Reflecting on a visit to local primary school (1)

Reflecting upon a visit to local Primary School.

This blog will discuss reflections regarding the use of technology and media within a local primary school drawing on observations made during a visit to the aforementioned school.

Having visited this school was an insightful way of understanding some of the vast opportunities technology has to offer educators. Firstly, it is immediately apparent just how much the school values the contribution technology has in enhancing learning, investing hugely in ICT resources such as iPads, Apple TVs, touch screen computers as well as their own professional radio station studio. Additionally, it was also inspiring to note that a whole school approach was taken, ensuring all members of staff were adequately trained in using the technology provided.

It can be seen that this rapid emergence of digital literacies associated with this digital age are beginning to play an increasingly important role in education, as well as the need to ensure children appreciate these items as educational resources as well as sources of entertainment (John and Sutherland, 2004).

Mills and Levido (2011) support this claim, suggesting that incorporating media such as iPads may encourage collaborative problem solving, as new challenges are presented with the use of new media. Additionally, Potter and Darbyshire (2010) argue that iPads offer a range of educational activities, requiring skills that more conventional learning styles may not be exercised.

I was also interested in the school’s use of film, particularly in the lower key stages. The ICT coordinator and year one teacher expressed a personal interest in film, listing many successes he had experienced. Also, he claimed that he had experimented with film and audio recording across the curriculum to engage pupils as well as addressing the issue of children struggling to translate their thoughts into writing. Furthermore, by using a green screen alongside a fairly simple to manage application on an iPad, he was able to create the illusion that the children in the film were in an exciting environment, which he claimed the children particularly enjoyed.

Brooks-Gunn and Hirschhorn-Donahue (2008) suggest that electronic media is changing dramatically, and I believe that teachers need to change and adapt along with it. Consequently, it can be argued that this particular school adopts a similar ethos, providing easy access to a range of digital media to children of all ages, as well as ensuring it’s staff are passionate enough to utilize the equipment to support their learning.

Overall, my visit to the school was incredibly useful. It allowed me to understand the impact ICT can have on learning when given the necessary funding as well as providing well-trained staff that passionately support the use of it.

Bibliography

Brooks-Gunn, J. and Hirschhorn-Donahue, E. (2008). Children and Electronic media. Journal Research into The Future of The Children. Vol 18 (1).   

John, P and Sutherland, R (2004) Teaching and Learning with ICT: New technology, new pedagogy? Education, Communication and Information, 4, pp101-107

Mills, K.A. & Levido, A. (2011) ‘iPed: Pedagogy for Digital Text Production’ The Reading Teacher: 65(1) pp80-91

Potter, F. and Darbyshire, C. (2010) Understanding and Teaching the ICT National Curriculum, Oxon: Routledge