ThIs PAPEr DEsCrIBEs An innovative pilot project at the University of Canberra aimed at providing pre-service early childhood teachers with the skills, confidence and ideological change required to include technology-enhanced learning as part of the early childhood curriculum. The impact of the project was evaluated through participant observation, and a thematic analysis of entries in student learning diaries, student feedback
and transcriptions of semi-structured interviews with staff involved in the delivery of the program. The analysis demonstrates that an intensive learning program can successfully change the attitudes of pre-service early childhood teachers toward the integration of technologies in the early childhood curriculum, and that the scaffolded learning process in the intensive program enhanced the learning and retention of the students’ technological knowledge and skills.
Introduction
WhEn My grAnDsOn TurnED three I made the mistake of giving him a toy mobile phone for his birthday. He was excited enough when he opened the parcel, but obviously very disappointed when I showed him that we could only have pretend telephone conversations. He examined the toy phone very carefully, then looked at me sympathetically and explained in a somewhat patronising tone, ‘They should have sold you a sim card when you got this, Nana. They don’t work without sim cards, you know.’ Welcome to the world of the ‘digital natives’ (Prensky, 2005), the ‘millenials’; Oblinger, 2003; Wiethof, 2006; Zemke, 2001) or the D-generation (Jukes & Dosaj, 2006) who were born into a world where technology is a given and where mobile phones and computers are tools you have used since your fingers were big enough to press the keys or the touch screen. Digital technology is so much part of their lives that they barely notice it is there. They can use DVD and CD players to select their favourite movies and music, use the remote to channel-surf, use a microwave to heat up their snacks, a mobile phone to SMS their friends, the internet to email their grandmother, and the family computer to play and to learn (Zevenbergenen & Logan, 2008). (This article only a summary, to get the full text please contact admin web, use the contact form)
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