Remote learning has been taken up by many schools and districts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cases, remote learning has been designed as online teaching and learning, using technology hardware and software often through web-based programs and resources. For teachers of young children, this is a big change from the role of technology and types of instruction previously used in their classrooms. Throughout the pandemic and in the changed world post pandemic, digital and technological tools for remote learning will likely continue to be used in new ways. This chapter uses the framework of developmentally appropriate practice to explore and assess the structure, activities, relationship building, and attention to development in technology used across domains of online learning.
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Remote learning has been taken up by many schools and districts during the COVID-19 pandemic. While previously most online learning opportunities were focused on high school and college levels of education, suddenly teachers working with even the youngest children, and in both public and private school settings, were forced to consider how they could continue their instruction remotely.
In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to shutdowns around the world, many schools and childcare centers moved to remote learning, including entirely online and digital programs for children. These moves were widely publicized among K-12 schools and in higher education, but children as young as toddler and preschool age were suddenly thrust into learning environments vastly different than the informal, play-based settings of high-quality early childhood care and education. Children in the early childhood years, from birth to age eight (as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC]) experienced wide variability in the formats, structures, resources, and expectations for online and remote learning.
In many cases, remote learning has been designed as online teaching and learning, using technology hardware and software often through web-based programs and resources. For teachers of young children, this is a big change from the role of technology and types of instruction previously used in their classrooms. Throughout the pandemic and in the changed world post-pandemic, digital and technological tools for remote learning will likely continue to be used in new ways. This chapter uses the framework of Developmentally Appropriate Practice to explore and assess the structure, activities, relationship building, and attention to development in the types of technology that are currently used for online and remote learning with children from birth through Grade 3.
The focus of this chapter is the examination and analysis of types of online instructional delivery and learning provided to students in early childhood classrooms, with a look at the use and appropriateness of various technological tools for instructional delivery from a developmental perspective. This includes an analysis of multiple different technology types, including their strengths and potential, the challenges to using them in developmentally appropriate ways, and the experiences of children and families using these technologies both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.