You have to find an article which is focused on ICT in Education. Once you have identified a paper do the following:
a) Describe what the paper is about.
b) What were the key findings/recommendations?
c) What knowledge did you gain from this paper?
Henderson, R., & Honan, E. (2008). Digital Literacies in Two Low Socioeconomic
Classrooms: Snapshots of Practice. English Teaching: Practice
and Critique, 7 (2), 85-98. Retrieved Week 9, 2010 from Education Resources Centre
(ERIC) database. (ERIC Document No EJ832210).
In this research report Henderson and Honan (2008) investigate the use of digital technologies in two middle year classrooms in a low socioeconomic area. The article focuses on the students' home experiences with digital technologies and their technological experiences in the classroom. Henderson and Honan (2008) suggest that students' diverse literacy practices in the home are not always recognised or valued in educational institutions. A new 'digital divide' maybe seen between the rich literate practices used in student's homes and the restricted practices engaged in by schools. In the home envrionment students are using the internet for both research and social purposes, they listen to mp3's, send text messages and play video games. In the study conducted by Henderson and Honan (2008) the classroom students were expected to create a PowerPoint presentation that contained hyperlinks, different fonts, word art and photographs. Although this activity was valuable for the students little research had been conducted by the teacher to ascertain the students' knowledge and competency with these ICT skills. The article concludes by reflecting on the need for teachers to value the digital literacies that students are using out of school, to make multimedia experiences in the school environment relevant to children's lives. As a pre-service teacher I believe it is important to recognise and value the literacies that children bring with them to school. I believe there are opportunities to creatively incorporate a range of multimedia activities in the classroom including podcasting, video games and blogging. The incorporation of these activities will not only provide students with 21 century digital literacy skills but also recognise the home digital literacy practices of students.
