After reading Missing the Boat with Technology Usage in Early Childhood Settings, I gained a better understanding of why there is such a broad range of technology adoption (or total lack of adoption!) in early childhood (birth to 7) classrooms.
The typical excuses of "time constraints" and the "lack of financial resources" were dismissed by the authors as old excuses which are surmountable today. However, they stated that teachers' "resistance to use of technology for instruction given (at the early childhood level)" seems to be due to their perception that it "interferes with their relationships with children." More significantly, however, (and it was no surprise to me!) at the heart of the cause in this lag in adoption, is the question of developmental appropriateness. Unfortunately, there remains "limited research regarding specific technology applications and their effectiveness."
Citing several initiatives, including The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAYEC), and The Partnership for 21st Century Success, the authors state a case for technology needing to become "an integral component of developmentally appropriate practice for young children." NAYEC states in their position statement "that early childhood teachers (need to) be prepared to use technology to benefit children."
Just as The Partnership for 21st Century Skills states that children of today (Digital Natives) require a drastically different set of skills to succeed in the future, the authors of this report conclude that in order for early childhood teachers to succeed in implementing developmentally-appropriate technology, they require new core competencies as well. A summary of these new competencies is included in their findings.
