Media Mentors: Helping Children Build Literacy

Skills for the Digital Age

Sheetal Singh, Early Learning Lab

Chip Donohue, TEC Center at Erikson Institute

Lisa Guernsey, Education Policy Program at New America

Michael H. Levine, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

June 16, 2016

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Presenters

Assisting with chat: Becky Wiegand, Webinar Program Manager, TechSoup

Sheetal Singh, Director, Design and

Innovation at the Early Learning Lab

Chip Donohue, Ph.DDirector of the TEC Center at Erikson Institute in Chicago

Michael H. Levine,Founding Executive

Director of the Joan GanzCooney Center at Sesame

Workshop

Host: Susan Hope Bard, Training and Education Manager, TechSoup

Lisa Guernsey,Director of the Early

Education Initiative and the Learning Technologies Project in the Education Policy Program at New

America

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Learning Objectives

1. Define the term media mentor

2. Explain the importance of media mentors

3. Identify and discuss skills that media mentors need

4. Answer your questions

6

About TechSoup

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The Need Is Global – And So Are We

TechSoup’s mission is to build a dynamic bridge that enables civil society

organizations and social change agents around the world to gain effective access to

the resources they need to design and implement solutions for a more equitable

planet.

Countries Served TechSoup Partner Location NetSquared Local Group

Where are you on the map?

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www.TechSoup.Global

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Our Impact

Together, we build a stronger, more resilient civil society.

$5.2Bin technology products

and grants employed

by NGOs for the

greater good

35languages used to

provide education

and support

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foundation partners

connected with the

causes and

communities they

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annual visits to

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empowered with

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resource offering*

*Source: survey conducted among TechSoup members in 2013

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Media Mentors: Helping Children

Build Literacy Skills for the Digital

AgeNumber 2 in a series of 4 webinars on technology

for the early learning field

June 16, 2016

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All children deserve the chance to grow, learn, and fulfill

their potential to be creative thinkers and doers. Yet too

many young children aren’t exposed to the engaging and

enriching experiences they need from birth to age five

that help them thrive and learn. The only way to close

this opportunity gap is to invest in the adults that care for

them.

11

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What We Do

We create Aligned Learning and

Innovation Networks, both place-

based and topical, to accelerate

knowledge creation, innovation and

create the capacity for long term

sustainability and scale. Core features:

Diverse players and perspectives from

inside and outside the field

Co-design with intended beneficiaries

Rapid-cycle learning

Common success measures and rigorous

analysis

Systems approach for scale

12

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Supply: Work with technologists to ensure products are research-based

and meet the needs of the field; define and test high-value technology

design elements.

Demand: Help program implementers and families understand the

range of tools available and make smart decisions on what to use.

Research to Practice: Guide the field in understanding how to

meaningfully and effectively integrate technology into programs.

13

Accelerating the use of innovative

technologies requires operating at

three levels:

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Early Learning Technology Design Collaborative

Work with partners to identify, test,

and build an evidence-base for high-

impact design elements

Survey the field for current technology

needs and recommend strategies for

improvement

Webinar trainings to bring the latest

technology research to practitioners

and program implementers

Curated events with field leaders on

technology best practices

Incubation of new and improved

technology solutions

14

What This Means for

You

Join the Conversation

#MediaMentors#TapClickRead

On Twitter:• @ChipDono• @LisaGuernsey• @MLevine_JGCC

Poll

Which of these words describes you:

1. Teacher in the infant/toddler space2. Teacher in pre-K setting3. Teacher in kindergarten/ elementary

school4. Leader or director of a school or center5. Librarian6. Afterschool Educator7. Researcher 8. Advocate9. Policymaker10. Other

Poll

Have you ever heard of the concept of media mentors or media mentorship?

1. Yes, I am a media mentor2. I’ve heard the term but don’t really know

what it is 3. I’ve never heard this term before

The Problems

We Are Trying

to Solve

The Quiet Crisis

Learning to Read

Requires a

2-Pronged

Approach:

Knowledge and

Skills

An Explosion of

“Educational Apps”

More than 1 million apps on

iTunes and 80,000 of them are

marked as educational apps

Image © Shutterstock

The Field of Early Ed Has Been Responding

Sesame Street photo used with permission. Photo of Gov

Patrick used under Creative Commons license.

Poll

Given the guidance from experts in the fields of health and learning, how are you feeling about the capabilities of today’s professionals to assist families as they navigate the digital age?

1. Very Optimistic 2. Cautiously optimistic3. Neutral4. Relatively Pessimistic5. Very Pessimistic

We Have to

Take A

Modern Approach

Comienza en Casa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AlCSa88BBc

Bronfenbrenner (1979); Takeuchi (2011)

Government

Agencies

Digital

Media

Market

Local

School

System

Church, Library,

After-school

Spaces

School,

Teachers,

Peers

Digital

Media Spaces

The

Neighborhood

Dominant

BeliefsCultural

Values

Mass

Media

Parents’ Work

Home,

Parents,

Siblings

Attitudes & Ideologies

National & State

Policy

Ecological Perspectives on Development

Macrosystem

Exosystem

Mesosystem

Microsystem

The New Co-Viewing

Joint Media Engagement

The Tech

Marketplace

Alone Should

Not Drive this

Ecosystem

What’s In Store

Analyzing

descriptions of

popular and

award-winning

kids’ language

and literacy apps

Abundance of literacy apps for 3- to 5-year-olds

Target ages for languages/literacy apps

What apps aim to teach: basic skills

Of the top-50 most popular apps, very few

won awards

Vast majority are not designed

with “co-use” functionality

Qu’s Also Arise with E-Books

Nook children’s books by Barnes & Noble

How can we

ensure that the

device doesn’t get

in the way of

conversation?

Photo by JGCC Research

Team

Embedding

New Tools in

Relationship-Centered Programs

atlas.newamerica.orgatlas.newamerica.org

Poll

Are you part of a project or initiative that involves training parents or educators about the best use of media and technology with young children?

1. Yes, in a non-profit2. Yes, in a public school3. Yes, in a public library4. Yes, elsewhere5. No

Media Mentors

Family Engagement in the Digital Age: Early Childhood Educators as Media Mentors

Chip Donohue, PHDDirector, TEC CenterErikson Institute

Empower parents and engage families

Strengthen a parent...and you strengthen a child.

Fred Rogers

You already have what it takes. VROOM

Family engagement is about what we do with families, not to families.

Family engagement mattersIntentionally use technology to:• Improve communication

• Strengthen the home-school connection

• Build community and connect with communities

• Encourage parent-to-parent sharing

• Increase parent/caregiver involvement

• Enhance family engagement

• Empower parents and families

Family engagement mattersIn the digital age…

• Be aware of barriers to access

• Meet the parents where they are

• Provide multiple pathways

• Understand the power of “nudges”

• Welcome new allies

• Be media mentors to parents so they can be media mentors to their children

✓ Email campaigns and social media

✓ Text messages

✓ Video clips

✓ Just in time learning

✓ Customized tips (age, stage, culture, language…)

✓ Empowering messages

✓ “Nudges”

✓ Parenting tips and digital skills

✓ Access, equity and the digital use divide

What works? Can we push and pull?

Innovative tech tools for family engagement

• Comienza en Casa

• Ready Rosie

• Ready4K

• Text4Baby

• Tech Goes Home

• Too Small To Fail

• Vroom

• Early childhood educators and teacher educators

• Informal educators in third spaces

• Parents, caregivers and families

• Pediatricians and allied health professionals

• Child Life specialists

• Disability/Inclusion specialists

• Media developers

• Policy makers

Engagement opportunities – Media mentors

Thoughts about Media Mentors

Today’s young children who are using technology to learn and create while working with adults who can set good examples and guide them to new heights are receiving tremendous advantages. If only the privileged few have the opportunity for that kind of tech-assisted but human-powered learning, divides will only grow wider.

Lisa Guernsey, 2016

Thoughts about Media Mentors

Digital media can be used not only to provide families with information, but also, to increase their understanding to use that information effectively and creatively. By doing so, families take on the roles as lifelong educators and learners: they become powerful teachers for their own children who also gain new skills themselves.

Lopez, Caspe & Weiss, 2016

Thoughts about Media Mentors

Media mentors actively engage with children and families interacting with digital media provided within the library context, both guiding children through positive and efficient uses of the technology and modeling for caregivers how they can support their children’s digital literacy development outside of the library.

Media Mentorship in Libraries Serving Youth, 2015

Campbell and Koester, 2016

Thoughts about Media Mentors

Now it is time to both upgrade the skills of these professionals and envision new professional roles to help families understand and become savvy users of the digital media and interactive communication tools that are part of children’s nested environments.

Guernsey & Levine, 2016

TapClickRead.org

Tap, Click, Read

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