How to be Responsive in Digital Play practices in early learning today

One of the principles of early childhood pedagogy which underpin practice and promote children’s learning is being responsive to children. As an early childhood educator, therefore, you need to be responsive to all children’s strengths, abilities, and interests. It involves building on and valuing all these attributes to ensure their motivation and engagement in learning.?

Being responsive to children’s technological expertise is, therefore, essential in a rapidly evolving digital world. Digital technologies are becoming more embedded and ubiquitous in the environment around children. These digital technologies are having a profound effect on all aspects of people’s lives that they are now becoming “taken for granted”. There is no denying that digital technology is part of children’s lives and identities as learners.?

The significance of digital play in early years with the effective use of digital technology in early childhood education has been strongly emphasised in the ECA Statement on Young Children and Digital Technologies . It urges the early childhood education sector to consider young children’s digital rights regarding technology use, Internet access and learning to use recognise digital technologies as a tool that is designed for a specific purpose. It also discusses how to use digital technology in a safe and productive way.?

Along with podcasts, our online training for early childhood educators provides you with valuable learning and teaching opportunities to support digital literacy in early childhood education and promote digital citizenship.?

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Can digital technology support positive learning outcomes?

Through the effective integration of digital technology in early childhood education , young children can learn and develop important skills and behaviours when playing with digital devices. However, as an educator, it will be essential that you support the use of digital technologies with digital pedagogy that enhances children’s physical, cognitive social, and emotional learning and development across the curriculum. Language and literacy development can also be supported through technology integration in early childhood education.?

In the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) outcome 4.5 and 5.5 particularly, advocates for young children to learn through digital play in early years education. As mentioned earlier, the ECA statement provides strong evidence of how educators can make key decisions in the use and non-use of digital technology in early childhood education that are responsive to a young child’s technological skills, interests, knowledge, and abilities.

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Good quality content can be viewed as an effective tool for teaching and learning with ICT in early childhood education settings by:

• Sparking or extending upon children’s interests.
• Supporting ongoing inquiry-based investigations.
• Fostering children’s critical thinking skills.
• Helping children build important relationships with teachers, family, and peers.

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As an early childhood teacher, it is important that you co-view and co-play with young children, thereby engaging in their ‘digital playgrounds’ so that you can monitor and intervene at the appropriate times in order to further develop their digital literacy in early childhood education and so that you be informed of the right pathways for young children and plan appropriately. Digital play in early years settings can involve engaging in many combinations of activities using a range of both digital and non-digital resources. Exploratory play can, therefore, remain at the forefront of programming when integrating digital technology in early childhood education alongside other engaging, hands-on learning experiences across the early childhood curriculum.

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