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info to help with ema from teacher quoted from forum

"For those who want to use Storybird for their EMA and are worried about their trial expiring before their EMA is assessed, apologies for the delay in a module team response. We have been awaiting responses from Storybird. We've had some, but they haven't quite answered all of our queries  So, there may be an update from me with more info/options later, but equally, you can follow the guidance in this post and move forward with your EMA if you are ready to do so.

When we assess your EMA, we will not be 'marking' your Scratch programme or Storybird story or poem. We will be concentrating on the thinking behind your writing or programme, what you've learned from it, how it might relate to supporting children's learning and so on. However, you should share the URL for your story/poem. It may be that we can still access it when your trial finishes. Furthermore, please screenshot 2 or 3 pages from the story/poem and copy and paste them into the EMA as an appendix (the EMA guidance says you should not include an appendix - but due to this change in licensing from Storybird, you may include the Storybird screenshots as an appendix).

Guidance about screenshotting or snipping can be found at https://learn1.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=12764

This is the same message as that in the main discussion thread below - apologies for creating more traffic, but I'd prefer to limit any anxiety. I have locked this thread. Ask any questions in the thread below.

Best wishes

Paula (E209 module team)"

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"By providing a context for talk and collaboration, technology can promote the development of communication skills and understanding of the environment. This approach is based on a constructivist view of learning in which children interact with the world around them and with others to create their own frameworks of understanding,"

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"The teacher comments that ‘half the fun is discovering with the children’. She is taking on the role of a facilitator rather than an expert (Kolb et al., 2014) helping children to tap into their interest in the natural world."

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"Learning presented through auditory and visual channels can help learners to construct mental models of complex systems (Chan and Black, 2006) and links to Piaget’s ideas about children moving from a concrete to an abstract understanding of concepts."

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https://www-sciencedirect-com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0360131514000153?via%3Dihub

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Home : iSpot Nature - Your place to share nature. iSpot is a website aimed at helping anyone identify anything in nature. Once you've registered, you can add an observation to the website and suggest an identification yourself or see if anyone else can identify it for you.

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Home : iSpot Nature - Your place to share nature. iSpot is a website aimed at helping anyone identify anything in nature. Once you’ve registered, you can add an observation to the website and suggest an identification yourself or see if anyone else can identify it for you.

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using an ipad too use an app developed to magnify findings for example outdoor classroom findings. This is just an example of how these topics can cross over and link together.

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‎Sensory ItZooms turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a powerful high definition visual magnifier and zooming close-up camera. ItZooms makes small items look bigger, ideal for high definition close-up photography and viewing. Make small text in books and newspapers readable, study and photogra...

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https://learn2.open.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/2356187/mod_resource/content/1/Harlen%20and%20Qualter%202014%20pp%20200_07.pdf

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The Scottish Government found that:

There is conclusive evidence that digital equipment, tools and resources can, where effectively used, raise the speed and depth of learning in science and mathematics for primary and secondary age learners.

(Scottish Government, 2015, p. 2)

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OU ACT 27.2 quote about merchants six themes of communication.  

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OU ACT 27.2 quote about merchants six themes of communication.  

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Can use to explain in EMA

"Considering Merchant’s six themes of communication:

Multimodality: Children can combine words, images, video, audio and animation in their texts, with the variety of modes supporting their written expression.

Linguistic innovation: The teacher notes that children are at home with social media and that this can be used positively for peer feedback on literacy work through comments in Google Docs.

Remix: Children were adding ideas to a collaborative planning sheet, which was later available to them at home. They were encouraged to magpie ideas to use in their individual writing and to access word banks created by their teacher.

Playfulness: Colm Hanlon attributes the dramatic improvement in children’s writing to their enthusiasm for using all forms of technology and their willingness to engage with technology for informal learning at home.

Participation: There are many examples of using Google Classroom for collaboration in the video. Work is saved to Google Drive, and teachers and children are all involved in the planning, editing and feedback process using shared documents, comments and email.

Connection: Children share work online with their writing partners. They also share their final drafts with the wider community on a class blog. There is an advantage for the teacher in being able to mark from anywhere and at any time."

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This is my storybird that I have made as part of my EMA

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This is my storybird that I have made as part of my EMA

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It has been made to explain to children in ks1 about your senses.  It helps with rhyming words and also with an example of how to set out a poem.
https://storybird.com/flash-fiction/tell-tale-forest

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I have made this for children to help with 1 more and 1 less questions.
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/308467647/

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https://bookcreator.com/

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http://popplet.com/

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https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uced20

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Against ict in classrooms

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This is sound advice. More importantly, though, it seems that the main contribution of this book is moving the discussion about technology in the classroom toward dealing with how technology affects language, metaphor, attitudes, and thus, the social world. Computers, Bowers helps us realize, are themselves educators.

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Literature Review on the Impact of Digital Technology on Learning and Teaching - gov.scot

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This literature review was commissioned by the Scottish Government to explore how the use of digital technology for learning and teaching can support teachers, parents, children and young people in improving outcomes and achieving our ambitions for education in Scotland

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By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage children should "recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools [and] select and use technology for particular purposes". Used well technology can excite and motivate children, and it offers practitioners the chance to promote skills and observe progress across all areas of learning and development - in ways that would either be more difficult or impossible without it.

What follows are starting points that almost any setting can try in order to support children's progress.

1. Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Most nurseries have invested in digital cameras, and they're arguably one of the most powerful resources available to an early years setting. The use of photography sends a clear message to both children and their parents/carers. When practitioners consistently take photographs of their children's activities it confirms that they value and want to celebrate learning - and if it is recorded over time it also confirms that they value and want to celebrate children's progress.

In addition, if cameras are available as part of your setting's continuous provision and children are proactively encouraged to use them to record their achievements, it will help children understand that they are special, that what they achieve is special, and that practitioners want to remember their achievements and share them with others. If this also becomes a consistent part of the setting's ethos, children will develop self-confidence and a belief in themselves and be interested, excited and motivated to learn.

Tip: To ensure that they don't miss anything, practitioners should have a camera permanently about their person, in a bum bag, for instance. Children's cameras should be easily accessible at all times. Children should know where they are kept, how to use them safely, and that they should always return them after use.

Video cameras can be used to film children whilst they are learning - and if this film is reviewed with the children it gives them the opportunity to reflect on their learning and explain their thinking, enabling practitioners to have a clearer understanding of the child. Clicker 5, in particular, features a very child friendly interface that lets children get involved, and also allows text and/or a recorded commentary to be added to pages, alongside the videos. These 'books' can be made available for the children to explore whenever they want, encouraging them to reflect on past experience, pay attention to sequence and how events lead into one another.

Tip: Windows Movie Maker can be used to capture still photographs from video and these stills can then be used to document learning journeys.

2. Expressive arts and design

Provide the children with a box of defunct ICT alongside Community Playthings Hollow Blocks and encourage them to construct their own role-play scenarios. This could be anything from an office, to a train, to a spaceship or even mission control. This will encourage them to use their imagination as they play in role.

Tip: Defunct ICT should have the batteries removed and any electrical cables cut off as close to the equipment as possible.

3. Understanding the World

A simple hand-held digital microscope such as an Easi-scope offers children the opportunity to explore objects and living things in microscopic detail. Try using it to talk about and compare different fruits or vegetables such a strawberries and raspberries or mushrooms and broccoli. In this way childrenwill develop a curiosity and interest in features of living things and will be encouraged to describe and talk about what they see. Alternatively children can look at leaves, bugs and even their own skin. Practitioners might even find that their curiosity is aroused!

Tip: The webcam feature in 2Publish+ allows children to input the images they take using the Easi-scope directly into a 2Publish+ document and then add text to caption or describe their images.

Give the children a hand-held metal detector and a range of everyday objects, and encourage them to test which make the detectors buzz. Use open-ended questioning to support their exploration of these objects. This will support the children to develop their curiosity and interest in different objects and will encourage them to ask questions about why things happen and work. Once children know how to use metal detectors they can be integrated into their role play, for instance, pirates looking for buried treasure or a security officer scanning passengers at the airport.

Tip: Test the detectors before you buy - some are easier to calibrate than others. If the children are going to use the metal detectors to look for 'buried treasure' in sand, make sure the sand tray isn't on a metal stand or on a table with metal supports!

4. Communication and Language; Literacy

The use of electronic means of communication can provide children with a wide variety of opportunities to read and write. They could e-mail their favourite story character using a simple interface such as is provided by 2Simple's 2E-mail. This will provide an exciting and meaningful context in which to use writing as a means of communicating and when the replies come in to read a range of familiar and common words and simple sentences independently. Alternatively, using e-mail can be incorporated into any role-play area, for example, an airport, builders office, estate agents, opticians, dentist or hairdressers in which customers could e-mail orders, enquires or book appointments.

Tip: Avoid the constraints and associated e-safety issues that surround the use of real e-mail by using a program such as 2Simple's 2E-mail which simulates the use of e-mail within a safe controlled environment and doesn't require a connection to the internet.

5. Maths

Children love toys that they can control and thus will inevitably be fascinated by those which are remote-controlled or programmable. Once the children have explored the remote toys and can use them confidently, try providing an environment for the toys to move about in. This could be based on a familiar story, or on their local environment. The children usually need little encouragement to talk about where their toy is moving and why. Very recently, I observed two three-year-old boys in deep conversation about their remote-controlled bugs as they moved them around a prepared environment. With support they will also begin to use positional language and 'everyday words' to describe position.

Once the remote-controlled toys become part of your setting's continuous provision, provide resources and stimuli that will encourage children to create their own environments for the toys. These resources can include anything that might be found in the art/workshop area and small world/construction resources such as Playmobil or Duplo. Working together to create the environment will be a challenge in itself.

Tip: If children are going to be using more than one remote controlled toy at once, make sure they operate on different frequencies!

Once children have had a good experience of using remote-controlled toys they can begin to explore programmable toys. Children don't need to work out how to program sequences of instructions, they just need to work out how to make they toy move. It's quite all right at this stage if they make it move by entering one instruction at a time.

The creation of an environment for a programmable toy is significantly more challenging than creating one for a remote controlled toy. The programmable toy can usually only move distances that are multiples of its own length, and can only turn right angles or multiples thereof. Thus, both the creation of its environment and making the programmable toy move will demand the use of mathematical ideas and methods.

Tip: Have more than one type of programmable toy available so that children can transfer their learning from one toy to another.

6. Physical Development

Using a computer mouse to navigate around an appropriate piece software requires children to practise their hand-eye coordination and use a one-handed tool whilst having fun! Using an interactive whiteboard instead will develop children's gross motor control and coordination.

Tip: Ensure that the mouse is an appropriate size - about half the size of a standard mouse. Smaller mice designed for use with laptops fit perfectly under a child's hand.

If you encourage your children to use Community Playthings Hollow Blocks to build a track for remote-controlled or programmable toys, they will have to lift and move the equipment safely and develop and show awareness of space.

Tip: Using the Hollow Blocks in this way will enable children to use their remote-controlled and programmable toys outside, as they provide a suitable surface on which the toys can move.
A former primary school teacher, Rachel Ager is an internationally respected educational consultant who worked to develop the use of ICT in the EYFS.
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Understanding ICT's for Teaching and learning

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This was a digital literacy lesson I did with Year 4 last week:

I have also posted a more in-depth step-by-step tutorial for what we did and how we did it exclusively for the supporters of my Facebook page. You can access this and everything else on MrPICT.com by clicking the picture below:

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Mr P's ICT blog - Tech to raise standards!

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Research and analysis

Ofsted report into information and communication technology (ICT) and its effect on achievement and standards in schools.

Documents

Details

Since the Education Reform Act of 1988, information and communication technology (ICT) has been compulsory for all pupils from 5 to 16 in maintained schools. This report draws on evidence from the inspection of ICT 167 in primary, secondary and special schools between 2008 and 2011. The use of ICT is considered as both a specialist subject and across the wider school curriculum.

The report is split into two parts. Part A reports on the quality of the provision of ICT in primary and secondary schools and its impact on achievement and standards.

Part B explores seven issues arising from the survey evidence which focus on:

the effect of the use of assessment on pupils' achievements and future success

the curriculum and qualifications in key stage 4

professional development of staff

e-safety

use of virtual learning environments availability of ICT resources

securing best value.

Visit the National Archives for more information

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Research and analysis Ofsted report into information and communication technology (ICT) and its effect on achievement and standards in schools. Since the Education Reform Act of 1988, information and communication technology (ICT) has been compulsory for all pupils from 5 to 16 in maintained schools.