GMIT EXAMINATIONS 2016/2017

Full Continuous Assessment Brief

(CA2)

Programme: B.Sc. (Hons) in Design and Technology Education

Year: 4

Module: Professional Studies

Marks: 100%

Internal Examiner: Dr. Pauline Logue Collins

Mr. Kevin Maye

External Examiners: Dr. Elaine McDonald

Mr. Tom Rowan

GMIT Letterfrack 2013 2014

Name of Student: Michael Bourke
Article/Reading: Coding in the classroom: time to call a halt to the digital
bandwagon

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

The article in discussion was written by Michelle Bride and published by the The Irish
Times on the 19th of September 2016. The primary objective of the article is to critique
introducing coding into primary school education by identifying potential positive and
negative effects on both students and educators. In the article the writer quotes two
individuals who are well known in education. These individuals are the current Minister for
Education Richard Bruton who is clearly for the introduction of coding while on the opposing
side we have Ken Robinson a British man who is a former politician and professor. When
critiquing the issue Bride discuses setbacks that will be faced by educators when introducing
the topic and identifies the demand for the coding due to possible future employment of our
children in this sector.
At the outset of the article the growing use of ICT is identified and other information
technologies in the classroom revealing that the interactive pen has replaced the chalk and
the smartboard has left the blackboard for dust (Bride, 2016). The author then questions,
are we at risk of loosing sight of whats important in education, with so much emphsis being
placed on the inclusion of new technologies is the students learning and development taking a
back seat?
One setback of introducing coding to to the primary school curriculum which is the main
concern of teachers are issues regarding training and the amount of time allocated to conduct
such training. Coding is set to be introduced in Irish primary schools in September of 2019
yet the only training that has been conducted in this field is by teachers who have a general
intrest in the subject due to no inservice being provided as of yet. There are also concerns
around some teachers ability to learn how to teach coding which the author expresses as
teaching an old dog new tricks as some teachers may struggle to grasp the topic. Therefore
this then could have a snowball effect negitivly impacting students learning.
Nonetheless coding is growing in popularity and the potential for employment in this sector is
forever increasing. This is the one of the main reason why Minister Burton and his colleagues
have pushed for coding to be introduced into Irish schooling. With multinational American
companies, such as Apple and Google looking to base in Ireland it would most certainly
GMIT Letterfrack 2013 2014
be wise to educate our students in coding (Bride, 2016). Nevertheless there are also
apprehensions regarding coding and its future viability due to the fast moving pace of
technology development. Some feel that the skills learned by students now at a young age
will not be applicable when they become adults due to the way in which technology will have
evolved.
However, Robinson argues that we are we losing sight of what is important in education, as
its purpose is to train people for industry and not for a digital age. Bride then goes on to
indicate that we do not all go on to do something in later life which we learned in primary
school and that primary school should be used to develop essential life skills more so than
educating a future work force.
Bride concludes by indicating that its difficult to interpret weather or not coding is suitable to
be introduced to primary schooling as it is a difficult language for teachers as well as students
to grasp. Although providing students with the basics of coding in primary school will
provide them with a steadier platform for future development if they wish to do so.

GMIT Letterfrack 2013 2014

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

Before reading the article, I must admit I was quite bias in my opinion of weather coding
should be introduced into the Irish primary education curriculum. Personally, I felt that it
should be introduced as its popularity has grown immensely during the last decade. However,
the author Michelle Bride does pose some arguments which force me to question my initial
assumption. This articles primary objective was to identify concerning aspects regarding
coding being incorporated into the primary school curriculum, which is set to be introduced
in September 2019. The following points are areas of the writers work that I fell are most
intriguing in the article:
- Is the growing use of ICT causing the quality of our students education to take a back
seat?
- Identifying setbacks in relation to teacher training in coding.
- Are we losing sight of what is important in education due to a demand for specific
jobs?
- Will coding be as popular in the future?
As stated above the article critiques the growing use of ICT in Irish classrooms stating
Technology lights up the classroom, but are we in danger of being blinded by its glare?
(Bride, 2016). This clever analogy identifies the creativities nature of the authors writings
while coaxing the reader into deeper thought of what ICT brings to education. Bride then
goes on to state that a recent study found that, while there was no doubt that technology
engaged and motivated young people, it also found that more effective schools and teachers
are more likely to use digital technologies more effectively. Its the teacher that counts, then,
not the technology (Bride, 2016). However, as ICT promotes engagement and
motivation The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) published a
document in 2004 encouraging further integrate of ICT into learning and teaching (NCCA,
2004) while placing emphasis on the enhancement of teacher professional development with
regard to ICT (NCCA, 2004). Therefore, it is the duty of Irish teachers to explore ICT for
the benefit of their students, however ensuring ICT is used correctly is essential. Further
evidence of this is present in literature published by Moira Monteith. Monteith outlines that:
Trainee teachers must undertake courses in the use of ICT as a way of teaching their
own subject if they wish to teach in secondary schools, they train to teach across all
subjects. Teachers already in post also take part in training but do not have to be
assessed on this, as trainee teachers do. (Monteith, 2004)

Therefore, ICT can have a positive impact in the classroom, nevertheless its success depends

GMIT Letterfrack 2013 2014

on a teachers knowledge of the technology and their ability to apply this technology in their
subject areas.
In relation to teacher training Bride express teachers concerns regarding difficulties that will
be faced by teachers attempting to learn how to teach coding. As stated in the summary above
some teachers already have previous knowledge of how to teach coding however as it has not
become compulsory, only teachers with a general interest have educated themselves in this
area to date. Bride uses another analogy to help describe this issue stating it may be like
teaching an old dog new tricks (Bride, 2016). Bride then goes on to identify that Coding is
a far more complex language than our mother tongue (Bride, 2016), however I find this
difficult to believe as it doesnt consist of a different alphabet, unfamiliar grammar and a
whole new set of words youve never seen (Manfre, 2013).
Teachers also expressed concerns regarding the amount of time that will allocated to
complete such training, but I also find myself debating the truth behind this argument due to
online resources available to learn these skills. One example of a resource availabe to teach
coding is Scratch. With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and
animations and share your creations with others in the online community. (Scratch, 2016).
Lero the founders of The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre also provides training
in Scratch which could be directly applied to educating students and the short course only
consisting of five, four hour modules (NCTE, 2012) .Therefore a teacher could learn the
fundementals of coding in as little as twenty hour thus making teachers arguments false.
Perhaps the real concern that teachers are hiding from us is that they do not want have any
other additions to their work load, esspecicily with the curret issues surrounding newly
qualified teacher pay.
In the article Bride also critiques on whether or not coding is a suitable subject to be
introducted due to it being quite specific. However, it is easy to see why Richard Bruten
wishes to introduce coding into the current education system. These proposals are due to the
huge quantity of coding jobs currently availabe. This point is expressed in a previous article
present in the Irish Times stating that, There will be nearly a million-unfilled information
and communication technology jobs in Europe by 2015, thousands of them in Ireland
(Holmquist, 2014). However does this go against the foundations of primary education
currlicum as it fails in nurturing difference and creativity in education (Bride, 2016) due to
coding being aimed at a specific area and being a niche market (Bride, 2016). After all
the primary function of education is to help students get to the point where they can learn on

GMIT Letterfrack 2013 2014

their own (Taylor, 2016) according to Noam Chomsky. John Dewey provides further
evidence identifying that Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself
(Dewy, 2015).
However, Bride also expresses concerns regarding codings future viability for students.
Under Burtons current plan coding will be introduce in primary school senior classes in 2019
therefore it will be at least 2027 before students are likely to apply these skills in real world
applications. So, the question is will coding still have the same principles? Or similarly to
technology such as the Walkman and the floppy disc, will its need reduce as technology
advances. A prediction by Info World states JavaScript will be the coding language of
choice in the future, however it then goes on to state Well write our code in any of a dozen
dialects and transcoding software will turn it into something that the browser or Node.js
understands (Wayner, 2016). Thus in theory having a basic knowledge of coding could be
very benifical for Irish students in search for future employment.
In conclusion it is quite evident that the author of the text has a number of concernes
regarding the current use of ICT in schools and coding being introduced into the the primary
education currlicum. In relation to ICT, yes it is true that good schools and teachers tend to
use ICT in there lessons. However it is a benificial tool in encourging engagement and assists
in motivating stundents, when teachers are adequitly trained in how to use these technologies
in their lessons. Concerns experessed by teachers in relation to training on how to teach
coding are understandable due to the fear of the unknown, but there are resources currently
availabe for teacher training in coding such as Scrach which are not as time consuming as
some teachers may believe. Nonetheless I agree with the way in which Bride identifes the
dangers around educating students for a niche market as it contradicts the purpose of the
current primary school currlicum, however we have recently experienced an economic
recession which caused widspread unemployment so mabey this is a step in the right
direction. Lastly coding eventually becoming obselete in the coming years seems to be
something of a myth, however it may become a slighly simpler task with development of
transcoding software. Personly I feel these are suffecent grounds for introducing coding even
if coding does contradict the current currlicum as employment is key once a student has left
the education system.

GMIT Letterfrack 2013 2014

 3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Bibliography
Bride, M. (2016, September 19). Coding in the classroom: time to call a halt to the digital bandwagon.
Retrieved from The Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/coding-in-the-classroom-
time-to-call-a-halt-to-the-digital-bandwagon-1.2796783
Dewy, J. (2015). My Pedagogic Creed (Classic Reprint). Atlanta: Forgotten Books. Retrieved from
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johndewey154060.html
Holmquist, K. (2014, June 28). Code: The language you need to learn. Retrieved from The Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/technology/code-the-language-you-need-to-learn-1.1847852
Manfre, C. (2013, February 6). The 3 Myths of Learning Programming Languages. Retrieved from SitePoint:
https://www.sitepoint.com/the-3-myths-of-learning-programming-languages/
Monteith, M. (2004). ICT for Curriclum Enhancement. Bristol: Intellect.
NCCA. (2004). Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the Primary School Curriculum.
Dublin: NCCA.
NCTE. (2012). Scratch. Retrieved from SCRATCH PROGRAMMING AND:
http://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Lero_Scratch_programming_and_numeracy_in_senior_primary_cla
sses.pdf
Scratch. (2016, October 17). Scratch for Parents. Retrieved from Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu/parents/
Taylor, M. (2016, January 23). What is the Purpose of Education? Retrieved from Parenting:
http://www.parenting.com/blogs/mom-congress/melissa-taylor/what-purpose-education
Wayner, P. (2016, January 18). 9 predictions for the future of programming. Retrieved from Info World:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/3022874/application-development/9-predictions-for-the-future-of-
programming.html

GMIT Letterfrack 2013 2014