Postgraduate Course: Children and Technology (EDUA11337)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to understanding, analyzing, and critically evaluating the role of technology for children in the Early Years and up until the end of Primary school age (0-12 years) in both home and school contexts. The course will cover the role of technology in children's everyday lives; and the more explicit use of technology to enhance learning, including children learning to be creators, as well as critical consumers, of technology. |
| Course description |
The course is intended as an introduction to the role of digital technology in children's lives at home and school. The course can be considered in terms of three main areas.
Technology in children's lives
The first sessions will focus on the role of technology in children's everyday lives from the society they live in to their own homes. The course will provide students with an understanding of the prevalence of technology, particularly for younger children, and the need to consider how different factors (e.g. parents) influence children's interaction with technology.
Technology Enhanced Learning
The next sessions will focus on the use of technology to specifically support learning. This will mainly focus on technology in educational contexts e.g. school, and address the importance of critically reflecting upon definitions of learning in this context. The course will provide students will an overview of the impact of technology in education, and the challenges of considering all the factors influencing such impact (e.g. teacher skills, infrastructure).
Children as creators of technology
Two sessions including a hands-on workshop will look at the increasing emphasis on children learning the skills to understand and generate new technologies: from programming outside of school to the introduction of computing as a curriculum subject in different national curricula. Students will be given the opportunity to explore types of technology to support a critical perspective of how such experiences may support children¿s wider development.
In all three areas above, there will be an emphasis on examining the research methods used to investigate the role of technology, and the challenges involved in this particular field of research (e.g. the evolving nature of technology, difference in how technology is integrated). This will develop students' critical reflection of various claims made for, and against, children'ss use of technology at home and school.
There will also be a final session in this course looking at the ethical and safety issues surrounding research and the use of technology by children (e.g. online safety, data collection).
The course will benefit from illustrations from recent world-leading research conducted at Moray House, where students will be encouraged to become familiar with the research activities, such as through the current website http://www.children-and-technology.ed.ac.uk
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. Online blog participation: 10%
2. Collaborative presentation: 20%
3. 2,000 word essay: 70% |
| Feedback |
Students will be provided with ongoing feedback through lectures and seminar groups, including the use of anonymous polling technology to encourage full participation. There will also be two more specific formative feedback opportunities, the first for a short critical summary (500 words) of personal experiences of technology in childhood; the second is a collaborative presentation critically evaluation the use of technology with children. Finally, there will also be feedback given to ongoing blogging throughout the course. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of theories, principles and concepts concerning the role of technology in the early years and demonstrate critical awareness of current debates surrounding technology for this young age group
- Collaboratively plan, execute and present a professional evaluation of an early years learning technology context
- Critically identify, define, conceptualise and analyse the complex range of factors influencing young children¿s interaction with technology
- Use a wider range of ICT applications to enhance and support collaborative work both in co-located sessions and online.
- Take responsibility for own work and some responsibility for the work of others whilst working in peer relationships
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Learning Resources
Burke, Anne & Marsh, Jackie (eds.) (2013) Children's Virtual Play Worlds: culture, learning and participation. Peter Lang: New York.
Chaudron S. et al. (2015). Young children (0-8) and digital technology: A qualitative exploratory study across seven countries (528pp) JRC 93239. Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
Clements, D.H. and J. Sarama (2003). Strip mining for gold: Research and policy in educational technology: A response to fool's gold. AACE Journal, 11(1): p. 7-69.
Luckin, R., et al., (2012). Decoding learning: The proof, promise and potential of digital education. Nesta; London.
Papert, S. (1987). A critique of technocentrism in thinking about the school of the future, in Epistemology and Learning Memo #2, MIT.
Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic Books.
Selwyn, Neil (2013) Distrusting Educational Technology: critical questions for changing times. Routledge: London.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
A. Research and Enquiry
¿ be able to exercise critical judgment in creating new understanding about the role of technology in children¿s lives
¿ be ready to ask key questions about children and technology and exercise rational enquiry
¿ be able to critically assess existing understanding and the limitations of their
own knowledge and recognise the need to regularly challenge all knowledge, in particular regarding the claims made about technology.
B. Personal and Intellectual Autonomy
¿ be able to use collaboration and debate effectively to test, modify and
strengthen their own views, in particular by communicating with others through an online discussion forum during the course, and working as a team to create collaborative presentation
C. Communication
¿ make effective use of oral, written and visual means to critique, negotiate, create and communicate understanding, using a variety of digital tools including some that may be unfamiliar
D. Personal Effectiveness
¿ be responsive to their changing surroundings, being both flexible and
proactive, particularly in the use of novel technologies
¿ have the confidence to make decisions about the value of technology for children based on their understandings and
their personal and intellectual autonomy
¿ understand social, cultural, global and environmental responsibilities and
issues such as differing perspectives on childhood and the role of technology
¿ be able to work effectively with others, capitalising on their different thinking,
experience and skills, particularly in group assessed work
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| Keywords | Children,Technology,Early Years,Computing,Design,Digital |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Manches
Tel: (0131 6)51 6242
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Mairi Ross
Tel: (0131 6)51 4241
Email: |
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