ICT advice

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Select a category to view links to advice and support.

General ICT advice

Using ICT in early years

British Educational Communications and Technology agency (Becta) is a UK agency which supports all four UK education departments in their strategic ICT developments. Its site carries vast amounts of information.

Becta ICT in early years - a series of useful articles containing advice, 'how-to' information and guidance for early years practitioners.

ICT in Foundation Years is a school site which provides comprehensive information and practical advice about using ICT in the early years.

You can also discuss and find out about ICT practice in the Early Years discussion forum - why not visit today?

Research

Technology and Young Children is an interest forum of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (US) and aims to lead discussions, share research and information and demonstrate best practices regarding technology so it can be used to benefit children aged 0-8 years.

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Evaluating ICT

Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia (TEEM) - information about what works, and why, when teachers use multimedia in the classroom. Publishers and trained TEEM evaluators - all classroom teachers - have contributed information on current CD-ROM-based educational multimedia.

Fool's Gold: a critical look at computers in childhood claims that young children's computer use should be monitored carefully to ensure that other developmental needs (physical, emotional and social) are not forgotten.

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ICT equipment

CACHET: computers and children's electronic toys is an 18-month exploratory study by the Institute of Education at the University of Stirling and the School of Cognitive & Computing Sciences at the University of Sussex to investigate communication and interactions between children and 'smart' toys in a range of settings.

Developmentally Appropriate Technology for Early Childhood (DATEC) reports on progress of a two-year research and development initiative which aims to identify the most appropriate applications of ICT to support the development of children under eight years of age. Partners involved are from the UK, Portugal and Sweden. This site will carry guidance materials for educational policy makers, and primary and pre-school practitioners.

Kidsmart was a study of 14 UK early learning centres containing computers, educational software and specially designed furniture.

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Role of ICT

Early Connections: technology in early childhood education aims to connect technology with the way young children learn. This US site covers under threes to upper primary and offers advice on a range of areas including learning and technology, classroom arrangement and health and safety.

Gamesley Early Education Centre has an ICT section on its website, describing the centre's approach to the use of ICT in early years education. Within the 'ICT and Parents', 'ICT Equipment' and 'Videos' pages, video clips illustrate the centre's use of everyday ICT such as tape recorders and karaoke machines, metal detectors and walkie-talkies.

The Role and Potential of ICT in Early Childhood Education: A Review of New Zealand and International Literature was commissioned as part of the process of developing an ICT strategy for early childhood education in New Zealand. It includes literature on children's and adults' use of ICT in early years settings, and comments on the role of ICT with respect to teaching and learning, professional development, administration and information management.

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Health and safety issues

HealthyComputing for Kids was founded to address the growing concerns for children's health and safety. It provides information about ergonomic products to help alleviate children's injuries and includes contributions from physicians, ergonomists and injury-prevention specialists.

Guides to the use of display screen equipment by children can be downloaded from the Scottish Schools Equipment Research Centre (SSERC) website. The guides (for practitioners and managers) contain information on health risks, ergonomic requirements and risk assessments. There is a section on data projectors and whiteboards. An appendix provides information on flicker and photosensitive epilepsy.

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Educational web links

For a wide range of links to websites containing educational information and resources, visit our educational websites section.

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