At the beginning of this module I
was very doubtful over my own ICT abilities which made me apprehensive about
using new technologies in my future practice with my own class. I put this down
to inexperience and lack to interaction with a range of different technologies,
as I felt that I only had limited basic skills. The children who we will go on
to teach are classed as digital natives (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008) and have
been born into a world where technology is established and flourishing, and
will therefore have an automatic feeling of ease and confidence when using
technology as they have never known a world without it. Although I was born
into an era where I would be classed as a fellow digital native, I feel that I am
more a digital immigrant as technology is changing rapidly and constantly and
so I am having to keep up and adapt my own teaching and learning to incorporate
these into my practice in order to meet the needs of a new generation.
The visits to Shirley Warren School
have demonstrated how important it is to keep up with the times and to take
advantage of technology and digital literacies, as they have been found to be a
great way to enthuse, motivate and inspire children and make learning ‘more
engaging for children’ (Merchant, 2007). The fact that these new technologies
can be so adult and child-friendly has made me feel more at ease with using them
with children as there are so many benefits to be gained, by both the children
and by us as new teachers.
After reflecting upon the module
and my experience, I feel that an implication for my practice would be to not
fear technology. FutureLab (2010) noted how teachers need to remove the
mystique that surrounds the use of technology in order to overcome their fear
of using it. I feel that, after experiencing new technologies first hand and
having the opportunity to use them with children I will no longer feel
apprehensive about using new technologies and will instead embrace them and
incorporate them with confidence in my teaching.
Futurelab (2010) Digital Literacy Across the
Curriculum: Digital Literacy in Practice [online] http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf [Accessed
12.02.13]
Merchant, G. (2007) ‘Writing the future in the
digital age’ Literacy 41 (3) pp.118-128
Palfrey, J. &
Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding The First Generation of Digital
Natives.New York: Basic
Books (Introduction pp. 1-15)
I think the point you made about supposedly being a digital native because of the era you were born into, but in fact feeling like a digital immigrant really interesting. I think the point of this module has made me realise that just because we do not know everything there is to know about multimodal literacies is that we should not feel intimidated, and that we as future teachers can actually learn beside and with the children. How do you feel about this ?
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