The Role And Potential Of ICT In Early Childhood Education .

However, in the last few years there has also been a growth in research and descriptive literatureabout the use of other kinds of ICT in early childhood education, including digital cameras, digitalvideo, closed-circuit television, videoconferencing, programmable toys, robotics, and electronicmusical instruments. There is also a growing focus on teachers using ICT with children, or ontheir own, as a tool to support and scaffold children’s early childhood education experiences, toinvestigate and build learning experiences from children’s interests, or to strengthen relationshipsbetween children, practitioners, and families. Case studies and exemplars of the use of ICT inearly childhood education settings are becoming more and more common. These are often writtenby early childhood education practitioners, and provide recommendations, suggestions, orguidelines for other practitioners based on what the authors have learned in their own centres.Key findings of the literature reviewICT and young childrenSome authors have expressed the view that computer/ICT use is not appropriate for youngchildren’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. However, there is no clearevidence to support this claim, and this view has increasingly been replaced by the view that,when used appropriately, ICT can be a useful tool for supporting young children’s learning anddevelopment. Most authors note the need for practitioners to be aware of health and safety issuesaround children’s use of ICT, and for these to be attended to in early childhood education centreICT policies and practices. This includes: attention to children’s physical and ergonomic safety;being mindful against children’s exposure to inappropriate content (e.g. games or Internet-basedmaterial of a violent or sexual nature, or containing undesirable gender or cultural stereotypes);and protection of children’s privacy (e.g. in online environments, or when information ispublished on the Internet).Studies suggest that ICT use can provide a context for collaboration, co-operation, and positivelearning experiences between children, or between children and adults. However, this will notnecessarily happen of its own accord. Research indicates that practitioners must be conscious ofthe kinds of learning interactions they would like to occur in the context of ICT use (includingbetween adults and children, or between children), and adopt pedagogical strategies to supportthese. Case studies show how ICT can be used to support aspects of learning, including languagedevelopment and the development of mathematical thinking. ICT also provides uniqueopportunities for scaffolding and supporting learning for children with special learning needs, andchildren from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds. ICT provides a variety of ways forchildren to weave together words, pictures, and sounds, thereby providing a range of ways forchildren to communicate their ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Good software can allow children toengage in self-directed exploration, and can be tailored to children’s individual needs, andassistive/adaptive ICTs can reduce barriers to participation for children with special physical orlearning needs.viii

Using ICT to enhance the early childhood learning environmentLiterature which explores how ICT can enhance the learning environment in early childhoodeducation suggests that the value ICT can add to young children’s learning environments dependson the choices practitioners make about which tools to select, and when and how to use these; andtheir understandings about how these tools can support children’s learning, development, andplay. To make these choices, practitioners need to be familiar with various tools and what theycan do. They also need to be familiar with contemporary theories about learning anddevelopment, and recognise how these can be linked to the use of ICT. New kinds of practicesmay be needed, for example, to support young children to develop information andcommunication literacies necessary for learning in ICT-enriched environments.Case studies show how early childhood education practitioners have used ICT to support a rangeof practices they believe to directly or indirectly support children’s learning and development.These include: directly supporting and scaffolding children’s use of ICT; using ICT to documentand assess children’s learning and activities; using ICT to reflect on children’s and educators’interactions in the early childhood education setting; using ICT to build curricula from children’sinterests, ideas, and experiences; and using ICT to strengthen and support family involvement inchildren’s learning.Effective ICT professional development for early childhood educatorsWithout good guidance, examples, and support for their own professional learning, earlychildhood educators will make their own decisions about the nature and extent of ICT use inchildren’s learning. These decisions are influenced by such factors as educators’ own level ofconfidence with ICT, and their beliefs about learning and teaching in the early childhood years.Literature about ICT use in early childhood education settings, and studies of early childhoodteachers and teachers-in-training learning to use ICT, suggest that effective professionaldevelopment supports teachers to develop understandings of ICT that connect with their existingearly childhood education philosophy and pedagogical views. Effective ICT professionaldevelopment incorporates teachers’ own aspirations, skills, knowledge, and understanding into thelearning context. It provides opportunities for teachers to learn and explore new ways of workingin their own early childhood education setting, and stimulates practitioners to reflect on theirviews and ideas about children’s learning and development, and to analyse and question howthings are done in early childhood education. Effective professional development emphasisescollaborative knowledge-building, and practitioners sharing their situated learning experienceswith ICT with one another. It provides support networks to help practitioners to be activeresearchers in their own early childhood education setting, and to access current research andexpertise in ICT.ix

The use of ICT for administration and information management in early childhoodeducationAlthough computers and ICT are likely to be used in planning, administration, and informationmanagement in many early childhood education settings, there is little research which specificallyinvestigates this aspect of ICT use in early childhood education. ICT also presents opportunitiesfor sharing and exchange of information between different services and agencies involved inchildren’s care and education, but it is difficult to locate examples of this in the literature.Some relevant messages can be drawn from international literature about computerisation ofsystems for managing and sharing information about children who are looked after by socialservices. For example: the need for systems to make it easy to enter information and producereports that save on administrative work; the need to establish common goals between ICTspecialists, managers, and those who gather and input data; and the need to establish common dataexchange standards to allow for data transfer between systems. Individual early childhoodeducation centres may be using a variety of business and education administration packages. Thismay offer flexibility for individual centres to customise packages for their specific needs.However, it may also reduce the ease of communication and exchange of information betweendifferent systems and different locations.ICT access and infrastructure in New Zealand early childhood education settingsIndividual New Zealand studies of ICT use in early childhood education, and NZCER’s 2003national survey, indicate that current ICT use in early childhood education centres is variable.While some centres have begun to use ICT extensively to support children’s learning, othercentres report little or no use of ICT by children, or use of ICT to support children’s learning.Access to computers and other ICT varies between different kinds of centres. In general,kindergartens seem to be better-equipped and resourced than playcentres. Education and carecentres seem to lie somewhere in between. There is insufficient data to comment on the adequacyof ICT access and resourcing in other kinds of early childhood education setting. Some NewZealand practitioners have identified a need for access to technical and advisory support inrelation to ICT, particularly computer use.One of the most common uses of ICT in New Zealand early childhood education settings relatesto documentation of children’s learning. Over half of the teachers surveyed by NZCER in 2003reported they had access to a digital camera in their centre. Some early childhood educationcentres have used digital photography and other digital media to build up electronic or physicalportfolios of children’s learning for assessment purposes, and to share with children and theirfamilies. Just under half of centre managers surveyed by NZCER do not use a computer packagefor administrative purposes. Those who do use a range of educational and business packages.x

Implications of the review findings and areas for further researchThe findings of this review suggest that further development of ICT in New Zealand earlychildhood education should promote a view of ICT as a tool for enriching the teaching andlearning environment in early childhood education. Since ICT development should be consistentwith the purposes, practice, and social context of early childhood education, decisions about howto use this tool should be consistent with the principles, strands, and goals outlined in Te Whāriki.Access to research evidence about workable approaches to using ICT for teaching and learning inearly childhood settings would offer a valuable resource to practitioners. This review identifiedseveral areas in which further New Zealand research would contribute to the development andenhancement of ICT use in the early childhood education sector. In particular, research whichexplores both the role and the learning benefits of ICT use in New Zealand early childhoodeducation settings would be

7.3 Children’s use of ICT 64 7.4 Use of ICT to support children’s learning 65 Supporting children’s learning 65 Documenting children’s learning 65 7.5 Use of ICT to communicate with parents, caregivers, and whānau 66 7.6 Staff use of ICT for their own learning 66 7.7 Staff readiness and confidence to use ICT 67