1. The Use of ICT for Reading
Concerns: With ICT becoming more and more popular there are concerns that it will begin to affect children and the amount they read at home (Welch, 2008). Why read a book when there are computer games? Has the joy of reading been replaced with these pieces of software?
Robertson and Good (2005) argue that gaming can help stimulate creative mediums such as writing stories. They go on to argue that this encourages children to read stories concerning the same genre.
It could also be argued that technology has had a positive impact on children's literacy in relation to reading due to the accessibility (Voogt and McKenney, 2007; Clarke and Treagust, 2010). So has it hindered or helped?
SEN: The use of ICT has allowed children with Special Educational Needs to develop their skills in reading with the use of interactive games. But some argue reading on a computer can cause more issues, than with a physical book (Issacs, 1987). However, e-books give the opportunity for the children to change the font type and also edit the colour of the background. Some e-books allow children to zoom in and make notes, which can make reading more interactive and personalised.
ICT has also bought with it audio books,
for those children who struggle with the
reading aspect, and also software that
reads to the user.
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The Use of ICT for Reading
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Ipads / IPHONES: Apple has developed a high popularity in recent years. In 2011 alone Apple sold over 72 MILLION iPhones and 40 MILLION ipads (Statistica, 2012). These smartphones and tablets have allowed e-books and reading to take on a life of their own with the introduction of the app – iBooks. It has a catalogue of over 700,000 books available to download. Apple (2012) argues that the system is just like reading regular books and from ‘the moment you pull one [ebook] out … you’ll be pulled in’ (l. 6-9).
Electronic texts have become more
popular and Jones (2011) argues that
this is due to accessibility and offers,
like on the iBook, that have many free
texts available to all.
Kindle: Kindles, created by Amazon, is an e-book reader that has grown in popularity since its realise. Certain research centres, like the National Captial Centre for Literacy Research (NCCLR) uses technology to re-engage students in reading. Bormann and Lowe (2010) states that the Kindle has ‘opens up the world of books and other reading materials’ (pgii).
The Kindle and the iPad have similar positives for reading, however the Kindle is significantly cheaper. It also has a good set-up design that educators have positively responded too (Simba Information, 2011).
The Kindle also provides opportunities to edit and make
notes through the text on separate, but connected,
sections. It provides highlighting facilities and bookmarks,
allowing the user to be interactively immersed with the
text.
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Sarah Durbin : Group 4
Rationale
The subject of this poster was chosen as it relates to my specialism – English. This specific area was chosen due to a personal interest in e-books and their devices. The poster is for teachers within a staffroom to encourage the use of ICT to help interest children in reading. I choose to focus on iphones/ipads and kindles because they are currently the most popular pieces at the time of this publications. I also chose to include a section about Special Educational Needs and how they can be used within it, to highlight its importance, but then also a concern part. The concern part was added due to my own reservations about popularity of e-books and how it has been changed due to my research for the poster.
I choose not to include a section about ‘e-books’ in general because I wanted to focus on the hardware concerned. However, e-books are avaliable in various different forms and can be accessed in more ways than discussed. I also mentioned some aspects in relation to Special Educational Needs, but chose only particular parts. During my reading I found quite a bit more information about why children should use normal reading books more. But due to the nature of the poster I decided that this information wouldn’t be as relevant, and it was just briefly mentioned.
The design of the poster relates to the subject of it. Due to the nature of the poster I chose to have a screen shot of a computer with a background of text books. I chose this as a homage to the title. I used a screen shot of my own computer but had to make the image of the books more transparent so it did not overthrow the information provided. For the main body of text I chose a clear font, one that most people find the easiest and clearest to read – Verdana. I decided to make it a relatively big size to emphasise the text within the poster.
For the headings I choose a bolder font, to encourage the audience to pay attention to it. I also chose to make each section a different colour, showing that they are different parts within the poster. Each of the headings had their own colour, but was also outlined in black ensuring that it was clear to read. The main heading was coloured pink because it showed up the clearest against the background of the piece. I also chose to add pictures to make the poster more visually pleasing, but I ensured they related to the section. I thought it would be appropriate to have images of the hardware I was discussing
References
Apple (2012) iBooks [online] Available at: Accessed on 15/03/2012.
Bormann, F. and Lowe, K. (2010) Rekindling the fire: using kindles for literacy in the classroom. Literacy learning: the middle years. 18(3). Pp. i-iii
Clarke, G. and Treagust, M. (2010) Gaming for reading. Reading agency. 23(4). Pp Robertson, J. and Good, J. (2005) Childrens narrative development through computer game authoring. TechTrends. 49(5). Pp
Issacs, G. (1987) Text screen designfor computer-assisted lerning. British Journal of Educational Technology. 18(1). Pp
Jones, T. (2011) Reading engagement: a comparrison between ebooks and traditional print books in an elementary classroom. International Journal of Instruction. 4(2). Pp.5-22.
Simba Information (2011) Kindle fire holds potential in education. Educational Marketing 42(10). Pp. 6-9.Statistic (2012) iPhone [online] Avaliable at: Accessed on 15/03/2012
Voogt, J. and McKenney, S. (2007) Using ict to foster reading and writing skills in young children. Reading in the schools. 24(3/4). Pp
Welch, R. (2008) From platforms to books? I’m game. Young adult library services (Winter). Pp