Week 35 21/03/2022

Classroom Practices: Using Digital Technology and Practices in the Classroom

Learning in the Digital Age: school and see education as incorporating
We have already discussed Prensky and this into formal learning.
the concept of children being digital However, it should be recognised that
natives, surrounded by ICT and with this technology in the home is used differently
they bring pre-existing knowledge into the to how technology is used in the
classroom. Henry (2014) argues that as classroom.
part of this, children learn differently and ICT can enhance existing pedagogies but
argues that the methods and context of also bring new ways of learning to
teaching need to change. develop critical, creative and collaborative
Henry (2014) also refers to Tapscott who skills.
distinguishes how different technologies
enable different forms of engagement and Wag the Dog – The Nature and
then discusses how both these key Foundations of Preschool Educators’
authors highlight how technological Positive ICT Pedagogical Beliefs (Mertala,
change enables active engagement. P, 2017):
As part of this discussion Henry (2014:3) Section 4, the findings, from page 201 of
states: the article highlights:
 The job of education is to catch up  Different types of learning
with the children and use ICT  Different types of activities the
more. teacher’s used
 Issues around practitioner
Challenges: confidence and training were
Challenges and problems with this identified
include: The different aspects of learning identified
 Staff training included:
 Resources  Socio-emotional
 Digital divide  Academic
 Access – children have different These are quotes about different types of
levels of access to and use of ICT activities, including individual tasks and
and this can depend on their group learning learning.
socioeconomic status and their The study focuses on educator’s general
parents’ attitudes to technology. pedagogical beliefs and their ICT related
 Inclusion – Henry (2014) also pedagogical beliefs.
highlight that it is not just if they They emphasised the learning of socio-
use the technology but how they emotional skills, with children having an
use it. active role in their learning.
 Children are also presented in In ICT pedagogical beliefs they
oppositional ways. emphasised the learning of academic
skills, mainly using individual exercises
Development of Critical, Creative and using ICT.
Collaborative Skills:
Policies and practices acknowledge Early Years Teachers and Digital
children’s use of technology outside of Literacies: Navigating a Kaleidoscope of
Discourses (Daniels et al, 2019)
Discusses issues for early years teachers The Children’s commissiner – Children
and professionals in using technology. without internet access during lockdown
In the findings section: (Aug, 2020) highlights some of the issues
 The teacher’s views on different around access to remote learning.
devices
 How they identify digital Using Mobile Technologies for Learning
technology as a pedagogical tool At School – M-Learning:
 Their views were that often the Advantages:
school curriculum can be seen as  Allows for more authentic learning
providing a balance between and fieldwork in different spaces.
children’s experiences at home  Allows the learner to capture and
and their experiences in school record their experience in different
 Pedagogically they felt that they ways.
needed to provide a balance  Allows for independent
between digital practices and print exploration.
literacy competencies.  In the spot access to knowledge.
 Digital practices and devices were  It is ubiquitous’ – does no
felt to be useful for inclusion, dominate the environment.
especially to enable participants  Provides communicative
through voice recordings and interactivity.
images. (Burden and Maher, 2014)

What Digital Technologies are Used in Most Fieldwork Sites Allow Use of Mobile
the Classroom? Technologies:
Converged activity – producing and
reproducing ideas in the environment.
Three interrelated factors which need to
be considered:
1. An awareness of the mobile
devices and it’s affordances.
2. The individual learner and their
knowledge and experience with
mobile technologies.
Covid – 19 = Remote 3. The social aspects of using m-
Teaching Provision: technology, including rules for
Department for interaction with others.
Education Guidance – (Koole in Burden and Maher, 2014)
Remote education good
practice (Oct, 2020) Case Study 1: Using iPads in a Primary
highlights what is School in Australia:
required for effective Year 3 class using iPads and
remote teaching provision. It highlights videoconferencing.
the use of interactive platforms, Aim of the study: to explore ways in which
innovative, creative and high quality using videoconferencing through an iPad
teaching to continue with the provision of can support learning in the primary
the curriculum. classroom.
 Social interaction
  Educational Only 13% used social networking in their
 Entertainment classrooms for educational purposes.

Case Study 2: Mystery at the Museum: What Did they Find? Knowledge and
In small groups students collaborated to Skills:
solve a mystery related to the museum Topics which teachers considered
exhibits. Students had to interact with essential for students to learn about:
each other through the mobile devices  Staying safe online
they were given to solve the mystery  Appropriate online behaviour
together. Each pupil received a different  Dealing with cyberbullying
piece of information via their device. They  Understanding online privacy
were then required to solve the mystery issues and settings
collaboratively. Teachers’ knowledge and skills with
They were some positive learning technology:
outcomes identified from the project;  Generally high levels of confidence
however the authors’ concern was that in teaching with issues listed above
the students’ focus and attention was on  Kindergarten teachers significantly
interacting with each other rather than more likely to say that these issues
with the museum exhibits. do not apply to them.

What is the Impact of Teachers’ Beliefs What Did they Find? Creative Uses of
about Digital Technology on their Technologies for Learning Activities:
Classroom Practices? Creating or accessing content?
Connected to learn – survey of 4000 k-12  Students were more likely to use
teachers (pre-school, primary and Blogs, Micro Blogs, Videos, Audio
secondary education) in Canada. Podcasts, Digital Graphic
Teachers’ knowledge and skills with digital Novels/Comics, or Video Games to
technologies. access content created by
Evidence of creative uses of digital someone else rather than to
technologies. create content.
(Johnson et al, 2016) Coding in the classroom
 Only a small percentage of
What Did they Find? teachers 6% used coding in the
Most teachers felt digital literacies have a classroom.
place in the classroom. Compare with coding in the UK context:
Most felt prepared to teach these.  ICT curriculum has been replaced
Teachers prevalently use those with a new computing curriculum,
technologies which have a long history of which aims to encourage children
being used in the classroom – desktop to learn programming.
computers, smartphones, laptops. New  Knowledge economy – seen as a
forms of engagement with digital response to the skills gap in jobs
technologies are rarely used. requiring technology knowledge
 Social media or social networking and people with the skill to fill
The least likely device to use in the these jobs.
classroom was the tablet – with the
exception of kindergarten teachers who
use them regularly.
A Study of Early Years Educators’  Teacher-directed or guided
Perceptions of Digital Technologies in the activities where the teacher is in
Classroom (Harwood et al, 2019): control of the tablet at most times.
Key premise: teachers’ perceptions of Some teachers were more experimental in
digital technologies directly affect how their approach:
and whether digital technologies are used ‘Children loved to explore the apps on
in the classroom. their own and often went through phases
Pre-school classrooms. of which apps they preferred the most…
One tablet per teacher, ration of tablet to we often used the iPad to enhance
child quite low (1 tablet per 8-12 children) children’s enquiries, for example looking
Pre-installed apps by the teachers: explain up videos on how things we made’.
everything, sock puppets, garageband. Features to notice:
Open-ended, creative, with clear  Giving children control over tablet.
instructional goals.  Giving children choice.
Most teachers described an approach to  Using the tablet for exploration
teaching and learning rooted in co- based on the children’s ideas.
constructing knowledge and partnership. Teachers seem to make an ideological
Many teachers were much more cautious, distinction play and digital play.
adopting teacher-directed and structured New ways of thinking need to be
pedagogical approaches. They used the introduced such as converged forms of
tablet to augment and modify existing play and thinking of play as a hybrid
teaching practices: between online/offline, concrete/virtual,
 Using the tablet to document formal/informal.
children’s learning. (Harwood et al, 2019)
 Differentiating instruction.