We discovered that ICT affects learning in several ways that can include raising the level of student engagement in a classroom, motivating students and promoting enthusiasm for learning.

University Degree Education and Teaching

Subject Specialist Study

Task 1 (500)

I decided to work with Yinka, and Steve to research the benefits of using emerging technologies in the classroom. Yinka is currently studying for his PTLLS, and Steve has applied to do his PGCE this year, both currently teaching at BEP. I facilitated the meetings and we discussed the different types of interactive teaching and learning technologies. The discussion that bloomed during our first meeting is that there are endless resources available for us to use, all of which have their pros and cons. We all choose a technology to research, I choose to do primary research on the use of interactive white boards in the classroom, Steve planned to create a questionnaire about learning online which he would give to his current learners, and Yinka researched moodle as he was using this whilst studying his PTLLS. I informed my colleagues that they had two weeks to research and we would bring our findings together at the next meeting. During the two week research period I kept reminding my colleagues to research and prepare their information for when we came together and shared our information. I feel that my colleague’s made a valuable contribution to my research considering their time restraints as teachers.

We discovered that ICT affects learning in several ways that can include raising the level of student engagement in a classroom, motivating students and promoting enthusiasm for learning. Interactive technologies support many different learning styles, visual, kinaesthetic and audio can be used in a variety of learning environments, including those catering to students with hearing and visual impairments.

In education, “interactivity is a mutual action between the learner, the learning system, and the learning material and numerous studies have found that interactivity has a highly positive effect on learning” (Bosco, 1986, Fletcher, 1989, 1990, Stanfford, 1990).

When teaching, a single resource cannot cater for each learning style, therefore as a teacher I must deliver a four split lesson if I wish to meet all of my students learning styles. We discussed that PowerPoint used on an overhead projectoris a valuable technology but its hardly ever used to it full affect.

As shown by Petty, G, 2009, Teaching Today, (P375), the brain absorbs information by the eyes at 87% ears 9% and other factors 4%. Given that it is our visual senses that enable the most information to be received, only by providing a predominantly visual, tactile, interactive, discussion, which leaves the students room for personnel dissection but provides a solid conclusion, can we “cater for the masses”.

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The outcome of this discussion reinforced the point that, although each learning style should be addressed when using technology I feel that a balance between being practical to employ, fit for purpose and not closed to any specific learning style then technology can be very effective and produce a positive and enhancing lesson.

Task 2 (2000)

The use of interactive technology in the teaching of functional skills.

“An interactive whiteboard is a large display that connects to a and . A projector projects the computer's onto the board's surface where users control the computer using a , , or . The board is typically mounted to a wall or floor stand.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_whiteboard)

Getting students to remain task-focused is difficult in an era where young people are engrossed in technologies, such as mobile phones, ipods, computers and MP3 players. How ever, interactive whiteboards are popular and provide additional motivation for students to attend class. You can use a mix of different media that includes video, audio, images, and text.

The interactive white board gives intrinsically motivated students the opportunity to volunteer to demonstrate their knowledge on the interactive whiteboard in front of their peers as a means of showcasing individual achievement. Research shows that if students have the opportunity to view someone they like or respect perform a behavior they need to acquire, then they stand a much better chance of acquiring that behaviour. The interactive whiteboard allows students to watch their peers perform the appropriate behaviors, which made the ownership of those behaviors much more enticing. Extrinsically motivated students are enticed by the wow factor of the technology and are motivated learners as a result of the enjoyment they experience from using the product.

With the use of interactive whiteboards, teachers can develop many creative ways to capture students’ attention and imagination with engaging lessons, in turn raising the retention of students.

“In addition to the observed positive impacts on student learning, research shows that designing lessons around interactive whiteboards helps educators streamline their preparation, be more efficient in their Information and Communication Technology integration and increase their productivity overall. Students can review course content at their own pace with interactive learning, says Trinite Learning”.( )

Interactive whiteboards allow teachers to record instructions as digital video files and post the material for review by students at a later date. This can be a very effective instructional strategy for students who benefit from repetition, who need to see the material presented again, for students who are absent from school, for struggling learners, and for review for examinations.

Bush et al. (2004) found “the boards made teaching more visual and learning more interactive, in turn encouraging greater participation from the pupils, improving their motivation and concentration,”

As a teacher working with young people with a various special educational needs I am continuously aiming to develop strategies and tools that will engage students with unique or diverse learning needs. Many learning styles even the requirements of visual, hearing-impaired and other special needs students can be addressed when lesson delivery and learning activities incorporate use of an interactive whiteboard.

Visual learners benefit from notes taken on the interactive whiteboard in addition to diagram’s objects or symbols. As the interactive whiteboard is easy to use, it enables students of all ages and abilities to see their own writing and objects of their own creation. I find kinesthetic learners are harder to engage in traditional classroom activities that are usually more visual or auditory in nature. They are able to reinforce learning through exercises involving touch, and movement on an interactive whiteboard. Special needs students with learning challenges, such as behavioral issues, e.g., Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder (ADHD), would find the large interactive surface helpful. Its large size and touch sensitivity facilitates learning beyond the standard keyboard-and-mouse type of computer interaction, and its appeal can be used to promote good behaviour.

Using Technology to enhance learning can also be effectively implemented by using video projection to encourage listening skills and note taking which also embeds literacy, focusing on writing skills. Using notes taken from videos can help give students a tool for entering into classroom discussion and debate. This can help them become more expressive and articulate, helping them interpret research or their peer’s opinions.

The interactive white board can improve numeracy and literacy in many ways, as it can be used as an assessment tool for both teachers and students to highlight gaps in vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Also using ICT for word processing in applications such as word is beneficial for enhancing such skills. For example using word to ask students to word process a list of classroom rules can provide interactive feedback for the student as well as formal feedback for teacher.

Numeracy can be improved through using the interactive whiteboard to access games for different key stages on websites such as Bitesize (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/) and BBC, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/) which actively involve’s the learner, promoting interactive learning. Using ICT to also gain knowledge on conversion of measurements in heights and weights has been an effective tool I have used in addition to using tape measures and scales to improve numeracy skills and aid student’s learning by implementing differentiation. Designing lessons using an interactive whiteboard I believe can enhance my presentation in front of the class, also being more efficient in incorporating all the core skills in a lesson, numeracy, literacy and ICT. Interactive whiteboards can successfully promote learning and give students skills required for success in the 21st century. The introduction of interactive whiteboards would create a learning environment in which pupils would have access to a higher quality education.

“There are as many ways of being an effective teacher as there are effective teachers” (Capel, 2009 p. 10)

To summarize it can be said that every person is different and therefore there is no one teaching strategy or one and only learning style. Teaching and learning are as complex as a human being can be.

Therefore teaching is a challenging task but also rewarding when you see pupils achieving. “I got it, Miss!“ Is probably one of the best things said to make a teacher proud of the work she has done. Nevertheless there are regulations to teaching, to what and how to teach. These may be set by the school through policies, code of conduct and ethos, and last but not least the National Curriculum, which regulates the lesson framework.

There is enough room for the individual teacher and each student who both can make an impact and have their say to what extend and how learning and teaching is happening through the use of technology. This leads me to the conclusion that while preparing a lesson I as a teacher have to take into consideration that I have a multitude characters who themselves have a multitude of abilities to learn. This means that when preparing I have to make sure to address as many persons, skills and learning styles as possible and I feel that through the research I have done using technology for learning is the way forward. It allows for differentiation which in my eyes is the key factor for lesson planning bearing in mind that a great amount of fun needs to be included in order to catch pupils attention, to challenge them in an enjoyable way and make lesson topics relevant to their here and now.

References

, accessed, 28th February 2012

, (accessed, 28th February 2012)

, (accessed, 1st May 2012)

Bush, N., Priest, J., Coe, R. et al. (2004). An Exploration of the Use of ICT at the Millennium Primary School, Greenwich. Retrieved March 23, 2004, from , 1st May 2012)

Bosco, 1986, Fletcher, 1989, 1990, Stanfford, 1990

Petty, G, 2009, Teaching Today

Capel, 2009