So I bought an iPhone....

So the desk in my student flat is starting to look a lot more like a display case in an electronics shop. But the problem lies therein.

I never seem to use a lot of the gadgets I worked hard for and dreamt of owning for a very long time. For example, when I bought my Nintendo Wii I thought it was incredible and I played with it for days and days on end. I probably shouldn't have done that to be honest but it was a revolutionary device in my eyes and I had never experienced anything close to what it was capable of. I spent hours of the summer and many hard earned pounds buying games and accessories for the Wii so I could discover it's full potential. It was incredible and I had never found a gaming experience so enthralling.

Until yesterday.

I was enjoying a coffee in my local coffee shop and I decided to take full advantage of the free WiFi on offer to browse through the App Store on my iPhone. I found a game called DoodleJump and decided to download it.

In my opinion, I feel as though technology had kept a horrible secret from me. I felt as though I had wasted hundreds of pounds on games I would never play again because of a little yellow man who would happily bounce up my screen with the occasional boost from a spring, a jet pack or a propellor hat. The last of which made my friend smile from ear to ear with enjoyment, yet he never wants to play the Wii. And all of this enjoyment for £0.59. It makes me wonder if I'll ever want to buy another games console again.

Also I have a, now redundant, iPod which gathers dust on my table. I remember in 2001 when Steve Jobs announced the iPod I couldn't believe it. "One thousand songs in your pocket", he said and my jaw hit the floor. For me this was the most revolutionary device I had ever heard of, I immediately wanted one and felt sour for my, at the time, 3 month old portable CD player as it wouldn't ever travel with me again, eating up AA batteries and skipping every time the bus went over anything uneven.

But the saddest thing of all, for me, is my poor laptop computer. It gets switched on when I want to write anything in great length, such as this blog post or an essay. Anything else and I hit Safari, or Mail or even Facebook and it's right there in my hand. No need for the clumpy, heavy MacBook.

It makes me look back at my "technological timeline" and think of how quickly the Mega Drive went out of the living room and the PlayStation came in. It left soon after and was replaced by something else which meant I needed a bigger TV and then an HD ready TV and it continued.

But is everything going to be in the palms of our hands now?

Why do we need to buy a TV that the whole family can watch when we can give everyone their own device to watch whatever they like?

Is the iPad going to make anything else I own redundant?

Such is the way of life I'm afraid. People come and go and so does technology. The other day I was complaining that my email doesn't get pushed straight to my phone, even though I can search for it on the same device. A few years ago I would have been stunned to hear I could get email when I'm not plugged in to the wall.

How reliant have we all become on technology?

What is next?

If we keep demanding it, then someone keeps making it. If we want something improved, someone will do it. Most of the things in your house today will be replaced and upgraded before you fully appreciate them.

This is technology, I'm afraid. It is a beautiful thing, but also a force none of us can control.

 Dazzle 

Week 3: Learning Through Blogging + iPad launch

So this week I will be looking at a tool I have started using personally, in fact you are reading it right now, the blog.

In our ICT elective we have been working together in groups to complete tasks, such as the digital movie making task using the iPhone. We use these blogs to discuss our tasks, reflect on our learning and to share our thoughts and opinions with one another.

I was quite surprised when we were asked this week to review and consider using a blog for educational value as I hadn't considered it previously. However after reading through other blogs and reviewing my own I can understand the potential a blog could have in the classroom.

When I review how I have been using blogs so far I can understand the underlying educational concepts that they address.

Firstly, blogging has given me the opportunity to review what I have learned so far in my ICT elective and share with my peers thoughts and opinions on similar subjects. I believe this could be used very well with children in the primary classroom, in particular when they are collaborating on a class topic. They could connect with one another via their blogs and comment on each others posts. It also provides the opportunity to share videos and pictures from other areas on the web, for example by embedding YouTube and Flickr.

Secondly, I have learnt a lot by expressing myself through the blog. It has encouraged me to use the web to discover more about the topics we discussed during the week. I can see this being a useful tool for children as they will be able to have a record of their work which they can go back and add to if they find anything relevant at a later date.

Finally, I have found my blogging experience rewarding as it gives me the opportunity to express thoughts and opinions which I cannot sometimes express in class. Using a blog could provide a platform through which a child who withdraws from class discussions, due to shyness or embarrassment, could express themselves and also interact with their peers' work.

Related articles:

• 11 Reasons to use a Blog in your classroom
• How to create a Primary Classroom Blog

This week also saw the release of Apple's eagerly awaited tablet.

The iPad, so far, shows promise as an educational tool for the classroom. It boasts a large user interface with touchscreen and multi-touch capabilities that have proved popular with Apple's current iPod Touch and iPhone. I watched the keynote speech from the event and I have picked up on a couple of features which could prove popular with children in the primary school.

• The iBook reader can contain video and colour images and it is easy to manipulate the text to the size you prefer
• The applications will contain richer graphics and will make full use of the multi touch capability and accelerometer.
• The keyboard is larger and will be easier to use than its iPhone/iPod Touch counterpart.
• The larger screen will allow more students to access the iPad at one time.

I personally cannot wait for the release of the iPad as I want to explore all of the possibilities for use in the classroom. If you have any ideas do let me know by commenting on this point.

On another note I received my iPhone on Tuesday and I have been looking through some applications. Keep an eye out for future posts on this topic

 Dazzle 

Week 2: Etherpad - Taking the Learning Home + Digital Movie Making Update

Today our ICT elective group visited Sensation Science Centre in Dundee as part of a digital movie making task.

We have been using Etherpad, a realtime collaborative text editing tool, in order to come up with ideas for what we should film and how we can enhance the learning experience in our classrooms with digital media.

I, personally, have become a fan of Etherpad over the past week and I have been thinking of ways in which I could use it in a classroom.

Firstly, we have been using it as a means to communicate with one another when we are not in class. We can use the chat facility at the right hand side of the screen to brainstorm ideas and when we agreed on which ideas should be put to paper we did so by posting them in the text area on the left hand side. It is a great resource as it saves automatically to its personal URL and can be accessed at any time and edited. It also allows each student to allocate themselves a colour with which their input to the text can be identified.

Secondly, the finished product can then be moved from Etherpad to a word processor such as Microsoft Word or iWork's Pages and transferred on to paper. This means that a group within the class can hand in a piece of work they have worked on collaboratively outside of the classroom.

I must, however, be critical of Etherpad. It is a public page that you create, which means that you and the class would have to be responsible with keeping the page's URL private and ensure it is not posted publicly on a blog or in a wiki space. This could cause some issues, but I believe that it is too good a resource not to use.

You can see a demonstration of Etherpad below, it shows a teacher and a student using it to show how it works. Look at how the text colour is assigned to different people and how this could be used as a tool for assessment. It would be a great way to see what each individual has contributed.

Update

Here is the finished video for our trip to Sensation, Dundee.

 Dazzle 

Week 1: Wallwisher - Yes, you can write on the wall

In this post I will be looking at using Wallwisher in the primary classroom.

Wallwisher is a website that allows you to create a wall with an individual URL which you can embed onto your own class site or access with your class by simply sharing the URL.

It can be used across the curriculum as a medium through which the class teacher and the students in the class can share ideas, post thoughts and communicate with one another.

I believe it could be used effectively as part of a health and wellbeing class for the children to post how they are feeling today, it could also be used in a writing class in order for children to share ideas with one another.

There is only one problem I have found with Wallwisher and that is that it doesn't refresh automatically and you have to refresh the page yourself. There were also some problems when I started with stickies overlapping but I have been assured that this can be fixed by the person who sets up the Wall.

The stickies can also be left anonymous in case children don't want to post their name with their comment. This could be a useful tool for children who don't want others to know they have asked a question in case they are easily embarrassed.

Check it out and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

 Dazzle 

Toddler + iPhone =

I have recently read a blog post by Patrick Hunt on the effects of the Apple iPhone and a young child.

I can understand fully how engrossed children can become with a product, having been one myself and also having contact with young people both through work and at home, having grown up with three younger sisters. However, I believe this could be different to anything I have seen before.

I would welcome and embrace a child's enthusiasm for an educational device, especially at such a young age. If the iPhone has been disabled as a phone and is effectively an iPod Touch with a camera, it would open up an opportunity for young children to make the most of educational apps, like Letter Tracer, which would appeal to kinaesthetic and visual learners who don't find pencil and paper work stimulating.

I could also imagine that the iPhone could be filled with plenty of interesting and educational videos, songs and podcasts which children will not only find interesting, but which will also provide relevant educational experiences.

However, I must be critical of young children using the iPhone. As I have mentioned before, children can become over engaged with a product and I have seen this, in particular with children spending hours on end playing video games. I believe that moderation has to come into play here as it could be easy for a child to fixate on their iPhone and to ignore other important experiences children should have, such as playing outside, socialising with others in their peer group and spending time with their family.

If I was to allow a toddler or a child to have an iPhone I would ensure I was responsible for the hours in which it could be used and It would only be allowed at certain times of the day.

However, I must give praise to anyone who would give a toddler a handheld device which promotes learning as it gives the opportunity for educational development to happen at home, on journeys, basically everywhere.

Have a look at this video I found on YouTube which shows a toddler using an app called Shape Shifter. It promotes early mathematical concepts such as recognition of shape and spacial awareness. It is also appealing to visual, kinaesthetic and visual learners.

Let me know what you think of it.

 Dazzle 