EDU-225
Introduction
In this day and age, living within the Internet of Things it would be unwise to ignore the benefits technology can provide in the classroom. When used appropriately it can enhance learning experience for children of all ages; the unprecedented interactivity it provides allows for achieving greater level of involvement in the learning process. This plan makes an attempt to outline some practical uses for technology in kindergarten for improving the learning experience and communication between teacher, parents and children.
Section One: Mission and Vision Statement
Vision: technology will enhance the knowledge of children in kindergarten and help them as they strive for excellence during their educational years
Mission: students will be given access to technology for certain objectives. There will be games and educational programs to use to enhance their learning skills; these programs will be focused on learning colors, shapes, counting and alphabet. The ultimate goal of using technology in learning is to enhance the experience for children and help them succeed.
Section Two: Communications Plan
Technology to Support Communication.
Introduction.
Like everyone else, today’s parents, students and teachers are busy. Parents often have to balance work with finding quality time with their children, and perhaps a little “me” time. Children, in addition to school and homework, might also be involved in a number of extracurricular activities like a sport, or music lessons. Teachers, not only must prepare for class but also grade papers and correct test. Consequently, it is often quite difficult to keep open lines of communication and meaningful interaction between all three parties, despite the fact that doing so generally leads to achieving a goal that all desire, namely improving student achievement (Olmstead, 2013). Information technology, however, offers an array of possible methods to increase purposeful and worthwhile communication between teachers, parents, students and the wider world.
Technology to Enhance Communication.
Classroom Website.
One of the easiest ways to maintain and increase communications between parents, students and teachers is to create a classroom website. The website could include: a welcome statement that introduces the teacher, school and class; ways that the teacher can be contacted such as a message/chat link; a daily summary of what was taught as well as a preview of what will be taught, classroom policies, and even samples of excellent student work. In other word’s the website can include anything that the teacher feels is important to communicate to the parents and students. Accordingly, parents and students will have access to site from anywhere that has an internet connection (Bobbitt et al., 2013). In fact, anyone with an internet connect could access the site including friends and family abroad.
Similar to a classroom website, a teacher blog is a website that is more focused on the teacher, as opposed to the class. In addition to the welcome statement and ways to contact the teacher, a teacher blog can include inside into how the teacher designs a lesson plan, what topic the teacher is considering on using in the class, discussion or links to supplementary resources that can used by students in addition to the required resources. It could also include the teachers lesson plan. As with the classroom website, the teacher’s blog would be accessible to anyone with an internet connection. It would, as mentioned provide more insight about the teacher than the class, though a creative teacher could integrate the class into the blog.
Classroom Social Media Group.
A classroom social media group refers to an online meeting place where the teacher, students and parents can meet to discuss whatever topic or subject that teacher deems is appropriate. Some examples include providing information supplementary information about the course or homework assignments, public service announcements, reminders, and event, test or quiz schedules. In addition, since most social networks include direct, private messaging; parents, teachers and students can contact one another independently if desired. While parents and students will have access, this option generally prohibits general access by others outside of the class, though posts that are made “public” could be seen by the global community.
Communication Internet Security and Safety.
As the Internet is far from a completely safe environment for communications and can be abused by anyone with the mind or will to do so, a teacher must take appropriate steps in ensure that whatever technology is used, the safety and security of all participants is protected (Raper, 2015). First, all relevant means should be taken to ensure that the website, blog or group is protected from unauthorized access. This includes using strong passwords, allowing access to only relevant parties, and using reputable website platforms or social networks. Second, a use policy should be drafted and distributed to all potential users. This policy should include what the teacher considers proper use, what uses will be prohibited, and what are the consequences for failure to abide by the policy. Third, the teacher should retain the ultimate administrative control of the website, blog or social network group. Moreover, the teacher should continuously and actively review activity on the site to ensure that the use policy is being followed.
Concluding Paragraph.
In today’s busy society, it is not as easy as it was previously for parents, students and teachers to communicate. Information technologies such as classroom websites, personal blogs and social media networks can be used to increase the opportunity of meaningful communication and interactions between all three groups. Indeed, as long as the proper precautions and protections are put in place, there is no reason why information technology cannot increase communications and enhance student achievement.
Section Three: Integrating Instructional Technology
Today is the era of technological progress, which cannot be stopped. It is everywhere, in all spheres of human life. The society is being impacted by technological breakthroughs at a more and more younger age even compared to not so recent past. Already starting from kindergartens, children experience technological progress on themselves, which is natural. Technologies at such an early age shape kids` future, create conditions which befit their full physical, spiritual, psycho-emotional development, create proper background for interpersonal interaction of children, their parents, teachers and other professionals (Ching-Ting, Ming-Chaun & Chin-Chung, 2014). Technologies at kindergartens help to educate social and personal qualities among preschool children, contribute to their abilities to think creatively and outside the box, develop curiosity and ability to creative self-expression and promote communicative and cognitive activities among kids (Bird and Edwards, 2015). To this end, it is of great importance to implement all latest technological inventions into the studying process already starting from kindergartens. The presentation discusses some of such technological breakthroughs, which are of great use for kindergartens` pupils.
Augmented Reality.
Google Glass, Oculus Rift and other curious things that bring to everyday reality some virtual aspect are no longer part of a script of sci-fi movie. Today, specialists all over the world work on enhancing this technology that will allow the user check augmented information about real-time objects with a help of contact lenses or glasses. Day after day, these “glasses” become smarter and their functions more and more sophisticated. With the help of this technology, kids starting from very young age will be able to explore the world to the fullest allowing them to be up to date about all latest technological inventions. The video shot using Google Glass shows what it is like to explain to children concepts that can be difficult even for adults` understanding. The video provides an insight about the Large Hadron Collider.
3D Printing.
Most likely that giving a small model of 3D printer as a birthday present in a couple of years would be as commonly as it is presenting a Lego construction set to a modern kid today. Undoubtedly, using 3D printing technologies by teachers at kindergartens would be of great help when such models of printers become widespread. Such an opportunity would allow children to know basic rules of 3D printing application. What is more, this technology is likely to save plenty of teacher's time and efforts. Imagine there is a task to bake cookies using self-made cookie cutters. With the help of 3D printing technology, it is a matter of an hour maximum, of which 55 minutes would be spent on baking candies and 5 on creating cutters with a help of a 3D printer. This video demonstrates simplicity of this task.
Wide application of interactive touch-screen devices.
A video projector at kindergartens is as ordinary as a blackboard was for the previous generations. In a while, a wide presence of such interactive LCD panels in kindergarten, which can be used as “blackboards”, will not be a surprise any longer. Such huge LCD touch-screens, undoubtedly, allows greater interactivity that is so important for kids and their teachers. This is a kind of modernization of a well-known analogue whiteboard into its digital version. Instead of learning books, children will be using their tablet PCs which will be synchronized with such huge LCD education panels. Four years ago, there were already such technologies. Since then, they became much more powerful and truly revolutionary.
Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Learning.
When analyzing application of technologies in learning process, there seem to be only benefits. First of all, kindergarten education becomes no longer limited to the kindergarten's building. Augmented reality, cloud computing, social networking adaptive learning system, 3D printing and many other technological achievements will enable to educate kids literally “all over the world” (Stratasys, 2013). Children's experiments and mistakes will get much cheaper. What is also important, children will be well-prepared for technological inventions after they get older thanks to the technological education they obtained at their kindergartens (McPake, Plowman & Stephen, 2013).
Wired and Wireless Classrooms.
One common feature of all kindergartens` classrooms will be that they become all wireless. Such classrooms will provide an access to the needed information at any time. Such wireless classrooms increase efficiency of education. Such an acceleration of information flows is an important factor in sufficient technological education of kids. Finally, wireless network provides a more efficient use of classrooms` space allowing to stay connected to world information flow using minimum of equipment (Griffioen et al, n.d.).
Conclusion.
Development of technology is impossible without creativity. A teacher, who got to know how to work at a highly technological environment, will be able to teach kids of recent technological innovations and, hence, give them a solid knowledge background in a highly technological world.
Section Four: Differentiating Instruction through Technology
Introduction.
The advancement in technology has made work easier in every dimension of the human life. Education wise, students and pupils are now able to grasp substantial knowledge on various concept of life by applying numerous educative tools that have been established with the development of technology (Baumgartner, Lipowski & Rush, 2003). Teachers are left with the task of updating their technological knowledge in order to meet the extensive demand for knowledge. Unlike before when students were required to listen to their tutors once without appropriate method for revisiting the lesson, various tools have been developed to ascertain that every student, average, poor, and excelling, has the means to access any information repeatedly until they get the concept. The purpose of this paper is to address differentiating instruction in a classroom through technology, its pros and cons, and the type of tools that are helpful to the pupil.
Classroom Email and WhatsApp Group.
A password protected classroom email and a WhatsApp group are the two most important channels that can be used by the teacher to air different instruction to pupils across all levels. Given that a kindergarten child is capable of effectively using electronic devices, there is no telling what they can achieve. Particularly, a WhatsApp group can be used by certain student to post questions and concepts that are quite difficult to them, thus enhancing their knowledge. Also, teachers can use the avenue to post relevant information, diagrams, and figures that will be accessible to all the children in the group. In such a forum, all categories of students are likely to benefit by asking question and getting answers, not to mention the fact that they can access the data posted for as many times as they want. In addition, an individual classroom email address can be used by the tutor to post explanations, instructions, notes, and so on. The approach enable every student to access the information posted, enabling them to do personal studies. Unlike what is taught in the classroom, and easy to forget, emails are applicable and relevant for future reference. Classroom Email and WhatsApp group are applicable to ISTE standards because students use these avenues to gather information for personal knowledge and skills (ISTE, 2016).
Makers for Presentation.
Makers such as PowerPoint Presentation can be applied by individual student to test their skills and abilities after being taught by their teacher. In this regard, the tutor coaches the pupils and allows them to apply the knowledge personally (Coyne, Kame'enui, Simmons, & Harn, 2004). The makers are well connected to ISTE standards on the basis that they are student centered, allowing the young student to improve their skills and enhancing creativity and innovativeness (ISTE, 2016).
Power My Learning.
The tool is effectively employed in lower classes such as kindergarten to assist the tutor to issue tutorials, academic games and videos that will help a child to engage creatively, innovatively, and critically in academics. During individual assessment, the teacher is able to identify the performance of one particular child or a group of children. With that information, the tutor then decides whether or not to give another tool or assignment to the pupil. In this regards, the activities and playlist involved in the tool aligns it with ISTE standards (ISTE, 2016). For instance, the tool enables children to create activities, find solutions, and execute projects.
Pros and Cons.
Using technology to differentiate instruction when teaching a kindergarten child is both advantageous and disadvantageous. On the positive side, the approach enables young pupils to access and use the internet at a young age, not to mention the exposure to different learning styles (Smith & Throne, 2007). For instance, technology enables a child to study using visual, audio, and other means of learning. Most importantly, the method enables concerned tutors to meet the needs of every child through assessment and individual participation. On the other hand, employing technology to differentiate instruction can be time consuming because the teacher has to monitor every pupil individually. In addition, some of the students are likely to experience difficulties, especially when it comes to using electronic devices.
Concluding Paragraph.
In essence, differentiating instruction through technology can be quite beneficial to young children because teachers are able to access them at a personal note. Presentation makers, email, WhatsApp, and Power My Learning are a few of the many tools that can be applied by tutors to ensure no child is left behind in academics. As long as the child is interested and motivated to learn, these tools will improve the personal understanding every child across all topics taught by their tutor.
Section Five: Software to Support Assessment
Part 1: Assessment Technology.
When creating an online assessment I need to first register or create a profile with a choice online assessment website. It then requires me to put a title of the assessment after which a page with the options to create an exam, a gamified quiz or an assessment of personalities. Each of the options further opens for the teacher to type in the questions and their respective answers after which the teacher selects the students to take the test and then posts it to them. The following is a sample assessment and the set answers. https://b.socrative.com/teacher/#import-quiz/26306365
1. What does the teacher specifically do with the technology inside a classroom?
The teacher uses his/her tablet while in class to select some exercises and games that bear questions on an ongoing topic. The students answer the questions or play the assigned game as the teacher obtains individual scores in real-time. The teacher writes instant feedback and can visualize on her device the level of understanding or comprehension among the learners.
2. How are students using technology?
The students are able to respond to questions and play games on their tablets in a highly interactive session with their teacher as they are assessed.
3. What evidence on the results of technology can be availed in the classroom?
There could be computer-generated charts and graphs on the walls to sum up the results of an assessment as well as summaries of some topics in graphical presentations that are attractive to the learners.
4. Which gadgets does the technology use and what are the requirements to use the technology effectively?
Tablets are the best to use but laptops and Internet-enabled mobile phones are the best for use.
5. How can other parties besides students and teachers help to improve the learning outcomes through assessment?
The student profile can be created in such as way that parents and guardians can access it to view the performance of their children and they can contribute by commenting on the performance while a section to guide them on how they can support a learner would go a long way in helping improve assessment results progressively.
When using formative assessment using an application such as Socrative, it helps to generate deeper thinking and discussions among students and the teachers. In this case, the responses given to the questions raised above indicate the complementary role that any technology will have to the teacher. Socrative shows that the teachers can view scores and student progress during an assessment, delivery anonymous quizzes, choose when to turn on and off the immediate feedbacks with the students, shuffle question and answer orders, share quizzes with other Socrative users among others[ CITATION Soc16 \l 1033 ]. From their end the students are required to create profiles and login to either Public Room or Private Room. The teachers also create profiles which have more features to enable them direct and assessment and instructional strategies. The users can use desktop computers, laptops, ipads and mobile phones that are internet enabled to access their respective profiles.
Part 2: Blog Post.
Introduction.
The utilization of tools such as Socrative, Poll Everywhere and Edmodo can help to improve the student’s learning, understanding of concepts, interaction with the teachers and the overall performance. The teachers stand to benefit from technological input by adopting better, more efficient and less labor intensive teaching practices[ CITATION Ann09 \l 1033 ]. This paper presents the incorporation of technology in formative assessments which are focused on monitoring each learner’s learning progress and making decisions aimed to improve instructional programs.
Technology to Facilitate Ongoing Efforts to Assess Student Learning.
There have been massive improvements in education in terms of its delivery and content in the last two decades. Since assessment remains one of the core activities that ought to take place in healthy learning environments, there is still a lot more that can be done in regard to the summative and formative assessment of learners[ CITATION Pet111 \l 1033 ]. Numerous digital tools can facilitate the formative and summative assessment processes. It also makes it easier for the teacher to tell which students need further assistance and exercises and in which specific areas[ CITATION Pet111 \l 1033 ]. Moreover, the teachers and students are able to communicate in real-time and either of them can obtain feedback quickly.
Edmodo.
This is s software where teachers, parents and students can connect and also collaborate. The teachers use the software mostly to assign groups discussions work and allocate students to specific groups. The students can provide their parents with the classroom codes which allow not only the teachers but also the parents to monitor student’s participation and performance. The teachers and the students assess the level at which a student collaborates with his/her colleagues.
Socrative.
This educational software has exercises and games that are meant to engage students using mobile devices such as tablets, mobile phones and laptops. It can facilitate formative assessments by allowing visualization, instant feedback, as well as real-time questioning. The teacher can assign online projects with the questions to help the learner master content easier as they can keep communicating in real-time.
Poll Everywhere.
This educational software is web-based that allows multiple and short answers. Using poll everywhere is in real time use which allows the answers to submit instantly. It can be designed to where a student could collect the data by using their cell phone and respond via text to the question or short answer. Poll everywhere is a great source to use in which it can also eliminate a lot of the teacher’s time to do other things.
Formative and Summative Assessments.
According to Eberly (2014) summative assessment refers to the measurement of each student’s success levels at the end of a given instructional unit while formative assessment refers to the collection of feedback that can be used to improve an ongoing study, learning or teaching context. Educational software is critical in the modern times to assist in formative assessment. The teachers are able to tell the level of comprehension and understanding in a deeper manner [ CITATION Pet111 \l 1033 ]. As such, the teachers can act on the specific weak points instead of generalities. Software such as socrative, polleverywhere and edmodo can be used by teachers to obtain instant feedback, and allow the teacher to plan lessons better and even more instructional time.
Pros and Cons of using Technology to Facilitate Assessment.
When technology is used, the teacher and the student collaborate at a higher and more efficient level. The teacher can teach in an easier manner while the learners can comprehend better and obtain more out of an educational process[ CITATION Ann09 \l 1033 ]. Learners can develop deeper thinking and the teachers can clarify their marking or assessment criteria while more authenticity is gained since learning outcomes can be better aligned.
The cons include the expensive nature of acquiring gadgets, the software, staff training and the logistical costs and effort to maintain the systems[ CITATION Pet111 \l 1033 ]. There is constant risk of cyber insecurity which can compromise the security and privacy of the educational technologies.
Should a teacher only use technology to assess student learning? Why or why not?
Technology is growing daily and is used in education on a daily basis. However, there are other learning tools to use other than technology. Teachers should use other learning tools other than technology all the time so that the students will not get bombarded with technology use. Paper and pencil should still be used in certain subjects to keep their motor skills working for the students.
What is the importance of assessment technology in connection with the ISTE standards?
The use of technology in education helps to meet the strict standards set out by the International Society for technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE had continually increased its requests to the educational sectors in the US because of the many applications that require use of technology in all industries[ CITATION Pet111 \l 1033 ]. As the students use technology in the learning process, they acquire the vital skills of analyzing, exploring and learning thereby becoming increasingly competent in the use of technology.
Concluding Paragraph for Software to Support Assessment.
The use of technology has been necessitated by among other factors the demographic changes in the world. There are many students enrolling in educational institutions now more than any other time in the past and the numbers are fast rising. As such, the use of software such as Socrative, Edmodo and Polleverywhere in assessment comes in handy for the teachers. The technologies help the teachers to enjoy better quality time with their families and friends as they can cut on not only the instructional time they spend in classrooms but also on assessing the learners and responding to challenging areas.
Conclusion
The potential for implementing technology into kindergarten learning is immense; applications range from enhancing communication between teacher and parents to implementing software solutions for interactive assessment of learning progress. A little creativity can go a long way should one try to re-envision the usage of applications that were not designed for learning in the first place, such as WhatsApp, for example. The prospects of technology in education shine bright: as augmented reality devices and 3D printing become more and more affordable their potential to be used in classroom grows progressively.
Reflection Essay
All the parts of this project felt like a pleasant challenge to take on; each of them added to the picture of technology in education as a whole as they stacked up. For me every next part was a new step on the path of understanding how technology can be applied in a learning environment and how it can be used to propel positive development in children. The fact that nowadays children are exposed to technology from the very young age (Plowman, McPake, & Stephen, 2010) was an important acknowledgement to make; device or software adaptation barriers for kids that were relevant in the past years are non-existent now which allows for a much bolder steps towards the implementation of technology into learning process.
Perhaps, the most difficult part of the whole work was to keep it all in perspective. Despite its undeniable usefulness technology is not a replacement for a real-world tangible learning environment and human-to-human interaction. Close attention must also be paid to how and what gets developed for use in classrooms, be it a piece of hardware or software. It has been proven that engaging children in the development process and seeking to address their needs by allowing them to communicate their ideas is a good practice to achieve useful and properly working results at the end of the day (Druin, 2010).
I attempted to develop a plan that would not only make learning more engaging and interactive but also would allow to establish effective communication with parents, as well as make tracking students’ progress and organizing their activities more effective. For example, tablets offer a great amount of storage for learning apps, and the sheer amount and variety of the activities that can be performed on a single device is overwhelming; and all this is packed into a lightweight device that can easily be used by a child (Couse, & Chen, 2010). The ability to constantly stay in touch and synchronize with other people is another great advantage for learning: a teacher is no more tied to a single physical location which brings the communication with students and their parents on a new level.
But at the end of the day it does not matter how much technology is incorporated into the learning process. What matters is the outcome: educated children who are able to grow and develop in a positive environment. Technology is merely a tool that eases some aspects of the work but it cannot be viewed as an ultimate solution for the future of education. One of the most important takeaways from this plan for me is that, as an educator I have to, first of all, rely on myself and seek to enhance my knowledge and professional skills. It is also important to recognize the needs of the children and to be able to respond by choosing the most appropriate method of addressing those needs; it is tempting to rely on technology in the XXI century but sometimes this may not be the right, or, at least, the only answer.
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