Mobile Technology

Mobile technology is the term used to describe the advanced technology that we have available to us in modern day. It mostly refers to the use of handheld, portable devices that are used by millions of people around the world on a daily basis for a variety of reasons. Even though mobile technology is highly beneficial to everyone daily, there are some negative effects such as decreased social development and many accidents caused due to distraction. Mobile technology is becoming a problem for teachers as many people are wondering whether or not teachers will be replaced by mobile technology. (Quillen, 2012) states, "The highly charged response reflects the fear many teachers are beginning to feel that technology could push them out of their jobs, especially in an era of persistently tight budgets." It is important to be critical seeing as though this quotation is from the United States, so this could be different for the UK. 

Quillen, I. (2012). Can Technology Replace Teachers? Quality Debated as Districts Tap Tech over Teachers. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 78(4),4-10. United States.

My Personal Experience with ICT: Was my Education ruled by Technology?

"electronic media has a significant influence on childhood and suggest that children's early literacy and play experiences are shaped increasingly by electronic media." (Facer et al.2003; Marsh, 2004)

From my personal experience, technology was and will always be a part of my education because it surrounded many aspects of my learning. Technology offered me the support I required to discover information and allowed me to communicate in many different forms.

But in my opinion, technology did not rule my education or childhood as a whole because many other factors influenced my way of learning in school such as play, communication between friends, family and teachers, the outdoor environment, personal accomplishments and the use of basic resources such as books, pens and paper.
The use of Technology was quite limited in my primary school compared to the present day therefore we were not obliged to depend on technological instruments to learn and the use of books, the whiteboard and the teacher's knowledge was enough for my learning in Primary school.

(Hayes, M., Whitebread, D. (2006) Chapter 3: Literacy and ICT in the Early Years in, ICT in the Early Years. Open University Press: New York; 40)

Personal Exepriences with Technology

I feel that I’m at that age where it’s a difficult moment to pinpoint my first experience with technology as I have grown up with it. However, I can see that there has been huge advances in technology since I was young. When I was in primary school we had access to the “old” style large computers with the white square monitors and they were “new” then. They helped us with creativity and different styles of learning. That being said, as children we had no difficulty learning without the involvement of technology in the classrooms. We would rarely use the computers, and I recall the teachers relied much more on textbooks and blackboards rather than interactive whiteboards and the internet.

Growing up with Technology as a 90's child - Personal Experiences of Technology

When growing up, technology was very basic. Being a 90’s child meant laptops were the new thing and not many people could afford them. As a result of this most households possessed a desktop computer, which allowed you to carry out the very basic of tasks, such as processing word documents using word pad and being creative using a programme called Paint. In addition to this, as broadband or Wi-Fi didn’t exist, we had to wait forever for our internet to connect as the dial up connector was so slow.

Here is a video link showing what technology was like in the 90’s compared to technology today:  https://www.youtube./watch?v=4T2tcXh8044&spfreload=10