Children and old technology

Watch from 1:25 for the experiment.

Elen did an interesting and funny experiment on showing children old technologies. Their lack of time awareness assuming that the first mobile phone was 100 years old shows how little children understand about how technology changes. Maybe they should be shown what old technologies looked like so that they can appreciate what they have now. Children spend so much time on technology and take it for granted.

Children find technology as we saw as revolutionary at the time such as the mobile phone as a joke. They can only see slimmed down phones with coloured screens and an app store with Face Time. 

Children attempting to use an old computer

The children in this video complained about how complicated it was to turn the computer on, it also shows how far technology has gone to make our lives so much simpler. People could plan their lives with technology such as calendars, online shopping, note taking on phones/tablets and so much more. This video comes from a Youtube series called 'Kids react...' and they have been shown old Walkmans, Gameboys and typewriter. 

Are the older generation being left behind?

Technology is a big part of our lives but mainly for those of a younger age. The older generation are not so keen on using computers to order their weekly shop, they find it easier to go out and do it themselves. Some older people can be stubborn

 about using these amazing tools available to them, or they're simply too scared to try. My parents often struggle with their phones and tablet and ask for help, they do try but they can’t grasp things as quickly as I could. They like simplicity, if I try to explain how to do online shopping or forward a message they give a blank expression not knowing when I am talking about. This is why I feel the older generation need support even if they can only watch a video online it’ll be more than what they could do before.

Adult classes for using computers are very common and often free, I feel these are essential to connecting the older and younger generation. They can see the benefits of being connected to everyone such as getting into regular contact with family that moved away  or even learning how to do something new.

Classrooms of the future

Classrooms have barely changed in the past 10 years aside from the addition of smart board to help aid learning. Paper and pen is still used and children develop their writing and reading skills on a daily basis. However, how will thing change in the next 10 years?

I found this picture online and thought how amazing is would be to have a classroom like this, not annoying projector to block and no board pens that are not in sync with the smart board. Using your hands in a marked space to use technology seems so far away, but could be closer than you think. 

Imagine removing all paper and pen for tablets and laptops, no mess on tables and everything at your fingertips? Not an ideal future for reading and writing skills but perfect for people trying to push forward the idea of technology taking over and becoming an even bigger part of our lives compared to now, would we let the fascination of new technologies take over our basic skills?

It’s not abused, it should work well especially in science lessons where children miss out on experiments due to lack of resources and time, you could simulate it.

How much time should children spend using technology?

The Measuring National Well-being - Children's Well-being (2012) by the UK government states that “Data from Understanding Society showed that in the UK 96 per cent of children aged 10 to 15 years had computer access at home.”

With these statistics are we giving children too much freedom with technology so much that their education could be hindered. For obvious reasons, children would prefer to go online than study for exams and do their homework.

Homework is vital for children to have a further understanding of what was taught during their last lesson. However, if the child is struggling for whatever reason their friends can help or they could look at a website relevant to what they need to know. The internet is going to be around for a long time, children will need to know how to use it in order to obtain information.

However, the internet is an iceberg, many dangers linger beneath the surface which can harm them mentally, emotionally and maybe even physically. Children need to be safe online and know where to spot the dangers and when to stop what they are doing. 

Cyber bullying is also a common issue amongst young people, this is often not spoken about by victims and they think it will just go away but it is a big problem. This can affect their school life because they will not want to attend school, which we cannot allow to happen.

references:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_283988.pdf

(accessed: 10/01/2015)

The development of virtual reality

Virtual reality has been a hot topic for technology recently, with the development of devices such as the Oculus Rift and OSVR (open source virtual reality) . 

OSVR ideas and concepts explained.

While both devices have their own ideas and concepts, one wants to ask when will this be rolled out and affordable to the public. The Oculus Rift currently costs $350 (£233) for its Type 2 version which is not the kind of money everyone has today, especially for education. The education sector would benefit massively through this technology with the right games for children. the Foundation Phase in Wales focuses on first hand experiences and this kind of technology would transform education as we know it today. Children could experience maths and English playing games, it could enhance Forest Schools by doing a simulator on how to start a fire before practicing in real life.

It could also be damaging for education, will children forget that what can be done in virtual reality will not necessarily work out in the real world? Will children become so focused on virtual reality that reading and writing could be a thing of the past? So much could go wrong with virtual reality if not used in a safe and correct fashion.

Teaching children to code, good or bad?

Barclays has been advertising life skills for young people as part of helping people gain new skills. The scheme is called 'Barclays Code Playground' which aims to teach children how to write in code. Their advert shows a child trying to making a dinosaur dance and say hello, by using a coding language. Children would pick up these new skills quickly and some could argue that children are our future so we need to prepare them for the wealth of technology that’s currently being developed. 

However, children be learning the basics of English and Maths before moving onto coding. Are we putting too much pressure on children to learn so much in their early years of education? We need to remember children leave school at 16 or 18 and we want them to love every minute of it while reaching their full potential.

The programme used to code on the video below is very simple and children with help would be able to use and understand what they're doing. I think it is a good idea as long as other subjects don't suffer as a result. Children are entering secondary school without basic English and Maths which is really worrying, should that be the focus or should it be the future?

Web 2.0 app http://taggalaxy.de/

I found this app very interesting because if you type in a tag for instance 'beach' as an initial tag, the universe design show lots of planets with pictures tagged with 'beach'. Pictures from the website Flikr which shared pictures are used to create these planets. The design of having the pictures shown on planets made me feel that these pictures really connect us a species, we share our own pictures and memories for others to see. The pictures sometimes have a preview of what the person that posted the picture put as a caption which I also find to be a good feature because it adds the personal touch from the author who may explain why they took the picture.

This could be used in education by asking children to post their own pictures on Flikr taken of their favourite toy or place for example and share it with the same tag as the rest of the class. They can then put the tag in the search bar and look at everyone’s picture and see all of their pictures put together as a kind of collage. This is a good way of showing children how information can be shared.

Screenshots taken from http://taggalaxy.de/ (Date accessed: 06.07.2015)

Is Web 2.0 a good or bad thing?

The internet has provided us with the means to connect with anyone in the world. The influx of social media and sharing websites have always had their advantages and disadvantages. 

There have been cases of people sharing too much of their personal information, leaving people accessing bank accounts and even stalking in the real world. This is a problem which can easily be resolved with giving people the correct information and a rule of thumb while using the Internet.

Another con is the possibility of lost data, if a website or server is unavailable for whatever reason information could be lost through trying to fix the error. If a user is also new to the service or simply inexperienced with technology they could accidently delete files where they could be no back up.

However, connecting with other people is so important, as humans we need to socialise. The ability to be able to speak to family and friends the other side of the world is still very exciting. Programmes such as Skype give people the ability to connect with people they previously couldn’t.

Information sharing is also important because it helps people to develop their own knowledge on a subject, one example is Wikipedia.

Student life

My two friends at university and myself made a video of what we would consider as our routine as students. I think it's very good to show our point of view as students because we should be the ones at matter. We are not residents of university so it it cannot be generalised for all students, however this is our student life.

I enjoyed making this video because we got to show the bits we like about university and we also tried to show come sense of humour for the audience.

Animation tools for children

I decided to look at how children of a young age can use animation. It is always a good base to show children what animation is through something they can create by themselves. This is where abcya.com's animation tool comes into action for children of a young age.

It is easy to look around the website and make an animation, the design is very basic and colourful so it would be ideal for children. An adult should be there with the child especially if the child is young because it can be complicated because some options are not labelled and you need to guess what they do. It is not possible to embed the animation however it can be saved onto your computer which is ideal for classwork and at home. The clip art has a wide range of pictures that could be used for all p remade backgrounds and can be moved around with ease, making the pictures too small can make the pictures blurry.

Drawing your own pictures is possible but the paintbrushes are a bit too big for the space provided so you can’t fit much in. Copying frames is possible which is especially helpful with children who like to change their mind.

Coolcatteacher, ideas on how to teach technology

I have read parts of Coolcatteacher's very extensive blog and found her very interesting. She shows how teachers can use technology to motivate their students to learn, which is important today. It would be fair to say that most students use technology as part of their lives whether it is using their phone, tablet, consoles or computer. People of all ages in education are more motivated by their technology than their education, so we need to bring their education to technology. This blogger shows how to take notes electronically, how eBooks can be bought and imported with little cost. She also gives information on new tools of teaching through technology I haven’t even heard of, for instance the Sphero that teaches children how to program in a very fun way. I find it amazing because their skills and abilities are physically shown in front of them rather than on a computer screen where they can’t interact with as much as this. Children want to learn but we need to make it fun, technology playing a big part of our lives so we need to change our education techniques so that children have fun learning and are able to reach their potential. 

If you would like to read this blog click here.

Only 12 yet such an inspiration - TedTalks

This boy is only 12 years of age, yet he able to do so much more with technology than I can. Children's ability to master new skills quickly has always been fascinating to me because they carry our current technology and can use it to shape a better future. You hear of children like this little boy that has done extraordinary things, this makes me excited for what more than do. I can't wait to see how they go that one step further to advance our current technology further.

His confidence and well thought out presentation is also something that inspired me, you wouldn't think that this boy isn't even a teenager. His method of presenting reminded me of when companies such as Nintendo, Apple or Sony present their new ideas and games to audiences. He makes me want to try something new in technology, I love technology but don’t have the knowledge to use code and make new games that people will enjoy. He looks at his audience and wants them to enjoy apps that he has made. It is such a breath of fresh air to have a boy who is passionate and is doing something with the skills he has.