Exploring educators’ use of technologies in early childhood settings

A School of education seminar presented on July 25th, 2018 by Jo Bird and Dr Marg Rogers

Technologies have become commonplace in most early childhood services; however, the provision of these technologies is inconsistent. The literature reveals a number of barriers and supports to access and utilisation of technologies within early childhood learning environments. These include: educator attitudes and confidence; educators’ pedagogical beliefs; access to technological devices; and the availability of support and professional development. Overall, there is a mismatch between educators acknowledging the benefits of young children’s technology use and the integration of technology during play episodes.

This study aims to identify the current reality for early childhood educators using digital technologies in their Australian based services and their visions for the future. In detail, it explores what technologies educator’s use, how they utilise technologies and their confidence employing them in various parts of their programme. Using a mixed method approach, this pilot study targeted educators from a range of services across Australia through an online survey. This seminar will present some preliminary findings and how these findings link to the literature. The findings also illustrate the vision participant educators communicated to build capacity.

Presentation