Learning with technology for pre-service early childhood teachers

THIS PAPER DESCRIBES AN innovative pilot project at the University of Canberra aimed at providing pre-service early childhood teachers with the skills, confidence and ideological change required to include technology-enhanced learning as part of the early childhood curriculum. The impact of the project was evaluated through participant observation, and a thematic analysis of entries in student learning diaries, student feedback and transcriptions of semi-structured interviews with staff involved in the delivery of the program. The analysis demonstrates that an intensive learning program can successfully change the attitudes of pre-service early childhood teachers toward the integration of technologies in the early childhood curriculum, and that the scaffolded learning process in the intensive program enhanced the learning and retention of the students' technological knowledge and skills.