Evaluation of the module.

I have really enjoyed this module and feel much more enthusiastic about teaching ICT within Primary School now. I feel like I could actually teach the children something new which would truely enhance there lessons. I have enjoyed completing the tasks and have had fun.

When I was first asked to complete a blog, I won't lie...I was very negative and thought it would be weird and a chore, however I have found it a good way of reflecting each week. I think that it is the new way of sort of writing a diary and I have found it very easy to express my views each week. They are very easy to set up and I think children would enjoy using them to communicate. Also as a teacher I think it is a good way of assessing the children's understanding and enjoyment of a lesson.

My personal view of ICT within school as totally changed throughout this module and I think it is amazing to consider just how the world will be, even in 10years time. Mind boggling!!

Flowol

Well...... this was by far my worst directed task out of the ICT module. I tried, with 'tried' being the main word, to try and complete the traffic light mimic on the program. I found all the outputs, inputs and delays very hard to sequence. The different shapes, such as the 'start' shape were helpful and making them different shapes to fit onto a flow chart was very visual. This is definatly a positive to the program, especially as you can view the directions that have been set in the flow chart to the picture and test how it works. I could not get to grips with the timing though and really struggled, ending up feeling very frustrated.

I believe children may really enjoy this challenge, however it is one element that I found my head spinning. My traffic lights did not sync very well, therefore I would be very worried about the crashes that I may inflect if this system was truely put to the test. Definatly did not highlight a strength of mine....I now know that if i want to try another vocation, setting programs like this would definatly not be an option.

ICT in the future

I did nor find this lecture as interesting as some we have already had, as I felt it was a little repeatitive. It is totally amazing how much technology has advanced over the last 10years, however some of the gadgets I do not understand how a schools budget is meant to buy??

We have now started tutorials for our presention, our group has decided on the subjects and I think designing a medium term plan is really helpful, and hopefully I will look at this work when I have graduated. All the different ICT programs we have looked at are really helping.

Hyperlinks

the task this week I found interesting as i surprised myself that I completed the directed task without any problems, which I initially thought I would have as it sounded very complicated. However it was very simple and I think that now I know how to do it, I would use hyperlinks in my powerpoints.

The directed task was not as fun to complete as some of the others, but once again very useful!!

This module has increased my confidence in using ICT as i have found out that it is actually very simple to use...even for me!!!!

This module

I have been thinking about ICT over the weekend and feel that my attitude has adapted alot since the start of this module. I read back over my first post and can not believe hpw negative it was. I think my confidence played a majhor part into my attitude. I thought that using ICT in primary school would be too tricky for me, but the programs that we have had the opportunity to explore during the direct tasks have been so straightforward. Aswell as being easy to use, the programs would enhance lessons, giving the children opportunities they would not be able to have without ICT, such as composing the music using all the different sound affects. Children love using ICT and it seems to make them work harder as they want to produce briliant work, better then others in the class.

I am really enjoying this module and think that it will change my outlook of using ICT for my next teaching practice. I think it will enhance my teaching greatly.

Podcasting

I have found this directed task really fun. Before the lecture I had heard of podcasts, but did not know of what they really stood for. Personal On Demand Casting makes a lot of sense. The only podcast I have heard was a radio one podcast which was funny.

The radio podcast we made I found so fun. The program we used, podium, was so easy to use it was amazing and I imagine the children would find it the same. The podcast turned out well I think and I really liked making it.

This would mean that the children can write scripts and the use of ICT in this would make it easy, using ICT as an aid. So far this module is showing to me so many great ways of using ICT in primary school and my first opinion is starting to change. ICT is exciting.

Super dooper music looper

I love music!! I did not realise all the different programmes that are available to help composing. I think that these programmes are not just brilliant fun for children, but great for all ages. What I really enjoyed about super dooper music looper was that it was very easy to navigate around, had some good music available, and I really liked that you paint on to the transcript how far you want each layer to play for. This programme means that it is very suitable for children in primary school, and I think that it would be great fun. After the children have composed they could play it to their class. This would be great fun to listen to all the different interpretations. Its was so easy to make a short piece of music and all the ones I heard were great, and all different.

I think that ICT is very good in this invention. I always thought of composing as a very daunting process, but it was so easy and fun. For children this would give them some confidence and they may then go home and carry on making music. ICT within music simply makes the task managable and accessible. I cant wait to try this out when I am in school myself. A brilliant resource.

Animations

The animation task was fun and I have had alot of fun looking through everone elses animations. Everybody seems to have had a great time completing these, all I have heard and read has been postivies. I think this would definatly be the same with children... they would love to have the freedom to complete something like this in groups. It is great for team building as the children have to work well together and be patient as it is very time consuming. But it is work that can be saved and last forever. It will be very satisfying for the children when it is completed. Animation is definatly a great positive to come out of ICT.

Communication

A great positive with ICT is communication and keeping up to date with friends. As alot of friends of mine go to different uni's all around the country internet sites such as Facebook is a brilliant, free way of communication. It keeps you updated with birthdays and looking at photos is good fun. Instead of writing out paper invitations, or sending lots and lots of txt messages to invite friends to birthday parties and gatherings it is now easy to send a group invitation over the internet. This shows a big change in technology over the last few years and is a definate positive. Children are growing up with these sites with Bebo another big one.

My one worry with sites like Bebo is security for the children. Children would not be allowed to speak to strangers if walking to the park, so is it right that they should be allowed access to do this on the internet? if I had children I would worry about this and as a teacher I think teaching internet safety should be applied within schools if we are promoting internet use. Will this be considered though? We need to take responsibilty.

ICT

Hi this is my first post talking about ICT in primary school. Well.... I am not really completely sure on my views on this!! I rely on ICt during most of my lessons when I am teaching, especially in introductions and plenarys. I think that they are a brilliant visual aid, if it is just a few powerpoint slides revealing the learning objectives for the lesson. The poweroints are also good to remind me what I am wanting to cover, especially if I am being assessed and am nervous.

I think that it is amazing how much ICT has developed since I was at school. It is great that you have got the internet very easily accessible, and for watching short videos in class, maybe showing religious artefacts, it is a brilliant visual aid!!

The interactive whiteboards I think are good too. Dragging objects in sessions like fractions in maths is great and the children love playing all the different educational games that are availabe from different websites.

Children have so much knowledge on ICT now and I do believe that as teachers we do need to keep up to date with these advances, we do not want to be slowing the children down but enthusing them!!

There are many positives about ICT and it is quite exciting how fast the technology is advancing.