Presented by Colleen Lenehan Rationale In order for us to make informed pedagogical decisions (Jones, 2013) we need to know not only how to teach the students ICT but, more importantly, how ICT can be used as a learning tool itself. Sandra, you asked me to think outside the box on how to assess what the students have learnt from your explicit teaching. So, in this presentation, Im going to give you three reasons (only three because we have to go home at some stage) on how ICTs can benefit the students learning processes. There is an added benefit I would like to add at this point and it is that you and I can be enabled, through ICT, the opportunity to be more creative and to learn just like our students are, through the many varied ICT tools. Lets start by examining the context of your classroom. Then we will look at the following three reasons why ICT tools are great aides to an enhanced learning pedagogy. These include: The Australian Curriculum Enhanced creativity Students being proactive in showing us their knowledge by using digital images and appropriate searching skills to result in a practical application Classroom Context As we are only dealing with your Prep students in this presentation, we know the following information: Each student has a computer for their own use. You already set aside time for the students to play with the software on the computers as part of a reward system for positive behaviour They all have access to computers at home They appear to only see computer games as viable learning/playing tools What I am talking about will all be specific to the English Content Descriptors in the Australian Curriculum, focussing on Language for Interaction and Creating Literature. Ubeaut State School has a hands-on pedagogical approach so some of the ICT tools currently used by upper primary students could be utilised in the classroom. I was thinking this could include the video camera, the computers, access to the internet and the digital camera, to name a few and as proposed by the TIP Model (Robyler, 2006) to use technology one step at a time. The students are in their first year of school so this is the beginning of an exciting technological adventure. The more involved they are with ICT tools now, the better equipped they should be as they progress through the schooling system and throughout their adult lives. At this stage of their development it is a challenge to keep them focused. The first ICT tool I want to show you is seen in this video. You will notice that all the students are engaged and focused on the experience, interacting and sharing. Hit the link and lets watch the video on vimeo. Reason 1: Curriculum First of all we will look at the Introduction in the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2013). It states that students should: Become capable ICT users Use ICT effectively and appropriately Be able to access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems and work collaboratively in all learning areas at school, and in their lives beyond school How can they do this? By making the most of the digital technologies available to them By adapting to new ways of doing things as technologies evolve This could put an interesting slant on Vygotskys Zone of Proximal Development. With the introduction of the computer-age, google and other utilities appear to be closing the gap between the difference in what students can do on their own and what they can do with help (Sigelman & Rider,2012, 234). So, instead of thinking of ICT as a subject, lets line it up with Socols (2009) Toolbelt Theory of utilising the appropriate tool to complete the task. This video of my two sons is an example of how language can be used to explore ways of expressing needs, likes and dislikes (ACELA1429) in a fun way. Bandura (Sigelman & Rider, 2009, 45) hypothesised that people learn from each other by observation, imitation, and modeling. It appears to me that my older son is observing a very keen student and with the same opportunities he may imitate the same enthusiasm.ACELA1429) Reason 2 - Enhancing Creativity With internet connected to computers in the classroom there is scope for students to have world-wide access to utilise numerous creative tools. What I propose is that we explicitly teach the students to think about which ICT tools may be appropriate to complete a designated task (Socol, 2009) as students can gain so much insight by learning from experts in whatever field they are interested in and they can also collaborate with other students so they are learning from each other. At the moment you are working on retelling familiar literary texts. One of my examples will demonstrate how to do this using ICT tools. Not only that, they will have enjoy learning and should be more engaged.texts It is important that students understand that language can be used to explore ways of expressing needs, likes and dislikes recognising some of the ways we can use speech, gesture, writing and media to communicate feelings (ACELA1429) (Acara, 2013). My initial thought after watching the next video was that we could adapt that particular lesson to show different facial expressions depicting our moods, for example, smile is happy, tears or upturned mouth is sad, teeth grit together is angry) and different postures of the body also depict our mood, for example, tapping foot shows impatience, drooped shoulders could depict sadness/disheartedness, crossed arms could show an angry disposition) This could fit in perfectly with where our teaching is at the moment as the children could then write a story to share why that person might be feeling that way, for example, the girl was smiling because she was given a puppy. We could then enable the students to take photos of their own story, show them how to collate all the pictures and the students could have their first ebook to enjoy when they have spare time on the computer. I could not have said it any better than Byrnes & Wasik (2009) "Pictures not only say a thousand words but also can help teach thousands of words...ACELA1429) Lets click on the link again and we can see how another teacher has encouraged her students to use digital cameras yes another ICT tool. Example 3: Students being proactive in showing us their knowledge by using digital images and appropriate searching skills to result in a practical application Many ICT tools are already on the schools server. When students locate these tools it will develop their image searching skills on the internet (using google, yahoo, etc.) which, as we have discussed before, is a skill they have not developed yet, nor have they understood its importance either. Information is gathered, then collated and presented in an appropriate way. Finally students are able to reflect on the process by analysing what they have done and encouraging their peers with what they have done when they share. This fits in very well with Understand that texts can take many forms (ACELA1430) and Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts (ACELT1783). Now I really do not mean for us to plan our teaching strategy by fitting in the curriculum with the activities we want to share with the students. We both agree that the Backwards Design works very well for us working out what we want them to know at the end of the unit and then deciding on the learning objectives from that point. However, I am trying to show you a whole new world of student learning in the 21 st century by allowing ICT mediums to be a part of our teaching/learning life. (ACELA1430) (ACELT1783) Lets finish this presentation by looking at one more video which, within the foundation level curriculum, shows how the students can retell familiar literary texts through performance, use of illustrations and images (using digital technologies to retell events and recreate characters from favourite print and film texts) (ACELT1580).textsI thought if we utilised the teaching strategy used in the video we just watched, then the students could make up their own stories by utilising more ICT tools such as Whats Next? You havent experienced using many ICT tools with the previous curriculum and it appeared you may have been struggling with these concepts. Lets see a teacher who incorporates ICT into her curriculum as automatically as we breathe:-Well, Sandra, what about we give it a go References ACARA, Australian Curriculum. Retrieved fromCommunicationCommunication Bell, M.J. (2012). Classroom management with ICT in the infant classroom (video). Retrieved fromBell, M.J. (2012). Using ICT in the infant classroom (video) (http://vimeo.com/ ). Retrieved fromByrnes, J. & Wasik, B. (2009). Using Photography as a Learning Tool in Early Childhood Classrooms, Childhood Education, 85(4),243. Retrieved fromLearning-Tool-in-Early-Childhood-ClassroomsLearning-Tool-in-Early-Childhood-Classrooms Hogan, F. & Craine, B. (2011). Infants and ICT (video). Retrieved from Jones, D. (2013). EDC3100 ICT and Pedagogy: Rationale. Toowoomba: University of Southern Queensland Robyler, M.D. (2006) Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (4 th edn). Pearsons: New Jersey. Sigelman, C & Rider, E. (2012). Life-Span Human Development. Wadsworth: USA. Socol, I.D. (2009). The Toolbelt: Michigan State University. Retrieved from Ward, N. (2012). IWB Literacy activity using the spotlight tool (video). Retrieved from