New+Literacy+Practice

=**__ Use of technology in the classroom __**=

= ** --SMART Board-- ** = Two forms of electronic technology were used in the classroom. Firstly, the ‘SMART Board’, an interactive whiteboard. The teacher can write and erase on the electronic board as if it were a whiteboard. ** Benefits for teachers ** According to the SMART Technologies website, the popular SMART Board is a teaching tool ‘used in more than 1.6 million K-12 classrooms, by more than 40 million students globally’ (SMART Technologies, 2011). They aid teachers by providing a large visual space for delivering literacy information and ‘making images more visible, increasing attention to the task’ (Mechling et al. 2007, p 1879).

** Benefits for students ** The students enjoy using the SMART Board as it is interactive and engaging. Sometimes the teacher lets them write on the board for an activity or open files. They enjoy being a part of the learning. Teachers also love them as it makes their job a lot easier. The fact that they can open any computer file at the press of a button instead of wasting ink, paper and overhead slides is genius.

** Educational benefits ** The SMART board aids learning in that it is not limited to just writing, like the traditional whiteboard. It can play videos, pictures, anything a computer can do. If a teacher needs to further explain something, they have so many resources at their fingertips, easily displayed on the interactive whiteboard.

= ** --Laptops-- ** =

Laptop computers were used in one of the literacy learning centres. Students these days are very competent at using these. Students can work in a small group of 4 in the literacy learning centres, they use a laptop each as they work on activities of their choice. They use their own private school login and password and load up educational games/websites such as BBC stories. ** Benefits for teacher ** Laptops not just a useful teaching aid by entertaining the children whilst they learn, but it also frees up the teacher to spend time with smaller focus groups. The teacher’s time is much more effective when the numbers are smaller. Technology has aided teachers’ efficiency greatly.

** Benefits for students ** Teaching with technology is effective in engaging ‘students in cognitively demanding activity, motivate independent reading, and provide scaffolding for language development’ (Warschauer et al. 2004). A huge positive of technology in the classroom is the engaging aspect. Children enjoy their learning; they are motivated to advance because they are having fun.

** Educational benefits ** The use of computers as a part of learning provides students with numerous benefits. Research and investigations conducted in California revealed that children’s ‘writing assessment results showed substantial and significant advantages for laptop’ use in their classroom (Lowther et al. 2003). Even though children type on the laptops, in the end their handwriting is improved. Spelling, grammar, punctuation are all exercise with the laptops.



---Nathan Plumridge---