Open Discussion Forum

Expand all | Collapse all

Are you an innovator in early childhood?

  • 1.  Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-27-2018 04:59 PM
    Hello Early Childhood Community!

    In early March, the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival will feature an early childhood track. This Conference is known for its creative and innovative focus. In the EC track, participants will connect innovative practices and technology to the field of early childhood. One session will feature the new Head Starter Network, with discussions on th role of AI and technology in the EC classroom. I plan to attend, with the goal of curating cutting edge concepts for future early childhood programs. 

    I am looking for other regions of the country where partnerships, innovation, design and technology are at the forefront of early childhood practice. Would you please share your work and your location? I'm interested in learning more about you as I am working on a very special project in our community. 

    Austin colleagues: please recommend innovative initiatives in the city worthy of a tour. 

    Many thanks for sharing!
    Chris


    ------------------------------
    Christine Whitmire
    Principal & Consultant
    Early Learning Center
    Granger IN
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-28-2018 08:35 AM
    Hi Christine,

    The NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ECETECH/.

    ------------------------------
    Bonnie Blagojevic
    Morningtown Consulting
    Orono ME
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-29-2018 08:20 AM
    Thinking about your question a bit more…
    The TEC center http://teccenter.erikson.edu/, Fred Rogers Center blog http://www.fredrogerscenter.org/news-events/blog/ and Joan Ganz Cooney Center http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/ often publish about innovative use of technology for early learning.


    ------------------------------
    Bonnie Blagojevic
    Morningtown Consulting
    Orono ME
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-29-2018 01:19 PM
    Thanks Bonnie for your ideas. We're hoping members will start sharing their ideas on Hello rather than having to remember so many different platforms. I myself would love to go South by Southwest - maybe another year! I'm interested in how the presentations discuss technology as a useful tool for teachers and children and wonder if they will refer to NAEYC's many tech related resources including the position statement.  I'm really interested in hearing more from the NAEYC community on Hello about making decisions about which technology tools and resources to use and integrate. How do you evaluate which technology tools to use in your classrooms? Do you use the NAEYC position statement for guidance?
    Thanks,
    Susan


    ------------------------------
    Susan Friedman

    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-29-2018 02:22 PM
    Hi Susan!

    As someone who rejoiced when the position statement came out, I was happy about the guidance, but it's not specific enough to help practitioners make selections of tools or integrate them into their programs. Many books were written and resources developed to help teachers and administrators apply the principles of the position statement, though, including two by Chip Donohue, two by Brian Puerling, and one by me and Karen Nemeth. Those books are just a few of the resources that have become available to programs since the publication of the Position Statement. It's hard to keep up with developments in technology, but the Position Statement is an important enduring organizing document that provides the framework for more practical resources. It's hard for directors and teachers to find the books that provide practical guidance because tech books are produced by so many publishers!

    ------------------------------
    Fran Simon, M.Ed.
    Engagement Strategies, LLC
    Early Childhood Investigations Webinars
    Early Childhood Investigations Consultants Directory
    Washington, DC Metro
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-30-2018 06:13 AM
    Hello Fran, Bonnie and Susan!

    I appreciate your references to the variety of resources out there that share innovative practices in technology. In my experience, seeing is believing. Do these references actually list programs that have built a commitment to innovate as part of their program philosophy? That's what I am looking for. I would like to be immersed in how they accomplished this. This may nor may not include highly developed technologies- but rather a spirit of pushing the envelope of the current early
    childhood experience with an eye on the future. What will the families of the future need as the culture rapidly changes? I've heard that high end centers in Silicon Valley actually do not use the newest technologies much if at all. If this is true, than what is this telling us?  One that comes to mind is Boulder Journey School. How about Erikson in Chicago? Harlem Children's Zone. I will take it upon myself to visit a few. 

    Bonnie, you mentioned you were interested in my project- I am consulting to bring a community center to a mid size city that supports lifelong learning. There will be a strong emphasis on the early years, braided with community supports and a teaching school to develop our local EC workforce! Strong community partnerships (including business) are key to this project.  I am hoping this Center could become a model for others if we develop it right. As previously mentioned, I would like to start with other pioneers and build on their work, but I am having a hard time locating truly innovative philosophy and execution in the field with regards to design, technology, educational philosophy, creativity, practice. To me, usage of technology is just a small part of the answer. 

    I'm hoping the SXSW EDU Conference disrupts my current thinking in good ways- I look forward to learning more about The Head Starter Network and any other initiatives that support an innovative approach to our field. 

    Please continue to share recommendations!
    Chris

    ------------------------------
    Christine Whitmire
    Principal & Consultant
    Early Learning Ctr
    Granger IN
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-30-2018 08:28 AM
    Christine,

    Your closing thought - "I'm hoping the SXSW EDU Conference disrupts my current thinking in good ways-" is speaking to me this morning!!  Thank you for clarifying your thoughts on how building on technology skills does not always mean the use of technology...  I love the word choice - "Disrupts"!! I believe that young children need to figure out "how" things work, develop their motor skills, engage in social activities, etc... before they are ready to jump into technology gadgets:). I look forward to hearing more about your project!  Best of luck....

    ------------------------------
    Diane Volcansek
    Director
    Christ Presbyterian Preschool
    Fairfax VA
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-30-2018 11:50 AM
    I am reading a very interesting book, Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play, by Mitchel Resnick. The book takes a very different orientation to technology in the classroom, although it does not specifically focus on early childhood education. As he writes, "In my research group at MIT, we've developed a set of four guiding principles for helping young people develop as creative thinkers: projects, passion, peers, and play. In short, we believe the best way to cultivate creativity is to support people working on projects based on their passions, in collaboration with peers, and in a playful spirit (p.16)". One of Resnick's frustrations is  the following problem: "Too often, designers of educational materials and activities simply add a thin layer of technology and gaming over antiquated curriculum and pedagogy . . . (p.22)" He looks at the creative process in terms of a Creative Learning Spiral that has some similarities to an Inquiry Learning Spiral: Imagine, create, play, share, reflect, and back to imagine (p. 11).

    It  would be interesting to think about Resnick's ideas and discuss how it relates to how we teach children in early childhood classrooms, particularly as it has to do with integrating technology as a creative process as we say we believe and use the term STEAM to describe.

    ------------------------------
    Nora Krieger
    Associate Professor Emerita/ Chair NJEEPRE
    Bloomfield College/ New Jersey Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
    Highland Park NJ
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 01-30-2018 01:36 PM
    Christine- thank you for explaining more about your project/interests. Very helpful!

    Susan- a belated reply… I had cut and pasted my original post:
    The NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum has a Facebook page NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum [moderater edits: and it also used to maintain a separate listserve and online community before the Hello space became available.]. 

    In addition to appreciating/sharing about the NAEYC/FRC position statement on tech in workshops, etc, also really like/recommend the article in  the Sept issue of YC  https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/sep2017/technology-and-interactive-media looking at the research/literaure from the 5 years since that PS was published, (thank you co-authors Chip and Roberta) and summary of key points/consensus to inform practice.

    Nora- Mitch Resnick and his group at MIT have offered (and plan to offer again soon) a free online course based on the principles you are reading about in his book, with the intention of building an online community. More info can be found on the Learning Creative Learning website: http://learn.media.mit.edu/lcl/   Yes- very interesting to consider those concepts in early learning contexts, and to see if others have already been applying these ideas...

    ------------------------------
    Bonnie Blagojevic
    Morningtown Consulting
    Orono ME
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Are you an innovator in early childhood?

    Posted 02-05-2018 09:23 AM
    Christine-thank you for mentioning the Head Starter Network. Just took a look at their website https://www.headstarternetwork.org/ and looks like an exciting organization and effort. Would love to hear highlights after you attend their session, and others at the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival in March and/or about innovative programs you discover...

    "I am having a hard time locating truly innovative philosophy and execution in the field with regards to design, technology, educational philosophy, creativity, practice. To me, usage of technology is just a small part of the answer."

    Thinking about your comments, and Nora's mention of Mitch Redneck's book and what this might look like in practice, makes me think of Cate Heroman's work and book Making and Tinkering with Stem https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/books/making-and-tinkering-with-stem, encouraging design thinking. She has also been involved with a community project, The Knock Knock Museum http://knockknockmuseum.org/ which opened last August. Wasn't sure if you were interested in children's/ museums such as https://nysci.org/ or https://pittsburghkids.org/ (noticed a link there to a blog post "Making Spaces: Expanding Maker Education Across the Nation" http://makeshoppgh.com/2017/04/06/making-spaces/ which may prove helpful...?)


    ------------------------------
    Bonnie Blagojevic
    Morningtown Consulting
    Orono ME
    ------------------------------