Positives

• I have further increased my understanding of digital literacy.
• I have a greater understanding on cyberbullying and the effects that it has on student’s.
• I have successfully used new digital medias that I had no experience with prior to creating the Digital Artefact.

Negatives

• I underestimated the time that it would take to use the new digital medias. Therefore, this project took more time that what I allocated to it.
• If I was to do this project again, I would explore more types of digital media such as creating a video.

Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) is commonly defined as the use of computers to give assessment. Chalmers and McAusland (2002) state that it can be used two ways; for formative assessment or summative assessment. By using this method of assessment, lower order skills, such as knowledge and understanding, and higher order skills, such as analysis and evaluation can be tested.

During the CAA experienced within this module, we were given a range of question types in an online exam to answer with the assistance of the internet. However, I found there to be a number of positives and negatives to using this method of assessment. Firstly, a positive is that it allows a range of media to be incorporated, for example, images, video and audio. Secondly, immediate feedback was provided as soon as the test was completed, although this may not have been helpful in this situation, with self-assessment this would be a good benefit. In contrast, the CAA was answer sensitive due computerised marking meaning that it would not give marks for incorrect spelling and grammar which would effect assessment results negatively. Furthermore, this assessment consisted of factual content and short answers which discourages the use of critical thinking and student’s own ideas and opinions.

CAA could be used into lessons, such as PSHE, by incorporating the online assessment with a cyberbullying prevention programme to educate students in the effects of cyberbullying. Furthermore, the most common form of CAA, online exams and quizzes, can be used to assess the student’s knowledge on cyberbullying. This online exam could show statistics that the students may find surprising. Although this approach may not cause instant results, many researchers suggests that awareness is one of the best methods to prevent cyberbullying (Patchin and Hinduja, 2012).

References:

Chalmers, D. and McAusland, W. (2002) The Handbook for Economics Lecturers: Assessment, Economics LTSN

Patchin, J.W. and Hinduja, S. (2012) Cyberbullying prevention and response: Expert perspectives. Routledge.

 

I have created a Prezi which discusses the effects that cyberbullying has on school attainment, particularly focusing on teenage UK students.

Click here to access the Prezi.

• Teacher’s lessons may become too heavily reliant on the use of technology. This is particularly noticeable if the technology fails during the lesson and the teachers struggle to teach effectively without it.
• In contrast, some teachers may struggle to operate the technology successfully (Ertmer,1999), therefore leading to time wasting and disengagement of the class.
• Student’s may become too reliant on the use of the internet, this effects skills such as critical thinking and spelling.
• By using technology in schools, it can create a possible disconnect of social interactions happening between the student and teacher. Furthermore, it allows the teacher-student contact time to decrease.
• With there being an increase in people being able to use the internet and social media, it puts more children at risk of cyberbullying.

References:

Ertmer, P.A. (1999) ‘Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: Strategies for technology integration’, Educational Technology Research and Development, 47(4), pp. 47–61.

In the last 3 decades the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in learning has developed drastically and has since been grown into an important subject and aspect of teaching. In 1994, computers were just beginning to be introduced within schools, although at this point the government did not have an ICT policy. By 1997 the Labour government wanted an improvement of ICT in schools giving funding to schools for interactive whiteboards, laptops and training. This funding was shortly followed by £230 million in 1999, to assist with educating teachers in ICT, although this was deemed unsuccessful due to being too advanced. However, by 1999, ICT took a primary role within all subjects (Bonnett, Mcfarlane and Williams, 1999), and by 2005 majority of schools had access to internet, computers and interactive whiteboards. Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education till 2014, had been promoting the teaching of computer within schools, detracting the government initiatives targeted to improving teachers’ digital literacy and computing skills (Morris, 2012). Although computer science may be essential to the curriculum in future, it must be important to for the teachers to have the skills to teach ICT, before moving onto more recent skills such as computer science where they may lack the basic knowledge. Since the introduction of computer technology in the classroom, there has been an increase in the software applications that are available to schools to assist with learning for example, using PowerPoint presentations to structure a lesson.

The theory of constructivism suggests that learners learn by doing and being able to construct their own experiences. By students having a better access to technology, they have the option of searching for information themselves independently opposed to it being spoon fed to them.  Furthermore, with the use of computer technology inside and outside of school allows students to communicate with their peers and teachers without physical and time constraints that may occur in the classroom environment, allowing learning to still happen outside the classroom environment.

References:

Bonnett, M., Mcfarlane, A. and Williams, J. (1999) ‘ICT in subject teaching: An opportunity for curriculum renewal?’, Curriculum Journal, 10(3), pp. 345–359.

Morris, D. (2012) ‘ICT and educational policy in the UK: are we on the way towards e-maturity or on the road to digital disaster?’, Research in Teacher Education, 2(2), pp. 3–8.

Digital Literacy commonly defined simply as the knowledge and ability to use a variety of networking digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. However, the term of Digital Literacy has been defined differently throughout the literature. Lankshear and Knobel (2008) state the importance of using the plural term Digital Literacies, primarily because of the amount of Digital Literacy there are and the numerous definitions. Moreover, Gilster (1997) defines Digital Literacy as ‘mastering ideas, not keystrokes’ meaning that the transformation of the digital world is more than the use of technology and technical capabilities. Lankshear and Knobel (2012) further state that Digital Literacies involves the ability to adapt skills to use these new mediums successfully.

After taking all these definitions into account, for this Digital Artefact I will be referring to the term Digital literacy as the ability to interpret and create communication across a range of digital media. However, it is important to note that communicating through the different types of media is not always used in a positive way, but this will be explored further throughout the blog in regards to cyberbullying.

References:

Gilster, P. (1997) Digital Literacy. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Lankshear, C. and Knobel, M. (2008) Digital literacies: Concepts, policies and practices. Edited by Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

Lankshear, C. and Knobel, M. (2012) ‘Digital Literacy and Digital Literacies: Policy, Pedagogy and Research Considerations for Education’, digital kompetanse, 1(2006), pp. 12–24.

I have inserted this video into my Blog as it gives a basic description of Digital Literacy and outlines its importance, especially in education.

The YouTube video has been embedded into this blog post using HyperText Markup Language (HTML), however can also be accessed by clicking here.

Reference:

University of Derby (2014) Digital literacy and why it matters. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2k3C-iB88w (Accessed: 27 December 2016).

What were the skills I had before the start of the module?

When I started this module my knowledge on digital literacies was slim. Although I was able to navigate a computer, social media, basic software and the internet I was not aware of the importance that Digital Literacies had further than personal use.

From primary school to the end of secondary school Information and Communications technology (ICT) lessons were timetabled weekly, this is where I had first experienced using a computer. The start of these lessons would have simply of been how to use the computer, such as turning it on, typing, to being aware of the basic software. However, throughout the years the skills taught became more complex such as using spreadsheets, creating websites and PowerPoints.

I have also learnt skills such as using Social Media and navigating websites though the process of trial and error which has developed alongside the growth of the internet. Although they were not necessarily seen as being skills at the time, with the importance of using social media for marketing it is a skill many businesses look for.

What are my skills, knowledge and understandings at this precise moment?

After the eleven sessions of the ICT and Digital Literacies module, my skills, knowledge and understandings of what it is and its importance has developed. Although I am just starting my Digital Artefact, I have developed some new skills such as creating a Blog, uploading posts and creating a Prezi. Before the Digital Artefact I had no knowledge or experience in navigating these Medias, therefore I had to learn through trail and error and the use of the internet to assist me.

My primary digital technology used for this project will be a written blog using the platform WordPress. This is the first time I have created a blog and used this website, therefore this is a new skill that I am learning. Before choosing WordPress as the blogging platform for this project I researched into other written blogs such as Blogger, Sqaurespace and Tumblr. For this project I have chosen the topic of cyberbullying, primarily focusing on it’s effect on the attainment levels of teenage students.