Personally, creating my blog was a really great
learning experience and helped me to see the effectiveness of ICT. By blogging, it was exciting to post entries,
add photos, and to make comments to my peers. I found that maintaining a blog
is much easier than what I had thought at the beginning. However, as I
experienced some difficulties while blogging, I found myself returning to my
original view that technology is troublesome and difficult to use. What
happened was two members in our group had some trouble finding their original
blogs and eventually they needed to create new blogs. We still do not know how
it happened and why it happened. "As a learner, my ideas about technology are still developing..."(Smorti, 1999, p. 9).
Nevertheless, I realised that blogging is a very
useful tool to share our reflections. “Blogs allow users and readers to
respond, to create, and to connect” (Hong, 2008). This collaborative reflection
helped me to see various ideas and thoughts in relation to ICT and ICT related
learning. For example, one of the peers commented on my first entry about how I
could put my learning from the readings or experiences into my practice. This
was a good question to think about. I found the answer by reading Somerset’s
(2007) book, which was by giving the children as many opportunities as possible
to participate in ICT learning. “Whatever offers in the way of material at any
time will determine the activity and its direction”(Somerset, 2007, p. 85). As
children are frequently exposed to an ICT learning environment, their ICT capabilities
will grow in the use of sharing information, thoughts and ideas “Children learn
strategies for active exploration, thinking and reasoning” (Ministry of Education,
1996, p. 88).
By reading others’ blogs, I realised that we all have
discovered the effectiveness of ICT in children’s learning and development. ICT
enables children “to understand how and why products work the way they do”
(Ministry of Education, 2007). For example, three of us talked about digital
cameras which are a helpful tool for the child to develop a sense of self and a
sense of confidence by taking ownership of the camera. It also provides the
child with new opportunities to explore and to take photos of their interests.
Their photography is a source for teachers to understand the child more and to
connect with their parents and families. Through the use of ICT, children take
their learning further. “Children develop a sense of “who they are”, their
place in the wider world of relationships, and the ways in which these are
valued” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 68).
Another interesting finding was to know what ICT was.
In the beginning, I was surprised to hear that “technology is about helping
people and solving problems” (Smorti, 1999, p. 5). I wondered how it could
be. However, this began to make more
sense to me when I was thinking about non-digital technology. As I thought
about how glue guns have changed, I came up with idea the forms of technology
also have changed over time according to people’s needs and interests. This
concept helped me to understand technology in depth and this also allows me to
take a positive view on ICT learning. The comments from my group members were very supportive and
broadened my views.
Finally, I have learned the
importance of the teacher’s role by reading Tsantis, Bewick and Thornton’s article
(2003). They stressed that teachers’ attitudes are the central factor to making
things different. I also realised that my attitudes impact the children’s
learning disposition. By comparing the past and the present, I realised that my
attitude has changed and I facilitate ICT learning by downloading software for
my sons. “The process of reflection includes reflective thinking and
self-examination during or after teaching” (Yang, 2009, p. 11).
References
Ministry
of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-documents/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga
ngā mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington:
Learning Media.
Smori, S. (1999)
Technology in Early Childhood. Early
Education, 19, 5-10.
Somerset, G. (2000). Work and play in the early years (4th
ed.). Auckland: New Zealand. Playcentre Federation.
Tsantis, L.,
Bewick, C., & Thornton, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about
computers in the early years. Young
Children on the Web, November 2003, 1-9.
Wang, H. (2008). Exploring the
educational use of blogs in U.S. education. US – China Education Review, 5
(10), 34-37.
Yang, S.-H. (2009).
Using blogs to enhance critical reflection and community of practice. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (2),
11-21. Available online from http://www.ifets.info/journals/12_2/2.pdf
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