as my mentor never used it and I had only a limited knowledge and understanding of how it works.

I hadn’t prepared myself for the lesson. I believed I would just be able to turn it on and it would begin to work but this wasn’t the case. I later stayed after school to make sure I had an understanding of its basic functions to make it through other lessons. I also asked for assistance from other educators who know how to use the interactive whiteboard. 

End of Week Reflection

I believe I am slowly developing my knowledge and understanding of this course. I use technology each and every single day, even right now I have my laptop, iPad, iPhone and television in use around me, but using it within a classroom and for a purpose is proving to be more difficult that I initially believed it would be.

I have come to the conclusion through this course so far that my use of technology in previous pracs hasn’t been to standard, I was using them but they were only replacing older ways of doing the exact same process. For example, using a PowerPoint instead of writing on the board.

I am eager to continue developing and learning though this course to better myself as an educator and see what conclusions this course leads me to. As well as to see how I implement my new found understandings in the upcoming PRAC. 

Old Wine in New Bottles?

This cartoon captures the development of technology in the classroom perfectly. The technology is advancing but the underlying lesson is staying the same. Seeing this actually made me feel better about how I have been approaching the incorporation of ICT’s in the classroom. I have been trying to do things in different ways with technology and not just change the format in which it is done. However this is becoming harder to achieve than I originally thought.
I posted earlier about the use of the Comic Life app to create a comic book about a certain element of their learning instead of writing a basic story. I’m beginning to wonder if that is the same as this image, or if that really does use technology to change the lesson ?

Related articles

• Old Wine New Bottle (u1016480.wordpress.com)

Best ICT rich Learning Experience ?

On the study desk it has asked us to share our best ICT-rich learning experience. After thinking for a while I realised that I have never really incorporated ICT into my lessons. I have used power point to show information and taken photos but it doesn’t feel like the same thing.

Throughout the PRAC experiences I have been on, only one classroom really used ICT’s. This was a prep classroom, where students spent a lot of time working as a team on the Interactive whiteboards and researched together on the computers.

Before entering this course I thought using a PowerPoint etc was an incorporation of ICT into the classroom environment, i found this challenging but also a wakeup call with the upcoming PRAC.

Oxford Owl

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk

This resource is fantastic for early childhood educators. It is an online book library that can be used on the interactive whiteboards within the classroom.

You do need to sign in and register, but it is FREE!! (Don’t we just love free resources)

You can search through different books and themes according to what purpose you are using the book. You can have the program read it to the children or you can read it yourself.  It highlights the words as it reads the book so that children can follow on and learn the words.

Veermans and Tapola (2004)  has concluded that as the students are more familiar with ICT’s than traditional methods, they are more likely to stay on task and concentrate for longer periods of time, this then allowing the educator in the classroom more time to work one on one with individual students in the classroom.

Veernmans, M., & Tapola, A. (2004) Teaching models: how does one use ICT to motivate students. Retrieved from http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/school_innovation/teaching_models/ernist_questions/ict2motivate.htm

Technology then and now

Whilst researching for the assignment I came across this you tube video made my Laura Swart. It shows blatantly the differences between a classroom with and a classroom without technology.
I loved it; It made it hard as a pre-service teacher to disagree with the integration of ICT in my future classroom.
It shows how far we have come so far with the incorporation of technology in the class room setting and how it is positively affecting the children. I highly recommend giving it a look.

Related articles

• Integrating Technology in the Classroom (gmp4.wordpress.com)

Interactive Whiteboards

This week I have been spending a large amount of time working through the second assignment. I have incorporated a large usage of the interactive whiteboard, an item that wasn’t around when I was going through my primary education. We still used the over head projector (OHP) and if the teacher wanted to change anything they used a white board marker to draw on the transfer sheet.

“In recent years an increasing variety of educational technologies are finding their way into the school classroom, including the widespread acceptance of interactive whiteboards”. (Holmes, 2009)

Through the design of my unit plan I have realised just how much contemporary educators use the interactive white board and the high level of impact it has had on how we teach. I have used it to show video, books and images throughout my unit plan. Even though I personally experienced schooling without this technology I cannot fathom how a classroom could operate now without them.

I believe that the use of the interactive whiteboard is very important in the classroom as it opens doors to current resources and information for every child in the classroom as well as the educators.

 

Holmes, K. (2009) planning to teach with digital tools: introducing the interactive whiteboard to pre service secondary mathematics teachers. Australian Journal of Educational Technology 25(3), 351-365. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet25/holmes.html

Related articles

• Tutorial for Interactive Whiteboards (aylinucan.wordpress.com)

Comic Life App

Another App I have been exploring and using is called Comic Life. It is a perfect app for getting children to create their own stories. Its user friendly and easily manipulated by young children. You can upload images of take your own and they add speech bubbles and captions, just like in a real comic book. It’s also applicable to different age groups as you can use template of design your own comic book from scratch.
I have used this within lesson plans where children make their own comic book as a part of the final assessment piece. This integrating an element of ICT into the classroom and also Veermans and Tapola (2004) has concluded that as the students are more familiar with ICT’s than traditional methods, they are more likely to stay on task and concentrate for longer periods of time, this then allowing the educator in the classroom more time to work one on one with individual students in the classroom.

Veernmans, M., & Tapola, A. (2004) Teaching models: how does one use ICT to motivate students. Retrieved from http://insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insight/school_innovation/teaching_models/ernist_questions/ict2motivate.htm

 

Find the app here  – https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/comic-life/id432537882?mt=8

Family Tree App

Whilst working through the second assignment I came across an App on the Apple store called Family Tree. It allows children to enter their family history person by person and see how each person is related. They can enter notes and details about each person, the children can take pictures of family members and record interviews. When completed the children have an aesthetically pleasing, organised and interactive family tree. The app is colourful and interactive and will keep the children engaged. It is perfect for the younger grades and is an excellent integration of ICT in the classroom.
In order to include it into my assignments I have spent some time learning to use the app, it is simple and easy for young children to use, perfect for the younger grades.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/familys-tree/id611682650?mt=8

Different types of Knowledge

Whist always having an understanding that there were different kinds of knowledge, whilst going through the 3100 study desk I came across declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge and a clear definition of each. I found these very simple and easy to comprehend.

Declarative knowledge is facts that you know. For example knowing the capital of Australia is Canberra or that the Capital of France is Paris.

Procedural Knowledge is the knowledge of how to do something, like knowing how to write an engaging and on task essay for an assignment.

These make clear connections to Queensland’s curriculum. The declarative knowledge is connected to knowledge and understanding and the procedural knowledge to the ways of working.

I hadn’t yet made this connection myself and thought I would share this information.

Related articles

• “Constructing Knowledge” & “Transforming Knowledge” (bourke4.wordpress.com)