Having
reflected on the use of technology and media on school experience, discuss
anything that
surprises or challenges you. What questions arise for you as a
result?
Within all of my school experiences technology has been used
to extend and further learning. However, many of these extension tasks have
needed skills in the use of the technology to be completed successfully. Luckily, as Palfrey and Gasser (2008) name them, the majority of the students
were “Digital Natives” and could easily access the technology and complete the
task with ease. In some cases, children’s media-based creative work showed
excellent skills in writing and creativity. However, to compare the same task
without the use of technology the same skills were not as well resembled by pen
on paper.
This raises a question, has the technology freed the child
from the strains of handwriting and given them the ability to purely think of
the creative form and content of their writing? Or, does it resemble the
over-powering nature of technology in “Digital Natives” (Palfrey and Gasser,
2008) lives. The fear that many parents and teachers share, that digital
literacy hinders and discourages the reading of more enriched and traditional literature
(Millard and Marsh, 2001).
Personally, I believe that the use of technology in schools
is wholly well done, however it should not be used purely to extend but have
its own place in the curriculum that teaches children the skills needed for, as
well as the awareness of, technology and digital literacy in society today.
Palfrey, J. and Gaser, U (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the first generation of Digital Natives New York: Basic Books
Millard and Marsh (2001) Sending Minnie the MInx Home: Comics and reading choices' Cambridge Journal of Education, 31:1
I found it interesting how you raised the question that does technology allow children to work on their creativity rather than focussing on handwriting. I think it does as many children on my placement tended to focus on their handwriting rather than the content so using technology may overcome this.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it does need its own place in the curriculum. However from reading I question if national tests remain the same will teachers just teach to meet the national tests ?
I suppose, especially in year six, for example, they will, which is a shame. Learning about these technologies are essential to later life for the children we will be teaching, so are in theory just as important as national tests for literacy and maths.
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