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The data reported in this paper are part of a larger case study with children from 2 to 12 years of age, that took place over 4 years. The data reported here pertains to children in the age range 4–8 years of age in Australia. The children were from low socio‐economic schools in one Australian state. The study was concerned with providing empirical evidence about learning ecologies in which teachers designed multimodal experiences to support young children to become literate in the 21st century. Using a participant observation methodology, both the pedagogical strategies and learning experiences of young children were documented in the form of narratives of early childhood practices. The aim was to consider the potential for new learning [Kalantzis, M., & Cope, W. W. (2012). New learning: elements of a science of education (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press] with new technologies, and to support teachers to use tablets to transform their pedagogies and practices in the early years. The approach taken was to use the theoretical constructs of new learning and a pedagogy of multiliteracies [New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies. Harvard Educational Review, 60, 66–92] as the focus for designing the new learning ecologies. In this way, we moved away from an emphasis on digital childhoods to create contexts for multimodal learning in the 21st‐century childhoods. In doing this, the documented learning stories have multimodality as a uniting element, and digital technologies are viewed as being complimentary to other resources, rather than alternatives, or in competition with, traditional modalities. The paper illustrates the ways in which these multimodal learning ecologies can work to support emergent literacy which is viewed as a foundational skill needed by all children in order to thrive in their learning.

To support young children's learning during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, preschool educators in Hong Kong were required to teach with digital technologies. In this study, 1035 educators from 169 preschools reported their views and practices in an online survey, which we examined via multilevel mixed‐response analysis and thematic analysis . More than half of the respondents (53%) expected future online teaching to continue, and only 11% of educators believed that parents would reject this form of delivery. Administrators and teaching assistants were more likely than teachers to expect online preschool teaching to continue in the future. In addition, respondents with existing online platform experience, who taught the upper levels of preschool, or incorporated specific teaching practices (eg, after the online lesson, they assessed children and assigned homework tasks), were more likely than others to expect online teaching in the future. Many of these respondents also reported (a) difficulty with engaging their children when online and (b) inadequate support from parents for learning activities, which reduced the respondents' perceived likelihood of future online teaching. Administrators and teaching assistants were more likely than teachers to believe that parents would accept online teaching in the future. Respondents who felt they had inadequate training to teach online, children in families with inadequate technical skills and parents who believed that online lessons harmed children's well‐being, were less likely than others to believe that parents would accept online teaching in the future. These educators believed that online learning communities could connect parents and schools and foster interaction that could help align with educator's support for children's learning needs. Practitioner notes What is already known about technology integration for young children during COVID‐19 COVID‐19 led to the closure of many schools, requiring teachers to teach online. Barriers to integrating technologies in preschool settings existed before the pandemic. Online teaching can support students' learning, but few studies have examined technology integration for preschoolers at home during a pandemic. What this paper adds This paper adds new data on schooling during a pandemic. During the closures, preschool teachers applied two major online teaching approaches: (a) digital content interaction and (b) online human interaction. Technology integration was added to provide evidence of how teachers applied online learning resources for young children during COVID‐19. During closures, teachers often delivered learning resources via digital‐mediated learning platforms, but they were less likely than other educators to expect onlin...

A DECADE AGO I WROTE an article entitled Technology as play in which I called for early childhood educators to rethink the way in which they regard play. This involved not only incorporating the notion of playing with new technologies but also critiqued the essence of what constituted play and the link with learning that was viewed uncritically. Here, I review and update this discussion, revisit the literature about how play is conceptualised and suggest that, while play is an essential component of exemplary early childhood experiences, it needs to be related to new technologies and pedagogical practices that are designed to support learning in diverse ways, rather than being regarded as the only catalyst for learning that occurs automatically in all types of play contexts.

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In this research, pre-school teachers' thoughts about computerassisted instruction, and the positions of pre-schools regarding the use of computers are studied. The sample of the study consisted of 22 managers and 111 pre-school teachers in 22 schools in Ankara, Turkey. A questionnaire was given to the teachers. A 'General Information Form' was also given to managers in order to determine the extent of the use of computers in pre-schools. Fisher chi-square and chi-square statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. A significant difference between the teachers' education levels and the use of computers in pre-school was found. The view that there are negative effects of computers on children's social development was found. The perception that computer-assisted instruction is a luxury in pre-schools in Turkey was also found.