ASSIGNMENT

The value of mobile technology in teaching and learning

Mobile Technology is thought be of value in helping to increase the quality of education, the continued enhancement of mobile devices with their wireless and networking capabilities attract the majority of learners’ attention. (Dexter, Anderson, & Becker, 1999, Roschelle & Pea, 2002).

Many studies have discovered that the use of mobile devices and their wireless capabilities in the learning environment have had a positive impact (Roblyer, 2003).

Mobile devices and their Wireless learning capabilities open up a whole new array of learning opportunities that are limited within other learning environments. Mobile devices offer the opportunity for educators and learners to operate and connect to each other nearly anywhere and at anytime just so long as there is an internet connection. The positive aspects of wireless learning environments include, improving how available and accessible information is, learning can take place in almost any location so this will aid in engaging students, group work can be enhanced because the teacher and students can network far easier, key skills like communication and collaboration with others will be improved, and the actual content that the learners need to acquire can be delivered far quicker (Gay, Stefanone, Grace-Martin, & Hembrooke, 2001; Roschelle & Pea, 2002).

In conclusion, in order to attain high quality learner centered teaching methods wireless learning environments are of high importance (Roschelle, 2003).

References
Dexter, S. L., Anderson, R. E., & Becker, H. J. (1999). Teachers’ views of computers as catalysts for changes in their teaching practice. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 31 (3), 221-239. 

Gay, G., Stefanone, M., Grace-Martin, M., & Hembrooke, H. (2001). The effects of wireless computing in

collaborative learning environments. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 13 (2), 257-276.

Roblyer, M. D. (2003). Integrating educational technology into teaching (3rd Ed.), Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Roschelle, J., & Pea, R. (2002). A walk on the WILD side: How wireless handhelds may change computer-supported collaborative learning. International Journal of Cognition and Technology. 1 (1), 145-168.

  
Roschelle, J. (2003). Keynote paper: Unlocking the learning value of wireless mobile devices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19 (3), 260-272.

ASSIGNMENT

Barriers to the effective use of technology in education.

It is important for teachers to combine technology into the curriculum to ensure that it is being used effectively to establish new opportunities for student learning (El Semary, 2011).



Combining technology with teaching and learning can be difficult as there are many barriers that can arise. The barriers to the effective use of technology in education can be placed into two groups, teacher barriers and school barriers and these include…

Teacher barriers	School barriers
Lack of time	Lack of ICT equipment
Lack of confidence	Lack of access to equipment
Negative past experiences	Poor equipment
Fear of embarrassment	Lack of support (technical, administrative, institutional)
Classroom management difficulties	Lack of teacher training
Lack of knowledge
Negative perception of technology

(Fabry & Higgs 1997, Pelgrum 2001, Snoeyink & Ertmer 2001, Russell & Bradley 1997, Drenoyianni & Selwood 1998, VanFossen 1999,Yuen & Ma 2002, Preston et al. 2000, Veen 1993)

Lack of equipment tops the charts in terms of barriers and it has been discovered that teachers that included technology in their lessons made a number of complaints about there being a lack of equipment (Pelgrum 2001, Guha 2000).

Teachers who find ICT relevant to their subject will find it effective and the opposite will happen for teachers who find it irrelevant for their subject, teachers who think ICT will be difficult to use may be experiencing a lack of confidence, therefore attitudes towards ICT can be barriers in themselves. (Snoeyink & Ertmer 2001)

Negativity towards change hinders educators’ use of technology in the classroom. This negativity can stem from the worry of embarrassment, and the worry of being downgraded as a teacher because the usual pedagogical skills are not being used. (Larner & Timberlake 1995, Russell & Bradley 1997, Fabry & Higgs 1997)

Another barrier can be seen as the lack of access to technology, though it has been found that even if access to technology is ensured teachers are still not combining technology efficiently thus not fulfilling it’s full potential (Ertmer, 1999 et al.).

How do we overcome these barriers?




“If teachers do not have sufficient equipment, time, training, or support, meaningful integration will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve” (Ertmer, 1999).

So to help eliminate these barriers teachers will require time to examine models of combined technology use, to be able to be reflective and hold discussions with mentors and peers, and to collaborate with others on tasks to  give them the chance to experiment with their new ideas about the integration of technology with teaching and learning. (Ertmer, 1999).

References

Drenoyianni, H. & Selwood, I. (1998), ‘Conceptions or misconceptions? Primary teachers’ perceptions and use of computers in the classroom’, Education and Information Technologies, 3, pp. 87–99. 

El Semary, H. (2011). Barriers to the Effective Use of Technology in Education: Asian Transactions on Science & Technology, Volume 01 Issue 05 page 22.

Ertmer, P. A., Addison, P., Lane, M., Ross, E., & Woods, D. (1999). Examining teachers beliefs about the role of technology in the elementary classroom. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 32(1), 54-71.

Ertmer, P. A. (1999). Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: Strategies for technology integration. Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(4), p. 47-61

Fabry, D. & Higgs, J. (1997), ‘Barriers to the effective use of technology in education’, Journal of Educational Computing, 17 (4), pp. 385–395. 

Guha, S. (2000), ‘Are we all technically prepared? Teachers’ perspective on the causes of comfort or discomfort in using computers at elementary grade teaching’, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Atlanta, GA, November 8–11.

Larner, D. & Timberlake, L. (1995),‘Teachers with limited computer knowledge: variables affecting use and hints to increase use’, The Curry

SchoolofEducation,UniversityofVirginia. 

Pelgrum, W. (2001), ‘Obstacles to the integration of ICT in education: results from a worldwide educational assessment’, Computers and Education, 37, pp. 163–178. 

Preston, C., Cox, M. and Cox, K. (2000), ‘Teachers as Innovators in learning: what motivates teachers to use ICT’, MirandaNet. 

Russell, G. & Bradley, G. (1997),‘Teachers’ computer anxiety: implications for professional development’, Education and Information Technologies, 2 (1), pp. 17–30. 

Snoeyink, R. & Ertmer, P. (2001),‘Thrust into technology: how veteran teachers respond’, Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 30 (1), pp. 85–111. 

Vanfossen, P. (1999),‘"Teachers would have to be crazy not to use the Internet!": secondary social studies teachers in Indiana’, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, Orlando, FL, November 19–21.

Veen,W. (1993),‘The role of beliefs in the use of information technology: implications for teacher education, or teaching the right thing at the right time’, Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 2 (2), pp. 139–153.

Yuen, A. & Ma, W.(2002),‘Genderdifferencesin teachercomputeracceptance’,Journalof Technology and Teacher Education, 10 (3), pp. 365–382. 

ASSIGNMENT

How technology has changed the way we learn;

“The tools we use to think change the ways in which we think” (Turkle, 2004).

Technologies are being produced to cater for all types of human needs, in an educational context technologies are being produced to aid in tutoring. These educational technologies are being introduced to learners even at the earliest age in schools. Even the youngest of learners are using various tools such as email, word processing, and power point to name but a few. Without even realising it they are discovering new ways to acquire knowledge and understanding through the use of these technologies (Turkle, 2004).

To learn efficiently fundamental skills such as reading, writing and spelling are required. New technology in the context of reading aids learners with reading difficulties to gain reading skills. Talking books include additional features such as whole word pronunciation, highlighting words or phrases on screen as they are spoken, as well as the story being spoken out loud. (Hartley, 2007)

There are various programs that can aid with spelling. These programs include activities like matching pictures with spoken words, filling in missing letters,
 matching words to pictures and selecting a word by its sound. With the aid of these programs, spelling improvement has been achieved by younger learners and learners with reading difficulties. (Bishop, et al. 2005).

Handwriting is predominantly the method in which we process, organize, store and transmit information but as the years go by technology and the use of computers is becoming more of a popular choice to do so. These days most people write using a word processor, even the youngest of learners.

Does using new technology for writing change the way that people think?

Some think that the new technology relieves us of putting up with the issues linked to writing by hand like letter formation and that it promotes editing, rewriting and spelling. Without having to deal with these issues it is argued that it leaves more time to be creative and think about the content. Others contest this and think that the new technology makes writing a lot easier. (Hartley, et al., 2001)

As technology has been developing over the years so have theories based on cognition and learning, “Filling the bucket” may have once been a term used in relation to learning but now more commonly the term “social mind” is used.

This term alludes to the notion that learners enhance their understanding by collaborating with others. In pedagogical terms the collaboration of learners thoughts and ideas that supports learner’s cognitive development through the interaction of others is known as social constructivism (Bearison & Dorval, 2002).

Aspects of Social Constructivism include situated learning and cognitive apprenticeship. Situated learning can be described as learners engaging in tasks that are appropriate to the topic. And cognitive apprenticeship can be described as students learning through the use of scaffolding where expert behavior is demonstrated through group interaction. These strategies are important because they lead to deep learning (Brown et al., (1989).

For learners to acquire complex skills they need “social interactions in situated contexts, which allows them to see how the various parts of the process fit together” (Trent et al., 1998).

The internet along with it’s social networking technologies has proven to be a quality tool to aid Social Constructivism in the classroom because of the real time interaction with other learners (McMahon, 1997).

References

 Bearison, D., & Dorval, B. (2002). Constructive features of collaborative cognition. In, Collaborative Cognition: Children Negotiating Ways of Knowing. 117-121.

Bishop, D., Adams, C., Lehtonen, A. & Rosen, S. (2005). Effectiveness of computerised spelling training in children with language impairments: a comparison of modified and unmodified speech input. Journal of Research in Reading, 28, 2, 144–157.

Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32-41.

Hartley, J., Howe, M. J. A. & McKeachie, W. J. (2001). Writing through time: longitudinal studies of the effects of new technology on writing. British Journal of Educational Technology, 32, 2, 141–151.

Hartley, J. (2007). Teaching, learning and new technology: a review for teachers. British Journal of Educational Technology. 38, 1, 42-62.

McMahon, M. (1997). Social constructivism and the World Wide Web - A paradigm for learning. Perth, Australia.

Trent, S., Artiles, A., & Englert, C. (1998). Deficit thinking to social constructivism: A review of theory, research, and practice in special education. Review of Research in Education, 23, 277-307.

Turkle, S. (2004). How Computers Change The Way We Think. The chronicle of higher education. 50,21. P. B26.

ASSIGNMENT

Was discussing technology for learning with one of the lecturers at Coleg Sir Gar and he introduced me to an app called nearpod.

HOW IT WORKS

Benefits of nearpod

Easily create interactive classes

Simply upload a pdf or start a new presentation and add interactive features.

Download ready-to-use lessons

Find free and paid interactive multimedia presentations from distinguished educators.

Use Nearpod for distance learning

Your students can join your Nearpod Session from anywhere.

Engage and amaze

Multimedia content harnesses students’ attention, keeping them focused and minimizing off-task behaviour.

Follow your students

Monitor classroom activity and easily control students’ devices.

Share content and assessments in real time

Push information, questions, polls, slideshows, videos, audio and other activities to your students.

Great for BYOD,
carts and 1:1

Nearpod is multiplatform, you and students can interact through iOS devices, Chromebooks, Windows 8.1 devices, Android devices, Nooks and any PC or MAC.

ASSIGNMENT

John Wooden - Success is… “Peace of mind attained only through self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable”
 

I find this Ted Talk inspiring as John Wooden suggests that you shouldn't try and be better than someone else but you should learn from others and try to be the best that you can be.

ASSIGNMENT

In a previous post I commented that I would like to spend a bit more time using microsoft one drive so I would feel totally confident in using it.

I have recently signed up for an account and have been using it constantly ever since, basically one drive enables you to store files and photos online where you can access your work from anywhere and any time similar to having an external hard drive (which you can lose or can get damaged). 

Pro's - Able to access your work from anywhere

The transition from Mac to P.C. and vice versa is seamless

Con's - Can only access your work with an internet connection

Using one drive has saved me a lot of time so far and has made my lesson planning that little bit easier because I have the peace of mind that it doesn't matter what type of computer is in the classroom that I am going to teach because one drive allows me to share my work on to a P.C. or a Mac.

ASSIGNMENT

After recently joining my class' specific Facebook group I have discovered some quality functions for sharing information and gathering ideas etc. that can be quite beneficial for both teachers and learners.

Firstly by clicking on the far left option (as shown in the picture below) this allows you to write a post to the rest of the members of the group. For example a teacher may have to let the class know at short notice that there will be a change of classroom for that particular lesson. As soon as the teacher has written the information in the box and clicks 'post' that piece of information is available for all members of the group (which will be the learners) to see. Easy to administer and lightning quick. 

To the right of the 'write post' option you will find the 'add photo/video' this can allow you to upload pictures and videos that perhaps maybe you have created in class for example pictures of mind maps etc. and videos of sporting techniques that your class have performed that are relevant to an assignment.

To the right of the 'add photo/video' option you will find the 'ask question' option. This allows you to conduct a poll via the Facebook group. This can be used for varying topics within your subject for example for sports development you may pose the question "Is Oscar Pistorious still considered a role model for disabled athletes?" You could choose answers "Yes" and "No" then ask the students who said yes and no to prepare information for a debate in the next lesson. 

To the right of the 'ask question' option you will find the 'add file' option for me personally I think this is a brilliant addition to facebook groups it allows learners to share documents and assignment ideas lightning quick while they are still able to chat via the facebook chat box. You can share files from your P.C. and also your dropbox account.

I think that Facebook groups with these four functions can be quite beneficial to learners, although I think that the teacher may also need to be involved in the group to monitor any irrelevance that may arise.