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Week 2 Assignment: Research Problem Development

Lua Shanks

Dr. Watnick

E.D.D. 8013

Walden University

12-12-21

Emerging New Technologies in Early Childhood Education Comment by Watnick, Beryl: You had a 100% similarity index on this paper and it appears that you submitted this for a prior course. I understand that the assignments could mirror each other but you did not comply with the format asked for in this assignment. Your research is well grounded but you were asked to provide annotated bibliographies at this stage. Also, your format is fully justified which does not comply with APA.

Background

The Early Childhood Education (ECE) practice is faced with many challenges ranging from inadequate teaching and learning resources, lack of government goodwill, to financial constraints to facilitate teaching operations. Dziuban et al. (2018) highlighted several challenges faced by early childhood education. The scholars argue that poor teaching programs and environments for teachers are among the hurdles facing early childhood education. Aydin et al. (2017) also established that a high pupil-teacher ratio hinders the implementation of early childhood education. Nonetheless, early childhood educators can improve the teaching-learning environment by integrating audiovisual technologies in the teaching-learning setup.

Problem Statement

The problem is that many early year teachers in the current education sector do not have enough ICT equipment and expertise at their disposal to adequately deliver holistic instruction to early year learners. According to Aydin et al. (2017), educators are increasingly embracing new learning technologies, but have poor technical skills which hamper their capacity to use the technologies. For instance, far too many teachers in the education sector do not have the required phonics skills to teach early year learners how to read and spell words correctly (Dziuban et al., 2018). Research on emerging technologies in early ECE is replete with evidence that shows when children view a video with their parents or teachers and narrate stories, they learn new vocabularies better (Dziuban et al., 2018; Samudra et al., 2019). Therefore, there is a discernible gap in practice about the selection of the most effective audiovisual technologies in content delivery in Early Childhood Education. Comment by Watnick, Beryl: Very well stated.

Evidence from the Local Setting

Researchers that have evaluated vocabulary learning from video indicating that when children co-view a video with their parents or direct their attention to the video and talk about stories, they are likely to learn new vocabularies. There is less evidence to suggest word learning from video for children who are less than two years old (Samudra et al., 2019). Early research shows that video chats on a touch screen have yielded desirable results (Samudra et al., 2019). Some studies show that mobile devices hold promise for children learning since they are interactive and apps can be tailored to meet each learner's needs (Samudra et al., 2019). However, lack of technology alignment with curriculum and instruction remains a huge hindrance to technology adoption in childhood learning.

The Gap in Practice

The education sector continues to make significant investments to bring technologies to schools. However, such technological implementations are often more learner-centric than teacher-oriented. Additionally, there is an overreliance on computers as the newest technology being integrated in the ECE curriculum. Not only are computers expensive for many underprivileged students, but there is other, more effective hi-tech equipment that can be used for early years learners in the learning environment. For instance, word processing devices, talking books, and word banks are better than computers in teaching young children how to read and write (Samudra, Flynn, & Wong, 2019). Moreover, teachers do not have sufficient equipment with which to monitor the progress of learners when they use these devices. However, research suggests that the use of web cams, interactive whiteboards, audio recorders, and other ICT tools can improve the learning experience for young children (Samudra, Flynn, & Wong, 2019).

Purpose Statement Comment by Watnick, Beryl: The following sections were not part of this week’s assignment. I am not evaluating it at this point. And I have concerns as it appears you have reused an assignment from a prior course.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to determine the best way to integrate audiovisual technologies into ECE as well as possible ways to increase funding for ECE technology in the curriculum. In line with this goal, the research will explore the technologies used by educators to impart knowledge to early childhood learners. Apart from teachers’ ICT tools, this study will also examine audiovisual technologies used by early education students. The basis of this research is the idea that there is inadequate application of technology in the classroom which reduces the quality of learning in many ECE classrooms. Findings of this research will help improve the learning experience of early childhood learners by selection of the most appropriate audiovisual technologies to be used in ECE classrooms. Additionally, the study will suggest ways by which teachers can improve government goodwill towards blended learning to increase funding for technology in ECE.

Theoretical or Conceptual Framework

The social learning theory, which was originally developed by psychologist Bandura emphasizes the significance of observation, replication of behaviors, attitudes, and feelings of others (Yılmaz, Yılmaz & Yılmaz, 2019). The social learning theory concurs with the postulates of the behavioral theory. For instance, both theories assert that there are mediating actions between stimuli and corresponding responses. Additionally, both the Social Learning Theory and the Behavioral Theory concur that animals learn behaviors from the environment by observing the actions of others (Yılmaz et al., 2019). These basic principles are relevant to the application of technology in ECE. In the teaching-learning environment, there exist stimuli that can be used in the learning process.

Bandura emphasized in the social learning theory that children observe the actions and behaviors of the people around them and assimilate them. In the well-known Bobo doll experiment, the psychologist assigned models to various children (Yılmaz et al., 2019). These models had certain behavioral characteristics that were to be replicated by the young children. The aim was for the kids to imitate and develop certain behaviors based on their observations. While developing his theory, Bandura believed that human beings are not passive learners, who automatically imitate behavior. There is a thought process involved and people can choose whether to imitate behaviors or not, based on a number of factors (Yılmaz et al., 2019). Thus, mental activity mediates observation and replication.

In the social learning theory, Bandura suggested four meditational stages between behavior observation and replication of behavior; attention, retention, replication, and, motivation (Yılmaz et al., 2019). An individual, an early childhood learner, has to first pay attention to the stimuli. Research is replete with evidence that young children pay higher levels of attention to the educational content when audiovisual teaching aids are used. Therefore, such findings suggest that emerging technologies will increase the attention span of ECE learners. Sustained attention in the teaching-learning environment improves the teaching-learning experience.

Another important postulate of the social learning theory is retention. When young children observe other people or inanimate objects such as mobile tablets, they remember their actions. However, since the behavior is mediated by a mental process, it may or may not be remembered. The application of interactive media makes the learning process more interesting for the learner, thus increasing the probability of retaining the content being delivered in the ECE classroom (Yılmaz et al., 2019). Even when there is short-term replication of the targeted behavior, there needs to be a memory to act as a point of reference in future.

The last two most important steps of the learning process in the social learning theory are reproduction of the desired behavior and motivation. In some instances, people can observe behaviors from others but fail to imitate them, despite repeated attempts to replicate them. For instance in teaching pronunciation, an ECE learner can use talking books in learning phonics but fail to pronounce the words correctly. This issue is even more prevalent among learners with special needs. Additionally, according to the social learning theory, for the behavior to be continually replicated, motivation is an important factor (Yılmaz et al., 2019). If the rewards of imitating an action outweigh its costs and consequences, the subject is more likely to replicate the behavior. The reverse is also true. Thus, all these mediating factors play a significant role in the learning process because they involve imitation and retention of behavior.

Research Question(s)

1. How can various audiovisual equipment be used for blended learning for children under 10 years old in the State of California?

Methodology

The study will utilize a qualitative design to investigate how best the various audiovisual equipment be used for blended learning for children under 10 years old in the State of California. To that end, six participants will be selected using purposive sampling technique. The participants will encompass individuals from the education sector, teachers, and community members. The gathered data will be analyzed using content analysis tools. This process will involve identifying key themes and performing analytical procedures to confirm or reject the hypothesis.

Possible Types and Sources of Information or Data

The proposed research questions can be addressed using different sources of data. Primary data sources, can, for instance, be gathered directly from the selected respondents. Such data types will be qualitative in nature since they will provide information on the participants’ experiences, perceptions, and views regarding technological implementation in early childhood education settings. Other sources of data will be from major data repositories and government agencies that store such records, such as the Department of Education.

References

Aydin, H., Ozfidan, B., & Carothers, D. (2017). Meeting the challenges of curriculum and instruction in school settings in the United States. Journal of Social Studies Education Research, 8(3), 76-92.

Dziuban, C., Graham, C. R., Moskal, P. D., Norberg, A., & Sicilia, N. (2018). Blended learning: the new normal and emerging technologies. International journal of educational technology in Higher education, 15(1), 1-16.

Huda, M., Jasmi, K. A., Hehsan, A., Mustari, M. I., Shahrill, M., Basiron, B., & Gassama, S. K. (2017). Empowering children with adaptive technology skills: Careful engagement in the digital ınformation age. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 9(3), 693-708.

Kontovourki, S., Garoufallou, E., Ivarsson, L., Klein, M., Korkeamaki, R. L., Koutsomiha, D., ... & Virkus, S. (2017). Digital literacy in the early years: Practices in formal settings, teacher education, and the role of informal learning spaces: A review of the literature.

MacBlain, S. (2018). Learning theories for early years practice. Sage.

Samudra, P. G., Flynn, R. M., & Wong, K. M. (2019). Coviewing Educational Media: Does Coviewing Help Low-Income Preschoolers Learn Auditory and Audiovisual Vocabulary Associations?. AERA Open, 5(2), 2332858419853238.

Yılmaz, M., Yılmaz, U., & Yılmaz, E. N. D. (2019). The relation between social learning and visual culture. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 11(4), 421-427.