The Future Lab (2010) recognises that
as digital media is now a central aspect of children’s lives, the skills,
knowledge and understanding of digital literacy are becoming indispensable. Children need to be given the opportunity to
explore and engage with web2 technology in order to ‘keep up’ in today’s
digital society.
However, Merchant (2009) acknowledges
that introducing digital literacies into the classroom can be a challenging
task. It could be suggested that this is because many teachers lack confidence with
technology and therefore do not feel comfortable using it in the primary classroom. This is
an issue that has been discussed in my previous blogs.
During today’s seminar, I was
introduced to web2technology for the first time and have uploaded examples to
my blog (Dog Puzzle and What the Lady Bird Heard). I feel that through
exploring and using types of web2technology, I have gained confidence in my
understanding of programmes that can be used in the primary classroom to
motivate and engage children.
I particularly enjoyed using Tagxedo
(Online) to create an image of a ladybird with words from ‘What the Ladybird
Heard’ within it. In terms of my own practice, I would use Tagxedo to introduce
a topic to the class as I think that the image would engage the children and it
is a fun way of introducing the key words.
However in order for a class to create their own individual images, there would need to be a lot of support and guidance from the teacher. The teacher would need to prepare words for the children to use or provide them with an appropriate source to gather words from.
However in order for a class to create their own individual images, there would need to be a lot of support and guidance from the teacher. The teacher would need to prepare words for the children to use or provide them with an appropriate source to gather words from.
I think that Jigzone (Online) is also
an excellent resource to use in the classroom, as it is a fairly quick and
simple, enjoyable way of encouraging children to engage with technology however
as mentioned with Tagxedo, the teacher would need to prepare certain things
before allowing children to explore, for example appropriate pictures to use.
FutureLab (2010) Digital Literacy
Across the Curriculum: (Sections 3.1 – 3.4 Digital Literacy in Practice)
Merchant, G (2009)
Literacy in virtual worlds, Journal of
Research in Reading, Volume 32, Issue 1, pp 38-56
http://www.tagxedo.com
Before this module, I was unaware the how I could use Web. 2 technologies in the classroom. However, I agree with the point you made that we need to allow children to enage with Web. 2 technologies in order to keep up in society and digital media is a central part of children's lives.
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