To tech or not to tech… This is the question that is taking the early education world by storm. Should kids be allowed to engage with technology at early ages and at school? Or should we withhold technological devices from them until they reach a certain age or grade? While I’m not here to tell you what to do, I am here to give you some insight about technology and the youth, pros and cons and leave the rest up to you!
First, lets define a few terms according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
- Interactive Media: “digital and analog materials, software programs, apps, broadcast and streaming media, some children’s television programming, e-books, the Internet, and other forms of content designed to facilitate active and creative use by young children and to encourage social engagement with other children and adults.”
- Non-Interactive Media: “include certain television programs, videos, DVDs, and streaming media now available on a variety of screens.”
- Noninteractive media can lead to passive viewing and overexposure to screen time for young children and are not substitutes for interactive and engaging uses of digital media or for interactions with adults and other children
- Digital Citizenship: “the need for adults and children to be responsible digital citizens through an understanding of the use, abuse, and misuse of technology as well as the norms of appropriate, responsible, and ethical behaviors related to online rights, roles, identity, safety, security, and communication.”
When thinking about sending your child to school, it can be anxiety provoking to think about how much time your child will sit behind a screen. However, I am here to tell you that technology is not all bad. While it does have its pros and cons, I feel it would be more problematic if we did not introduce our children to technology early. Here are some pros and cons about technology in the classroom.
- PRO
- Using technology can excite young students
- Using technology prepares the young students for the future
- Using technology can promote spontaneous learning and different forms of problem solving
- Using technology can give students and teachers access to current information
- Using technology can allow for faster learning
- Using technology can encourage participation
- CON
- Using technology can distract students
- Using technology can discourage socialization if not monitored properly
- Using too much technology can decrease creativity
- Integrating technology is often costly and time consuming for the teacher and students
Can Technology be Helpful in the Classroom?
As you’ve read, technology in the early education field is a sticky subject. My goal is to inform you about ALL sides of technology in the classroom and one thing I would like to address is how technology can be used to help humanize the classroom.
As it is now 2022, more children have experienced online learning than the world ever imagined they would. It is not a surprise that young children are coming to school already knowing how to use technology and have a desire to complete more work in that way. However, several years ago this was not the case.
In 2008 Salman Khan started Khan Academy. This is a FREE online learning platform where students can go and get world class education at their own convenience. I recently watched a TEDtalk where Khan discusses how he now assigns his lectures as “homework” and lets his students collaborate on the physical work in class. He calls this humanizing the classroom.
From there, he has grown into a worldwide success and is teaching the model of “humanizing the classroom” to teachers all over. His main premise is that students are now doing a once “one size fits all” lecture at home and making it unique to their learning style. Then, when they are at school, the students are given the ability to collaborate with peers and complete the homework with the teacher and receive feedback. Instead of doing the parts of the lesson that don’t allow for collaboration at school, they are now doing alone. This premise of self-paced learning that once seemed like a foreign concept is now producing great results.
Personally, over my coursework I have learned about the power of collaboration for students and the positive impacts it makes on their learning. While his lecture was not on collaboration specifically, he did touch on how his students learned more and understood better when they were able to ask their peers and teachers questions more often.
While most of my content is about children, I also loved his point about how online technology is empowering adults. Specifically, adults who did not finish their education and are too afraid to go back to school. Having online lessons also humanizes these people as it allows them to learn content at their own pace without judgment from others. It allows them to take extra time when they need it and review topics that society feels they should already know. I think this is a HUGE confidence booster for these people and may help them take the leap back into the world of education. Hopefully if you are in this group of people this post gives you the motivation to go for it!
Overall, this video emphasizes a huge point that students learn more when they are able to do it at their own pace. Traditional education can leave students in the dust and technology is a great way to combat that issue. While I am not a teacher and do not plan on going into education, I can see how beneficial flipped classrooms can be based on my experience in college through a pandemic. When students are able to “start and stop” their teacher on their own terms when learning content, I feel the comprehension is better by a landslide.
Not Sure Where to Start?
Deciding when your child should have access to technology and how long they should use it for can be a tricky thing for parents to figure out. Below, I have listed some recommendations about technology use for young children from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
- Until 18 months of age limit screen use to video chatting along with an adult
- Between 18 and 24 months screen time should be limited to watching educational programming with a caregiver.
- For children 2-5, limit non-educational screen time to about 1 hour per weekday and 3 hours on the weekend days.
- For ages 6 and older, encourage healthy habits and limit activities that include screens.
- Turn off all screens during family meals and outings.
- Learn about and use parental controls.
- Avoid using screens as pacifiers, babysitters, or to stop tantrums.
- Turn off screens and remove them from bedrooms 30-60 minutes before bedtime.
Those are the national guidelines for technology and young children. However, I am human and understand that those are not always obtainable. Here are 5 personal recommendations I have for technology and your young child.
- Limit screen use for preschool children, ages 2 to 5, to just one hour a day of high-quality programming.
- If a child needs to be entertained while you are trying to accomplish something, try turning on a short educational program and interacting with them about it when you can.
- Screens should be kept away from children younger than 2 years old other than when video chatting with family.
- Parents should keep track of their own screen and media usage to better implement these life changes into their own lives and families.
- For teens and screens, parents should dedicate rooms or times of the day that are screen and media free such as meal time.
Personal Opinion!
For my future educators still on the fence about technology in their classroom, here is what I would do.
Ultimately, I would decide to include technology in my classroom. While I see great benefits in creating a classroom without it, I would be doing the children more of a disservice to exclude technology. For example, in the Waldorf approach, they believe writing and literature are things children should experience, not be tested over. This is accomplished through play, exploration, creativity, and an emphasis on enjoying learning. However, I would still elect to keep technology in my classroom because we live in a technological world, and children are exposed to all kinds of technology at home. Whether it be a phone, tablet, computer, or TV, children are coming into classrooms knowing how to work these devices at very young ages.
Personally, I think it would be more beneficial to teach a child how to use these devices correctly and to their advantage rather than keeping them away from them. In this course, we talk a lot about digital citizenship and I have really gained a deep understanding of how important it is. Ultimately, I would hate to be the teacher responsible for sending a child to elementary school where they are required to use a computer and the child had no idea how to use it.
There is no escaping technology. It is here to stay and it is our job as educators to use it properly and integrate it well in order to best serve our students.
How has Technology in Early Education Changed my Life?
As an older sister to a brother with Down Syndrome, the use of technology made interacting and communicating with my brother possible. I remember being 9 years old and dreaming about the life I would create with him. Things like playing sports together and riding bikes were both things high on my list. However, when my parents sat me down and explained what Down Syndrome was, all those plans changed in the blink of an eye. He wasn’t going to be able to do any of those things with me without a little help. That’s where technology comes into play.
Being in a special needs family, I know a lot about ADA and assistive technology, but I don’t know everything. The thing I am most knowledgeable about is the use of tablets for communication. As my brother is mostly nonverbal, he relies on an app to say words for him and communicate with us. Without the use of this app, I don’t know how we would ever meet his needs.
Another thing that plays hand in hand with technology in the classroom is Universal Design. Universal Design is the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. Things like automatic wheelchairs are also a huge piece of technology and Universal Design allows children in wheelchairs to be included. While I am not a parent, I often wonder how scary it must be to have a child with special needs and not know for sure what they are doing in school.
I am a firm believer that children with special needs are not a “problem” and they do not “ruin” lives. As I have stated, there are many assistive technology devices in the world today that allow for a smooth transition into the world of a special needs child. As I learned at the beginning of the semester, technology is anything we use to make things easier for us. Why would we blame a child for wanting to make things easier in their life?
Want more information on how to make your home or classroom better suited for universal design? Here are 5 recommendations I would make based on universal design.
(1) making sure all classroom labels are accompanied by a picture
(2) all books are accompanied with a set of headphones should a child choose to listen to the book
(3) giving children lots of options for flexible seating and allowing them to write or do activities on the floor if they so chose
(4) ensuring all types of blocks are available for children (wood, velcro, textured, etc)
(5) leaving space in classrooms for all types of mobility assistance devices.
References
10 benefits & uses for technology in the classroom: Lumen learning. Lumen Learning | Open for student success. (2021, October 29). Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://lumenlearning.com/technology-in-the-classroom/
Kletzel, W. by J. (2021, June 21). The use of technology in the classroom: Why is it important? Jeron Kletzels ePortfolio. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://edusites.uregina.ca/jeronkletzel/2021/05/27/the-use-of-technology-in-the-classroom/
Technology for Families 
Leave a comment