Provocative articles catch attention and social media responses about technology in early childhood but they are not the whole story.
It is naive to think our young children are growing up in the same way that adults did. Young children today are growing up in a digital world, and a vast range of digital technologies are shaping young people’s lives, learning and wellbeing. More research is needed into how digital technologies have affected child health, […]
How are you going to face the long summer? You may have food and drinks in the fridge or plans to visit people who do. You probably have your fire survival and evacuation plan organised. But what about your ‘children and technology’ plan? Have you activated a plan for relaxing and avoiding conflict over children’s […]
Many children around the world now have a digital footprint before they can even walk! Their pictures and videos are featured on their families’ social media channels or even their own dedicated pages managed by their families. But what are the risks involved? At what point does it become ‘sharenting’? And do educators have a […]
Australian talent and early childhood expertise come together in nominations for a prestigious international award— The 2019 Webby Awards—recognising the best on the internet. This is a chance to find the positives behind the risks and ‘things that have gone wrong’ stories about the internet. Find out what good practice and innovation can do for […]
National Science Week is next week (15-23 August) and this blog highlights women in science. Kirsty Costa, from Cool Australia, says children learn to associate science with men from an early age, and educators and families can do something about that. Read on for more and see the links below to Cool Australia’s free early childhood science […]
Digital citizenship sounds like a weighty topic. Perhaps too weighty for the youngest children. Is it even relevant to very young children and if so, what does it mean for their families, educators and carers? This is one of the issues that surfaced during the Early Childhood Australia conference keynote and workshops by Dr Chip […]
What is your approach to your own learning? How do you incorporate new skills, knowledge and experiences into your professional practice and private life? In ECA’s digital technology projects including the Digibiz survey of childhood educators, carers, directors, principals and managers we found some interesting patterns. Being intentional, applying the same approaches to technology learning […]
Can a dog’s undirected ‘skills’ teach us about STEM learning among children? Is an activity that we don’t understand the same as learning a new skill? In an amusing blog, Daniel Groenewald recently looked at coding, how we might teach skills and what we hope to achieve. Posted on 1 August by Clare McHugh with excerpts from original post by Daniel […]
Victoria University Toys and apps for kids are a multi-million-dollar industry, and being able to label something as “educational” is a major selling point. However, “educational” is often in the eye of the beholder and the potential of any app, or toy, relates to what you can creatively do with them with children. With more […]
Preparing for an ECA webinar this week on Being an Intentional Educator, got me thinking about intentionality and the use of technology in education and care settings. Educators have intentions or views about technology that go from being challenged and excited by technology and finding ways to embrace it, and at the other end of […]
