www.ChildCareExchange.com TECHNOLOGYLEADERSHIP 79 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2012EXCHANGE

Being a child care administrator today is like being on a winding road full of unexpected twists and turns. Embrac-ing the challenges of quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS), Com-mon Core Standards, state preschool standards, rising costs, and an increas-ingly competitive enrollment landscape are just a few of the curves you have to navigate every day. The decision to embrace a growing array of technology tools in your program is yet another intriguing bend in the road. Decid-ing whether to use technology, and the decisions about who, what, when, where, and how to use technology have implications for every teacher, parent, and child in your program.

If you need directions to get started, you can look to large organizations like universities, NAEYC, the Fred Rogers Center, and other national and state associations and professional organizations for guidance about how to approach or revise your technology practices. While it is always helpful to research and become familiar with the advice of experts, ultimately you will have to be the primary source of technology leadership, direction, and inspiration in your program. The deci-sions you make about technology will be ever-evolving in this fast-paced digital age. Policies and procedures will need to be revisited and revised for a long time

to come. As the director, your leadership is critical when it comes to making tech-nology decisions in your program. Paula Jorde Bloom, one of the nation’s leading experts on child care administration, says, “As leaders, early childhood ad-ministrators are the gatekeepers to qual-ity. They are the ones more than anyone else who set the standards for their pro-grams — either striving for excellence or settling for mediocrity” (Exchange, March 2005). In our digital age, you are now the technology gatekeeper as well.

It can be hard to strike out in uncharted territory, so having a road map can help. Fortunately, there is a clear and useful source of direction for thinking about technology use in early learning set-tings: the new joint position statement issued by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College. This document provides the guidance and direction you need to support and jumpstart your decision making. You can view or download the position statement, Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Child-hood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 (2012) on the NAEYC site at www.naeyc.org/content/technology-and-young- children. There you will also find a helpful Key Messages document, examples of effective practice, and

selected resources for implementing the position statement in your program. The Joint Position statement is now policy and the work has begun to figure out the best ways to select, use, integrate, and evaluate technology with young children. That includes the informed choice of whether technology is to be used, followed by decisions about how, when, where, and why technology is the right tool for a specific child, activity, and learning objective. In this article,

THE Source of Leadership forEarly Childhood Technology

Implementation: YOU!”

byFranSimonandChipDonohue

Fran Simon, M.Ed., is the Chief Engage-ment Officer of Engagement Strategies, a consulting company for early childhood organizations. Fran has been a professional early childhood educator and educational technologist since 1981. After 15 years

as a multi-site child care administrator, Fran transitioned to a new career in marketing, Internet development, and busi-ness management within the early education field. She has developed websites and interactive online systems for early childhood programs and parents. Fran is a contributing author for Exchange, coauthor of Digital Decisions: Choosing the Right Technology Tools for Early Childhood Education, and a frequent presenter. She is the founder and producer of Early Childhood Investigations, an ongoing webinar series, and the cofounder of Early Childhood Technology Network. Fran holds B.A. and M.Ed. degrees in Early Childhood Education, and lives in metropolitan Washington, DC.

Chip Donohue, PhD, is the Dean of Distance Learning and Continuing Education and the Director of the TEC Center at Erikson Institute. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College, where he

co-chaired the working group that revised the 2012 NAEYC/FRC Joint Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. In 2012 he received the Bammy Award and Educators Voice Award for Innovator of the Year from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. He spends lots of time playing with new technology tools to improve programs, enable relationships, build learning communities.

Copyright © Exchange Press, Inc.Reprinted with permission from Exchange magazine.

All rights reserved. Visit us at www.ChildCareExchange.comor call (800) 221-2864.

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but as you will soon see, we will show you how to develop a team of co-pilots, navigators, and ground control per-sonnel to help guide the bus along the information superhighway.

Leading This and That, too?

Effective leaders know leadership can come from anywhere. The traditional view of leadership in early childhood settings is a trickle-down approach in which initiatives, projects, curriculum selection, communication, and more come from the director and are imple-mented by staff. But in reality, profi-cient leaders develop an organizational culture and climate that is ripe for, and encourages, leadership from within. In fact, one definition of leadership is “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task” (Chemers, 1997). What a relief! Expanding the list of available ‘experts’ on this journey means that you are not in it alone. In fact, we recom-mend that you engage a team of experts and stakeholders — your program’s staff, board of directors, technology resources (either internal or external), funders, community partners, parents, and perhaps local businesses — to help you make decisions, develop policies, and create the infrastructure needed to sustain your decisions about if, when, how and why, to use technology in effec-tive, appropriate, and intentional ways.

To get started, you will need to so-licit the help of the larger program eco-system: all of the people who can help

and then stopping to scope out the traffic won’t get you far either. Ultimately, to set out on this technology journey you will have to risk venturing out onto the infor-mation superhighway, or if the staff mem-bers in your program are already moving, you will have to put the vehicle into drive and step on the accelerator. Together, with your trusted team, the adventure will be safe . . . and what you discover along the way will contribute to your success as a technology leader and to the quality of programs and services you offer to young children, parents, families, and your staff.

Having basic driving skills can ensure a safer journey. Just as any new driver takes a driving test, you may want to assess your technology readiness and your digi-tal literacy skills to boost your confidence. Completing a digital literacy self-assess-ment that focuses on your: hardware and software skills; Internet skills; knowledge of online safety, security, and privacy; media literacy skills; and online consumer awareness, will help you assess your readiness to take on the tech leadership role (Simon & Nemeth, 2012).

Knowing more about your strengths will help you find internal and exter-nal resources to ensure you have the right people on the bus with you. If you identify areas in which your technology skills, knowledge, or resources are lacking, you can assemble a team of others to sup-port the effort, even as you take steps to increase your own knowledge and skills.

If you are simply NOT a technology expert, it’s no problem! Your role will be to drive, steer, and press the accelerator,

we will use the position statement to identify some of the signposts you can use to find your way on this technology journey, but first a note of caution.

Technology is exciting, but adminis-trators and teachers should not use technology just for technology’s sake. Early childhood professionals need to understand the implications of unin-formed decisions, practices not ground-ed in a developmentally appropriate framework, and uses that don’t take into account concerns about: screen time; childhood obesity; fears of decreased free play, outdoor time, and social interactions; and issues of access and equity. Unintentional, ineffective, and inappropriate uses of technology are not in the best interest of children, teachers, or administrators and have no place in early childhood programs.

Making appropriate and intentional decisions about technology requires teachers and administrators to gain new technology skills and digital literacy knowledge to make critical decisions about technology and media hardware, content, and experiences. While we all have much to learn about new digital devices, multi-touch screens and apps, it’s helpful to remember that the Joint Position Statement is grounded in the familiar framework of developmentally appropriate practice that teachers use every day to make decisions about any and all tools, activities, experiences, and interactions they offer children. Tech-nology is just one more tool and one more set of decisions that teachers can and will make every day if they have support, guidance, and opportunities to play with technology. That’s why your role as the driver is so important.

Leadership Means Taking Safe Risks

Your journey hasn’t really started if your RV is idling in the driveway. And, driving it to the end of the driveway

Six Big Ideas for Educational Technology Leadersn Identify your vision and share it with your n Be a designer of learning.

stakeholders. n Be willing to take a risk, fail, and learnn Continuously model lifelong learning. from it.n Change “Yes, but” to “What if?” n Practice what you preach.

Innovations in Education, August 15, 2012http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/2012/08/15/six-big-ideas-for-educational-technology-leaders/

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you obtain the physical and personnel resources you will need to ensure tech-nology tools are available and integrated effectively throughout the program — in the office, for teachers, and in the class-rooms. Looking close to home, you will need the parents, your board of direc-tors, your local community business partners or supporters, funders, your local child care resource and referral agency, local community colleges, and other higher education institutions. If you are operating a program within a larger system like a school system, cor-porate child care program, or other child care organization, you will obviously need the buy-in and support of the ‘main office,’ any Information Technol-ogy staff members (I/T as they are often called), and any other valuable internal resources like media center staff you are fortunate to have. Don’t forget to look to your colleagues and business associates for ideas, support, and resources. At the end of this article we provide a number of links to people and organizations that can provide valuable information, re-sources, technology tips, effective prac-

tices, as well as social media resources you can participate in and contribute to.

Shared Planning: Identify Your Team

Internal External

Teacher(s) Business Partners

Tech Staff (if possible) Community Partners: • CCR&R • Colleges • Libraries • Other agencies

Board Funders

Parents Friends/Family

From: “Technology Leadership in ECE: Is there an App for That?” A Presentation by Chip Donohue and Fran Simon at Leadership Connections, 2012www.slideshare.net/FSSimon/technology-lead-ership-in-early-childhood-education-is-there-an-app-for-that

Choose Your Co-Pilot Wisely: It’s Not Just about Technology Expertise!

As a busy director who wears many hats, it makes sense to select a key staff member (or more than one depending on the size of your program) who will play

the role of the primary ‘Technology Lead’ in your program. This key staff member will be your co-pilot. Depending on your budget and the size of your program this staff member might be a paid full- or part-time professional technology coordinator who is on staff specifically to support technology integration, or it might be a teacher or support staff member who is capable of playing this role and managing his or her classroom at the same time. Whomever you select, the Technology Lead should be someone who understands the curriculum, knows how to deliver professional development, and is a patient and articulate communi-cator. He or she will also need to under-stand the principles of developmentally appropriate practice and the NAEYC/Fred Rogers Center Joint Position State-ment on technology use in early child-hood programs.

The Tech Lead, a staff member who is well informed about educational technol-ogy, enthusiastic, and ready, willing, and able to take a leadership role, will be the first person to whom teachers will turn for information about how to use technology in their classrooms on a day to day basis. This pivotal person will answer technical questions and provide ongoing technical assistance, coaching, and leadership to the teachers. This net-work of support will ensure that teachers are planning ways to include technol-ogy tools effectively, appropriately, and intentionally and have the resources and professional development experiences they need to succeed when they begin to add new technology tools to their classrooms.

Your role will be to oversee, model, obtain important resources, redirect, and hold staff members accountable for prog-ress when it comes to their technology plans. You will be the primary advocate and supervisor for technology as you are with all program initiatives. You will keep the team on track and ensure they have everything they need to succeed.

Intentional use requires early childhood teachers and administrators to have information and resources regarding the nature of these tools and the implications of their use with children. Ultimately, the key decision regarding the use of technology and interactive media is whether specific goals — both for individual children and the program as a whole — can be more effectively achieved using traditional classroom materials, or whether the use of particular technology and interactive media tools actually extends the opportunities for learning and development. There are many ways that technology can do this — helping to better meet the needs of individual children (e.g., assistive technologies that improve children’s ability to learn, move, communicate, and create); supporting enhanced communication with families (e.g., digital portfolios documenting children’s progress); and providing children with new ways to explore and master concepts (e.g., making a book of scanned images of children’s artwork and dictations).

When making decisions about technology, program administrators must consider the allocation of limited resources and cost effectiveness (including initial cost, the ongoing costs of updating and upgrading hardware and software, and unspecified costs, such as additional items needed to use the product). Decisions about resource allocations also should consider the range of available and increasingly affordable technology along with the associated learning value and cost effectiveness relative to other materials.

From Key Messages of the NAEYC/Fred Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media in Early Childhood Programs

www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/12_KeyMessages_Technology.pdf

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Internet applications, or social media does give you valuable technology skills and experience, but doesn’t mean you are an expert with classroom technology. As a matter of fact, there are technology specialists just like there are medical specialists. For example, you probably wouldn’t go to a cardiologist if you had a problem with your foot. Similarly, the experts who know how to network computers don’t necessarily know a lot about technology use in the children’s classroom. Including people with vari-ous backgrounds on your team is a good idea, even if they are just volunteer consultants.

Okay, the People are All on the Bus: Now What?

We’ve identified the need for technology leadership in your program and shared some ideas about identifying technology leaders as your co-pilots, but the journey is just beginning. Technology leadership is essential to successfully implementing the NAEYC/Fred Rogers Center Joint

Not all “Technology Experts” are Created Equal

Of course, you should be sure the people you assign to your team are technology-confident and competent, too. Inviting them to take the Digital Literacy Self-Assessment might be one way to start. Once they’ve identified gaps in their skills, they may need additional profes-sional development to ensure they are as well-rounded as possible.

It is important to realize that being tech-savvy with office suite software, email,

Tech LeadThe person to whom others first will turn

for information

The DirectorIn charge of resources

and accountability

• Resource • Resource

• Role model • Role model

• Facilitator • Facilitator

• Collaborator • Supervision

• Encouragement • Evaluation and redirection

From: “Technology Leadership in ECE: Is there an App for That?” A Presentation by Chip Donohue and Fran Simon at Leadership Connections, 2012 www.slideshare.net/FSSimon/technology-leadership-in-early- childhood-education-is-there-an-app-for-that

Gryphon House®, Inc.

GryphonHouseInc GryphonHouseGryphonHouse

www.gryphonhouse.com800-638-0928

Gryphon HouseGryphon Housewww.gryphonhouse.com

Feel confident and competent when choosing the most appropriate technology tools to implement in your early childhood classroom!

Feel confident and competent when choosing the most appropriate technology tools to implement in your early

This no-nonsense, jargon-free guide provides everything you need to choose the right technology tools to integrate into your early childhood classroom. It will help you evaluate the opportunities technology has to offer based on your experiences and beliefs, the needs of the children you teach, the context of your curriculum, and the resources available to you.

ISBN: 978-0-87659-408-7 Paperback $34.95

Effective uses of technology and media are active, hands-on, engaging, and empowering; give the child control; provide adaptive scaffolds to help children progress in skills development at their individual rates; and are used as one of many options to support children’s learning. Technology and interactive media should expand children’s access to new content and new skills. When truly integrated, uses of technology and media become routine and transparent — the child or the educator is focused on the activity or exploration itself and not on the technology.

From Key Messages of the NAEYC/Fred Rogers Center Joint Position Statement on Technology and Interactive Media in Early Childhood Programs

www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/12_KeyMessages_Technology.pdf

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ReferencesChemers, M. M. (2000, March). Leadership, research and theory: A functional integra-tion, group dynamics, theory, research, and practice, 4(1), 27-43.

Exchange. (March 2005). Interview with Paula Jorde Bloom. Exchange. www.childcareexchange.com/eed/ interview.php?interview_id=2

NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media. (2012). Technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Joint position statement. Washington, DC: NAEYC, Latrobe, PA: Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College.

Seuss, Dr. (1990). Oh, the places you’ll go! New York: Random House.

Simon, F. (2012 May/June). Technology tools for the tough tasks: Plug in for great outcomes. Exchange, 205, 84-97.

Simon, F., & Donohue C. (2011, May). Tech-nology trends in early childhood education: Tools of engagement. Exchange, 199, 16-22.

Simon, F., & Nemeth, K. (2012). Digital decisions: Choosing the right technology tools for early childhood education. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House, Inc.

White, N. (2012, August 15). Six big ideas for educational technology. Innovations in education blog. http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/2012/08/15/six-big-ideas-for- educational-technology-leaders/

Where to Look for Ideas While on Your Journey…

Books to Read:

Guernsey, L. (2012). Screen time: How electronic media — from baby videos to educational software — affects your young child. New York: Basic Books.

ties that enhance knowledge and skills and raise the level of digital literacy.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Make sure you’ve got everyone on board who needs to travel with you. It’s time to back out of the driveway and choose the direction you’ll take. Where will you find your entrance ramp to the information superhighway? What detours will you face? Where will you run into traffic jams that slow you down? Will you experience a flat tire or mechanical failure? And what unexpected stops and exciting discoveries will you experience along the way? What are you waiting for? If you need another nudge, here’s one from Dr. Seuss:

You’re off to Great Places!Today is your day.

Your mountain is waiting.So . . . get on your way!

Dr. Seuss, Oh the Places You’ll Go! (1990)

Position Statement (2012) and to avoid inappropriate uses of technology by being sure that everyone in your program who works with or on behalf of young children and parents has the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to select, use, integrate, and evaluate technology tools and interactive media in the classroom. Effective, appropriate, and intentional use requires early childhood educators who have access to the information, resources, hands-on opportunities to play with and explore technology tools, and examples of effective integration of technology in early childhood classrooms. In our rapidly changing digital age, educators need to stay current regarding technology and media and the emerging set of best prac-tices for use with young children. You and your staff will need ongoing professional development experiences and opportuni-

When the integration of technology and interactive media in early childhood pro-grams is built upon solid developmental foundations and early childhood profes-sionals are aware of both the challenges and the opportunities, educators are positioned to improve programs.

NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media

Joint Position Statement 2012. Technology and Interactive Media as

Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 www.naeyc.org/content/technology-and-

young-children

The effectiveness of technology and interactive media, as with other tools, depends on their being used in the right ways under the right circumstances by those skilled in their use. Within the framework of developmentally appropri-ate practice, this means recognizing children as unique individuals, being attuned to their age and developmental level, and being responsive to the social and cultural contexts in which they live.

From Key Messages of the NAEYC/ Fred Rogers Center Joint Position

Statement on Technology and Interactive Media in Early Childhood Programs

www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/12_ KeyMessages_Technology.pdf

Technology Guidance from NAEYC and the Fred Rogers Center

Home Page www.naeyc.org

Position Statement Page www.naeyc.org/content/technology-and-young-children

Webcast http://oldweb.naeyc.org/profdev/webcast/tech_young_children/player.html

Examples www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PS_technology_Examples.pdf

Key Messages www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/KeyMessages_Technology.pdf

Selected Resources www.naeyc.org/content/technology-and-young-children/resources

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Organizations to Like and Follow Online and on Social Media

Organization Website Facebook Twitter

Children’s Technology Review http://childrenstech.com/ www.facebook.com/groups/dustormagic https://twitter.com/childtech

Early Childhood Investigations Webinars

http://earlychildhoodwebinars.org www.facebook.com/EarlyChildhoodInvestigations

https://twitter.com/ecewebinars

Early Childhood Technology Network

http://www.ecetech.net/ http://www.facebook.com/ECEtechnet https://twitter.com/ecetech

Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College

www.fredrogerscenter.org www.facebook.com/FredRogersCenter https://twitter.com/fredrogersctr

McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership

http://cecl.nl.edu/ www.facebook.com/mccormick.center https://twitter.com/MCECL

TEC Center at Erikson Institute www.teccenter.erikson.edu www.facebook.com/teccenter.erikson https://twitter.com/TEC_Center

Technology and Young Children Interest Forum

www.techandyoungchildren.org/index.shtml www.facebook.com/ECETECH?ref=ts

ECETechChat — Join the conversation with a group of early childhood professionals interested in effective and appropriate use of technology in a weekly Twitter Chat on Wednesday nights at 9:00 pm (Eastern)

#ECETechChat

Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/Cooney- Center-Blog.html

Language Castle Blog, Karen Nemethhttp://languagecastle.com/wordpress/

PlayLearnParent, Alexis Lauricella http://playlearnparent.com/resources/

— n —

Blogs to Subscribe to:

Common Sense Media www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/blog/

Early Ed Watch, Lisa Guernseywww.newamerica.net/blog/early_ed_watch/feed

Edutopia www.edutopia.org/blogs

Puerling, B. (2012). Teaching in the digital age: Smart tools for Age 3 to grade 3. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

Shillady, A., & Muccio, A. S. (Eds.) (2012). Spotlight on young children and technology. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Simon, F., & Nemeth, K. (2012). Digital decisions: Choosing the right technology tools for early child-hood education. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House, Inc.