I am sharing the following essay in order to complete an assessment piece.
The Wonderful World of Education with ICT
Imagine a classroom
with many smiles and fun,
students still learning
and getting work done,
engaged in the tasks
they are given each day.
But this is a bit
of a dream you say?
-Miss D-
Many people are still haunted from their days in the primary classroom sitting still and quiet at their desk for long periods of time, copying perfectly formed words from the chalkboard into their exercise books. For most, literacy education probably wasn’t interesting nor was it meaningful to them. But with the support of the never ending abilities of ICTs today, education in primary school has undergone a complete transformation. Literacy education will be the particular focus in this essay.
A primary school teacher identifies the importance of literacy learning within the Australian Curriculum in which they teach from. They know literacy learning creates ‘confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed citizens’ (ACARA, 2014). A confident communicator, imaginative thinker and informed citizen in the future, or even present, requires communication skills that reach beyond the face to face kind and an imagination that involves technology to at least a small degree. Students will benefit dramatically from understanding how to use a vast array of social networking and communications programs through the internet such as Skype, Twitter, Facebook, blogging sites and virtual classrooms. This might be simply to sustain relationships, network for their occupational endeavours or operate computer systems as a mandatory part of their job. Either way, familiarity with the type of language necessary, the context of the technology and discourse surrounding each one will be essential. Becoming effective users of this technology throughout primary school will result in an effective communicator when this technology is what is relied on in numerous aspects of life. ‘Rapid and continuing advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) are changing the ways people share, use, develop and process information and technology. In this digital age, young people need to be highly skilled in the use of ICT’ (MDEGYA, 2008).
There is obviously a need for efficiency with ICTs, but where does literacy education in primary school come in here? An effective literacy participant with and without utilising ICTs must still be able to exercise each area of the Four Resources Model (Freebody & Luke, 1990). This model is worked around the claim that to make sense of texts and be an effective reader, one must take on four different roles at all times: code breaker, text participant, text user and text analyst. A code breaker draws importance to the recognition of symbols, marks and patterns within language, visual representations or other media types in not only linguistic and visual form but spatial, auditory and gestural as well. The code breaker skill relies heavily on prior knowledge and bridges the reader into making meaning of the texts around them (Campbell & Green, 2006). From phonemics practice with digital learning materials to locating and accessing information on the internet, students need ICTs as part of their code breaking practices. The text participant role is concerned with making meaning of the text at hand by drawing upon experiences of the social and cultural kind, as well as what the reader has read previously (Campbell & Green, 2006). The support of ICTs in literacy learning can only benefit the efficiency of the reader throughout their learning journey and prepare them for the future as technology is relied upon even more so than today. The third role, text user, is predominately regarding the awareness of a text’s purpose (Campbell & Green, 2006).The reader should understand the purpose, to whom it is aimed at, what it should be used for and their options having read it (Anstey & Bull, 2004). The use of ICTs can support the literacy learner practice the text user role through providing and exposing them to an endless amount of text types. The final role of the Four Resources Model by Freebody & Luke (1990) applies the text analyst role. This role’s title explains itself, requiring the reader to observe texts with a ‘cynical eye’ (Campbell & Green, 2006) and consider the ‘who, why, what and how’ around the text. Be it a printed text or text online, throughout their literacy education in primary school, students are learning to crack the codes of all text in order to understand the world around them. When the world around them is one day going to be largely technology based, it would be disadvantageous to ignore ICTs during this learning process.
Literacy surrounds every part of the world. Technology surrounds most parts of the world. They exist together. Winch (2011) recognises that ‘literacy can no longer be defined as a print-only activity’ and considers the many different ways in which literacy can present itself. It is termed ‘multiliteracies’ and refers to two different things: the variation in communicative methods throughout different cultures and social contexts and the ‘multimodal nature of making meaning through the interface of written-linguistic modes’ (Winch, 2011). This refers to the same modes as previously discussed: visual, audio, gestural and spatial. This wide variety of modes of literacy is arguably the most important and potentially most helpful aspect of the new-age multiliteracies. It provides the chance to learn in many more ways than through printed text. Multiliteracies allow learners to learn in ways more appropriate to their individual interests, intelligences and learning styles and to connect with a wider array of literacy.
Howard Gardner has identified and occasionally revises 8 to 10 types of Multiple Intelligences (2011). He recognises verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, naturalistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical, visual-spatial and bodily kinaesthetic as separate domains of intelligence that applies differently to every individual (Gardner, 2011). Contrary to common belief, these shouldn’t be considered as ‘learning styles’ as such, as Gardner communicated in 2013 (Strauss, 2013). They are solely intelligences. However, these different categories of intelligence suggest that people have different learning styles and would thrive with a large variety of learning experiments and resources. For example, a learner who is strong in the ‘musical’ area of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence would probably benefit greatly from having music around them while learning. This may include playing their iPod while writing, remembering number facts through a song, or utilising music in a powerful PowerPoint presentation task. Either way, the use of ICTs opens an endless amount of doors to assist and engage all learners.
ICTs are also an extremely helpful tool when considering a learners learning style. The chance of a classroom consisting of students with just one favoured style of learning is very minimal. A simple way of identifying different learning styles is with the simple but commonly accepted notion of Flemings Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic (VAK) Model (2001). The model recognises that learners favour either three of these categories or even a mixture of every one. ICTs support in literacy learning makes reaching every learner much easier whether it is the use of PowerPoint presentations with sound and inviting visuals to teach concepts and skills, or the use of video cameras in a learner’s assessment task.
It should now be obvious that ICTs provide endless opportunities to support literacy education, but technology itself can’t produce literate citizens. There are a few things to consider that could contradict the effectiveness of ICTs with literacy learning.
To effectively utilise ICTs in support of literacy education, a teacher must be familiar and comfortable with using them as well as understand the advantages they provide students. Considering older teachers in particular, if there is a lack of understanding within this then the students are going to be disadvantaged and left behind. Churchill (2011) recognised that some teachers who have been exposed to a past of excitement around certain technologies that claim to revolutionise education but have only been left disappointment (Churchill, 2011) may not be accepting of this change. Is it fair to expect these teachers to adapt their personal pedagogies to allow for a change in literacy learning when what they already know works? However the TPACK Framework or Approach (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) from Mishra & Koehler (2006) is designed to assist teachers in developing their content knowledge. This framework is becoming popular in education and should be utilised by teachers to ensure their students are getting the best education possible.
Some critics don’t agree with the focus on technology. They are given the term ‘Doomsters’ (Churchill, 2011). Doomsters claim that an ICTs based approach should not be unfolding in the education system. They believe that society will ‘disintegrate’ as a result and the heavy amount of media will limit ones social and communication skills. There is no way of predicting this accurately. It may prove right in some aspect, but so long as teachers are only using technology to enhance learning and not completely ignore communication skills then it is reasonable to predict there won’t be a problem.
With ICTs comes the large issue of cost. There aren’t many types of technology that can be deemed inexpensive as such. Therefore funding is a very appropriate concern that is consistently expressed by various citizens. It is fair to say that financial status separates people socioeconomically. This is also applicable between schools. However, funding from the Government such as the School ICT Supplementary Grant are in place to ensure that the standards they have set within the Australian Curriculum in relation to ICTs integration into all primary school education areas will provide all schools with the right to a fulfilling and beneficial education (Department of Education, Training and Employment, 2014).
Literacy education has undergone a complete transformation with the recognition of a shift in technology integration and appreciation. Learners will now be able to access many more types of text, but will also be involuntarily exposed to a lot more. They will experience a more engaging and rewarding education, but not without a few concerns surrounding the price involving technology. With ICTs, teachers will now be able to provide a wider array of learning materials that will capture all student interests and allow them to learn in a more personalised way and to their best ability, but not without the teacher first developing their own ICTs knowledge. ICTs themselves don’t produce literate citizens, but thoughtful pedagogy and ICTs worked together to teach literacy to primary school students can; – and will, for years to come.
References
Australia Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2014). English overview rationale. Retrieved August 22, 2014 from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/english/rationale
Campbell, R & Green, D. (2006). Literacies and learners: current perspectives. Australia: Pearson Education Australia
Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godhinho, S., Johnson, N., Keddie, A., Letts, W & Vick, M. (2011). Teaching: Making a difference. Milton, Queensland: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
Department of Education, Training and Employment (2014). School ICT Supplementary Grant. Retrieved August 23, 2014 from http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/grants/state/core/ict.html
Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of Mind. Basic Books: United States of America
James Cook University Australia. (2013). Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic (VAK) learning style model. Retrieved August 23, 2014 from http://www.jcu.edu.au/wiledpack/modules/fsl/JCU_090460.html
Koehler, M. (2011). What is TPACK?. Retrieved August 23, 2014 from http://mkoehler.educ.msu.edu/tpack/what-is-tpack/
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved August 21, 2014 from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf
Winch, G., Johnston, R., March, P., Ljundahl, L., Holliday, M. (2011). Literacy: Reading, writing and children’s literature. South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press
#prepare our next gen. 