Using mobile technologies in the Early Years to improve classroom practice

1. Using mobile technologies in the Early Years to improve classroom practice Associate Professors Grace Oakley, Robert Faulkner & Mark Pegrum The Catholic Education Office of Western Australia Primary Curriculum Conference 2012

2. In this session … • the use of mobile technologies such as iPads to teach literacy to children in the Early Years will be discussed. How can teachers keep abreast of new developments in this area and engage in classroom research to find out what works in their teaching context? • What do we know? • Context, definitions and our research • Models, apps and their applications • Having a go! • Practice and experimentation (yours!)

3. Key concepts • Mobile technologies • Literacy • Improving practice

4. Technology use in the Early Childhood classroom, especially as a tool for developing multiliteracies: • is strongly advocated in the small body of current research; • is more radically under-researched than other age groups (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Hirisch & Blanchard, 2009); • is emphasised in: • Australian curriculum documents (general capability); • National Professional Standards for Teachers; and • Digital Education Revolution initiative outlined by DEEWR (2011). • Literacy is now defined as the ability to make meaning in multiple modes of expression using graphics, music, dance, drama and other media. • New skills are required for students to decode and make meaning from contemporary multimodal texts in electronic and digital forms.

5. The National Curriculum and Early Years Learning Framework advocate for the use of digital technologies and multimodal stories in classrooms. • Creating and engaging with multimodal stories using mobile technologies target multiple modes of meaning making; written text, oral language, music, visual art, dance and movement. • Multimodal stories facilitate reading, writing, speaking, comprehension and the breaking of symbolic codes; as well as collaboration, engagement and creativity. • Multi-modal stories have important and unique roles to play in students’ Being, Belonging and Becoming (EYLF)

6. “game changer” 2011 Horizon Report iPads Apple “poised to change the learning landscape” Mobile Education Landscape Report (GSMA, 2011)

7. Funded by AISWA • Key staff at 10 schools (8 metro Perth, 1 outer suburbs, 1 regional) • Mobile technologies: iPad (10), iPod Touch (4) • Key questions: • How do you use mobile handheld technologies, particularly for teaching literacy? • Why do you use them this way? • What benefits to the students’ learning have you observed? • What problems, if any, have you encountered? • What professional development do you think is needed by the teachers at your school? • Would you be interested in helping develop/deliver some professional development? Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia http://www.education.uwa.edu.au/

8. Funded by AISWA • Key staff and students at 10? schools (8 metro Perth, 1 outer suburbs, 1 regional) • Observing the use of mobile technologies in the classroom (with a special emphasis on literacy) • Developing effective teaching strategies and theoretical models (i.e. SAMR) Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia http://www.education.uwa.edu.au/

12. Consumption Creation Mobile learning Mobile devices Autonomy Heteronomy Personalisation Collaboration Integration Specialisation Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia http://www.education.uwa.edu.au/

13. The TPACK Framework (Koehler, n.d.).

14. The SAMR Model - Puentedura, 2011

15. http://mlearnwa.wikispaces.com/

16. Having a go! • With an eye on the • Australian Curriculum – English • Early Years Learning Framework • SAMRs model of ICT use

17. http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Curriculum/F-10http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Curriculum/F-10 • Which strand/s - language, literacy, literature? • Which knowledge/understanding/skill area - listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing, creating? • What content description? • What achievement standard? • Receptive - listening, reading, viewing • Productive - speaking, writing, creating • What app? What strategy? What level of IT use? (SAMR) • What improvement in student learning? • What evidence?

18. Rebekah Garwood, (UWA - Master of Teaching, Second Year Student, Early Childhood Education) has won the runner-up prize ($500) in the 2011-12 Oxford Education Innovation Awards.  This competition invited pre-service teachers from across the country to creatively fill a space in a classroom, and to emphasise how it can assist young children’s learning. Rebekah’s project was titled ‘Exploring our World: Through an indoor learning Environment’.

19. QR generator http://www.qrstuff.com/

20. Substitution and Augmentation • Out and About • Phonics Apps • Alphabet Apps

21. Modification and Redefinition Creating e-books using iBooks Author and ipad apps Adding QRs to traditional printed books http://allthingsd.com/20120725/apple-will-now-let-any-teacher-publish-content-to-itunes-u/ Comic Strip

22. Professional Networking • Twitter @goakley1 @OzMark17 MLearnWA http://mlearnwa.wikispaces.com/ • Apps Fair 8th November • UWA Club • See Graduate School of Education website for ore details

23. E-learning resource – Mark Pegrum • http://e-language.wikispaces.com