Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 2020
This article reports on findings from an interview study with eleven Swedish preschool teachers. ... more This article reports on findings from an interview study with eleven Swedish preschool teachers. The purpose was to increase the knowledge about preschool teachers’ experiences from pedagogical use of digital play. The participants were preschool teachers who used digital play in their practice, and their narratives were analysed using an inductive approach to thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The results showed that the use of digital play provided more opportunities in children’s creative work, better pedagogical documentation, access to the Internet as a source of information, access to more pedagogical material and opportunities to create new pedagogical activities. Two main teaching objectives were identified in the participants’ statements, to prepare children for school and for life in a digitised society. The participants wanted to increase children’s access to tablets and increase children’s agency in their digital play activities. Furthermore, they wanted to increase their pedagogical knowledge about digital play and they wanted to be in control over the digital play activities that they introduced in their practice.
This paper presents different angles on the subject of digital play as a means to develop childre... more This paper presents different angles on the subject of digital play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power, using an online ethnographical study of Swedish preschool teachers’ discussions in informal online forums. Question posts (n = 239) were analysed using the Technological Pedagogical Knowledge framework and the Caring, Nurturing and Teaching framework, with the aim of understanding how teachers intended to support children’s literacy development with tablets. Literacy development can be understood as a social practice that needs to develop along with changes in society’s demands on citizens. The results presented indicate that school subject oriented skills are predominantly present in the mind-set of these preschool teachers. When digital play is increasingly used for pedagogical purposes in preschools, that also means that preschools have expanded their opportunities to work with children’s literacy development. For preschool teachers, it is important to discuss how literacy development can be supported in a contemporary media landscape.
This paper focuses on preschool teachers’ use of online social networks for discussions about tab... more This paper focuses on preschool teachers’ use of online social networks for discussions about tablets in preschools. Posts initiating discussions (n = 465) were analysed to increase understanding of what questions tablets raise among preschool teachers and to understand online communication from a professional development perspective. Posts were analysed using thematic analysis in combination with the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework, which illustrates what kind of knowledge teachers need in order to teach efficiently with technology. The results indicate that traditional means of professional development are frequently discussed but that the newness of tablets in preschools makes it difficult for preschool teachers to find support in research, training and literature. Thus, communication can partly be described as collegial support. Questions often aim at urgent and specific forms of desired knowledge, possibly challenging to address by acts of reading literature, attending courses or lectures. Furthermore, market interests become visible, as providers of services and products promote lectures, books, websites and applications. As rapidly changing technologies enter the preschool practice, it seems that preschool teachers will increasingly be dependent on more direct and flexible forms of professional development.
Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 2020
This article reports on findings from an interview study with eleven Swedish preschool teachers. ... more This article reports on findings from an interview study with eleven Swedish preschool teachers. The purpose was to increase the knowledge about preschool teachers’ experiences from pedagogical use of digital play. The participants were preschool teachers who used digital play in their practice, and their narratives were analysed using an inductive approach to thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The results showed that the use of digital play provided more opportunities in children’s creative work, better pedagogical documentation, access to the Internet as a source of information, access to more pedagogical material and opportunities to create new pedagogical activities. Two main teaching objectives were identified in the participants’ statements, to prepare children for school and for life in a digitised society. The participants wanted to increase children’s access to tablets and increase children’s agency in their digital play activities. Furthermore, they wanted to increase their pedagogical knowledge about digital play and they wanted to be in control over the digital play activities that they introduced in their practice.
This paper presents different angles on the subject of digital play as a means to develop childre... more This paper presents different angles on the subject of digital play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power, using an online ethnographical study of Swedish preschool teachers’ discussions in informal online forums. Question posts (n = 239) were analysed using the Technological Pedagogical Knowledge framework and the Caring, Nurturing and Teaching framework, with the aim of understanding how teachers intended to support children’s literacy development with tablets. Literacy development can be understood as a social practice that needs to develop along with changes in society’s demands on citizens. The results presented indicate that school subject oriented skills are predominantly present in the mind-set of these preschool teachers. When digital play is increasingly used for pedagogical purposes in preschools, that also means that preschools have expanded their opportunities to work with children’s literacy development. For preschool teachers, it is important to discuss how literacy development can be supported in a contemporary media landscape.
This paper focuses on preschool teachers’ use of online social networks for discussions about tab... more This paper focuses on preschool teachers’ use of online social networks for discussions about tablets in preschools. Posts initiating discussions (n = 465) were analysed to increase understanding of what questions tablets raise among preschool teachers and to understand online communication from a professional development perspective. Posts were analysed using thematic analysis in combination with the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework, which illustrates what kind of knowledge teachers need in order to teach efficiently with technology. The results indicate that traditional means of professional development are frequently discussed but that the newness of tablets in preschools makes it difficult for preschool teachers to find support in research, training and literature. Thus, communication can partly be described as collegial support. Questions often aim at urgent and specific forms of desired knowledge, possibly challenging to address by acts of reading literature, attending courses or lectures. Furthermore, market interests become visible, as providers of services and products promote lectures, books, websites and applications. As rapidly changing technologies enter the preschool practice, it seems that preschool teachers will increasingly be dependent on more direct and flexible forms of professional development.
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