Session 3- Useful ICT tools

Of all the ICT tools which were introduced (and explored with) during session 2, there are two in particular which I believe are very useful to me personally, and for early childhood use as well. They are:

1. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/):

This tool is one of the most useful tools to me because of facebook's availibilty to many worldwide (refer to picture), their varied functions, and their constant improvements. In fact, probably the most common question now when I meet new people, which more often than not is answered with a 'yes', is "You've got facebook?"

(Different languages offered)

I believe that this tool is also particularly useful to early childhood education as I visited and explored different early childcare sites on facebook. I saw that there were childcares who really utilised the page well, putting in videos, pictures and announcements. I also saw one parent's comments on the page, and what was really appealing to me was how one childcare allowed parents to put positive reviews on their page. However, I also thought that the pages were a bit messy and it lacked structure and clarity of what's new on the page. If I were a parent, I might get overwhelmed or confused of what I should look out for. Furthermore, I really wondered how many parents actually used the pages for updates, and I would want to do a survey with parents before I really use Facebook as a tool in the area of early childhood education.

Childcare sites refered to:

http://www.facebook.com/silverlakechildcare

http://www.facebook.com/Monarch-Christian-Academy-Kindergarten/#!/pages/Monarch-Christian-Academy-Kindergarten/110848352307412

2. Windows Movie Maker (http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker?os=other):

Although I don't use this tool often, I really loved it when I started using it to do projects in the ITA module which we took in our diploma course. I really love this tool because it allows me, with the different functions available, to create just the right emphasis to the pictures or videos which I want to showcase, which the website explained brieflyabout as well. This makes windows movie maker especially useful in selling or promoting any ideas which I have to others, which the website states is convenient to do so.

I have seen this tool being useful to early childhood settings in particular because of the presentations that teachers make to present children's work and activities and create stories for children, similar to a benefit stated by the website. I myself had alot of fun with my project group, exploring how to create a story with the tool. Perhaps what might be interesting to try is to get children to create their own stories using this tool and presenting it at the end of a certain topic. For example, if the children are learning about animals, they can create an animal story together.

ICT tools

ICT:
"...Components of ICT
- Information
- Communication
- Technology" (slide 2)

**Information is colour-coded according to the question it answers
Red- ICT tools used in the childcare centre
Green- How they are used to enhance the learning process of students
Blue- Role of the teacher in sustaining the use of ICT in teaching and learning

"Communication Tools...
- Email..." (slide 5)

Can be used by teachers to communicate with other teachers and parents about issues concerning children and their learning.

From experience, it is very difficult sometimes to ensure that this tool can be effective, because it is often left up to the individual to use this particular tool. I believe, therefore, that it is the teacher's responsibility to explore ways which will ensure that she uses this tool regularly to communicate with teachers and parents, having a clear understanding the the child's learning is at stake if she chooses not to use this tool well. From experience, an organisational commitment to use this tool well does help members in the organisation to view the importance of this form of communication.

"- Presentation software..." (slide 6)

Can be used as a teaching aid when presenting the curriculum to children, helping in aborbing and retaining information. Can also posibly be used by children themselves in making presentations.

Teachers should make the effort to ensure that these softwares are used wisely, and take time to figure out if these tools can possibly be helpful to their teaching, and how the curriculum can be presented using these softwares

"- e-Portfolio " (slide 8)

"...allows them to assess children's individual learning styles...(Polakowski, 1993). Implemented well, portfolios can ensure that the focus and content of assessment are aligned with important learning goals" (para 5) http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/earlycld/ea5143.htm

From experience, I have observed, heard about and written about how it is common to hurry through preparing this tool at the end of every semester, which i believe is not fair on the children. I therefore think that the first step in the role of every teacher is to commit in doing this regularly. The principal or senior teachers should also be commited to checking on newer teachers to ensure that this commitment is being kept.

"Components of ICT...Technology...
- Portable Video Player" (slide 2, 13)

Children will again be able to have a different medium to gain information, and can this be used to play educational videos and even suggest the creation of the children's own videos with softwares available.

Teachers should be willing to explore tools like these to understand how to use it wisely (not too little and not too much) to ensure that children really retain and use the information that they are being taught in class.

"Components of ICT...
- Information" (slide 2)
"commonly used in education...radio and television" (para 2)

Based on experience, these can be used as a teaching aid (to play songs while teaching concepts) or as an information source (e.g. storytelling or concepts learnt through educational programmes), which help children learn new information differently.

Teachers should ensure that there is an inclusion of ICT tools in their lessons. I believe that it is also the teacher's responsibility to collaborate with parents and other teachers on what programmes are the best for a particular class of children in their learning.

Information italisied and in quotation marks taken from:

http://www.slideshare.net/rc_sharma/tools-of-ict

Information bolded and in quotation marks taken from:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ICT_in_Education/Definition_of_Terms

Session 1 KWLQ Framework

K:
- Basic information and use of different tools in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel (Windows 2007)
- Basic communication tools offered online for collaboration, such as GoogleDocs.

W:
- How the programmes I know about and computer-based tools for communication can be used specifically in the Early Childhood Education setting (e.g. learning about the Productivity Tool to be covered in session 1)
- What can I specifically do with these tools in an everyday setting at the childcare (how would using these tools look like in a curriculum for children)

L:
- New functions in Microsoft office 2010, especially graphic tools which can help with presentations and design of documents (e.g. new functions available in editing pictures) .
- How to practically use the functions available for project work and presentations in particular, even for presentations in a childcare setting to children and teachers (e.g. collaboration tools which can be used for working on projects).

Q:
- Are there any tools in Microsoft Office which can be taught to children for learning purposes (e.g. a children's version of Microsoft Office which children can access and learn how to use the software)
- Are there any real examples of how preschool teachers creatively use Microsoft Office tools for their lessons and presentations which proved sucessful?
- What are some of the latest new software programs (besides Microsoft) which can aid preschool teachers in their work?