On Early Childhood Literacy: What Will the iPad Bring?

Posted by Ting on August 13, 2011 · 4 Comments 

To continue the discussion in Jeff’s recent post on the development of adaptive learning tools for young children:

I recently had a weekend trial of reading Sophie’s World on the iPad via one of the iPad e-book applications. I loved this new reading experience which included many personalized options on a multi-touch screen such as zooming in and out and adjusting font type/size/color. With my interests in early childhood literacy as well as what roles technology will play in the future of education, I have been thinking about the affordances of iPad for education.

I believe the iPad will spark a revolution in the field of literacy education (and in children’s reading culture too!). The colorful reading platform and the content supported by multimedia on iPad adapt to children’s multimodal literacy needs.

Children’s iPad picture books might fall into the scope of adaptive learning tools in literacy.

Just by watching the following Alice in the Wonderland iPad book, I can imagine the great potential for developers/educators/researchers to develop/utilize/study iPad applications for/with young children in the near future.

And several other refined iPad books can be viewed here.

I also think the iPad can be the next popular toy for children, and it provides an intuitive interface for learning. Children will be able to watch cartoons, read animated picture books, make scribbles, and try out getting connected to others on a multi-touch screen.

Young children can do more than we thought they can do! The following two Youtube clips may give us some ideas about young children’s literacy/artistic experiences on this platform and the adaptive elements provided by the applications they used:

A 2.5 yearr old’s first encounter with the iPad

A 6 month old plays the iPad piano

In addition to thinking about this tool from a literacy perspective, iPad might also bring new ideas to inclusive education. Educators who work with children with special needs might be interested to see this article which talks about how autistic children use iPad.

Advertisement

Filed under Book, Digital Literacy, Multimodality, Research with Children