Abstract:

In January 2018, the European Council accepted the Digital Education Action Plan, which stipulates that member states must do their utmost to prepare people for future challenges, including the development of different competencies to operate in a digitized environment. To develop these innovative competences, the learning environment also needs to develop, and new knowledge should be sought after.

Educators should constantly strive to learn new skills together with their students. To achieve this, technologies, digital learning materials (DLM) and digital solutions must be used in the educational process, enhancing the digital competence of educators so that DLMs are not used only for entertainment purposes or only applied to strengthen certain skills. It is essential to use DLMs in a paedagogically substantiated manner as part of a technology-enhanced learning process. This will promote both the development of specific skills and the construction of new knowledge, as well as to promote pupils’ creativity, creative actions, critical thinking and ability to develop new and innovative solutions.

Latvia is taking steps to improve its education system, and these steps scaffold the development of all digital competences for the learners. This set of measures also includes identifying situations appropriate for the use of DLM and ensuring the provision of technology-enhanced learning at all levels of education.

This article summarizes the results of research on the current situation in the preschools of Latvia. It focuses primarily on what DLMs are used in Latvian preschools and the purpose of their use. To answer this question, a questionnaire survey was prepared, and 212 preschools took part in the conducted survey.

Keywords:

Digital learning materials, educational Technologies, preschool education, digital competence.