By the 1995, mobile phones were the first tools which made a revolution in how we currently communicate with each other. Nowadays, as it is said by Shah and Godiyal (nd), we have uncountable ways to communicate: laptops, tablets, skype, social nets, wifi… In only fifteen years technology has become an essential aspect in our life. Could you imagine a day without internet?
As technology is so important in our life, also it is in our kid’s life, because they have already been born in a technological world. Unfortunately, we had to learn using them on our own, but we shouldn’t let our children to do the same. Besides, and though it is sometimes dangerous and unsecure, ICT can support teachers in their teaching- learning processes. If we use it properly, it can be a very useful resource in any subject, so we should take advantage of it.
The first but not the most important benefit, as Shah and Godiyal (nd)
told us, is that in the early childhood, ICT gives the possibility to
develop literacy skills (writing, reading, speaking and listening) in
different languages, when children aren’t able to produce
letters by handwriting yet. Recio (nd) added that literacy development
doesn’t begin when children start receiving literacy instruction: all
children have a knowledge based on their previous experiences.
In this aspect, technology can help students to communicate and
socialize, expressing their feelings, ideas and opinions verbally and
non- verbally, interpreting what they are watching, cooperating and
solving problems together … Recio (nd) recommended us the resource
called “storytelling”, he said that animation and sounds effects enhance
the learning. Following with literacy skills, Duran and Cruz (2013) also
gave importance to storytelling, but they said that it is not only valid to
improve literacy skills; also it is to improve different curricular contents.
This holistic vision of teaching processes helps the learner to
understand the uses of what they are learning in real life. Storytelling is also one of the activities that Becta (2009) proposed in her article.
Besides that, ICT gives us the opportunity in class to support what we are explaining with pictures. Ippolito (2012) reminded us that young people’s life experiences are dominated by “the logic of the image”, that is why he proposed the use of comics. We live in a visual world, so magisterial classes and long and boring written articles are not the unique resource we can apply in a class. Keeping with the same article, Ippolito (2012) said that the aim is to integrate traditional materials with new ones, reducing teacher’s intrusive role and achieving the more active and the more autonomous student possible.
Furthermore, Recio (nd) underlined that “technology has the potential of motivating children attitudes toward learning and turning the learning experience into more meaningful, entertaining and motivational practices.” Teachers of the study that Recio (nd) explained in his article realized that children’s natural attraction to technology can be used to motivate them to learn and to stimulate their imagination.
Nonetheless, not all are benefits; the net can have loads of risks too. One of them, as it’s said by Shah and Godiyal (nd), is that kids can access easily to a lot of unsuitable content when they are in front of a screen. The exposure of too much time playing alone with a computer can lead to children’s isolation. Or violent games can enhance an aggressive child’s behaviour.
In addition, according to Shah and Godiyal (nd) computer pushes us to be sat down, reducing the skills children would improve if they were moving, having experiences and manipulating. In fact, computers reduce sensorial stimulation, that’s why some experts suggest not using computers before the age of 7.
Moreover, as Recio’s (nd) article warned, another challenge to make ICT more effective is the technological training of teachers that must be solved during the degree.
Otherwise, as Trucano (2010) said, other drawback of using ICT in schools, is the fact that they are very expensive and not all the schools have enough budget to invest in ICT. Because of that, private schools have more opportunity and facility to use them and they also have more flexibility in order to do experimental studies with curricular contents and ICT.
Finally, another aspect that concerns many people is that we are living 24 hours a day near wireless ICT tools and they can create different health problems in us.
