Reflect on the personal development that has taken place over the course of the module.

This blog will reflect upon my personal development as a direct result of undertaking the module, and how my future practice has been influenced. Despite being a formal blog post, in order to fully reflect on my experience, reflective language will be used.

It would be reasonable to argue that Information Communication Technology is becomingly increasingly prominent in today’s society, with more children having access to technology, including a wide range of media devices (Ofcom, 2012). This rapid emergence of technology has became an integral role in education, providing educators with vast opportunities to further enhance learning (John and Sutherland, 2004), accounting for why the theory underpinning digital literacy was such a significant aspect of the module.
During these seminars, it could be argued that a crucial aim was to inform us as future teachers, of the impact implementing digital literacy can have on learning. Torjussen and Coppard (2002) reinforce this, acknowledging the significant responsibility of the teacher in delivering ICT, as well as emphasising that it is essential teachers have a sound understanding of how ICT can be integrated into the curriculum to maximise learning outcomes. From this, it can be argued my subject knowledge regarding digital literacies has benefitted immensely and has given me a suitable foundation in which to further develop my understanding of digital literacies within the classroom.

Additionally, an interesting aspect of the module was considering the controversial topic of popular culture, and whether or not it should play a role in education.  Particularly interesting in terms of my future practice was the use of comics and graphic novels to support literacy.  Despite Stafford (2011) claiming that comics are often perceived by both teachers and parents as low culture literature, the future National Curriculum (2013) suggests that combining word and image in texts can be beneficial to children. Furthermore, Stafford (2009) argues that comics are a useful way of explaining the structure of a narrative by using the panels to show a progression of a plot, as well as gaining a deeper understanding from visual cues.  As a result of these benefits, I intend to further explore this area in an attempt to integrate it into my future practice, as Vasquez and Felderman (2013) suggest that by using popular culture in the classroom, teachers can encourage a learning environment that is engaging and enjoyable.

Equally as important, was the practical element of the module. This enabled me to experience the types of applications available to teachers as well discuss how these may be used within a classroom. John and Sutherland (2004) outline that due to the complexity involved with integrating ICT in the classroom, it is either avoided or highlighted as a concern. However, as a result of these practical sessions, my confidence has increased dramatically with using technology, as was shown during the trip to a local primary school in which contextualised the learning that had taken place.

Another important theme that was significantly useful to my personal development was that of Internet safety. Although using web.2 technologies and other forms of digital media can be beneficial to children (Evans, 2004), teachers need to be extremely mindful of the dangers involved with being online as well as informing children of these (Wishart, 2004). From discussing Internet safety during seminars along side my own personal research, I have discovered schemes and websites that can be used as valuable resources to support teaching Internet safety to children, which I intend to integrate into my own practice.

To conclude, this blog attempted to summarise the impact this module had on my personal development. However, due to the limitations of a word count, only certain aspects could be addressed.  Despite this, the module has confirmed that implementing digital literacy is not as difficult as first anticipated and can be incorporated across the curriculum, as reinforced through our visits to a local primary school.

Bibliography

 Department for Education (DfE) (2013) The National Curriculum in England: Key Stages 1 and 2 Framework Document London: DfE

Evans, A (2004) The joys of text: TES Magazine

John, P. and Sutherland, R. (2004) Teaching and Learning with ICT: New Technology, New Pedagogy?, in Education, Communication and Information, 4, pp. 101-1-7.

Ofcom, (2012) Children and Parents: Media use and attitudes report. Ofcom

Stafford, T (2009) ‘Teaching Comics’ in Duncan, D. (2009) Teaching Children’s Literature: Making stories work in the classroom Abingdon: Routledge

Stafford, T. (2011) Teaching Visual Literacy in the Primary Classroom Abingdon: Routledge

Torjussen, M and Coppard, E (2002) Potential into Practice: Developing ICT in the Primary classroom, in Loveless, A. and Dore, B. ICT in the Primary school. Buckingham: Open University Press

Vasquez, V. & Felderman, C. (2013). Technology and Critical Literacy in Early Childhood. New York, N.Y.: Routledge Press.

Wishart, J (2004). Internet safety in emerging educational contexts. Computers and Education. 43 (1) p.193-204