Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

11.2.11 | The Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council has issued a professional development “blueprint” to advance the use of effective digital media in teaching and learning, with a special emphasis on instruction for underserved students.

A new report on early learning programs has found that the majority of such programs lack research-based and innovative training models, particularly around the use of modern technologies and educational media, and less than half of all early childhood programs are considered “high quality.”

In an attempt to improve teaching and learning, the report, “Take A Giant Step: A Blueprint for Teaching Young Children in A Digital Age,” issued by the Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council, puts forth several goals for the United States to meet by 2020:

• Advance technology integration and infrastructure – the Council recommends that the President and Congress expand broadband policies and technology integration efforts to cover publicly supported preschool programs. 
• Modernize professional learning programs and models – the Council urges states, local districts, Head Start and other early learning programs to develop curricula and training resources for teachers and parents on the appropriate use of technologies with young children. The Council recommends specific reforms to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to integrate the use of technology in both preparation and ongoing training programs.
• Expand public media use as a cost-effective asset for teachers – given their low cost, research-based development, but current limited use in early childhood settings, the Council recommends the creation of more public-private partnerships to create and distribute public media assets more widely.
• Create a Digital Teacher Corps – the Council recommends a new public-private partnership be designed to support a corps of teachers whose goal is to integrate modern technologies and best teaching practices to address the “fourth grade reading slump” that afflicts over one million young children annually.

We’ve previously written about the proposal for the Digital Teacher Corps, which was put forth in September in a research brief (pdf) written by Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and James Paul Gee, a professor of literacy studies at Arizona State University. Modeled after Teach for America, the Digital Teachers Corps would recruit 1,500 “digitally savvy young teachers, as well as a cadre of community literacy mentors including master teachers and librarians” for the first year and scale up by 5,000 people annually. Participants would be dispatched into public schools in low-income communities.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, convened the Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council in January 2010. Co-chaired by Levine and Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford University, its 18 members represent academic, technology and public service media fields.

The Council reviewed assessments of current practices in early education and elementary school teaching, including online professional development courses, statewide technology innovations such as the Maine One-to-One Laptop program, and technology integration through applications such as Building Blocks software and university-based programs introduced by Tufts University. From the executive summary:

Given the growing ubiquity of digital media in most children’s lives, thoughtful integration of technology in learning environments can benefit children as young as ages 3 to 8. Enhanced, modernized early learning will improve their long-term prospects for school success. Technology is most productive in young children’s lives when it enhances their engagement in the rich activities of childhood — talking, interacting, manipulating, pretending, reading, constructing, exploring — as well as in children’s reflections on their actions and experiences. Digital media that can contribute in these ways and that also exposes children to new knowledge and enriching vocabulary are emerging, as evident in the examples offered in this report. Teachers in the early grades and beyond can make use of such strategies to improve learning for young children and better meet individual needs. 

However, in order to be effective, U.S. teachers need more robust professional preparation as well as more ongoing support than they currently receive, especially with respect to understanding children’s learning and development, providing learning experiences with rich cognitive demands, and using new technologies to promote personalized learning and 21st century skills. In the enhancing of teacher education, digital tools can play significant roles — for instance in online courses, connected learning communities, and in websites and other media offering video teaching examples, curriculum plans, and materials. Leadership at the school, district, state, and national level is essential for capitalizing on opportunities made possible by technology integration in the classroom.

“Teaching young children today demands a new approach to an exciting but increasingly complex set of challenges,” said Darling-Hammond in a press release accompanying the release of the report. “Quality early learning programs in our digital age will be led by highly prepared, flexible teachers who can effectively integrate what they know about healthy child development with the resources of an always connected, thoroughly modern environment. ‘Take a Giant Step’ demonstrates how to design a new pathway for our youngest kids—where teaching is intentional, learning is engaging, and community matters most.”

“Take a Giant Step” was written by Darling-Hammond and Levine, along with Brigid Barron, Laura Bofferding, Gabrielle Cayton-Hodges and Carol Copple. The full report is available at joanganzcooneycenter.org/Reports-31.html.