ICT and Literacy – Speaking, Listening and Digital Imaging

Well, to describe the session as ‘hands-on’ would be an understatement, wandering around the university grounds with a digital camera, and making a stop-motion animation with a digital camcorder and plasticine was an interesting experience. To give these topics proper representation, it is only fair to look at these two items individually; I think it is safe to assume that we know the majority of the functions of plasticine.

For the classroom environment, digital cameras are becoming more and more of an valuable resource, and are being used in a variety of ways, but is not limited to;

·         Capturing children on camera as a record of achievement
·         Permanent capture of work
·         Keeping a record of activities

Furthermore, in addition to those listed above, we used computer programs to create a photo story, another asset to the classroom because in the form of encouraging artistic development, it allows the children to play around with photographs, and annotate them to tell a story, based on their actual experiences. This can then be made into a video using the same software. The created videos give the child not only a sense of achievement, because these can be shared in a varitey of different ways, but it also allows the other children, and staff in the room an oppurtuinity to see the world as they see it. I, for one, think that as a teacher, an insight into the mind of the children that you are teaching is a wonderful oppurtunity. The following video provides a basic tutorial on how to use the PhotoStory3 software, which we used in the session to create our photo stories.

The photostory also provides a very effective link to literacy lessons, by allowing children to plan out a story, and then physically go out and (albeit not write about it) but to create the story in their own way, and construct it effectively, both very important literacy components regarding writing. Abbott, when writing about ICT and Literacy and positives and negatives of a fusion of the two, (such is the case with photostories), suggests that because of the wide range of resources available online, it can help the student, but it should not be used as an alternative to writing, because new technologies will constantly appear, but some things, such as writing, should never be replaced and overlooked, and it is implicitly suggested that writing is one of those.

Moving onto stop-motion animation, this provided a lot of opportunities for some very interesting creations. The digital camcorder that was used was able to not only record, but take still photos of ‘frames’ that were then collated and put in order to produce a moving picture. Within the classroom context, this can fit in very well with literacy, and especially story writing, because the children can write out a story, or script, and then use the digital technology to put their ideas onto film. I have had some technical difficulties in uploading the video below, but hopefully, this will work, and you can see a very basic stop-motion animation in action. If not, just think of any film or cartoon with the two characters above in it, and pretend that we did that!

To sum up, digital imaging can have a huge cross-curricular influence, especially with literacy, and can provide the teacher with records of achievement, and is a method of recording the child so assessment and development can be made a lot easier. As a teacher, I can see myself using the technology quite a lot, especially the digital cameras, mainly for assessment purposes, but it will also allow the child some freedom with technology, which they do crave.

Until next time,

Keep Calm and Stay Sane,

Alex

Chris Abbott, ICT: Changing Education, (2001)