From large school districts to small independent schools, we have experience with a wide range of educational settings and grade levels. If your school or district is trying to leverage new technologies to support student learning, we are excited to partner with you.
The fast pace of technological change has created a pressing demand for unified research networks to examine and respond flexibly to the learning potential of both existing and emerging communicative technologies. This includes wearable technologies, 3D printers, robots, augmented reality apps, toys and games and relevant aspects of the Internet of Things, all of which impact on the lives of young children. Children’s digital literacy skills as they engage with these technologies are important to recognise, foster and extend.
We will focus on children aged from birth to eight, an age group for which there has been comparatively little research in this area. The early years provide crucial foundations for lifelong literacy learning, therefore it is important to ensure early education policy and practice are developed in order to equip our youngest citizens with the skills and knowledge needed in a digitally-mediated era.
Around the world, there is currently a scarcity of research data on the extent, range and potency of young children’s engagement with new media devices in homes and communities and the data available is concentrated in a few countries. We will address this gap in knowledge by building a framework for collaborative research teams to share expertise and develop coordinated research agendas.
This research involves participants from a wide range of disciplines including: Applied Linguistics; Childhood Studies; Children’s Literature; Computer Science; Cultural Studies; Early Childhood Education; Information Studies; Language and Literature; Media Studies; Psychology; Sociological Studies. This interdisciplinary approach is essential to the construction of knowledge in this area. The network will integrate the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches of its members to produce a series of themed research insights into the complex nature of contemporary early literacy practices. This is a necessary approach if we are to understand fully the dynamic nature of communication in the digital age.
The network will also identify new methodologies for working with young children and provide a theoretical framework that captures the digital literacy experiences of the whole child (at home, school, library, kindergarten and so on) in a holistic and ethical manner.
