Supervisors info:
Μαρία Σφυρόερα, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Εκπαίδευσης και Αγωγής στην Προσχολική ηλικία, Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
In recent years, with the development of technology and the new needs that have arisen in education, educational technology has been one of the key areas of study and development.
New technologies, which are used in educational field, defined as ICT, information and communication technologies. They are a set of technological tools, with many possibilities for processing and transmitting information through symbols, images, sounds or even videos. ICTs, because of their multimedia nature, have the potential to favor and enhance the learning process in many ways, so over the years, there is an ongoing effort to integrate them into the curricula.
A new field of ICT in education, is the study of mobile learning, namely as the learning with the use of a mobile device. Portable technology today has greatly influenced the way that students are educated. The student, using mobile devices such as tablets, mobile phones or gaming machines, can access learning materials, create content on their own in order to interact with either learning systems and educational platforms either with their classmates or with the rest of the world. (Quinn, 2011). Therefore, the dominance of mobile devices and their capabilities, opens up new horizons in education, different from traditional teaching, independent of space and time.
Many studies highlight the importance of using these new technologies, as well as the positive results in the learning process that have resulted from the use of mobile devices in kindergartens. Nowadays, these children are born in the digital age, use these small smart devices in their personal lives, so their use should be considered as an integral part of the educational process. This is also the reason for researching this issue.
The purpose of the present study is to test whether preschool teachers use portable devices and what use they choose to make in the classroom. Questionnaire and interview were used as research tools. 30 questionnaires were given to 30 kindergarten teachers, with closed and open ended questions, the answers of which were coded in the SPSS statistical program. In order to enhance the validity of the results, were selected using the 'feasibility sampling' method, 3 kindergarten teachers, who use mobile devices in their classroom. The research questions are as follows:
1. If preschool teachers use portable devices? If so, what use do they choose to make? If not, what are the restrictions?
2. What is the role of teachers themselves in educational practice with the use of mobile devices by children?
3. On what cognitive theories do they base themselves and the activities they choose to do with the use of mobile devices? Is personalized learning or collaborative practice promoted?
4. What is their relationship with mobile devices in their personal lives? And what about the children themselves?
After analyzing the responses of the kindergartens, very positive results were shown regarding the use of portable devices in the kindergarten. Parents and teachers are in favor of them, especially with tablets. It was found that almost all children have a tablet and use it on a daily basis at home. In addition, because of this familiarity with children with mobile devices, kindergarten teachers design and organize educational activities on many subjects with them. In fact, following modern pedagogical practices and their perceptions of cognitive learning theories, they listen to the children's abilities and interests and organize child-centered activities.
In conclusion, mobile learning can offer a lot to preschool learning but studies need to be done in this field, in particular in the Greek reality, in order to reach more valid conclusions on the effectiveness of mobile education.
Keywords:
educational technology, mobile learning, mobile devices, preschool education