Teachers are able to use blogs as a way of eliciting ideas from children. They are able to comment on the blogs and ask children to expand on their points or asking them to find something out related to their point. Although this depends on the questions that the teacher asks, they need to be focused and asked in a specific way. Blogs are a more creative and interesting way to have children express their ideas as well, therefore they are more likely to put their time into it and get something out of it, rather than just another worksheet. They engage children and they are able to keep a collection of research and resources that they have found from the web.
The blogs are also able to be used for class topics. They’re multi-modal they are perfect for creating a range of resources and demonstrating the children’s understanding and learning. For example if they are studying the Second World War, then they could write a diary entry or account from a child who had been evacuated. Not only is this enhancing ICT skills, it is also benefiting both English and History too. But, publishing this content on the internet also allows access to parents. It is incredibly important for the parents to support children through their schooling, and this enables children to show their parents what they have been doing. But also the other way around, during the school holidays the children are able to update their blogs to explain what they have been doing during the holidays. This helps the teacher to understand the children’s interests and what they enjoy, which can then be used to help future planning.
The children can write a blog as a follow up for homework after the main lesson has finished. It is possible for the teacher to create a series of lessons, which then result in a blog, for example having children create a character and role play before then writing from that characters perspective in the blog. This then leads to children taking an interest into what the other children have written, once they have read the other blogs, they are inclined to comment on it. This helps children to understand what they are doing right and what they could improve on. They are also able to comment back, and answer the questions other children may have or discuss an alternative viewpoint. The discussion allows children to learn from each other, helping to form a social constructionist approach to their learning.
Blogging is able to help children’s progress and engagement with writing, they believe that the world is reading their blog and they begin to edit their use of language to demonstrate this. They are able to put the time and effort into the work because they know there is no limit to the people who can see it, and they want to represent themselves and their school in a positive way. Blogging can also help to improve the children’s confidence. The children are also able to go back and change the blog if they identify if anything is wrong or add things into it that they have found out from reading other children’s work or researching the topic further.
The reading states that some teachers only focus on the content that they have written compared to the punctuation and grammar of it when assessing blogs rather than book work. Although I think that marking all of it is still incredibly important, children need to be able to use grammar and punctuation correctly even if they are writing online or in their books. It does follow up to say that the teacher is only responding to what they have written, rather than correcting it. The blogs are used to express the children’s interests and as a release for their thoughts and feelings towards certain subjects, although I still believe that they should be written correctly.
I would consider using a blog within my classroom, since it helps to connect home and school for the children. They are able to involve their parents in what they are doing, and their peers. Children will be writing for the dedicated audience, which is key to improving their confidence and use of language. I believe as long as the children are engaged with writing the blogs, and want to do so to a high quality, I will be able to create one.
A learning community, such as a VLE, works in a similar way to a social network. Each learner is able to access the site and upload content, write comments and read other peoples work. This creates a more social aspect to learning and allows the children to develop their knowledge from each other and discussion, in a social constructionist way. Palloff and Prat (1999: 53) believe that ‘communication and constructivist pedagogy are the key elements that allow students and teachers to develop a sense of community online.’ When children have the access to their teacher online, they begin to feel more comfortable and supported by the teacher, since they are able to access the content at any point. This is also followed by Hill and Hannafin (1997, cited in Chou and Liu: 2005) who discuss how VLEs allow children to take control of their own learning, anywhere and anytime. The idea is to promote independent thinking and open children’s minds to a diverse range of view points, whilst keeping the children safe in a controlled environment rich in resources.
Davies and Merchant (2009) discuss the adoption of social media into our everyday lives. Schools need to embrace this and use them to enhance children’s digital literacies, since there is no escape. Although the use of social media is a lot more broad and unrestricted, it is good to allow the children to have the freedom to actively engage with what interests them and seek it from the internet, teachers need to be monitoring that the children are on task whilst using their designated VLE. However, despite the intention of social media not to be a learning platform, it’s to connect people together an enable them to talk over a long distance.
We talked about which learning communities that we share, we all share our IT lecture, then out of that we share our dedicated lecture groups, then our year group, then the subject group and expanding out into the university. But that is just focused on the university communities, there are endless possibilities. I am involved in all of the learning communities associated with my university subject, but also doing St John Ambulance means that I am involved in that community as well, since we train every week. The unit also meets with others from across London, meaning that it is all connected to a wider learning community. We share experiences from the field, discuss and ultimately learn from them. It allows me to create an identity for myself, following what I am interested in and engaging with.
VLEs are an incredibly useful to create an accessible, relevant learning space for the children, it helps improve the communication across the school and allows the years to share their work and talk to each other, resulting in an enriched and personalised curriculum. This helps to create friendships across the years and allows the older years to help the younger years with their topics. But this also allows for the teachers to watch and assess the children on what they are contributing and discussing, to find a level of understanding.
I would definitely use a VLE in my classroom and encourage as many of the children to use it frequently as possible, the children would be able to access their homework tasks for the week and revisit things that they have done that week in class. I think it helps them feel part of something larger than just their class, helping to enforce the ethos of the school. Allowing parents access to it as well, helps to involve them into the schools learning community and expanding the children our into the wider area and community.
Davies, K. & Merchant, G. (2009) Web 2.0 for Schools. Learning and Social Participation. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
This reading focuses on the positives of communication and technology, since The Troubles began in 1968 there have been many efforts to connect the two countries together. In 1980 the first ‘integrated school’ was established to unite the two religions together and encourage them to embrace the differences between the groups. This led to the provision in the 1989 Education Reform Act, which placed the importance on the Department of Education to ‘encourage and facilitate’ integrated education. Although this still only reaches a very small percentage of the total population across the whole of Ireland today.
The main focus of this was to cover the same curriculum, therefore both sides of the border will be taught the same things regarding the history of the country and the same citizenship courses. This, again, is to help the children understand and embrace the differences between the two countries. The children were born into the conflict and told who to hate, without a specific reason or even a complete comprehension of why they should hate someone if they have never met them before. I believe that this can have a significant impact on the children’s education, they are putting all of their efforts into being told that they should dislike a particular type of person just because of what they believe. I am not saying that the two countries need to be the best of friends, although I do believe they should have their children’s education as a matter of priority. It is important for children to be able to create their own opinions based on the facts, they should not be indoctrinated by teachers.
This project was to link schools on each side of the border, it was welcomed by teachers and actually started to have an impact on the skills and attitudes of the children. University students set up a network between 16 schools, 14 of those were partnered with a school of the different religion. The teachers attended a training day and were introduced to Fronter in 2013, they each had a student which was assigned to help them. The idea was to open up a number of opportunities and facilitate a connection between the children of different backgrounds. The children are able to share their work between the schools, and since they are on the same scheme of work it provides more of a chance for social constructivism to take place. The children are able to take ideas and discuss about their work and the topics they are covering within their classrooms.
Although a downside to this is that the children don’t know who they are talking to, and ever since they have been able to use a computer, they have been encouraged to be aware of the people on the internet and not talk to anyone they don’t know. Therefore, this project seems much of a contradiction to everything that they have been taught, regardless of it being in a school. Another obstacle that the students and teachers face is the parents of the children, the majority of them had been born during the troubles and therefore they are teaching their own children their views. The children reflect the views of their parents and may object to speaking to their online partners because of this, building yet more barriers.
The internet has been around since 1974 and now it is everywhere. There is not a single thing that cannot be done without an app, found on a search engine or shared on social media. Although this means that the way we teach has been revolutionised, there are so many free and easily accessible resources available online, this connects teachers and helps globalise the ideas which work in the classroom.
The lecture started by asking us to think of ways that we use the internet and how it impacts our lives. Whilst I was on placement the children in Year 1 had already begun using the internet, starting with search engines and using apps on the ipads. This helped to show them the endless possibilities and gave them skills which they will be using for the rest of their lives. It is incredibly important to teach children how to stay safe and vigilant whilst using the internet, they focused on this for a small section of each lesson. The children were reminded of their schools rules and policies on the internet and how they should be using it.
Although 46% of the worlds population now uses the internet, many people still don’t know what it actually is. The internet is a distributed packet-switched network, it is made up from a series of independent networks, which are controlled by the network providers, although they ensure that they are all linked together. This is in contrast to the World Wide Web which is a single server host sending small packages of code between the computers, once the computer receives this using the browser they can change this code into documents, images and sounds. Although the web is just one section of the internet, for example it is not used for emails, IMs or FTP.
It has been argued by the OECD that using computers and the internet has no effect on children’s progression and does not improve their grades. The OECD has reviewed and compared 70 different countries and the impact that they have had on international tests, although there was ‘no noticeable improvement’. They then went on to state that: ‘Students who use computers frequently got worse results’. Despite this the National Curriculum (DofE, 2013) still states that children should be taught to ‘understand computer networks including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the world wide web’ and ‘select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplishes given goals.’ Computers cannot be banished from schools for the sake of receiving higher grades, children need to be prepared for what they will face in later life, they will not be able to escape them. Zaitoun (2002, cited in Aloraini, 2012) states that multimedia platforms and computers helps to make children’s experiences more dynamic and interesting, compared to those of just text printed into a book. Alraini (2005, cited in Aloraini, 2012) also raises the point that using computers children are able to see video clips, maps and presentations that help to bring the information closer to a reality. They are able to view other cultures vicariously though the internet, which is something which is promoted throughout schools. I believe the internet can be a valuable tool, if it used correctly. Children do not learn though making endless Powerpoint presentations or information pages, they need tasks which will grip their imagination and make them ask questions, which they can answer through using the internet.
Finally, we looked at the difference between different learning theories and how they influence the programs that are designed in that style.
Behaviorism– An example of this is Skoolbo, this program offers rewards for questions which have been answered correctly. According to Hartley and Davies (1978) learning becomes easier when they follow the active process of learning, and in this case it is presented within the activities of the program. Since everything is in a logical order it relaxes the children and encourages them to take chances. But more importantly children receive instant feedback which enables them to learn from their mistakes. Feedback helps children to understand where they have gone wrong and how they can change their work to improve, but it also encourages an important skill since they will have to receive feedback in all areas of their lives.
Constructivism- An example of this is Numpty Physics, this program combines the knowledge that the learner has and their experiences. This theory states that learning is always constructed and as children interpret the social, cultural and physical environments around them they begin to solve problems (Dick, Carey & Carey, 2004). Numpty Physics allows children to use what they know and a trial and error approach to the problems to learn how to achieve a goal. This helps children to understand that it is okay to get things wrong and experiment with different ideas and approaches, since not everyone thinks the same way. The children are able to understand and appreciate each others ideas, whilst learning from them.
Cognitivism- An example of this is Learn With Homer, this approach states that children should be given control of their learning. This allows them to be fully involved and interested into what they are learning, although they should be in a rich environment to further support this. Learn with Homer allows the children to choose what they want to do and which area they want to learn from, therefore each child’s path is different but they all reach the common goal at their own pace. I believe this is incredibly important as children need to learn at their own pace, and this program allows children to do so.
Blogging is able to help children’s progress and engagement with writing, they believe that the world is reading their blog and they begin to edit their use of language to demonstrate this. They are able to put the time and effort into the work because they know there is no limit to the people who can see it, and they want to represent themselves and their school in a positive way. Blogging can also help to improve the children’s confidence. The children are also able to go back and change the blog if they identify if anything is wrong or add things into it that they have found out from reading other children’s work or researching the topic further.
