Recent Changes

EET330
xTeaching_with_New_TechnologiesTeaching with New Technologies
xAssignment_2_-_Group_3Assignment 2 - Group 3
xNew_Technologies_in_Schools:_What?_WhyNew Technologies in Schools: What? Why? And Who Says?
The following wiki has been designed to easily navigate through our assignment. On the navigation bar there are links to both Parts 1 & 2 of this assignment.
The assignment has been an interesting experience in both the learning about views on technology in schools, where this technology will advance to, and from a personal aspect, discovering the advantages and disadvantages of communicating over the internet and collaborating from a significant distance in bringing together information.
We hope you find this assignment to be an informative and interesting read.
Kind regards,
Andrew, Carla, Celeste and Kelsey

Part 2: Imagining the future
· How do you think practices in the use of new technologies in schools will develop over the next 10 years? Why?
further interactivity.
Using these observations as a starting point, one can make several predictions regarding the further development of tablet and portable technological devices in schools. Students are now going through their entire secondary education with the accompanied use of these touch devices, requiring teachers to integrate their usefulness into their lessons. The common use of this technology will guide much of hands on; pen on paper learning into finger on tablet learning, replacing handwritten notes with typed notes on a text document, or stylus based handwriting, and the use of textbooks will be compiled into applications which can be downloaded onto tablets and carried in a digital format for immediate access. The way in which a student would traditionally have learnt through pen on paper will be completely overwritten with a single device which allows students to digitally store their learning material, and digitally interact with it by touching and gesturing through touch technology.
student learning?
The design of applications will create a more interactive and multimodal learning environment, in which students can access information and perform activities specific to topics, subjects and themes. This will not only benefit from a content aspect; in which educators will be able to tailor software and activities which coincide with their lessons, but will enhance opportunities for students to touch, hear and see the content in which they are learning, broadening the range of learning tools directed towards auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learning styles.
multimodal communication.
The
The touch elements handwritten language.
· In what ways might this be a negative development for schooling and student learning?
an answer.
The process of actively searching for information through books will also diminish as students will have any and all information they will require within reach of their desks. The speed and amount of information they will have access to will eliminate a student’s want and need to use books and printed publications. Students will shy away from published, reputable material and focus instead on what they can find within an internet search, assuming what information they are given is correct.
at hand.

Part 2: Imagining the future
· How do you think practices in the use of new technologies in schools will develop over the next 10 years? Why?
further interactivity.
Using
Using these observations of hands on,on; pen on student learning?
The design of applications will create a more interactive and multimodal learning environment, in which students can access information and perform activities specific to topics, subjects and themes. This will not only benefit from a content aspect; in which educators will be able to tailor software and activities which coincide with their lessons, but will enhance opportunities for students to touch, hear and see the content in which they are learning, broadening the range of learning tools directed towards auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learning styles.
multimodal communication.
The
The touch elements handwritten language.
· In what ways might this be a negative development for schooling and student learning?
and its practice. Insteadpractice; instead students would an answer.
The process of actively searching for information through books will also diminish as students will have any and all information they will require within reach of their desks. The speed and amount of information they will have access to will eliminate a student’s want and need to use books and printed publications. Students will shy away from published, reputable material and focus instead on what they can find within an internet search, assuming what information they are given is correct.
at hand.

·Part 1: Stakeholders and their interests
· What are and learning?
With
With children confidently learning include:
1)
1) Interactivity – deeper understanding.
2)
2) Diversity in and needs.
3)
3) Communication tool at all.
·
· What arguments and learning?
There
There are however, these include:
1)
1) Hardware and teacher’s control.
2)
2) Using ICT’s Munro 2007).
· Who (which stakeholders) put forward these arguments and what do you think is the nature of their interest?
student’s education.
Students:
searches etc).
Teachers:
I
Teachers:
I have seen often fail.
Parents:
Cost
Parents:
Cost is a were students.
Individual
Individual schools:
Individual
Individual schools are difficult task.
·
· What other your school level?"level?
Final Issues:
Using
Using technology in the classroom.
Some
Some schools are information technology).
Technology
Technology is a the situation.
References
3rd 2011,
< webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/>
3rd 2011,
<http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001304.htm>
Puchta,
<http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001304.htm>
Puchta, H 2007, 3rd 2011,
<
< http://www.herbertpuchta.com/page/handouts/ETAS_Conference_2007/Attention_span_ETAS.pdf>
No
No Author listed, p. 9

· How do you think practices in the use of new technologies in schools will develop over the next 10 years? Why?
further interactivity.
Using
Using these observations of hands on;on, pen on student learning?
The design of applications will create a more interactive and multimodal learning environment, in which students can access information and perform activities specific to topics, subjects and themes. This will not only benefit from a content aspect; in which educators will be able to tailor software and activities which coincide with their lessons, but will enhance opportunities for students to touch, hear and see the content in which they are learning, broadening the range of learning tools directed towards auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learning styles.
multimodal communication.
The
The touch elements handwritten language.
· In what ways might this be a negative development for schooling and student learning?
and its practice; insteadpractice. Instead students would an answer.
The process of actively searching for information through books will also diminish as students will have any and all information they will require within reach of their desks. The speed and amount of information they will have access to will eliminate a student’s want and need to use books and printed publications. Students will shy away from published, reputable material and focus instead on what they can find within an internet search, assuming what information they are given is correct.
at hand.

· How do you think practices in the use of new technologies in schools will develop over the next 10 years? Why?
From practical experiences in schools, students are beginning to use new technologies in larger and larger scales, with schools introducing for lower upper primary and lower secondary, personal notebook computers and tablets. From contrast of the two, the tablet technology seems to be the most proactive direction in technological advancement. There are several reasons why this appears to be the case; the foremost being that the tablet allows students to actively touch and participate in the software, creating a virtual environment for them to learn in. The second is that the technology is much easier to monitor when students are not hiding behind a screen as with a notebook computer; the information they are being involved with is not directed in a sole direction, and can be viewed from multiple angles, allowing for further interactivity.
Using these observations as a starting point, one can make several predictions regarding the further development of tablet and portable technological devices in schools. Students are now going through their entire secondary education with the accompanied use of these touch devices, requiring teachers to integrate their usefulness into their lessons. The common use of this technology will guide much of hands on; pen on paper learning into finger on tablet learning, replacing handwritten notes with typed notes on a text document, or stylus based handwriting, and the use of textbooks will be compiled into applications which can be downloaded onto tablets and carried in a digital format for immediate access. The way in which a student would traditionally have learnt through pen on paper will be completely overwritten with a single device which allows students to digitally store their learning material, and digitally interact with it by touching and gesturing through touch technology.
· In what ways might this be a positive development for schooling and student learning?
The design of applications will create a more interactive and multimodal learning environment, in which students can access information and perform activities specific to topics, subjects and themes. This will not only benefit from a content aspect; in which educators will be able to tailor software and activities which coincide with their lessons, but will enhance opportunities for students to touch, hear and see the content in which they are learning, broadening the range of learning tools directed towards auditory, visual and kinaesthetic learning styles.
The introduction of these tablet devices will enable all coursework (apart from that which require specific media, i.e. visual art, physical education and drama) to be undertaken on one device, ensuring that students have access to all work at any time. The plausibility of this will be to take advantage of Cloud technology, which will allow students and educators to wirelessly store and retrieve information as needed, eliminating the need for large hard drive spaces in these portable devices. This online, digital focus will encourage interactivity with other students, as they will be able to access the information and work both alongside each other, as well as communicate and interact in a virtual setting. Group work will become more commonplace as they link their devices together to interact and solve challenges through multimodal communication.
The touch elements of the tablet will also open up a resolution for some common place arguments against technology in schools, with the ability to actively write using a stylus or digital pen; as is common already on graphic design tablets allowing teachers to still incorporate handwriting into their classes, ensuring that practical real world skills are not being neglected with the introduction of digital technologies. The development of specific software for linguistics, spelling and handwriting will allow students to further advance these skills, following tutorials which allow the student to interact with a lesson and gain a greater, well practiced understanding the handwritten language.
· In what ways might this be a negative development for schooling and student learning?
Negatively, the introduction of new technology will continue to push traditional educational methods, which can now be considered as outdated due to added benefits that new technology brings, out of practice; pen on paper writing may lose its place as a generation of students are raised writing on digital devices. The art of writing and drawing without reliance on technology could become a thing of the past, taking away students’ knowledge and respect for the written form and its practice; instead students would have correct spelling, digital dictionaries and autocorrect at their fingertips, eliminating their motivation to actually learn these writing skills through experience. The same would occur for scientific and mathematical equations; with a calculator at their fingertips, actively using their minds to problem solve may be replaced by pushing a single button to find an answer.
The process of actively searching for information through books will also diminish as students will have any and all information they will require within reach of their desks. The speed and amount of information they will have access to will eliminate a student’s want and need to use books and printed publications. Students will shy away from published, reputable material and focus instead on what they can find within an internet search, assuming what information they are given is correct.
The largest issue that will come with new technology will be the educators’ ability to integrate its use into their classrooms. It is clear from experience in schools that administration are making it a requirement to have students take these technologies to all classes, due to the fact that in many cases, it is the parents who have had to purchase the expensive items at the schools request, making it a requirement for all students to have. For classes which are not suited to this technology, and for teachers who have not yet integrated the technology into their classes, these devices become a distraction. Students dislike that they have these devices but are not taking advantage of them, instead choosing to play games or watch movies rather than participate in the class at hand.

and learning?
With children confidently engaging in ICT in their social and recreational lives, it seems that classrooms will inevitably have to reflect these changes in order to ‘keep up’ and engage the students. However reluctant a teacher may be to use ICT in the classroom, it can be an incredibly positive addition to any learning environment. Key arguments put forward for using new technologies in a way that supports teaching and learning include:
1) Interactivity – By allowing the student to take control of their learning, the learner can become the ‘active, constructing architects of their own learning’ (Condie, & Munro 2007). Although this goes against the conventional teacher-student roles, Condie et al (2007) state that the use of ICT’s engaged pupils, resulting in more on-task behaviour, greater persistence and deeper understanding.
2) Diversity in lessons – Puchta (2007) claims that students’ increasing inability to concentrate stems from a sensory overload in today’s world therefore teachers need to be dynamic in the way they deliver the curriculum in order to combat a student’s short attention span. ‘Normal’ or mundane lessons may therefore not engage the students enough to sustain an environment that is conducive to learning. With the availability of the internet, teachers are able to construct lessons that are specific to a class’ learning abilities and needs.
3) Communication tool – ICT’s have an enormous impact not only on the way teachers and students interact but also on the way teachers communicate with parents. Gone are the days where students are responsible for bringing home the school newsletter, or correspondence from teacher to parent or school to parent. The divide between school-parent is decreasing as parents are able to view their child’s learning via a school’s intranet without having to correspond with a teacher at all.
and learning?
There are however, arguments that oppose the use of new technologies in schools. Some of these include:
1) Hardware and Software disruptions – In a study conducted by Cox, Preston and Cox (1999) the majority of teachers surveyed agreed with the statement that hardware and software problems disrupt lessons. There are bound to be problems with any form of technology (power outage, cable problems etc) and without an effective back up plan, you can be sure something will go wrong. Having said that, any teacher worth their weight, regardless of the task they are doing, will always have a back up plan or extra work for students to complete if they finish ahead of schedule. It’s important to note that as teachers grow in e-confidence ‘ICT becomes embedded in the everyday practices of the school’ (Condie & Munro 2007) which will hopefully alleviate some of the issues that aren’t associated with problems out of the teacher’s control.
Some schools are attempting to counteract this slump in literacy and numeracy skills by not allowing students in VCE to type their essays and practice essays on the computer. The students will not be allowed a word processor in the exam, therefore they must fully understand sentence structure, as well as proper spelling and grammar in order to perform well in the exam. However, other core subjects have gone the opposite way, and designed the entire unit around the use of technology in order to further a students understanding of the topic; Further Mathematics (designed around use of a Graphics calculator), Media (designed around the use of various computer programs and software), and Information Technology (Study and practical use of information technology).
Technology is a force we can’t resist. It has always, and will always make its way in to our education system. Whatever issues are presented there will always counter arguments. Same goes for the positives of technology, there will always be negatives which associate. What will make the use of technology an overall positive learning investment is identifying the accompanying issues and figuring out ways to make the best of the situation.
References
Condie, R & Munro, B 2007, The impact of ICT’s in schools, Quality in Education Centre, University of Strathclyde, retrieved May 3rd 2011,
< webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/>
Cox, M, Preston, C, Cox K 1999, What Factors Support or Prevent Teachers from Using ICT in their Classrooms?, King’s College London, retrieved May 3rd 2011,
<http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001304.htm>
Puchta, H 2007, Students’ Attention Span, Where has it gone?, retrieved May 3rd 2011,
< http://www.herbertpuchta.com/page/handouts/ETAS_Conference_2007/Attention_span_ETAS.pdf>
No Author listed, 2010, ‘Mixed results in Victorian students’ NAPLAN tests’, Herald Sun Newspaper, 10 September, p. 9

The stakeholders in these arguments can be anyone involved in the school system, for multiple reasons. Each party has something to gain, or some potential inconvenience caused by using ICT in order to further a student’s education.
Students:
- TechnologyTechnology is always
Teachers:
- II have seen fail.
Parents:
- Cost
Cost is a
Individual schools:
- IndividualIndividual schools are difficult task.
The State government:
- (I don’t care if this stakeholder stays in the argument. I couldn’t be bothered doing the research.)
· What other issues do you predict might be associated with the use of new technologies to support teaching and learning at your school level?"
Final Issues:
Some schools are attempting to counteract this slump in literacy and numeracy skills by not allowing students in VCE to type their essays and practice essays on the computer. The students will not be allowed a word processor in the exam, therefore they must fully understand sentence structure, as well as proper spelling and grammar in order to perform well in the exam. However, other core subjects have gone the opposite way, and designed the entire unit around the use of technology in order to further a students understanding of the topic; Further Mathematics (designed around use of a Graphics calculator), Media (designed around the use of various computer programs and software), and Information Technology (Study and practical use of information technology).
Technology is a force we can’t resist. It has always, and will always make its way in to our education system. Whatever issues are presented there will always counter arguments. Same goes for the positives of technology, there will always be negatives which associate. What will make the use of technology an overall positive learning investment is identifying the accompanying issues and figuring out ways to make the best of the situation.
References
Condie, R & Munro, B 2007, The impact of ICT’s in schools, Quality in Education Centre, University of Strathclyde, retrieved May 3rd 2011,
< webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/>
Cox, M, Preston, C, Cox K 1999, What Factors Support or Prevent Teachers from Using ICT in their Classrooms?, King’s College London, retrieved May 3rd 2011,
<http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001304.htm>
Puchta, H 2007, Students’ Attention Span, Where has it gone?, retrieved May 3rd 2011,
< http://www.herbertpuchta.com/page/handouts/ETAS_Conference_2007/Attention_span_ETAS.pdf>
No Author listed, 2010, ‘Mixed results in Victorian students’ NAPLAN tests’, Herald Sun Newspaper, 10 September, p. 9