Post 1 – Reading 1: Sir Tim Berners-Lee

So our first reading of the year, and what a person to think about. Understanding the difference between the internet and the world wide web can help us understand how our digital lives work.  Being connected to everything is taken for granted and we assume we are all better for it, however as Sir Tim points out “any really powerful thing can be used for good or evil”. The online world is seemingly a benefit for all of us, we can source information, communicate through words, pictures and video, we can work anywhere and share it with anyone. Yet much time is spent consuming digitally for our own personal enjoyment and with this thought maybe we underestimate what the benefits it can bring to learning.  Being slightly older then many of my peers, I can recall much of my life where there was no such digital world. Yes in school we were shown the BBC Micro,  but in a non connected world these did not seem relevant, what could it do for me, how could it change my life? Home computers created games for a new generation, but for most of my generation this was not an era of using technology to learn, but more the fact that is was a new area in our lives to have fun with.  Whilst at university in the late 1990’s I discovered the web, emails and communication changed everything and from then on and now, like many, it is part of my daily life.

Much of my daily life exists from being online, from listening to the radio to reading the newspapers. From communicating with people to accessing my learning whilst at university. Functional duties from banking and dealing with the services that I use, even whilst on placements the online world is ever present. Through social media fellow students discussed things we were doing, swapped ideas and feedback, all in a way that we were learning more about us as practitioners and more importantly reflecting on our progress, where we are now, where do we want to be and how are we going to get there. During placement planning was done online, resources were researched online and of course this would all be shared around the school. In my reception class all observations of children were carried out using an iPad and dedicated software. 

Here staff could collaborate with comments and notes and were able to quickly assess the children in a non obstructive way linking it to the Development Matters framework.

So what of the children’s learning experience of the web.  Last year I was involved in teaching Scratch to year’s 1 and 3, social constructivism at its best, the class worked together to discuss and refine their own projects, looking at others efforts, asking questions to more knowledgeable others and building on their prior experiences to further their own efforts.  The National Curriculum in computing clearly states “A high-quality competing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world”,  yet ICT in schools does vary, with many not even having a dedicated room for children to explore and embrace.

Whilst assisting in the computer club, it was evident that many children used this experience to learn how to use computers and the web potentially not having this facility at home. Yes many have access to phones and tablets, but these are often purely recreational attractions                           (or distractions some may say), where as a school enviroment more structure to learning can be apparent. Here children were designing fact sheets based on their class topics which could be put on the school websites for parents to view. Not only learning about the operational side of software and the computer, the focus was on safe use of the internet, the ability to use search technologies effectively and more importantly the collaborative nature of the task as this was carried out in pairs.

Of course there lies the behaviourist elements of children on computers in schools, we looked at programmes such as Skoolbo, where children are rewarded for their efforts, this can be seen in basic phonics games as well.  Margaret et al (2001) comment on the fact that children do well in learning phonics with the aid off computers to help them learn by association where there is a focus on practice rather then memorisation.  At the other end of children learning through games is the much publicised Minecraft   

Children construct their own worlds, they are free to explore, experiment there is not right or wrong. Problem solving, collaboration, maths and science reasoning all play a part in such games yet educators often seem put off by such activities in the classroom.  Michael Hammond in his article ‘Introducing ICT in schools in England’ discusses the fact that teachers lack of confidence in ICT, yet without such confidence of creativity in children’s learning how will this bring about a change in the idea of teaching ICT as a worthwhile subject and not be seen as it often is a fill in subject.

As for the use of the IWB, this has been disappointing, bad positioning worn out lamps meant the IWB was used for little else apart from showing small video clips of uninspired content. Children were not able to use the board themselves to interact with the amazing plethora of resources available, I showed a few to them and their eyes lit up but with the projector behind them causing shadows how could they use the boards themselves. 

Conclusion: The web is almighty for most of us, yet in many schools it seems not to be fully grasped in its capacity to help children in their learning. As a future practitioner I am determined to integrate it where possible and push the boundaries of my schools to embrace it more the ever. Im looking forward to this years BETT Show ( I went last year) to see what there is on offer and to meet those professionals who understand the web and the learning both adults and children can benefit from.