Accelerating Learning: Making the Most of iPads in Kindergarten

2018

IJILT

Purpose With a high rate of mobile technology ownership in the home, it is unknown how parents’ behavioral intention influences mobile technology adoption and children’s informal use to support reading. The purpose of this paper is to identify 120 parents’ intentions to adopt mobile technology and gather in-depth perceptions about mobile technology adoption with a smaller subset of 13 parents. Design/methodology/approach The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology adoption model and the ecological systems theory help explain the interconnections of the child’s home and school on mobile technology intentions and use behavior. A mixed-method explanatory research design obtained behavioral intention scores from a parent survey and individual interviews explained intention scores and depth of perceptions. Findings Parents’ behavioral intention scores show, on average, parents agree with using mobile technology to help their child read in the home. Behavioral intention concerns are influenced by children’s individual experience with technology: reluctant users prioritize media-safe education; indifferent users perceive technology as entertainment and desire a balance of text mediums; eager users are influenced socially and recognize interactive and individual affordances when reading with technology. Research limitations/implications Knowing that parents’ behavioral intentions vary based on their individual concerns, transparency between parents and teachers about parents’ concerns and children’s mobile technology use in the home can strengthen children’s mobile learning opportunities between home and school. Originality/value Data were collected from 46 classrooms between two K-5 elementary schools in the southeastern USA, which offers a unique glimpse into technology adoption behavior in two different communities.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ mobile technology adoption influences on elementary children’s use

2018

IJILT

“…Technology ownership in the home has become widespread, yet limited research exists on how children use portable technology beyond the classroom. Prior research has focused on children's technology use in the classroom, has been exploratory, qualitative, and provided little examination of demographic characteristics (Hutchison, Beschorner, & Schmidt-Crawford, 2012;Toppel, 2014). Little research has evaluated demographic characteristics of children and their use of portable technology, therefore there is a need to study these factors because it is possible the way parents permit their child to use technology could be related to their child's demographic characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Parent Perceptions Relate to Elementary Children’s Portable Technology Use by Gender and Grade Level

Computers in the Schools

Antonenko

Dawson

2018

This study examined how parents' reports of children's technology usage in the home varies by child's gender or grade level. Framed by technology adoption models, this mixed-method study gathered parent reports of their elementary child's use of portable technology for entertainment and learning in the home, collected from 120 surveys and 13 individual interviews with those who were also survey respondents. Results across the four 2x2 ANOVAs yielded three significant main effects: gender and entertainment devices; gender and entertainment apps; grade level and learning apps. No significant effects were found among any of the interaction variables or within the ANOVA summary for learning devices. Interview data revealed girls are interested in reading with Kindle, whereas parents are reluctant to provide boys with portable technology because of boys' preference to play games. Strategies are provided for teachers, support specialists, and parents to improve how children use technology. Implications for app developers are suggested.

1:1 iPads in 1st Grade: Case Study of a Teacher’s Concerns and Implementation

Handbook of Mobile Teaching and Learning

2018