To what extent are practitioners’ skills and knowledge important for the effective use of ICT. Reflecting on this module, literature and your own experiences. For example pedagogies, teaching / learning styles, competence, confidence and training.

Practitioners’ skills and knowledge of ICT is critical for the effective use of ICT within education. However, studies have shown that teachers don’t feel prepared to integrate technology into their classrooms in order for students to learn new skills (Doering, Hughes & Huffman, 2003; Imbimbo, 2003; Kelceoglu, 2006; Flemming, Mota-Medi & May, 2007). It is evident that without good guidance and education about how to efficiently use computers and ICT within educational settings, practitioners tend to make their own decisions about the extent of involvement of technology within their classroom (Bolstad, R). Dockett, Perry and Nanlohy (1999) state; “These decisions are influenced by such factors as teachers’ own level of confidence with computers, and their beliefs about learning and teaching in the early childhood years”. However, this statement is more than 10-years-old, which means nowadays, practitioners would have a lot more training and guidance to ensure their knowledge and confidence of ICT is up to a standard that allows them to integrate it into their lessons.

Effective uses of ICT may include simple apps or website, such as Puppet Pals or Voki, which will encourage students to be creative. Also, by encouraging students to work in groups or in pairs, this will help develop their ability to share.
Here is an example of  a Voki:
http://www.voki.com/site/pickup?scid=13646833&chsm=8ec3b5b06139bc97738114529307291e

References: 
Bolstad, R. (2004). We have the technology, now what? Practitioners learning to use ICT in early childhood educational settings. The role and potential of ICT in early childhood education. 37-51. 


Dockett, Perry & Nanlohy. (1999). Cited in; Bolstad, R. (2004). We have the technology, now what? Practitioners learning to use ICT in early childhood educational settings. The role and potential of ICT in early childhood education. 37-51.

Doering, A., Hughes, J., & Hu man, D. (2003). Preservice teachers: Are we thinking with technology? Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 35(3), 342–362.

Fleming, L., Motamedi, V., & May, L. (2007). Predicting preservice teacher competence in computer technology: Modeling and application in training environments. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 15(2), 207–231. 

Kelceoglu, I. (2006). An exploratory study of rst-year elementary teachers’ utilization of technology. Unpublished thesis, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. 

Imbimbo, J. (2003). e voice of the new teacher. Washington, DC: Public Education Network.

The effectiveness of both using and creating podcast / vodcast in compulsory educational settings.

It is clear to see that the effectiveness of technological innovations is extremely common for teaching and learning in today’s society. Mobile learning using podcasting and vodcasting are becoming more popular and provides lots of educational benefits. However, it can also be argued that some teachers have trouble implementing these skills in order to teach the children as they have not had experience using these tools (Deoksoon, 2014). Practice is needed to ensure the teaching skills are still effective for children to learn and enhance their knowledge through the use of technology.

This is our attempt of making a podcast. As you can see it is not the best quality which proves that practice is needed to ensure it is at a high standard.

https://youtu.be/eTAvZGkFcFI

References

Deoksoon,K, Seung, J. (2014). Dialogic Practices in using Podcasting and Blogging as teaching tools for teachers seeking Esol Certificate. Journal of Educational Computing Research. 51 (2), p205-232.

Kim, D. (2009a). Innovative educational technology in your classroom in a global context. Essential Teacher, 6(1), 37-39.

Discuss the importance of multimedia and multimodality within compulsory education.

Below is a link to my prezi presentation, discussing the topic of multimedia and multimodality within compulsory education.

http://prezi.com/vzekgbbamjtx/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Could teachers be replaced by mobile technology in the future?

I think that due to the rapid technological advancements that are happening in modern society, teachers are becoming more at risk of being replaced by mobile technology. This could either be because the ever-changing technologies are leaving teachers unqualified to use them effectively in classrooms, or because this type of technology can make the act of teaching in person redundant (Beauchamp, 2017). In my opinion, I feel that mobile technology should not replace teachers completely for many reasons. However, I feel that both teachers and parents should make mobile technology fully integrated with learning as children are becoming increasingly accustomed to using technologies such as mobile phones and tablets and so would perhaps learn better by using them for educational purposes. This video provides us with some information and opinions on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF5dORclb2M.

What are your opinions?

Reference:

Beauchamp, G (2017). Computing and ICT in the Primary School (2^nd ed.). Routledge: London.

Personal Experiences with ICT

Personal Experiences with ICT within Primary Education

My personal experiences with ICT within primary education are very limited. During the Foundation Phase of education, I found that ICT was rarely used during day-to-day teaching and learning. However, ICT was slowly introduced as you progressed through primary education with the introduction of ICT lessons and interactive white boards. 

Although ICT was a relatively new introduction to my education, it is much more common today. ICT can be used in everyday teaching situations with the use of tablets and computers within lessons.

As Marsh et al. (2005, p5) states; children are “growing up in a digital world and develop a wide range of skills, knowledge and understanding of this world from birth”. This demonstrates that their knowledge of ICT will be much greater than ours was at their age.

Ref:

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