Week 9 - Informal blog task from a trip to a local school

This blog post is going to reflect upon the use of technology and media in a local primary school with reference to things which surprised me and also challenged me within this visit.

Going into the school with a clear mind-set that technology and media technology is a central part of children’s lives in the twenty- first century (Brooks-Gunn and Hirschhorn-Donahue, 2008); this school really showed me the huge possibilities that technology has in a primary school and has given me a vibe of how exciting a role of an ICT co-coordinator could be. The school provided a whole range of different technologies and media which I was absolutely thrilled at. One thing which really surprised and stunned me was the radio studio that the school had. Balzelgette (2010) recognises that children growing up in the 21st century need to appreciate and recognise the bursting range of media that is available to them, equally as sources of information and entertainment, and as a means of communicating and sharing ideas. The radio studio allowed me to see that children are learning to use technology as a means of communicating within the school and also on live air. One challenge that I had with this more advanced technology being present in school is the capability of all the teachers in the school in trying to use this equipment to teach children. I feel that it would take a lot of time to train teachers in using equipment such as the radio studio kit as it is not something you come across every day. As Brooks-Gunn and Hirschhorn-Donahue (2008) mentions ‘the world of electronic media is changing dramatically’ and I got the great vibe from the school teacher the passion which came across about that if children are using technology and are around media technology at home then we should as teachers be teaching and using it in school.

It was present from the teacher at the school yesterday that the vast majority of children have access to a  multiple of medias (Brooks-Gunn and Hirschhorn-Donahue, 2008). This coming from a teacher who is passionate about technology in school has further allowed me to see that technology and media needs to be embedded in the primary curriculum where media education enables children to become more fully literate for the digital age (Balzelgette, 2010). One question which appears from yesterday’s school visit is the challenge that we as students have been set, to make a talking book with year 1 children. Having had experience within the younger years, I haven’t yet had the opportunity to use a great deal of technology with young children. My question is whether the children we are working with are confident with technology. Dahlan (No Date) specifies that teachers design on planning activities for the young learners should prepare them to be familiar with the media technology in society. By undertaking this challenge with a group of peers I am sure will help me develop my awareness of how to use technology with younger children.

Bibliography

Bazelgette, C. (2010) (Ed) Teaching Media in Primary Schools London: Sage

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

Dahlan, A. (No Date). [pdf] Developing Literacy Skills through Learning Products in English for Young Learners. Available at: <https://www.academia.edu/4961242/Developing_Literacy_Skills_through_Learning_Products_in_English_for_Young_Learners> [Accessed on 12/03/2014].