Over the past 10 years the education system has undertaken
many reforms regarding the use of technology in education and the classroom.
Due to the interactive nature of the tool it becomes apparent that there is a
clear benefit for special education but it needs to be considered the
implications of regular use of such a technology on all students. In Gary
Barkers article in the Sydney Morning Herald “The iPad: a powerful education
tool” speaks of the unlimited possibilities that surround the technology in the
classroom, in this blog I wish to address the relationship between Gary Barkers
News Paper Article and the relevant literature and how technology impacts
education and its culture.
Waters
(2010) speaks about in his paper speaks about the introduction of tablets
(iPad) into the classroom. Like Barker’s article Waters praises the technology
in enabling students to be able to connect in a mobile and unlimited way.
“Forget
the whiteboard,” Bass says. “I can create a network on my Macbook Pro and
communicate with a class or with individual students, all on their iPads.” –
Barker Article
The introduction of technology
into the classroom has an adverse amount of effects on the way in which the
classroom is run and the authority of the teacher. Like in the quote above it
becomes clear that there are unlimited amounts of possibilities for teachers to
police the classroom, while letting children explore answers rather than being
spoon fed. Yet the consequence of the lowered level of face to face interaction
could intern have effects on social culture and how children in the future will
behave in the work force (Waters, 2010).
Research
by (Shah, 2011) has found that the introduction of technology has beneficial
effects for special needs students. This technology culture could have great
equalling effects in the education system in comprehensively providing teachers
and parents with the progress of the child.
Students
born in the 2000’s relate strongly to technology and can be beneficial in
engaging them in the classroom (Waters, 2010). When thinking about identity of
these children, it needs to be considered, how does this technology impact on
the students identity? Will they be able to function in a society where there
is limited/no technology?
References:
Waters, J.K. ( 2010) Enter the iPad (or not?) The Journal.
Shah, N. (2011) Special Education Pupils Find Learning Tool in
iPad, Education Week.
Barker, G. (2012) The iPad: A powerful education tool. The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/tablets/the-ipad-a-powerful-education-tool-20120725-22oc7.html
I found an article that you might be interested in http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/children-learn-the-abc-of-twitter/story-e6freuy9-1226448686016
ReplyDeleteIt shows how relevant technology is to the current education that even preschoolers are exposed to iPads, iPhones and social networking. The ABC program Play School reflects on the changes of education where in the past young children will go through imaginative play while in the present they are using apps and playing online games.
Like you said that due to the interactive nature of the tool it needs to be considered the implications of regular use on all students. Duck (2012) states that "It's no longer a matter of whether or not kids should use the technology but how they can best use it in a safe way." Although technology is a powerful educational tool it is how they use it for the technology to become educational.
Regarding to your question on whether students can function in a society with limited/no technology in my opinion I believe they will struggle to function in a society with no technology. That is if they were exposed to these technologies from a very young age because of the fast access of information they have now, without technology I don't think they will know what to do.
I think you raise some really interesting points in this blog. I'm especially interested in your points about special needs and technology. Ipads and other devices are indeed a great equaliser when it comes to the classroom. They allow all students to effectively express themselves with what Ryan and Cooper call ‘assistive technology... [which] help people with disabilities perform better in their daily lives’ (Cooper and Ryan, 2007) Technology also allows the teacher to create diverse and interactive lessons.
ReplyDeleteYet, if you see my blog for my stance on technology, I'm not totally convinced it is the way forward. I spent 10 days with an Autism unit for my APE recently and from my experiences there I found that technology is actually becoming a real issue for the teachers and staff within the unit. This is because the students are surrounded by technology in all of their environments, be it at home, at school, during breaks and they now have some form of addiction. One student was going for a week without using his DS at recess because he had become overly aggressive toward others. It's this technology dependence where there is a real issue and a need to cut back on the amount of exposure us as educators give to students, especially those with special needs.
It’s also an area that possibly needs more research because in my searches for academic support I’ve struggled to find anything.
http://www.7daysindubai.com/Tech-boost-special-needs-kids-att-Al-Noor-Centre/story-16974851-detail/story.html nicely links with your article i think
ReplyDelete