MMORPGS

I was interested by this article from the BBC relating to people queueing to buy an expansion pack for the MMORPG "World of Warcraft".  

My immediate response was one of shock at the level of obsession some people seem to have for such games.  I am extremely critical of the lack of social interaction that such games offer.  In a society where it seems new generations have lost the ability to talk face-to-face with each other in a polite and respecting way, why are people becoming more and more obsessed with online interaction.  I found it rather ironic that one man interviewed claimed the game was socially "bloody brilliant" due to diversity of people from different countries and cultures that you could 'meet'.  I would argue strongly with this comment for several reasons, although admittedly I have a lack of knowledge on the medium, having never played it.  I would suggest that when two individuals of different nationalities 'meet' they will communicate only about their position in the game, rather than having a conversation one might have face-to-face on more important topics.  Such a game therefore offers players the option of escapism by giving them the opportunity to avoid dealing with real issues or problems while quenching a basic human thirst for belonging.

One of those interviewed cited the friendliness of the environment to be one of the main reasons for playing.  Perhaps these individuals who may be isolated by society because of their appearance, like these poor individuals, are involved in the communities created by MMORPGs to get acceptance and belonging.  It was however, encouraging to hear the same man say that the game had been the basis for many strong friendships (including his current girlfriend) as he had physically met the people he had previously met online.  This does however led to concerns of safety due to the faceless anonymity offered by the internet. 

I would be interested to learn more about MMORPGs but feel my criticisms of them will always remain.  In my mind, there seems to be a sense of mindless acceptance that programmes such as Facebook and World of Warcraft offer a substitute for social interaction.  There also seems to be an element of control exerted by such programmes.  Perhaps I am too critical to question what the creators of such programmes gain.  While it could be argued that they are created by their users, somebody somewhere is making a lot of money.  Businesses are inevitably fully aware of the opportunities offered by these games and the obsessed audience which could consume their products.  I would not be surprised if there was a McDonalds or Starbucks on World of Warcraft already, they seem to have the monopoly on Earth.

I recommend this episode of South Park to anyone with similar concerns (this is a short excerpt but catch it if you can)

IWBs

In response to the article 'Whiteboards under the microscope', I would like to express my lack of surprise that "the boards are having no discernible impact on children's test scores".  To my mind, IWBs are merely another tool which can be used by teachers to deliver lessons.  While IWBs can provide the opportunity to make lessons more creative, or least make it easier for teachers to be creative, there surely could not have been any expectations that they would improve children's learning potential.  I was therefore very surprised to read that "around 85% of teachers believed the whiteboard would improve children's scores."

I agree with the article when it states that teachers would benefit from further professional training to maximise the potential of this medium, but I would argue that this is not the main flaw to IWBs.  I suggest that the IWB add to the plethora at the teacher's disposal and therefore creates a sense of bewilderment for the teacher.   From my observations, faced with such a realm of resources, teachers consider using the IWB to entertain first, and to educate second.

IWBs are very exciting and I am looking forward to using them, but I am under no illusion that by throwing thousands of pounds at a problem or by using the latest technology, educators can improve grades.  Children are so far advanced in terms of ICT in comparison to their teachers, that they are not impressed or in awe of the programmes used by teachers on IWB.  Is this what that 85% of teachers mentioned earlier expect?  Children learnt for centuries without IWBs, why would they suddenly improve their ability when faced with interactive technology?  As a new technology, it will take a while for the effects of them to be seen as teachers develop their effective inclusion in the classroom.

I don't intend to sound negative about IWBs as I can see the many benefits they have, some of which have been highlighted here, for example, "Children can be directly involved in whole class teaching to show what they know and can do," and that teachers can more easily manage their work load.  I am looking forward to using IWB during my initial school based training but am sceptical of the amount of hope that seems to be pinned on them.  One final example of this scepticism is exasperated from the article mentioned above which states "the strongest indicator of success (of IWBs)...is teachers' unwillingness to move from a classroom with the technology to one without".  While the article sees this an indicator for success I would argue it shows an over-reliance on the tool and prevents teachers from planning lessons and being creative in other ways.  As teachers become reliant on IWBs, lessons can become repetitive and children can become indifferent to the tool.

References:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2006/jun/20/elearning.technologyhttp://eduwight.iow.gov.uk/curriculum/whiteboard/images/IWBReportIoWColour.pdf

evolution

mr bill bailey highlights the dangers of relying on ict in the future

Science blog

I've set up a blog to follow our science experiment. See it here, not here.

In response to the entry on Monty's blog, Oct 30, I would like to reflect on the way schools have picked up on the importance of ICT in Primary schools.

While it has been claimed that schools have been slow to adopt new technologies and are "ignoring the exciting new Information and Knowledge Societies which prevail outside the school gate" (primaryblog, 2008) we perhaps have to consider what we are expecting our students to learn.  Do we want them to become fervent ICT users, absorbed in a cyberspace where they don't need social skills? Do we want to give them the necessary skills to master ICT and keep on top of this dynamic industry? (I'd argue that those who want to do this will do so outside of a school environment) Or do we merely want our students to understand and be able to read new technologies and question everything they encounter?  The last point is crucial , as Evans (2004) suggests, “children must be challenged to respond to texts in a critical manner, to use critical literacy as a tool for asking questions such as who makes rules, who controls and holds power, who devises justice and who creates and writes knowledge.” I would suggest therefore that children need to have some form of Media education as early as possible to create a society which has a greater understanding of reading multimedia texts and are aware of growing problems associated with ICT such as cyber-bullying and internet fraud.

There is inevitably an age old problem of lack of time in the curriculum to squeeze in media education and ICT lessons and therefore, according to some, the use of ICT in education has suffered.  Another contributing factor is that "effective change requires a critical mass of teachers who really understand the potential of ICT as an educational tool to force change." (primaryblog, 2008) While there may be a lack of teachers who feel confident and have the skills to use ICT, this could be said of any subject.  In any school, there are specialists in English, Art, Science and all areas, the key arguably comes with a broad and balanced curriculum.  Children will always be one step ahead in terms of ICT use.  Our current school system which sees the teacher as the sole source of knowledge and power in the classroom is detrimental to student's progression in ICT.  We need to accept that our students probably know more than us when it comes to ICT, so we should harness their knowledge and use it to progress every body's learning.  

In my observations during my SBT, the use of ICT was at an adequate level.  Of course, we would love to give students more opportunities to use cutting edge technology just as we would like to read all our favourite books to our students, cover all areas of science and get our students to be mathematical prodigies, but all we can do is give our students the base and tools to develop by themselves.

References;

Primary blog, October 30 2008

Evans, Janet; Literacy Moves On; Using popular culture, new technologies and critical literacy in the primary classroom, 2004, David Fulton Publishers,

ICT and my CTM in KS1 of SBT1 (and other acronyms)

Following the serial week in our first placement school I wanted to reflect on some of the experiences I've had with ICT.  

Some have been good (for example, the amount of free resources available on sites such as sparklebox), some bad (a musical programme where you clicked on horses to make them make sounds so you can layer a song), and some just plain ugly (a interactive DVD of a book reading programme, why can't we just read to our kids and interact with them?).

I was very glad that my class tutor is the ICT specialist for the school and therefore was using a lot of cutting edge stuff.  One such example, is, I think, skydrive where you can store up to 1GB of data and access it anywhere and also 2simple software, which has a lot of user-friendly material.  The school were using Promethean whiteboards which are different to the ones I have experienced before.  I was very impressed by how child-friendly they are and contain a huge wealth of resources and programmes that make ICT in the classroom simple, lively and jolly good fun!  

Whether, because of my CTM's role as ICT specialist or not, ICT was used abundantly during my week.  There are many elements I would like to include in my own teaching, such as using a picture of the day for the children to look at when they come in and using 2simple's software to help numeracy by getting the children to count farmyard animals.  I was pleased to see a lot of 'traditional' resources like making posters using archaic tools such as pens and crayons, and reading using actual books.  Overall, I was impressed by the balance and look forward to gaining more insight into the use of ICT in future placements.