This image shows the difference in classrooms in the 1990s and the 2000s
Students in school today have individual devices that give them immediate internet access, particularly through mobile phones, ‘Mobile devices are highly portable, easily distributable, substantially affordable, and have the potential to be pedagogically complementary resources in education.’ (Kim , et al., 2010) This suggests that technology does have the power to enhance learning but only if it is used in an effective way. With technology forever changing it is important for today’s teachers to be ‘ICT literate’ but to what extent does technology enhance learning?
Many schools have introduced the use of iPads in the classroom. BBC Active (2010) suggests that the iPad brings education to life and makes it more engaging for students. Drent and Meelissen (cited in Wang et al, 2005) also highlight the increase in students’ motivation when using interactive resources such as the iPad, ‘according to the relevant researches, using the information and communication technologies (ICT) can not only increase students’ learning motivation, but also enhance the interaction features in the classroom.’ (p.100)
Using technological devices in the classroom gives students immediate access to the internet which contains a huge amount of data and information, ‘computing would extend communication networks, provide immediate access to information, and facilitate new forms of creative expression’ (Halverson& Smith, 2009) But this leads to questions whether the idea of the teaching and learning of English in the 21st Century has shifted towards the idea of communication; ‘Anthony Wilden has observed that 'all language is communication but very little communication is language' (Chandler, 1999) Thus suggesting all language used is because of the need to communicate, whether it is speaking to someone or writing something online.
This also leads me to question whether technology can make teachers redundant as search engines such as Google give children the ability to search everything and anything within seconds, couldn’t they search the content of our lessons? Get a quote to support this Goodwyn (2000) suggests that attitudes and concepts are changing due to the use of ICT in the English classroom and this is changing views of what English is and what it can become. He also argues that technology will not replace teachers but do improve learning, ‘computers will not replace English teachers, but they can certainly do some things better than any teacher; and they can, without doubt, improve the quality of our student’s learning in English’ (Goodwyn, 2000, p. xii). By using technology in the classroom we are exploring the nature of local and current concerns which surface in the 21st Century and allowing students to become computer literate which seems to place a vital role in today’ society. Although it seems as though technology will not replace teachers, Dr Ray Clifford (1983) suggests that teachers who use technology will replace those who don’t.
It has been suggested that the internet and technology are taking over books and that books will be redundant in the near future. However this has not been the case yet, ‘Thomas Edison said in 1913 that “books will soon be obsolete in schools…” (Reiser, 1987). This prediction has not become a reality. When a new medium entered the educational scene, there was much initial enthusiasm and interest which eventually faded.’ (Treat et al , 2006). However it may be advocated that we are seeing English in a different way. Jewett (2009) expresses the shift from ‘thinking about literacy as a matter of ‘competence’ to thinking about its multimodal ‘design’. ‘ (p.8) This allows for a whole new kind of ‘reading’ of texts as the linguistic view of reading may now be shifting to a view of reading that has no certain linear structure. For example students in the 21st century are able to navigate their way around various websites and apps of which the sequenceing is very different to a book that we read from left to right, beginning to end. There is a need to encourage expanding conceptions of literacy to accommodate multimodal literacy ranges, ‘the multimodal character of new technologies produces a tension for traditional conceptions of literacy that maintain language at their centre.’ (Jewitt, 2009, p. 8)
References:
Britland, M. (2013, June 18). How has technology transformed the role of a teacher? Retrieved June 02, 2014, from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jun/18/technology-transform-teaching-students-schools
Chandler, D. (1999). Semiotics for Beginners. Daniel Chandler.
Goodwyn, A. (2000). English in the Digital Age. London: Cassell.
Halverson, R., & Smith, A. (2009). How New Technologies Have (and have not) Changed Teaching and Learning in Schools. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 26(2), 49-54.
Jewitt, C. (2009). Technology, Literacy, Learning: A multimodal approach. London: Routledge.
Kim , P., Hagashi , T., Carillo , L., Gonzalez, I., Makany, T., Lee, B., et al. (2010). Socioeconomic strata, mobile technology, and education. Educational Technology Research and Development, 59(4), 465-486.
Moeller, A. (1997). Moving from Instruction to Learning with Technology: Where's the Content? CALICO, 14(2-4), 5-13.
Treat, A., Wang, Y., Chadha, R., & Hart Dixon, M. (2006, September). Major Developments in Instructional Technology: During the 20th Century. Department of Instructional Systems Technology Indiana Universuity.
Wang, B., Teng, C., & H.T, C. (2015). Using iPad to Facilitate English Vocabulary Learning. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 5(2), 100-104.