I have to admit it is a quite pleasant experience to
use blog, as Godwin (2003) stated that through blogging, people are able to
document their reflections and share with their friends, families and group
members. This experience has inspired me to use blog in my later teaching
practice, to establish and maintain communication with other teachers and
parents, as it is a powerful tool to enhance communication, foster critical
thinking, and encourages collaborative learning, and has great potential in education
(Wang, 2008)
By easily reviewing other group members’ blog and
their feedbacks to me, I am able to reflect in depth on the significance of
technology use on children’s learning and development. It has been widely confirmed and agreed that
technology can be widely used in early childhood education to serve teaching
and learning. It can help both children and teachers in different ways, such as
language learning and creative thinking, as Te Whariki states that “children
develop the ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and
expressive media and the technology associated with them” (Ministry of
Education, 1996, p. 88). Meanwhile, it
is also highly recommended that technology use in early childhood should be
controlled and supervised by teachers, to prevent possible negative
effects. My dear classmates also shared
their ideas, and brought some details to my attention. For example, Tracey mentioned that watching TV
could be harmful for children’s health, due to radiation. And Karen suggested
we should encourage children social interaction while using the technology.
After this assignment, I realised how significantly
that technology has changed our life. Te Whariki states that in order to
participate in today’s world, our children will need the confidence to develop
their own perspectives as well as the capacity to continue acquiring new
knowledge and skills (Ministry of Education, 1996). And this requires teachers
in early childhood education to keep up with children’s needs, to broaden our
understanding of technology and continue to extend our own knowledge and skill
set.
Early childhood teachers should use different forms
of technology in their teaching, both digital and non-digital, as it has been
researched and reported that technology can enhance social, language, and
cognitive skills. And studies also highlighted “the opportunities for language
use and social interaction that technology offers along with increased
motivation” (Scoter, Ellis & Railsback, 2001,p.9).
Finally, by recognizing benefits of technology use
in early children education, we should never under estimate or ignore the
negative aspects of abusing technology, which can cause adverse health, social
skill and behaviours effects to children. Just like Healy (1998) and
Kleiman(2000) mentioned that we may not be using technologies in the best ways,
or obtaining the results we expect. The critical factor is a balanced approach
to use technology in learning, with thoughtful planning to provide for the
important needs of childhood.
Reference
list:
Godwin,
J. (2008). Emerging technologies: Web-writing 2.0: Enabling, documenting, and
assessing writing online. Language learning & technology,
12(2),7-13.
Healy, J.M. (1998). Understanding TV’s effect on the developing
brain.Retrieved from
:http://www.aap.org/advocacy/chm98nws.htm
Kleiman, G.M. (2000). Myths and realities about technology in K–12
schools.
Ministry of Education.
(1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga
mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Scoter, J. Y., Ellis, D. &
Railsback, J.(2001). Technology in early
childhood education. Protland, America: Northwest Reginal Educational
Labortory.
Smorti, S. (1999,
Autumn) Technology in early childhood. Early
Education, 19, 5-10.
Wang, H. (2008).
Exploring the educational use of blogs in U.S. education. US – China
Education Review, 5 (10), 34-37.
