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It is very important that educational settings consider the
impact that ICT is having not only as a means of communication
but on the nature of what is being communicated. Technology,
such as whiteboards and the internet, can revolutionise the
interactive potential of learning, although some studies (Estyn,
2006; Royal
Economic Society, 2005) have shown that such technology
has only a temporary advantage for children, and where used
inappropriately, can actually confuse learners. The focus
here is on teachers' use of ICT rather than learners' interaction
with it.
The argument as to the advantages or disadvantages of ICT
for learning needs to be understood in the context of how
ICT is changing literacy itself.
"If being literate is best understood as being fully operational
in the society in which we are found, then our notion of what
literacy is, is likely to change along with that society.
When the only requirement was to read the odd signpost just
sounding out letters was probably fine, but when we are expected
to digest the full flow of written and pictorial information
that the internet provides we need to be equipped with a significant
higher order of skills."
(David Puttnam: Literacy Today, June 2000)
Consider the effect technology has had on not just how, but
what we communicate: pressing 'send' on an email before reflecting
on the illiterate nature of a message, for example, or the
dangers in being able to communicate very quickly in the height
of emotion. A memo or letter that is written by hand takes
time to construct and therefore to think about. Emails and
texts are easily misunderstood, misinterpreted or irrationally
sent: the medium very much affects the message.
ICT has been shown to have a significant impact on disengaged
learners or teenage learners. The Schoolsoutglasgow.net
project had some success with interrupted learners and Woodland
Grange Primary School has engaged pupils with reading
and writing through their website: www.woodlandwideweb.org.uk.
Texting and mobiles have also been shown to have a positive
impact on literacy achievements. A study carried out by Coventry
University in 2006 found that 11-year-old children who
were better at spelling and writing used the most text abbreviations.
A study by Melbourne University
in 2006 amongst college students reported that some students
who found writing difficult showed improvements in their literacy
through using mobiles. A Learning and Skills Development Agency
report, Mobile Technologies
and Learning (2005), also found that mobiles were
an effective tool for getting young people not in education,
employment or training back into learning. The TES
also reports on how texting is a continuation of human tradition
in its article: Texting is
a continuation of a long tradition of shorthand language.
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