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Date: February 24, 2005

Conversations about the Role of Technology in Early Childhood Professional Development
By Chip Donohue

The National Child Care Information Center and the Child Care Bureau recently released "A Long-Awaited Conversation: Dialogue to Bridge the High Tech/High Touch Gap in Early Childhood Workforce Preparation and Professional Development", written by Doug Clark of National-Louis University. The report provides a summary of a two-day forum hosted by the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership in Chicago in May 2004.

The meeting, sponsored by the Child Care Bureau, brought together a diverse group of early childhood professionals involved in the use of technology as a tool for teacher education and professional development of early childhood practitioner. The participants included representatives of college faculties, professional development organizations, technology and media companies, and federal and state government agencies.

Clark summarizes the discussion of topics including lessons learned, promising practices, and the future of preparation and training for the early childhood workforce. Key issues, themes and remaining questions are outlined. The “Long-Awaited Conversation “ report is available online at http://cecl.nl.edu/ccbtech.pdf.

An important discussion prior to the “Long-Awaited Conversation” was hosted by the Education Commission of the States and KnowledgeWorks Foundation in July 2002. Technology and Early Childhood Professional Development: A Policy Discussion brought together policymakers and practitioners to explore the potential of using a variety of technologies to deliver effective training to early childhood educations. The ECS report by Jessica McMaken explores to what extent states are taking advantage of distance learning technologies to increase access to high-quality training and professional development for early childhood educators. The report includes an overview of state policies regarding postsecondary distance education, the distance learning opportunities available to early childhood educators in each state, and reviews each state's early childhood educator pre-employment training requirements. McMaken also looks more at state programs offering distance learning opportunities for early childhood educators.

http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/publications/home_publications.asp.

EOE is edited by Michael Kalinowski of the University of New Hampshire