Scale Development and Research on ICT †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Scale Development and Research on ICT. Answer: Introduction The current child is growing up in a world which is evolving rapidly regarding ICT development. In essence, ICT is shaping the world with the automated systems replacing the old manual operations. More and more children are now encountering a computer even before they go to school. The research from European scholars named as the Developmentally Appropriate Technology for Early Childhood (DATEC) suggested seven principles for assessing the integration of ICT in the education of children under the age of eight years. These principles were; ensure an educational purpose, encourage collaboration, integrate with other aspects of the curriculum, ensure the child is in control, choose applications that are transparent, avoid applications containing violence or stereotyping, and be aware of health and safety issues. This paper aims at explaining the five of these principles. This principle reasons that ICT can only be beneficial if it gets full integration into the school curriculum(Kalas, 2013). Importantly, the integrated ICT system should emphasize on children's needs. With that, the ICT educational system should recognize the age and the development stages of the children. For their age, the value of the computer is in its open-ended use as opposed to creating products. For example, tabletop technologies can be beneficial to the kids because kids can manipulate their objects quickly. Additionally, teachers can guide children to using ICT for language and literacy by the use of programs that develop reading or writing skills. While children love playing, one indicator of the quality of their plays is the nature of cooperation. Similarly, even though children can access computers individually, (Morgan Siraj-Blatchford, 2013) states that encouraging collaboration will bring more value and attention to the course. One of the methods that the ICT system can engage is by use of the interactive whiteboards to promote children's interactions. An interactive whiteboard can aid in improving basic skills like numeracy and literacy. Other methods are like toy classifications as well as asking children to name the objects that come randomly to the screens. Such activities will articulate their thinking. Ensure an Educational Purpose While children require fun and playful platforms, there is a good point to note that the primary goal of ICT is to educate. Therefore, the school should direct all ICT application towards developing the children's understanding (Rudd, 2013). For this purpose, (Kerckaert, Vanderlinde van Braak, 2015) states that the ICT systems should include carefully chosen applications that have some educational value. For instance, software like arcade-type games seem to encourage creativity, but they have no good learning outcome hence unnecessary. The primary goal is to give children a variety of applications which promote a range of development such as creativity, language, and self-expression. This principle means two things. The first one is ensuring that there is safety in the children's physical and ergonomic factors (Nutkins, McDonald Stephen, 2013). Both the children and the instructor need to be aware of the safe use of computers. For example, safety equipment includes comfortable furniture that doesn't cause body strains. Second is the determent from exposure to inappropriate contents. Some of these are games, violent materials, and contents of sexual nature (Preradovi?, Lein Boras, 2017). All these health and safety concerns must be an indispensable component in all early childhood practice policies. As far as possible, children's ICT applications should have transparency (Beauchamp, 2016). That is, their functions should be explicitly defined and intuitive. In practice, this principle demands that the applications should not be complicated. The processes should be simple, and each method performs a straightforward task in a single operation. For example, the drag and drop process just does a simple task. The user just picks an item and drags it to the desired location in a computer just the way people typically choose things and place them in a different location. Conclusion Over all, bringing technology to early childhood education can change the traditional methods of teaching. The school systems can take actions to ensure that children have access to ICT to enhance their learning environment. Nevertheless, their safety should come first among other things. The sole purpose of education is to create a future responsible generation. Immoral contents will put this mission at risk if children access them. References Kalas, I. (2013). Integration of ICT in Early Childhood Education. X World Conference on Computers in Education. Morgan, A., Siraj-Blatchford, J. (2013). Using ICT in the Early Years: Parents and Practitioners in Partnership. Andrews UK Limited Kerckaert, S., Vanderlinde, R., van Braak, J. (2015). The role of ICT in early childhood education: Scale development and research on ICT use and influencing factors. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 23(2), 183-199. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1350293x.2015.1016804 Nutkins, S., McDonald, C., Stephen, M. (2013). Early Childhood Education and Care (1st ed., p. 163). Sage. Rudd, A. (2013). Literacy and ICT in the Primary School (2nd ed., p. 15). Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Preradovi?, N., Lein, G., Boras, D. (2017). The Role and Attitudes of Kindergarten Educators in ICT-Supported Early Childhood Education. TEM Journal, 6(1), 162-172. Retrieved from https://dx.doi.org/10.18421/TEM61-24 Beauchamp, G. (2016). Computing and ICT in the primary school (2nd ed., p. 134). Taylor Francis.