Young children who are English Language Learners or have special learning needs can find it difficult to communicate in kindergarten classrooms. Open-ended tablet applications offer multi-modal tools for these children to communicate their ideas, engage with others, and demonstrate and develop their knowledge and skills. They position students as the producers and creators of the literacy content. Using pedagogical strategies such as effective routines, opportunities to collaborate and share with peers, and modelling, kindergarten educators can employ open-ended iPad apps to support the literacy and digital learning of children who are English Language Learners or who have special learning needs.
This 2-year research study followed 14 kindergarten classrooms in Ontario as they used open-ended tablet applications to support literacy learning. Through multimodal slideshows the children explored identities such as reporter, teacher, and architect during self-initiated role-play. The slideshows they created demonstrated multimodal productions that were longer, more complex, and more varied than their literacy production with traditional literacy tools and practices. Rather than supplanting traditional kindergarten meaning-making practices such as role-play, children folded digital affordances into their play in ways that expanded the range of identities they explored and the tools and practices with which they explored them.
This research study examined 27 educators' experiences and comfort levels using open-ended tablet applications to support young children's oral and visual literacy learning. The open-ended applications used positioned students as the producers and creators of the literacy content. While the educators did experience some structural, technological, and pedagogical challenges using the applications, they reported many teaching and learning benefits. They found that using the applications empowered them with additional tools to support children in creating, documenting, and reflecting on their learning. Students were also empowered through being able to represent and archive their experiences in multiple modes and in their own voice. Through viewing the slideshows, parents were able to share in their children's school lives.
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