The impact of PiXL Times Table app on teaching and learning at Key Stage 2.

Example 1:
Technology and Education
The internet is regarded as the most significant technological innovation of the modern world, having changed the nature of information, how we interact with it and our communications with each other (Curtis and Pettigrew, 2011). Consequently it has fallen under the scrutiny of educational and childhood experts who identify a potential role in learning and teaching (Curtis and Pettigrew, 2011).
The internet originated in 1989 (Berners-Lee et al, 1994), coinciding with the introduction of computers into UK classrooms (Haywood and Hutchings, 2004). However, uptake of internet use in schools was slow and driven by trade, rather than educational, outcomes such that its potential was almost overlooked and internet access was not established in all British schools until 2002, some thirteen years after its conception (Haywood and Hutchings, 2004).
Whilst educational use of the internet may have been slow, elsewhere there was a rapid dissemination of such technology which has radicalised the student population (Prensky, 2001). Students in compulsory education today have not known a world without the internet and hence its use is intuitive to them (Curtis and Pettigrew, 2011). Prensky (2001) proposed that this has resulted in students who think and learn in fundamentally different ways to previous cohorts, so-called ‘digital natives’, and that, as such, our education system must adapt and embrace new technologies in order to remain relevant and efficient. This notion is perhaps even more pertinent with the development of the social web or Web 2.0.
This blog is written in the context of my own experience of technology use, as a teacher of mathematics, in UK further education. Sadly, the classroom that I now teach in is not markedly dissimilar to those I sat in as a pupil, other than the replacement of the whiteboard with an interactive version, most commonly used as a projector than the innovative tool it was designed to be.
The students I teach are undertaking a compulsory resit of GCSE mathematics having already failed the qualification at school. On the whole they are disengaged with education and unwilling to participate in a course they have already taken and failed. Technological advancements have come and gone over the years, each claiming to revolutionise learning but failing to make an impact on my students.
This blog will review the rise of Web 2.0 technologies and the affordances of a specific such technology, Facebook, for use in education. Given its popularity with both students and colleagues (Pimmer, Linxen and Gröhbiel, 2012) I am keen to explore whether this potential is reflected in practice, the implications this has for pedagogy, and the role of teachers in resolving any discrepancy between affordance and actual classroom use.

Example 2:
Digital technology has become an integral part of everyday life, evolving and continually advancing at a rapid rate (Kaye, 2017). Yet, Selwyn et al. (2018) argue that the use of technology within schools does not parallel that of the wider world. Despite its integration, it has become evident that technology has not yet transformed education in the way that has been hoped; with many schools restricting the potential of digital technologies (Selywn, 2011). As witnessed within practice, engagement with technology within schools can often be limited in terms of both quantity and quality (Selwyn, 2011; Selwyn, Potter and Cramner, 2009). Referred to by Selwyn (2011, p.39) as a ‘digital disconnect’, it could be argued that there needs to be a greater alignment between education and the wider society in order for technology to have a substantial impact on the primary classroom. Edwards et al. (2016, p.14) questions the term ‘disconnect’ used by Selwyn, (2011) suggesting that there needs to be a focus upon the use of the technology in comparison to the setting, referring to this as more of a ‘digital difference.’ Whilst Gronn et al. (2014) further suggest that there is a use of similar technologies within both settings, this has been based upon a small scale study. Nevertheless, despite these differences, many researchers (Hilton, 2018; Geer et al., 2017; Young, 2016) have recognised the educational value of technology within the classroom. Thus, within this website, the exploration of digital technologies within the teaching and learning process and the changes these can facilitate will further be analysed.

Example 3
Following the announcement by Schools Standards Minister Nick Gibb, a number of schools across the country will trial a multiplication tables check from March 2018 (DfE 2018). The issue of whether we should still focus on teaching children times tables has long been a bone of contention between maths teachers, academics and politicians. This is something that I am faced with year on year when children are slowed down when completing certain maths problems due to not knowing their times tables. Rote learning, where the whole class chanted the tables out loud, was the usual method to learning times tables until about 40 years ago when the Plowden Report (Central Advisory Council for Education 1967) made it unfavourable and therefore it was discontinued in English schools.

Using technology in schools has become a focus in recent years; the DfE (2013a) aim to develop “digitally literate” pupils to meet the needs of both personal and business use of the future. Prensky (2001) refers to children of today as digital natives as they have been exposed to the use of technology from early on in life. Children as young as two have been observed using iPads with little input from adults (Geist, 2012) which supports the idea that these students will not have any problems becoming experts in using technology. With the increase in digital devices being used in schools, new apps and software are continually being developed to encourage children to improve the teaching of mathematics. Segal (2011) believes that the affordances for maths learning are great when using tablets.

In order to assess how digital technology affects teaching and learning, I am going to evaluate Times Tables Rock Stars, an educational learning platform, which is additionally available as an app on both android and IOS. The platform consists of a carefully sequenced programme of times tables that can be personalised to each user to target weaknesses of that individual child. Through this study, I hope to understand if technology can help to improve the knowledge of times tables. Additionally, it is hoped that the findings of this study will be useful to share with the senior leadership team at my school to indicate whether Times Tables Rock Stars is a worthy investment or not.