Portable laptops or computer suites?

Currently there is a debate over whether an ICT suite is more effective than portable laptops. There are many positives and negatives of both and so perhaps introducing a mix may be the best option?

Portable computers offer flexibility which means that ICT lessons can take place anywhere in the school. Plus, using laptops, there is more chance to incorporate ICT into a variety of lessons across the curriculum so that ICT lessons do not have to be a separate lesson, in which it is the only chance for children to improve their computer skills.

As well as this, there are more opportunities for using wireless as you don’t need to keep to your slot in the suite. Plus, the children can also access all their classroom resources during the lesson. From my experience, some ICT suites have a double function due to lack of space within the school which will reduce the time used for ICT even more.

One more positive of laptops is the possibility of children being able to take them home to complete their homework on if they do not have the resources at home. The only risk with this is that parents need to be made aware that the child may be able to access the internet so they need to make sure they are monitoring their child’s use.

However, on the negative side, there are the health risks of portable laptops that have been highlighted. There has not been enough time to conduct effective research on this issue and so it is still very contentious. Therefore, using a mix of both laptops and a suite, will reduce the amount of time that children have to be using the laptops and give them another option.

As well as this, there is a much higher risk of damage to the computers in a portable trolley than in a suite. Plus, parts or computers may get lost as they are constantly being moved around the school. The more portable laptops there are, the more likely this is to happen. As these are a very expensive pieces of equipment, this is a negative that all schools need to be aware of.

Therefore, there are positives and negatives of both a suite and the laptops so a combination of both could prove to be the most successful way…however; I suppose it could be argued that if you have both, then you also have the negatives of both as well.

The Use of Discussion Boards

I found the discussion board quite useful for this task, mainly because I live in Bournemouth and my partner is living in Southampton. Therefore, although the task required us to discuss and work together, this could be done at separate times and places. It is easy to post comments and attach files onto the discussion board so there were no problems accessing each others work. The only issue that occurred was that I had to save the work I did at home in a format compatible with the university’s software to allow it to be opened without a problem as I have a more recent version of Microsoft.

Discussion boards could be a useful resource in primary schools when doing tasks such as book reviews, as we have done in English. Children could work in groups to write a review, post it and then comment on other groups’ reviews. They could also be very useful to get children to post their individual or group ICT work onto a discussion board so that it can be marked by the teacher online – the children could also feedback their comments after the teacher has marked it so they can carry out some self-assessment and reflect on the work they have done. This can then be re-visited when completing their next piece of work.

Although discussion boards are very useful for the above tasks, Wikis and Blogs could also provide these advantages. The negative side of the discussion board is that once a document has been posted it cannot be edited as easily as on a Blog or Wiki. Plus, on the discussion board, the work has to be posted so another programme has to be used to produce the work on, whereas Wikis and Blogs can be worked on as they are and contributed to by anyone in the group. Another advantage is that it is possible to limit people's access on Blogs and Wikis, which may not be as easy on a discussion board - anyone could read the messages we have put up on the discussion board on Blackboard. Sometimes it is great to share ideas but occassionaly it may be necessary for only the teacher to access certain work so that all children produce soething original.

Spreadsheet: Love or Hate?

Like Marmite, I thought you either had to love or hate spreadsheets but I learned recently a hate for them can actually be transformed into a love once shown how to use them efficiently.

I have used spreadsheets a lot in several of my past jobs but until the most recent lecture on mathematics and ICT I have never really used them very effectively. I hated spreadsheets because I feared them. I knew they could be a lot more useful and I always dreaded having to use them as I did not know where to look to improve my skills on this aspect of my ICT knowledge and always found them very frustrating. As much as possible I would avoid spreadsheets and use tables on Word and laboriously write out each value and total using a calculator.

However, since my last lecture I have found out just how easy it is to use spreadsheets. The formulaic language used in spreadsheets which looks so scary is actually quite easy to grasp. I really do not know why I hated them so much and presumed they were so difficult! They are very useful for working out problems and different types of calculations quickly and accurately. Spreadsheets will be a great way to get children interested in Maths problems as when faced with a problem they have to work out without help from a spreadsheet, they may feel a lot more daunted. Plus, they are easy to link with real life examples that are relevant to the children through using real data. Once the children have been shown some simple formulas that they can use, they will hopefully find spreadsheets as useful and easy as I now do and come to love using them!

Learning ICT so far...

I have drastically improved in using Wikis and Blogs and now find myself using them socially as well as for university. Plus, I am also using a blog for Science so I am really starting to consider what ICT resources I can use in different subjects. The resources Wiki that was set up to help provide teaching resources has also helped a lot. I will be doing some work for my placement around the topic of Light and Colour and plan to have a look through to see what I can find to help me plan some lessons. I have also contributed to this and hope to keep adding to it as I find more resources on the web.

As well as this, I have a much better knowledge of how ICT can be used across the curriculum, both through my own reading and the ICT lectures and activities. There is so much scope to involve ICT in almost all activities and subjects that are carried out. In every lesson that I plan I am now considering how I can incorporate ICT. My most important development since I have started this course would have to be my insight into how useful ICT is in the classroom to help with teaching and learning.

However, I do still have a lot to learn about ICT and many goals which I need to achieve or improve on, for example, programming. But if I continue to develop my knowledge as I have over the last couple of months I will certainly make many more leaps in my progress.

ICT in my week at school

As I spent last week in school I thought I would write my Blog about my ICT experiences there. We used three types of ICT resources whilst I was in the classroom:

• We used computers - the school had a computer suite but unfortunately not enough computers for one class to all work on their own computer. They did however have one between two which seemed to work quite well for the tasks we did. From what I could see they also had some interesting and useful software for several different subjects. The main drawback however was that I could see the availability of the suite may become a problem as it also doubled up as a music room.
• There was also an interactive whiteboard in each classroom. In our classroom, it proved to be a great resource and really good fun to use with DVDs and games for the children. I found several different games and a quiz as well as information on the firework code on the internet, which the children were able to play as a class on the whiteboard.
• They also had a CD player which was used to play soft music to calm the children down at the end of the day.

I think that there are a lot more ICT resources at the school, which I look forward to using during my placement!

Types of activities and software in lessons

At first, I thought that as long as you are using ICT in lessons then it is good, without any thought of the activities or software that is being used. However, after reading the Smeet article, I have realised that it is very important, that you choose the correct software to promote learning. To create the right environment it is also very important to differentiate in ICT so that all students are being pushed to their own potential. Thirdly, from this article and others I feel that it is very important to use ICT to help children work collaboratively and co-operatively so that they can help each other learn, and learn vital group work and discussion skills. I need to make sure that ant lack of knowledge and confidence I have in ICT does not negatively affect my teaching.

Wikis

Today we learnt about Wikis, which was again all new for me as I did not even know what a Wiki was until I started this course! It seems like a great way to make arrangements with people socially as well as a great teacher resource. As we have been shown today this can be used as a resource base or can be used with other teachers to plan lessons on an everyday basis.

I have tried adding resources and found a good one for PE warm ups, games and activities, which I have attached onto the Teaching resources Wiki. So I now know what Wikis are and how to add to them. Now I will try to add a Wiki on my facebook page so I can start arranging social events through them as well to keep my practise up!

First Blog of the year!

It's very scary doing my first blog but I need to overcome this intimidation for when I start teaching. I've read lots of articles recently about how teachers are nervous with ICT which is leading to many schools and therefore children falling behind in their ICT knowledge. Teaching the curriculum seems to be fairly successful but as soon as they have to come out of this comfortable arena, people start falling back.

From what I have seen so far, ICT can be so useful across the curriculum for example, incorporating play within a subject like Maths, using online games or enabling children to be more creative in Art or English using different programmes for designing posters or making photo collages. So there is lots to learn and explore over the next few months which hopefully will be just as exciting as it is scary!