Introduction

1. Mobile learning in early childhood education I am sure there must be an app to help me with this Frank Bate, Serena Davie, Jean MacNish & Christine McGunnigleSchool of Education University of Notre Dame Introduction Mobile learning has been shown to have a positive impact on student leaning outcomes particularly in the early childhood years of education. (OECD, 2010). Young children are digital natives and are using and observing the use of a range of mobile technologies at home. The uptake of new technologies in schools has been slow in early childhood classrooms. TPACK Practicing teachers have a high level of pedagogical expertise and pre-service teachers technological expertise. The 21st century teacher needs excellent content knowledge and teaching pedagogy but in light of the rapid growth in technology the successful teacher now needs to be able to integrate new technologies into the classroom to enable students to engage with the curriculum through a medium that is part of their world. To do this teachers must have the technical skills. Furthermore, they need to have the pedagogical knowledge to know what type of ICT tool is best for teaching a particular concept. Teachers understand that it is a mix of sound content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge that make for excellent learning design. • . • Figure 2. Learning at home and learning in early childhood classrooms are different. • The study • The aims of the study are to examine the effectiveness of mobile learning technologies in early childhood education, investigate the synergy between pre-service teachers and practicing teachers in the adoption of mobile learning technologies and to consider the effectiveness of a schools-university partnership model in instituting educational change • Materials and methods • A case study approach will be used with two local primary schools and pre-service teachers form the University of Notre Dame. It will be a longitudinal study over a 3 year period. • Pre- service teachers will deliver ICT rich lessons in the partner schools. They will receive pedagogical feedback from the practicing teachers. The practicing teachers will have the opportunity to observe ICT rich lessons by the technologically competent pre-service teachers. • Following the delivery of the ICT rich lessons by the pre-service teachers, professional development and mentoring will be offered to the schools by university academics. • The collaboration between practicing teachers, school leaders, pre-service teachers and university academics in a community of practice will have the benefit of improved student outcomes through the integration of mobile learning. Figure 4. Boy sitting on floor tying shoelace thinking Outcomes By working together pre-service teachers and practicing teachers will have the opportunity to learn from each other for the benefit of children in early childhood classes. The effectiveness of such a partnership will be monitored and shared with the wider research community. References Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Retrieved from http://site.aace.org/pubs/sigs/sig-Mishra-Koehler-TCR.pdf OECD, (2010). Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/ Image Acknowledgements: Figure 1. Reproduced by kind permission of AVG Technologies. https://www.avg.com.au/?utm_source=avgt Figure 2. Reproduced by kind permission of Chris Pirillo(Source: http://www.myspace.com/calandparkmom) Figure 3. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, 2012 by tpack.org Figure 4. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. http://quest.eb.com/images/118_810845 Why are mobile technologies not used more in early childhood education? Teachers’ beliefs and attitudes to the use of mobile technologies are often cited as a barrier to their use. Teachers say that they do not have the time, support or training to implement new technologies. Schools need technological leadership to implement a culture of ICT integration. . Figure 1. Mobile learning technologies in early childhood. Figure 3. The relationship between technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. Acknowledgements The Public Education Endowment Trust of Western Australia is gratefully acknowledged for funding to support this research project. For further information Please contact serena.davie@nd.edu.au.