Jackie Marsh
University of Sheffield
Digital Childhoods: Transforming Early Years
Teaching in the Electronic Age
Structure of Talk
• What is ‘digital literacy’?
• The characteristics of children’s digital literacy practices in homes and communities
• Embedding these characteristics into early years settings and classrooms
Research questions
• What are the key characteristics of young children’s digital literacy practices in homes and communities?
• How can the characteristics of home uses of digital literacy be embedded effectively in curriculum and pedagogy?
Projects
• Digital Beginnings [survey of 1852 parents in England of children aged 0-6, interviews with 60 parents/ carers]
• Family Digital Literacy [4 case studies of children aged 2-4; parental videos and diaries; semi-structured interviews]
• Children’s engagement with stories on iPads [study of children aged between 11 and 30 months; video observations in 2 nurseries]
• Case study of a child beginning school [a 3 month study of a child aged 4.5]
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular cultureNetworked
Digital literacy practices in the home
Playful
Lubna, aged 3 Farooq, aged 2
Grace, aged 4 Sohail, aged 2
Play, Creativity and Digital Cultures
• Singing, dancing, talking to/ in front of TV/ films on own or with friends and family
• Using an electronic toy on own or with siblings and parents (e.g. Arabic script toy, matching words and images)
• Using mobile phone to talk to imaginary person
• Using mobile phone to talk to family members - language play
• Using laptop on own or with siblings and family members to use programs or watch Youtube
• Using games console, generally with siblings
• Using digital camcorder and camera to record family activities
• Using CD/ MP3 player, dancing to music
• Using mobile phone to take photographs and videos
of family members
• Playing on phone apps
• Using mobile phone to engage in video calls
Play, Creativity and Digital Cultures
Farooq
• Daily living routines (e.g. maintaining the social organisation of the family, shopping, cooking, paying bills)
• Work (e.g. related to family employment)• Participating in ‘information networks’ (e.g. to find out what was
happening in areas of interest e.g. reading sports pages of newspapers)
• Religion (e.g. reading holy books)• Literacy for the sake of teaching/ learning literacy (e.g.phonics/
phonological awareness activities using books) • Interpersonal communication (e.g. letters, birthday cards)• Entertainment (e.g. reading books, comics) • Storybook time (adult-child reading of picture books)
(Teale, 1986)
Purposes for literacy in the home (Teale, 1986)
• Daily living routines (e.g. emails; ebay; online
supermarket sites)• Work (e.g. word processing; emails)• Participating in ‘information networks’ (e.g. chat forums;
Facebook)• Religion (e.g. online religious communities)• Literacy for the sake of teaching/ learning literacy (e.g.
tablet apps based on phonics). • Interpersonal communication (e.g. emails; text
messages; Skype)• Entertainment (e.g. console games; electronic books;
websites) • Storybook time (electronic books/ story apps)
Purposes for digital literacy in the home
Trans-modes/ media
Modes: writing, signs and symbols, sound,moving image, still image
Media: television, DVD, computer (PC and laptop), handheld computer, mobile phone, smartphone, tablet,
iPad, screens on artefacts such as
electronic toys, washing machines and other
domestic items
Tablets - UK
•28% of 3-4 year-olds use a tablet
•42% of 5-15 year-olds use a tablet
(OFCOM, 2013)
App Gap? (Common Sense Media, 2011)
47% v 14%
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular culture
Networked
Digital literacy practices
in the home
Playful
Online/ offline blurred
Club Penguin
Genres of play
Fantasy play
Games with rules
‘Rough and tumble’ play
Socio-dramatic play
Reading postcards
Writing and reading public chat
Reading game instructions
Writing submissions to the in-world
newspaper
Reading in-world texts e.g. newspapers/
books/ catalogues
Reading in-world text e.g. signs,
challenges posed byproducers
Online/ Offline
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular cultureNetworked
Digital literacy practices in the home
Playful
Intergenerational
Intergenerational Digital Literacy Practices in Homes
• Communicating via email, texting, Facebook, Skype etc.
• Accessing the internet together on PCs, smartphones and tablets
• Sharing e-books
• Playing online/ tablet games together, or using Console games (e.g. Wii)
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular cultureNetworked
Digital literacy practices in the home
Playful
Digital literacyin engaged classrooms
Research question
• How can the characteristics of home uses of digital literacy be embedded effectively in ‘engaged classrooms’?
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular cultureNetworked
Digital literacy in
engaged classrooms
Playful
Trans-mode/media
Sharrow Nursery
MONTENEY PRIMARY SCHOOL
My monster likes to eat chicken nuggetsOn Sundays my monster is very dirty, but some days he is very cleanNever tell my monster he is dirty, or he will bite youSometimes my monster is very naughty, but sometimes he’s very well behavedToday is my monster’s birthday, so he’s having a zombie duck partyEveryone wants to come to my monster’s party because he’s very coolRob the zombie duck can’t decide what type of cake to have for his birthday party, but I think he will have chocolate cake this time
TRANS-MODE/ MEDIA:KEY PRINCIPLES
•Reading and writing of alphabetic texts embedded in the digital practices - seamless interface
•Children engaged in a wide range of multimodal design activities that enable them to understand and reflect on the affordances of modes
• Skills involved learning coding - important for developing agency in relation to digital texts
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular culture
Digital literacy in
engaged classrooms
PlayfulNetworked
MUNDELLA PRIMARY SCHOOL
DAVID HOCKNEY - A BIGGER SPLASH
Blog
INTERGENERATIONAL PRACTICES:KEY PRINCIPLES
• Children engaging with older (and younger) generations outside of the classroom in ‘authentic’ digital literacy practices (through the exhibition, blog, Twitter stream)
• Children in role as experts (when teaching parents)
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular cultureNetworked
Digital literacyin engaged classrooms
Playful
Online/ offline blurred: Halfway Primary School
ONLINE/ OFFLINE PRACTICES:KEY PRINCIPLES
• Online texts related seamlessly to offline in ways that replicate out-of-school life
• Meaningful engagement with communities outside the classroom - local parks and museums (Teacher- pupils were, “Learning to write for a real audience rather than for an invented one”)
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular cultureNetworked
Digital literacy in
engaged classrooms:
TABLETS
Playful
Criteria - all books
•Is the story well told, according to literary standards?
•Is the language of the text skilfully crafted?
•Are illustrations artistically skilful, and do they work well with the text to illuminate, extend and/ or co-create the story as a whole?
Yokota and Teale, 2014
Criteria - all books
•Is the story appropriately presented in digital format?•Does the story take appropriate advantage of features the digital world allows beyond what is possible in print? •Do the interactive features maintain the integrity of the main story?•Do any supplementary features align with the main story?•Do the features make sense in terms of how children learn to read and learn in general?
Yokota and Teale, 2014
iMotionHD
Embedded in the
everyday Passion-driven
Intergenerational
Trans-modes/ mediaGlocal
Online/ offline blurred
Mobile - crossing time/
space
Shaped bypopular cultureNetworked
Digital literacy in homes/communities
ANDengaged classrooms
Playful
FINAL THOUGHTS
• Engaged pedagogies do not have to replicate exactly home experiences, but should draw on some of the main characteristics in early years settings and classroom in ways that are meaningful and authentic.
• We should recognise that children’s home experiences will be very different and not assume all have digital literacy skills.
• We need to look to the future - the potential for fostering play and creativity in the early years is enormous...