Early childhood educators need available,affordable, and accessible professional developmentopportunities that include in-depth, hands-on technol-ogy training, ongoing support, and access to the latesttechnology tools and interactive media (
What technologies and media do you think your cohort of early childhood educators will need training on?
Linebarger & Piotrowski 2009; Flewitt 2011;Alper n.d.)
If you're new to scholarly reading or if it's been a while since you encountered scholarly texts, when you see names and dates in parentheses like this, the authors are referring you to their sources. You'll find a full citation for the source at the end of the document, under the authors' last names. That way, if you were interested in diving deeper into the research or sources yourself, you could track them down!
There are concernsabout whether youngchildren should haveaccess to technology andscreen media in earlychildhood programs.
Issue #2
Oregon law has specific screen time rules for certified and registered family child care homes.
In certified child care facilities, the rule states, "No child may view television or videos or play computer or electronic games for more than two hours per day."
In registered child care facilities, the rule states, "Child care children shall not be exposed to more than two hours of screen time per day. All media exposure must be developmentally and age appropriate."
Research is needed to better understand how youngchildren use and learn with technology and interactivemedia and also to better understand any short- and long-term effects
Principle #16
Early childhood educators need training, profes-sional development opportunities, and examples ofsuccessful practice to develop the technology andmedia knowledge, skills, and experience needed tomeet the expectations set forth in this statement.
Principle #15
Digital citizenshipis an important part ofdigital literacy for youngchildren.
Principle #14
Digital literacy is essential to guiding early childhoodeducators and parents in the selection, use, integration,and evaluation of technology and interactive media
Principle #13
Technology tools can be effective for dual languagelearners by providing access to a family’s home languageand culture while supporting English language learning
Principle #12
Assistive technology must be available as needed toprovide equitable access for children with special needs
Principle #11
Technology and media can enhance early childhoodpractice when integrated into the environment, curricu-lum, and daily routines
Principle #10
Technology tools can help educators make andstrengthen home–school connections
Principle #9
Interactions with technology and media should beplayful and support creativity, exploration, pretendplay, active play, and outdoor activities
Principle #8
When used appropriately, technology and media canenhance children’s cognitive and social abilities
Principle #7
Effective uses of technology and media are active,hands-on, engaging, and empowering; give the childcontrol; provide adaptive scaffolds to ease the accom-plishment of tasks; and are used as one of many optionsto support children’s learning
Principle #6
Appropriate use of technology and media depends onthe age, developmental level, needs, interests, linguisticbackground, and abilities of each child
Principle #5
Developmentally appropriate teaching practices mustalways guide the selection of any classroom materials,including technology and interactive media
Principle #4
Professional judgment is required to determine ifand when a specific use of technology or media is ageappropriate, individually appropriate, and culturally andlinguistically appropriate
Principle #3
Developmentally appropriate practices must guidedecisions about whether and when to integrate technol-ogy and interactive media into early childhood pro-grams.
Principle #2
Above all, the use of technology tools and interactivemedia should not harm children.
Principle #1
Principles to Guide the Appropriate Use ofTechnology and Interactive Media as Tools inEarly Childhood Programs Serving Childrenfrom Birth through Age 8
There are 16 principles listed in the next several pages.
One of your discussion assignments will be to engage with one of these principles and think about how you might be it into action, so be thinking about that as you read.
Issues of equity and access remain unresolved
Issue #6
The appeal of technology can lead to inappropriateuses in early childhood settings.
Issue #5
There is conflicting evidence on the value of technol-ogy in children’s development.
Issue #4
All screens are not created equal
Issue #3
Technology and interactive media are here to stay
Issue #1
Statement of the Issues
There are 6 total issues that you should pay attention to
The prevalence of electronic media in the lives of youngchildren means that they are spending an increasing numberof hours per week in front of and engaged with screens of allkinds
A 2021 survey found that 51% of children spent more than 3 hours a day on screens (outside of homework time). Another 34% spent between 2-3 hours on screens (outside of homework time). (Source: Statista)
passive
We'll talk about passive vs active elements of technology use in greater detail later in the term. Store that away as an important distinction.
P O S I T I O N S T A T E M E N TA D O P T E D J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2
2012 was a while ago, especially in technology terms, but the majority of the content in this position statement is still relevant and applicable to current day. Some technologies are named or referred to as "cutting edge" that are now just standard technology. That's the biggest marker of age. Otherwise, it's still good information.