Reflections and Future Directions

As is the case with the vast majority of schools, resource acquisition at my school is dependent upon funding and generally occurs in a top down process i.e. Year 7 is the first and best resourced area to ensure the students are prepared for secondary school and the Preparatory Year is the last to be resourced.  Thus as a teacher of the Preparatory Year I discovered my own interest in adopting technology practices slowly beginning to wane.

However, studying this course and networking with other Prep teachers this year has opened my eyes to the plethora of resources that are available that can greatly enhance the implementation of the curriculum - resources that can excite and motivate the students to learn.  The acquisition of two ‘new’ second-hand computers and a Mimio Interactive Whiteboard system (that I share with another teacher) has started my journey of successfully incorporating video games into the Prep curriculum. I do however acknowledge that there is still a long way to go. 

One such gaming resource that I have begun to explore and incorporate into Maths group activities is the Copacabana Public School Get Smart website. An explanation and critique of this resource is available on the Master Games Blog.  As is explained by Magann (2010) it is important to note however that users of this website still need to ensure games are individually checked for applicability to the unique setting, concept and age of the students they are teaching.  Just because this is a teacher evaluated games’ website does not instantly mean the games will be appropriate for the needs of your students.  Games accessed from this website are currently being used to reinforce concepts being explicitly taught in the area of mathematics.  Not the most in-depth use of gaming but it is a start and the students are enjoying the experience.

Another avenue I have begun to explore in the later half of this year is the Education Queensland Learning Place website.  I have attended in-servicing and once again networked with other early childhood teachers about the effective use of EdStudio to create a virtual classroom for the students.  This will allow me in future years to communicate with families outside of school hours and provide links with the games websites we are utilizing in the classroom.  Furthermore it will provide a valuable connection between the home and schooling lives of the children I teach.  Currently I have been providing parents with monthly newsletters to inform them of useful gaming sites and other tips for incorporating computer use into the children's home lives.  I made the decision to encourage computer usage at home earlier this year as I found that generally parents were reluctant to allow their young children access due to uncertainty surrounding the internet or their general belief that young children did not need to know how to navigate their way around computers at such a young age.  

A further method of enhancing the Prep curriculum I have been trialing this year is the use of an online literacy gaming resource called Reading Eggs.  This program is accessible by the children at home or at school and incorporates the use of digital books or it can be accompanied by the same books in print version.  Utilizing both digital and print books to complement this gaming program demonstrates to parents and students the connections between gaming and books and the educational benefit that gaming can possess to support a child’s learning experiences.  Although this gaming program is designed specifically to teach young children meta-linguistic knowledge it also introduces the students to the concept of creating their own avatar which provides a link to the more commercially available games. Annetta (2008) claims that allowing the gamer to create their own avatar can lead to greater learning satisfaction.  In addition, I believe that it gives the students the sense that gaming can be educational, fun and individualistic.  I have found that the children who have taken the time to create their own avatar are less concerned about the virtual world achievements of their friends and more concerned about their own avatar's path of educational learning.  The use of this game has had mixed success this year as only about half of the families have opted to access it from home even after repeated explanations of the educational benefits it has for the students.

Touch screen technology - iPod
Image by Johan Larsson retrieved from
Creative Commons 26 October 2011,
http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-2076995490

To further expose the students to real world technology devices and games, the teacher aide working alongside me has allowed the students to utilize her personal iPad.  The students have thoroughly enjoyed this experience as many of the students I currently teach have had little or no experience with touch screen technology.  As a result, to date the students have only participated in simple ‘games’ such as Noughts and Crosses and dot-to-dots.  However, as the students become more familiar and confident using this device more complex games will be considered.  

The resources I am currently utilizing have been specifically designed for the educational benefit of students and do not provide students with real world problem solving issues that some of the more commercially produced games do.  However, like all new pedagogical approaches I believe that things have to occur one step at a time to ensure an educationally balanced curriculum is provided for all students.  As a future Teacher Librarian however, I also need to ensure that I keep abreast of technology issues as they relate to all year levels and not simple focus on the Preparatory Year.

References:

Annetta, L. (2008). Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used. Theory Into Practice. 47(3), 229-239.  Retrieved 20 October 2011, from   http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153940

Magann, K. (2011).  Online Resource. (Web log post).  Retrieved from http://mastergamers444.blogspot.com/2011/10/online-resource.html