FOR COMPANIES AND THEIR EMPLOYEES
March 28, 2021
Why digital technologies are vital for early childhood education – now more than ever
by Kinderjahre
Why digital technologies are vital for early childhood education – now more than ever
Science has long been showing that digital technology can offer powerful tools for learning (Burns/Gottschalk 2020: 9).
Yet, in practice, parents and teachers are often confronted with a lack of knowledge.
What is it that makes information and communication technologies so promising in learning environments?
Two answers stand out from the rest.
- In pandemic times, children can hugely benefit from virtual learning
Covid-19 and the accompanying sanitary crisis have stimulated a huge debate about the pros and cons of virtual learning.
Despite an often-difficult implementation process, studies show that it may counteract some of the negative effects of isolation (Champeaux et al. 2020: 21).
Moreover, virtual learning spaces seem to equip students with the necessary skills for today’s and future job markets (Miranda 2020).
Yet, to reap those potential benefits, children should “have a facilitator or mentor on hand, someone to help with the technology and focus their attention” (Carey 2020).
Our educational platform PAIGE offers a way of putting these findings into practice: it serves as a digital tool that facilitates constant communication between all people that are important for a child’s development.
- Digital technologies allow for greater integration through personalized education
Personalized education offers a wide range of possibilities to teachers, parents, and children.
Most importantly, it opens up a way for greater integration because it shifts the focus towards an educational approach “that is relevant for each individual and not just a selected few” (Kucirkova 2017: 35).
For this shift to be successful, science suggests “keeping personalized education varied and open to the joint influence of a network of people” (Kucirkova 2017: 35).
Moreover, it is important to acknowledge that “technology-enabled personalized education can mean many different things in practice” (Kucirkova 2017: 40).
Here, too, PAIGE can serve as a tool to turn possibilities into reality – it encourages constant network communication and offers a way to adapt and personalize education to different sites, allowing for customized functionalities according to individual needs.
PAIGE thus shows the huge potential of digital technologies for early childhood education –
all whilst keeping in mind that the optimal learning moment is best achieved through a balance between individual and collective endeavors (Kucirkova 2017: 170).
Sources:
Burns, T./Gottschalk, F. (2020). Education in the Digital Age: Healthy and Happy Children. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Carey, B. (2020). What We’re Learning About Online Learning. New York: New York Times.
Champeaux, H./Piccoli, L./Mangiavacchi, L./Marchetta, F. (2020). Learning at Home: Distance Learning Solutions and Child Development during the COVID-19 Lockdown. Bonn: IZA – Institute of Labor Economics.
Kucirkova, N. (2017). Digital Personalization in Early Childhood: Impact on Childhood. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Miranda, G. (2020). The unexpected benefits of virtual education. Geneva: World Economic Forum.