Reflection one: September 2013

After finishing part 1 and 2 of this assignment, I have been provided with the opportunity to observe and listen to different ideas and comments in regard to ICT from my group members, which has deepened my understanding of using ICT tools for children’s learning and my dispositions of encouraging children to use ICT devices.

I recognise that ICT devices or technologies are an important part of children’s learning and need to be integrated into their daily context. It enables young children to build up their self-confidence, and communication skills as well as their social abilities to cope with others, to work cooperatively, to discuss and to socialize with peers. When children are playing and learning with technology together, they share ideas and feelings, discoveries and creations in which they promote healthy positive social interaction. ‘Look! It is working’ or `How to do it?’ Piaget described a learning mechanism which involved children in the active elaboration of their own metal structures as they assimilated and accommodated new experiences (Piaget, 1969). This would be associated with effective learning in different context, it empowers the children to describe, explain and justify their thinking about different aspects of the world to others (Papert, 1980). It is likely to be effective in supporting socio-dramatic play, too. I enjoy reading different reflections from my group members, that children are talking and explaining to each other retelling their understanding in different ICT contexts.

I think that new technologies do not mean simply that we have new ways of doing things we did before, as I myself is am typical digital-immigrant. However, Castells (1996) has noted, technologies are also processes that not only affect how we can make sense of the world and communicate our view to others about it, but the impacts on knowledge building in new and dynamic ways. That is how I see the way that technology influences children behaviours as active and constructive learner in doing things with ICT that have an effect on outcomes, rather than just as a user or consumer of technology. In my understanding, one of the importance of using ICT for children, they can build up their own knowledge via active exploration in the ICT areas or contexts that children have defined themselves in responding to the needs of problem solving. Technology facilitate children who are engaged in using existing knowledge, extending or innovating current knowledge, and creating new knowledge for specific purposes that has been defined. I have reconfirmed this when my team discussed about technology is about helping people to solve problem. `Yes’, it is. It fosters my understandings and dispositions again that children need to contact with technology in order to practice their problem solving skills (Ministry of Education). I also realized that it is essential for me as an educator to provide children with opportunities to share their strategies (how to do it) and to communicate and disseminate their ideas. Because of children can learn a great deal from each other about the varied processes and strategies used, in order to evaluate their effectiveness (Cooper & Brna, 2004).

I believe that technology does and will continue to play a significant role not only in early childhood education context. It will not replace the important activities of art, books, music, drama & concrete play, but bring outside learning to the classroom. In my opinion, teachers who have been trained to understand computer or familiar with different software would be benefit for the issue. In fact, through the whole processing of doing blog, I have been struggled by some technical problems and need to find someone to solve it. However, through collaborative learning on the blog, it makes the learning interesting and effectively that everyone can share different ideas and give comments at any time. I am so glad that I have been offered an opportunity to learn the meaning of technology and created a blog of myself that I have never thought about of doing it.

References:

Castells, M. (1996). The rise of the network society. Oxford: Blackwell.

Cooper, B., & Brna, P. (2004). A Classroom of the Future, in Siraj-Blatchford, J. (Ed.). Developing New Technologies for Young Children, Stoke on Trent, Trentham Books.

Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas, New York, Basic Books.

Piaget, J. (1969). The Mechanisms of Perception, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he Whāriki Mātauranga mo ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Reflection one

Sunday, 1 September 2013

My comments-Hyperlinks

Reflection Four