Digital Innovations on Demand : Developing and Practicing a Pedagogy with Swedish preschool teacher students for improving play-&-learn apps

• We aimed to develop and practice an inclusive and democratic pedagogy for involving preschool teacher students in the design of play-&-learn apps that meet the educational objectives of the Swedish preschool curriculum. Previous research has highlighted that many alleged “educational apps” fail to meet basic criteria for promoting children’s learning (Ginsburg, Jamalian & Creighan, 2013; Hirsh-Pasek et al, 2015). Recent reviews suggest that common apps treat children as passive recipients of information (Tärning, 2018), whereas evidence from learning science (e.g. National Academy of Sciences, 2018) show that children’s active learning is promoted by their own efforts, control and exploration. From a sociocultural perspective on the performative nature of learning (Säljö, 2010) we employed the Double Diamond design process model (British Design Council, 2005) for organizing and conducting a researcher-led workshop for facilitating mutual exchange between students and professional app designers. Our approach combined perspectives on situated learning and joint participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) in which the three parties effectively formed a “community of practice” over one day. Students were introduced to the Double Diamond model, then worked in groups for developing prototypes for play-&-learn apps starring a popular children’s book figure. A consent form and information sheet was provided to the participating students, whose prototypes became the objects of analysis. The results provided concrete and visible examples of what preschool teacher students considered important for children’s learning activities with digital tools. This has important implications for developing students’ and teachers’ acquisition competence and for novel educational interventions.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Keyword

collaborative design

educational apps

innovation

design-based research

digital tools

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)