e-learning in primary schools

digital vs hardcopy? this questions tends to come up a lot. especially when reading posts and articles as people figure out the place of technology in classrooms.

                    vs       

I read michelles blog on digital portfoilio’s versus hard copy portfolio’s. I totally agree with michelle and think that digital has major advantages as you are able to add sound, video and pictures and many other things. It is great to keep students work and digital portfolios seem to be the way to go. The only conern i have with using computers for keeping all students work on is the chance of losing the child’s work however with anything i guess you just need to back it up.

Like michelle i was always going to use portfolios in the classroom and now i will consider the use of digital portfolios.

picture references:

Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC

 Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC

Throughout the semester of e-learning I learnt a variety of things which have helped me understand the importance of technology in the primary class room. This then inspired to do my own research of technology in schools, which is how i stumbled across this article, Myths and Realities about Technology in K-12 Schools. The article looks at a variety of myths and realities about technology in schools the myths include:

Reading Matthew’s blog was very interesting especially the one about the collaborative project Bernard Garcin was running. I feel it is very important for students to be connecting all over the world, so to hear that this sort of thing is happening is very exciting. By connecting with other students in different countries they are able to learn about the other persons culture, language and what they tend to learn in their school. I think this is a very exciting project and will definitely look into my class being apart of something similar when i am teaching. It allows students to expand their knowledge about the world that they are living in and helps them to become more globally alert.

Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC

The idea of MNC’s campus in second life is incredible. The viedo really made me think about where we are heading, technology wise. It is amazing to think that a school could be solely run on the internet. I am not too sure how i think about the whole idea and what it means for people in general especially people like me, future teachers. The question is though, can this sort of program be incorprated into the primary classroom. At the rate that technology is changing and growing i feel as though they will soon be able to develop something that will be possible for students in primary schools can use. I personally don’t think it is particularly beneficial for students as it stops communication and social skills developing and creates a world where students do not need to leave their home environment. Many skills that students pick up from their peers and teachers would be prevented.

Overall i think that technology is clever and can be helpful so therefore definitly has a place in the classroom and school environment however i find it still very important that students are at school interacting with their peers and teachers and other parents and that this sort of software is completely beneficial for students.

Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC

Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC

Claire comes up with a good point about how there now with this “new technology” there is this change of what skills students learn. Part of me agrees with Claire whilst some of me disagrees with the idea of just computers just being something extra that students learn about.

As Claire said the three ‘r’s should not be replaced and that reading, writng and arithmatic are still excessively important for students to learn and develop. however computers and new technology should, as they are now predominant in most schools, just help students to learn how to do these things.

So yes i mainly agree with what Claire had to say as computers should be there to not replace but enhance the learning of these important skills. As computers and different types of technology increase in popularity and use schools should take this into consideration but only to ensure that they do not take over these skills but encourage them by giving maths and english a new and fun spin.

After watching the video “Lucy” on youtube which i found myself, i was amazed by the amount technology has developed in the last couple of years. It was incredible to see the way technology has broken barriers. This video inspired me to know and inderstand more about technology and how it can be used to help people in the future. Technology is quickly developing and being made to help people throughout society. Although technology is sometimes thought to be dangerous in the sense of it taking over our lives I feel it is necessary and helpful as it can achieve things that could never have been done before hand and can help people, like we saw in the video, to write and create indivual works.

Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC

I read rachel Boyd’s   blog, who is a teacher from New Zealand. She wrote about how her class created digital stories. It was so great to watch what the students had made and encouraged me to get my class (when i start teaching) to create a similar kind of digital story. The story was effective and it allowed students to get a great end result as well as learn a bit about pollution and also improve their computer skills greatly. The students also were able to practice their reading skills and helped them become more copnfident reading out loud.

The students sounded like they were excited to be apart of making their story and helped them to think and develop their problem solving skills as Rachel said that they had trouble at some points making the video’s.

Overall i was very impressed with the digital stories and hope i can create something equally as good with my students.

Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC

After reading the article on the software ‘scratch’ is saw the usefulness of it and how students were able to learn a lot and turn them from ”media consumers into media producers” by “enabling them to create their own interactive stories, games, music, and animation for the Web.” This new programming language allows students to discover and show their own stories and animations created on the web. I feel this is beneficial as it helps them to be appreciated by people outside of their class and lets them become aware of students outside of their school which helps them to learn lots of different things from students not just in their school. 

The program can be downloaded freely from the website, which means that students are disadvantaged and allows them to be able to create and use their imagination in a new form which isn’t just using pen and paper. 

Alissa wrote an interesting post on distance learning on the internet. Distance learning is learning through no face-to-face meetings on ones meetings. Through reading the article and Alissa’s blog i learnt that this idea is becoming more popular for students who live in rural areas and students need to engage in meaningful learning without being at a school.

I agree with Alissa when she says that we need to build rapport with the students through this internet learning becuase if students feel as though this type of learning is second best then they will, like Alissa said, will probably end up fulfilling that prophesy.

I also agree with the idea of building up the students and encouraging them to continue to learn and grow in understanding of different topics. We need to challenge them and as Wolcott states that “If our teaching methods demoralise students, rather than challenge them…there is little dignity in being learner”.

It can be challenging for students to be motivated to learn when they are by themsleves. This is why it is important for teachers to decrease the isolation the student feels through setting up a video call between students at a school and the child as well as the students sending eachother podcasts and pictures.

I agree with what Alissa has said about this article and find it all very interesting.

Journal article:

Wolcott, L. (1996). Distant, but not distanced. A learner-centered approach to distance education. TechTrends, 41(4), 23-27.  

Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr)
Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Available at: flickrCC