ICT and Parents
At Gamesley Early Excellence Centre we still believe that the best way to communicate with our parents is verbally, there is no doubt that conversation is essential and fundamental in our work. However, using information and communication technology is also very successful because it includes the visual – video, photographs etc – and as we all know a picture can speak a thousand words and a video, a few thousand.
We try to make communications with parents innovative and imaginative and we use ICT in many different applications and situations. Not all our parents can or want to read the information we give to them and we feel that we have discovered a way forward in communication.
In our entrance hall parents are greeted with an interactive whiteboard on which we place messages, videos, digital photos, PowerPoint presentations etc which might show the latest trip, visitors or curriculum focus. We also record special events for parents, especially the Christmas concert. We find this way of communication very effective in that it is active, immediate and interesting. Parents love it! And many positive comments are made.
Developing this theme of the visual we use our digital cameras to record children’s progress and achievements which we share with parents. Again, how much more enjoyable and informative is a photograph than a tick box!
Physical development, creative development and personal and social education especially lend themselves towards being reflected through a visual medium. We use our digital camera to communicate with parents about their children’s experiences, we load them onto the computer and use photos as screen savers and use our touch screen monitor so parents can turn the screen page photographs at a touch.
We loan digital cameras to parents to encourage them to record their child’s day at home thereby developing a sense of ‘time and place’ for the child, we then laminate the photos and make books out of them. For the very youngest child a photo book of their lives is fascinating and encourages a first interest in books. We make jigsaws and games from laminated photographs for children to take home.
Digital pictures are also used with special needs children and their parents. Children who cannot communicate through speech can point to photos of what they want to do and where they would like to go. A visual map chart can be made of the nursery or home and parents can use them to communicate with their children.
Making videos of children is excellent for training purposes, for staff, other practitioners and for parents. Parents learn so much at our curriculum groups about child development and play through watching their own children going about the important business of playing and learning. Video is a wonderful vehicle for communicating the importance of early years education and we use it a lot.
We also use close circuit televisions for the same purposes, the difference being that parents are able to watch their children playing as it happens. Close circuit televisions are easy to set up using two televisions and a close circuit kit purchased from a do-it-yourself store. They can be used for a variety of purposes in the early years environment.
ICT does not have to be computer-based, especially in the early years – we communicate this to parents through parental involvement and workshops where we share our expertise.
For example we use cassette players extensively. We have a listening library which children use to listen to stories at home independently. This comprising of 25 cassette players, story tapes (which we read ourselves) and accompanying books.
We send tapes and CDs home to parents with children singing favourite rhymes and songs to enable them to continue to learn them at home. The karaoke feature on cassette recorders is ideal for encouraging children to sing, perform etc. These facilities are used extensively in home visiting and outreach work.
Parents can be helped to realise that the use of ICT in early years education is valid because it is reflective of their world helps them to learn in an alternative way and is fun! Parents sometimes need guidance in appropriate ICT use for children under 5 – this can be achieved through sharing as a school community. We often ask parents to trial software, programmable toys, Internet sites and equipment and report back.
We use our webcams to communicate with those families who have this equipment at home and demonstrate to parents the advantage of webcams.
We believe that if parents develop their ICT capabilities they are more likely to guide and foster their children’s ICT curiosity and development. We have a small, 8-place computer suite at the Centre where parents can work at their own ICT literacy. We offer New CLAIT, RSA, ECDL and creative computing classes. These are amazingly popular and we currently hold classes morning, afternoon, twilight, evenings and weekends, we cannot meet the needs of the community for ICT training and so we have a long waiting list. This is very encouraging. The Basic Skills Agency has already highlighted that many adults are developing their literacy skills through ICT because it has a higher status than ‘basic skills’.
As a staff we work hard at developing our own ICT skills, we have a holistic approach to ICT where we thread ICT throughout our early years curriculum and all our community and training work. We were fortunate to win a Becta award for innovation and change this year and it was wonderful that Becta recognised ICT in early years education as valid and appropriate.