LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGIES IN PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Nowadays, we are very aware of the benefits of using new Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) in the classroom in order to improve and favor the acquisition of abilities and capabilities specific to each educational stage. This means that, we teachers must not only use a wide range of ICTs, but also manage to apply them adequately in an educational context.

When we are able to make these tools aid the teaching process and maximize learning, we transform them into Learning and Knowledge Technologies. Consequently, our concern as teachers should be whether the digital resources we encounter may help acquire the knowledge points proposed in our programs and if these fit our teaching-learning methodology.

If we are working in the early childhood education stage, it is important to take into consideration that we are living in a digital age. Children learning to read, write and do their first math are not enough anymore. The access to digital content and the correct use of different tools is essential. Part of this job will imply a great effort on our part, because it is very common to find children who have been using tablets and cell phones from early age since these have become very common means to fill leisure time.

As a part of the “Higher Grade Training Degree in Early Childhood Education”, where future early education teachers are trained, we find the Expression and Communication module. This module complies with a set of contents that encourage students to use and value ICTs as a mean to develop expression and childhood communication. Our aim is not only for the students to get to know many ICTs but for them to transform them into Learning and Knowledge Technologies; allowing them to know and discover the possibilities of the many resources and how these may be used in the classroom.

I order to do so, and being aware of the autonomous use many students have of tools such as tablets in this stage, we propose within the experiences to develop with the creation of ICTs, to create and App for tablets and digital boards that will facilitate the learning of small percussion instruments. With this App we intend to reinforce in the students their ability to discriminate between several instruments that will be presented in the classroom using a very motivating tool and it will even allow them to discover musical instruments that are difficult to access. This App is intended to be used with 4-year-old students who will have to relate names of small percussion instruments with their correspondent image and sound.

In this article we will explore the development process to create this App, presenting it as a didactic resource in the classroom for the Higher Grade Training Degree in Early Childhood Education of the “Institucion Profesional Salesiana, Salesianos Carabanchel”