Thursday 3 January 2013

Web Conference

Web Conference

I had my Skype call with Katrina, my learning partner in this PIDP course. I had a wonderful time getting to know Katrina, we live so far away, but our lives within our professional world are very similar. We have both been in the ECE profession for approx, the time, and have grown within our field to become who we are today.

We discovered though our conversation that we have a very similar philosophy in regards to our way we approach our roles as educators of children and how this will carry though to our teachings with adult learners.

For our Trend and Role (BLOG)  assignment, Katrina and I had decided to research and discuss the learners-centred education. Durning our research, and though our discussion, even though we were trying to focus on the adult learner, it became very apparent to both of us that we have used the same techniques with the children we teach on a daily basis. Though our conservations, the research that we did and shared, I understood more as to the benefits of learner- centred education, as I knew it was effective for children, but it reinforced to me as the why,  it will also be an effective way for adults to learn as well.

I have enjoyed my time getting to know Katrina, and I know that we will be in touch as we venture though this PIDP  adventure alone... but always a person only a click away to reflect with.


New Insights

New Insights:

The insight that I discovered that will influence my instruction of adult learners is the use of technology to enhance the learning process, as I carry forward into the next chapter of my career.

 The one trend that I am becoming more familiar with is the use of other media's for adults and children, as this is a new concept for me as an adult learner. I will be taking every chance I get to understand and become more familiar with the capability of our computers and Internet access and the role of an teacher as I carry out this course. I have been able to learn some how to use the Internet as a resource for me, in order to enhance the learning process of the adult learners. U- Tube is something that is fairly unfamiliar to me, but I am learning how it can benefit the new generation of ECE, as there is so much on child development( and all other topics)  that you can see, not only read about, in the text books  as i did in my generation and learning.




Trends: Technology in the Early Childhood Centre's

One of the newly used trend in which I have noticed with in my Early Childhood Education profession (ECE) had been the using technology with the children from a very young age. In the past number of years there has been a push in technology teaching in young children, starting with Infants and continuing through school system. Young children have been introduced to computers at the age of 3-6 months with the educational toys that are available for parents and caregivers, such as the Baby Einstein serious of toys and video, X-Box, Wii, Personal Computers and I Pads.

My thoughts on this new trend of technology use for children is in the middle, I can see the positive aspects as well as some negative aspects, I believe it all depends upon the use of purpose of the technology being used, how it is used and why it is being used. I believe it is being used by parents or caregiver as a teaching tool, with them being involved with the learning is a positive component, as children will gain large amount of knowledge in a fun and educational way they will use for the rest of their years as life long learners. However, if parents and caregivers are using it as a “babysitter” it may not have as positive affect, as it will delay or discourage the child from having health social interactions with his or her peers