MOD3WK6ASSIGN

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Emerging New Technologies in Early Childhood Education

Lua Shanks

EDDD 8113

Doctor of Education

Week 6: Refining the Problem and Purpose Statement Comment by Beryl Watnick: Week 8

Emerging New Technologies in Early Childhood Education

Technological revolutions have transformed early childhood education significantly. These developments have eased the tasks of instructors who had challenges related to delivering high-quality education. Aydin et al. (2017) found in their study that both the curriculum and instructional methods have weaknesses that significantly reduce education quality in early childhood schools. For instance, the authors found that the ratio of teachers to students is lower than required, which implies that there are more students per teacher. Consequently, the teachers cannot comprehensively deliver customized instructions to all students effectively due to time constraints. The authors recommend the use of technology, and employment of more teachers to increase instructional quality by increasing the time taken to teach each student according to their learning and developmental needs. In that regard, Dziuban et al. (2018) discuss raise concerns that there are many challenges in early childhood education (ECE). They include ineffective instructional methods, substandard learning environments, and inappropriate content that do not effectively support children's learning and developmental needs. The authors propose the use of technologies to promote quality education and growth in early childhood education. Comment by Beryl Watnick: Really? Where is there evidence for this statement? Comment by Beryl Watnick: grammar

Samudra et al. (2019) argue that the use of technology has not been used to the required potential to improve learners’ needs in early childhood education settings. For instance, the authors found that technological devices have the potential to increase children's developmental and educational needs. In this regard, the authors recommend the use of technological devices including tablets and computers to teach children. The authors researched and found that audiovisual learning devices increase interactive learning, which is associated with high engagement and high performance. Comment by Beryl Watnick: That is obvious, isn’t it?

Research Problem

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. The quality of instruction is not increasing regardless of the increasing advancements in technology. According to Aydin et al. (2017), changes are continuing to be noticed in classroom populations, and in performance. For instance, the number of immigrants has increased significantly, which implies that there is a crucial need to apply effective and appropriate instructional approaches. Additionally, there has been a disproportional improvement in instructional methods with technological advancements. The implication is that instructional approaches have not effectively embraced and applied technology to improve learning. Comment by Beryl Watnick: Yes! Good point! Comment by Beryl Watnick: Do you mean non English speakers?

Studies on emerging technologies in 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 (Samudra et al., 2019). The article talks about how technology assists students when they are with their parents. It also talks about how technology helps with new vocabulary, and this will help them to become a better speaker. It helped students to comprehend stories better. Overall, technology is a key to success based on this article. Comment by Beryl Watnick: …they enrich their vocabulary

Yulmaz et al. (2019) examine the importance of observation and social cues in learning. The article talked a lot about how significant it was to see certain behaviors and adjust and how this has been used to help learners improve their knowledge for years. The theory of social learning was another big aspect of this article. Basically, more focus on this theory could help students and other learners improve the way they grasp information.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine how best to integrate audiovisual technologies into ECE. In line with this goal, the research will explore the technologies used by educators to impart knowledge to early childhood learners. The concepts of interest include infusion of technology into early childhood education settings, and improving children’s learning and developmental needs using appropriate instructional approaches. 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.

One 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, Yılmaz & Yılmaz, 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. Comment by Beryl Watnick: Is this your framework section? Please go back to the exact assignment expectations. Comment by Beryl Watnick: Word choice?

Research Questions

1. Can audiovisual technologies improve learning in early childhood education settings? Comment by Beryl Watnick: This is a yes or no question and not appropriate for a study

2. How best can audiovisual equipment be used for blended learning for children under 10 years old in the State of California? Comment by Beryl Watnick: Alignment – this is the first time you mention 10 year olds in California. If this is your target audience, it should be discussed in each section.

Research Methodology and Design Comment by Beryl Watnick: Please adhere to my biweekly assignments. This was not asked for.

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. The grounded theory design will be used because it would aid in the formulation of a theory that will be based on the collected data from the results of application of audiovisual technology in education (Laird et al., 2018). 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.

Significance

The significance of the study is that it will increase the adoption of audiovisual technologies and their effective use at home and in schools to increase children’s developmental and educational needs.

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.

Banneyer, K. N., Bonin, L., Price, K., Goodman, W. K., & Storch, E. A. (2018). Cognitive behavioral therapy for childhood anxiety disorders: a review of recent advances. Current psychiatry reports, 20(8), 1-8.

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.

Laird, Y., Fawkner, S., & Niven, A. (2018). A grounded theory of how social support influences physical activity in adolescent girls. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 13(1), 1435099.

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.