Abstract:

Digital literacy and technology integration are important aspects to consider within teacher education as a way to address 21st century learner needs, but the nature of early childhood and elementary classrooms present developmentally appropriate challenges. As the desire for developmental appropriateness should guide technology use and selection, it makes sense that conversations regularly emerge regarding how much, what, and when technology should be used in the classrooms for young children. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) provides a position statement created in conjunction with the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning positing that “developmentally appropriate teaching practices must always guide the selection of any classroom materials, including technology and interactive media”. At the same time, “We live in a technological age, so it follows that children need the skills, competences and enthusiasms to function and flourish in the world in which they are growing up”.

A report issued by Blackwell, Wartella, Lauricella, & Robb in conjunction with the Fred Rogers Center highlights that many early childhood educators primarily use technology “to document learning, suggesting they may not have sufficient training and support to use the technology in more dynamic ways”. In short, professional development for practicing teachers should remain a focus to ensure developmentally appropriate uses of technology in classrooms. These challenges have been ever present and a key consideration in one of our graduate courses in elementary and early childhood education. This particular course focuses on curriculum design and pedagogy and uses instructional technology as the lens. A chief goal of the course is to help practicing teachers consider how they are using technology within their instruction, and whether or not the use is teacher-centered, student-centered, and/or fosters digital literacy in a developmentally appropriate way. Further, the course asks these practicing teachers to develop a plan to improve their technology use in the classroom in ways that are logical given their teaching contexts.

In order to use instructional technology as a lens, a synthesis of technology frameworks is completed as part of course instruction and is a key element in helping course participants understand what “good” pedagogy utilizing technology represents. These frameworks include the Framework for 21st Century Learning (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2011), Levels of Technology Integration (LOTi), the Technology Integration Matrix, Grappling’s Technology and Learning Spectrum, and Tiers of Technology Integration into the Classroom published by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington. These frameworks were chosen as a result of conversations with instructional technology specialists in several school districts, as it would allow our course to mirror the support that they provide their teachers. Course participants use this synthesis to self-assess where their current level of instruction is positioned so they can begin to consider what they would need to do to improve their technology integration within their instruction. These understandings continue to come into play throughout the rest of the course as they complete various projects including curriculum design that will inform the final course assignment - a plan to better embed technology in their own classrooms.

Keywords:

Developmentally appropriate instructional technology, technology frameworks, curriculum design and pedagogy.