At the beginning of the People, Places, Things, and Events course, my ideas about what technology was were only relative to electronic devices. But when we read the Smorti (1999) reading, she explained to us that technology is about solving problems, helping people, is purposeful, creative, and helps meets people’s needs. Smorti (1999) also told us that technology is influenced by culture. After finishing that reading, I knew that my idea about technology was about to change. Admittedly, I still had a rather large bout of scepticism around actually using digital technology as a teaching tool to facilitate children’s learning. It was an apparent misconception within our class that the younger generation teachers, such as myself, would be all for the use of digital technologies within early childhood settings but in fact, prior to my learning from this project and from the course, I had quite a number of concerns. An article I read by Tsantis, Bewick, & Thouvenelle (2003) helped me see that it is educators who hold fears and concerns like me that can actually create a barrier for children’s learning without even realising. They explain to us that the key to using technology effectively in early childhood programmes is the teachers themselves by stating “it is the teacher’s knowledge and skills about how to use the technology that makes the difference, not the technology itself” (Tsantis, Bewick, & Thouvenelle, 2003, p. 4). This helped with my understanding of the teacher’s role in facilitating technology effectively in practice. Te Whāriki also mentions technology, stating that children should be able to “use a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 98). I realised that our world is ever-changing because of technology, and this is recognised by the Ministry of Education (2005) who wrote that since it already impacts on the lives of children, “it is important that educators consider integrating it into children’s experiences in healthy and safe ways that enhance their learning” (p. 3).
It was quite fun for me to practice using a blog as a
learning tool. I enjoyed playing around with the different themes, and adding
videos and photos to my blogs. My ideas and opinions about technology changed
as a result of writing my three entries. The entry that I think helped my
understanding of technology the most was my non-digital technology – a magnetic
whiteboard. It wasn’t until I was able to make a clear connection as to how
this was in fact technology did I fully understand how nearly everything around
us is technology, be it digital or non-digital. Also writing feedback for my
other group members helped develop my understanding. At the time of writing
this reflection I had only received feedback from two members of my group.
Based on the feedback I received, it was apparent that my reflections had also
helped build upon the knowledge and understanding of technology for my group
members. Three of us wrote about using digital cameras, which I think shows
that the awareness of using digital technology in early childhood programmes is
growing and educators are starting to catch on. I think it would have been good
if I received some thought-provoking questions from my group members that could
perhaps help me think of something in a different way, but it was good to read
their responses.
Overall, I feel that my thoughts and feelings towards
incorporating technology into my practice have changed. Not only have I been
able to see the proven benefits of using digital technology as an effective
teaching tool, but how the many things in our environment that we take for
granted are in fact technology as well, non-digital technology. My learning
from this project and from this course have allowed me to see that our world is
constantly changing because of technology, and the care and education we provide
for children needs to improve to allow for these changes.
References
Ministry of Education. (1996).Te Whāriki:
He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning
Media.
Ministry of Education (2005). Foundations for discovery: Supporting learning in early childhood education through information and communication
technologies: A framework for development.
Wellington: Ministry of Education
Smorti, S. (1999). Technology in early childhood.
Early
Education, 1, 5-10.
Tsantis, L.A., Bewick, C.J., &
Thouvenelle, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about computer use in the early ears. Young
Children, 58(1), 1-9
