English and ICT

Introduction

ICT and the school curriculum

Our thinking is informed by what we know about key characteristics of ICT, and the questions that these raise for teachers and student teachers. These characteristics, set out below, are threaded through the 5 areas explored in these web pages.

• New technology is unevenly distributed, both in homes and institutional contexts. Value systems and economic factors interact to create an unevenness of access which some commentators have described as a digital divide yet it is critically important to build on the knowledge about ICT that pupils bring to the school setting. We think it is important that student teachers recognise the role that new media plays in their everyday lives as a way of modelling this. The central question is: How do we recognise and build on pupils' ICT literacy capital?


• New technology is currently characterised by media diversification (satellite/cable TV; mobile communication devices; digital cameras; MP3 players) but there is an increasing convergence of technologies suggesting the need for more generic skills, choice and possibility in terms of mixed media and multimodal analysis and production. The central question is: How can we ensure that all pupils have opportunities to produce and critique a range of digitally mediated texts?


• New technology provides access to vast amounts of information on demand. The ubiquity of digital media, combined with commercial and sometimes undesirable influences, suggests that is important to develop a critical perspective on everyday and educational ICTs. Intellectual and ethical considerations are important in searching, locating and evaluating information. The central question is: How can we help pupils to make sense of the digital information at their fingertips?


• New technology transforms social relationships, facilitating rapid, interactive communication between those who are geographically dispersed. This suggests that, in the future, learning interactions may expand beyond the immediate classroom setting, involving a dispersed peer group, of other learners, adults and experts. Transformation of learning spaces mean that learners and teachers do not necessarily need to be in the same place at the same time. The pioneering work of the Notschool.net initiative for excluded pupils provides a blueprint of this. The central question is: How can we harness the communicative potential of ICT in meaningful, educational contexts?


• New technology has the potential to transform learning in many ways, so would we still need teachers if we had excellent software and content? The flexibility offered by new technology questions accepted learning sequences, notions of progression and fixed point assessment. It makes individualised learning possible, whilst at the same time offering new forms of collaboration and participation. The central question is: How might ICT be used to transform the school curriculum and re-define the role of the teacher?


• New technology provides us with the capacity to capture, archive, revisit, edit and remix material in a variety of modes. This presents new opportunities for reflection and creativity, but also raises issues about intellectual property, originality and copyright. The central question is: How can we utilise the characteristics of new media to promote learning and understanding?


• New technology allows us to make new kinds of texts. These are often multimodal in character, involve new ways of reading and writing and encourage interactivity. Pupils may well have experience of computer-mediated role play, simulation and gaming. The central question is: How might the curriculum adapt in response to these new kinds of texts?

You may find it useful to share this list with your student teachers, either to heighten awareness or as a way for them to reflect on their own learning in this area.

Further reading

Burnett, C. (2009) 'Research into literacy and technology in primary classrooms: an exploration of understandings generated by recent studies'. Journal of Research in Reading (special edition: Digital Literacy). 32 (1) pp. 22-37.

Burnett, C (2010) 'Technology and literacy in early childhood educational settings: a review of research'. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.

Carrington, V. & Robinson, M. (2009) Digital Literacies: Social learning and classroom practices. London: Sage.

Rudd, A. & Tyldesley, A. (2005) Literacy and ICT in the Primary School: a creative approach to English. London: Routledge.