Key classroom principles: across and within subjects and key stages - Teaching with Technologies: The Essential Guide - page 132

Pupils should be given opportunities to support their work by being taught to:
• findthingsoutfromavarietyofsources,selectingandsynthesizingthe
information to meet their needs and developing an ability to question its
accuracy, bias and plausibility
• developtheirideasusingICTtoolstoamendandrefinetheirworkand
enhance its quality and accuracy
• exchangeandshareinformation,bothdirectlyandthroughelectronicmedia
• review,modifyandevaluatetheirwork,reflectingcriticallyonitsquality,as
it progresses.
(DfE 2011)
With respect to practical guidance on the use of technology to support learning and
teaching, there are a number of detailed texts which act as manuals specifically to do
this. Of those to be recommended, the following are regularly updated and provide a
plethora of practical guidance: Leask and Pachler (2005) Learning to Teach using ICT in
the Secondary School , and Leask and Meadows (2000) Teaching and Learning using ICT
in the Primary School . There are specialist books about teaching ICT as a subject too
(see Kennewell et al. 2007). These texts, which are aimed at all practitioners across
primary and secondary schools, provide a source of activities, based on tried and
tested strategies and supply a wealth of 'hands-on' ways to incorporate technology
and address 'how to' issues.
The skills, knowledge and understanding teachers need to incorporate technology
into pedagogy are acquired over time. There are many different ways to incorporate
technologies into lessons. Technology use, in and for itself, provides no guarantee that
learning will take place, which reiterates the point that, unless the technologies used
help achieve the stated learning outcomes of a lesson, their use cannot be justified.
Applications to practice
Preparing to use technology in the classroom
From the texts referenced above, a number of common mistakes in planning and
preparing to use technology in lessons are identified.
For example, Kennewell et al. (2007: 7) outline a list of the issues and provide
advice about how to avoid common mistakes: starting with a plan for longer-term
aims and then planning lessons knowing where they fit the scheme of work and
medium then term plan.
When using technology in lessons, teachers should:
· always check beforehand that the equipment works, particularly the com-
patibility of the software on the school computers, as it may be different
from that used at home to prepare lessons
· be well prepared by ensuring a thorough understanding of the technology
resources to be used in advance, to 'avoid being exposed'