Final Reflection

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