Presented at The European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), 10-13 september 2013, Istanbul, Turkey,

1. Added value? Preschool teacher
students’ views on and examples of
the added pedagogical value of ICT
as a tool for learning
Jörgen Holmberg. Faculty of Education
and Business Studies.
University of Gävle, Sweden

2. Pilot study.
Full scale study in late fall 2013
Part of a research project at the University of Gävle:
ICT in preschool –
Digital practice in
preschool, preschool
teachers’ norms,
attitudes and
actions.

3. Overarching goal of research project:
increase our understanding of preschool teachers’
integration of ICT in their practice.
Main goal of pilot study and later full scale study:
Increased understanding of what kind of added
pedagogical value preschool teacher students think
educational technologies can bring to preschools
Secondary goal:
Testing the TPACK-framework as a tool for analyzing ICT
use in preschools

4. Background, ICT in Swedish preschools
Report from The Swedish National
Agency for Education published in
2013.
ICT-use and ICT-competence among
preschool teachers in Swedish
preschools
Statistics on ICT access in preschools
and on preschool teachers ICT
use/ICT competence

5. ICT access in Swedish preschools
Almost every preschool teacher has access to a computer at
work.
11% have access to a personal computer or tablet.
70% of the preschool teachers feel that they have sufficient
computer access when not working with the children
Around 50% of the preschool teachers believe they have
sufficient access to computers when they want to use ICT to
work together with children

6. Number of computers/tablets per child approx. 13
Equal distribution between stationary
computers, portable computers and tablets
Around 2/3 of all preschools have access to a
wireless network
83% of preschool teachers think that they have
sufficient access to wireless network

7. Preschool teachers’ ICT use and ICT competence
2/3 believe their ICT
competence to be good or
very good
1/3 state that their
preschool children use
computers on their own in
preschool a couple of
times a week.

8. 16% use computers or tablets together
with the children every day.
31% say they do so every week
Around 50% think that ICT is an
important pedagogical tool
Around 70% want to use it more than
they do today

9. Aim of the pilot study
To increase our knowledge about
what added pedagogical value
preschool teacher students think
educational technologies can
bring to preschools
by analyzing written and
oral/visual examples of such
added value through the lenses of
the TPACK-framework

10. Theoretical framework
Why TPACK?
Internationally recognized as useful in discussing
and analyzing the complex relationships that
exist between content, pedagogy and
technology in technology enhanced learning
environments

12. The pilot study
25 informants. Preschool teacher students in their last
semester before graduation.
Data collected during a course in the pedagogical use of
ICT taught by myself and another teacher.
I was the only researcher performing this pilot study. Risk
for bias and taken for granted assumptions!?
Main study will strive to have two researchers analyze
and code the students written and oral/visual examples

13. Data collection from two course assignments
1. A written assignment.
Students were to describe 2-5 different ways in
which ICT could be used to create added
pedagogical value in preschools.
Students based their descriptions on their own
observations or use of ICT in preschool during their
teacher practice. They also used examples from the
course literature or examples given by
teachers/students during the course.

14. 2. Students’ oral and visual presentations.
Presentations made at the end of the course.
Assignment = to present a digital artifact for use in
preschools and argue for the added pedagogical
values that this artifact could help create.
Presentations were videotaped and the digital
artifacts submitted in LMS

15. Assignment instructions
In both assignments students were asked to specify the added
pedagogical value that ICT could contribute in preschool
practice. They received the instructions below:
For each example of what you have observed, read about or produced/carried
out, you are to present arguments for how ICT has contributed in creating an
added pedagogical value and explain how, in your view, the use of ICT has or
will allow the learner to experience, practice and learn in a way that would not
be possible without ICT. You are expected to justify your use of ICT and explain
why the learner would not get the same experience and learning opportunities
using analogue "traditional" teaching

16. Research questions
• What types of arguments did the preschool teacher
students present to support the use of ICT to create
added pedagogical value in preschools?
• What types of examples were given of successful ICT
use for added pedagogical value in preschools by the
preschool teacher students?
• To what extent do the preschool teacher students’
written examples and presentations show signs of
added pedagogical value by successful ICT integration

17. Content analysis
The collected data was first analyzed and labeled in
coding protocols consistent with the TPCK framework.
The researcher analyzed and categorized each example
of added value as CK, PK, TK, TCK, TPK.
Examples coded as TCK or TPK were considered
examples of ICT use providing added pedagogical value.

18. Examples

21. Every example coded as TCK or TPK was then re-
analyzed
These examples were then categorized
depending on the added pedagogical value they
represented.

22. Results
6 categories were created to describe students
suggested added pedagogical values
In the following slides the first category
presented had the highest number of
suggestions as added pedagogical value in the
analyzed student examples.

23. The informed use of ICT in preschool was suggested to
afford an added pedagogical value
in documentation by:
making children´s learning and development visible for parents
making learning and development visible for the child
making children´s learning and development visible for
preschool teachers
allowing evaluation of preschool teachers’ pedagogical practice
making children´s interests visible to preschool teachers

24. The informed use of ICT in preschool was suggested to
afford an added pedagogical value:
through the ability of collaborative ICT use to strengthen
the children’s self-image and self-confidence.
Teachers and children can become collaborators “on
equal ground” in the use of apps, the recording and
editing of video, etc.
Children contributors as quick learners or “experts” on
tablets/smartphones, uninhibited actors and free
thinkers.

25. The informed use of ICT in preschool was suggested
to afford an added pedagogical value:
through individualization
allowing children to both learn and express their
learning through different modalities
providing children experiences within their zones of
proximal development (for example through
different difficulty levels in an app –
adding/removing visual or auditory hints)

26. The informed use of ICT in preschool was suggested to
afford an added pedagogical value:
by giving preschool teachers access to a versatile
pedagogical tool (focus on preschool teachers as
teachers)
administrative tool
access to online materials and facts
presentation tool
tool for pedagogical development
(preschool teacher forums, resource banks , etc.)

27. The informed use of ICT in preschool was
suggested to afford an added pedagogical value:
by providing ALL preschool children with an
ability to develop a basic digital competence
Focusing on the role of the preschool in
compensating for differences in socioeconomic
and sociocultural background

28. The informed use of ICT in preschool was
suggested to afford an added pedagogical value:
by providing parents the opportunity to
become involved and influence preschool
agenda and practice

29. Conclusions and discussion
The pilot study provided detailed examples of
the possible added pedagogical value that can
be created by informed use of ICT in preschools.
Based on these examples of added pedagogical
value a number of possible categories of such
added value have been created for use in later
research

30. Using the TPACK framework for analysis
Sometimes difficult to distinguish between TCK
and TPK in observations and analysis of ICT use.
For example, one suggested added value of ICT
expressed by the preschool teacher students
was:
the ability of collaborative ICT use to
strengthen the children’s self-image and self-
confidence

31. This added value could be regarded as TCK (since
strengthening every child’s self-image and self-
confidence is a goal in the Swedish preschool
curriculum).
However, finding ways of making learners believe in
their capacity to learn is also part of a teacher’s
pedagogical knowledge. Understanding how to use
ICT for this purpose could thus be considered TPK.

32. Heterogenity in students’ TK
On the surface respondents made up a
homogenous group in some respects (91% were
women in roughly the same age and in their last
semester of their preschool teacher studies)
However, there was a pronounced heterogenity
in students technological knowledge.

33. Questions for further research
When children use ICT together with preschool
teachers (or other grown ups), what are the
most important factors that that might create an
added value?
Is it that the affordances of the tool let children
use multiple modalities in learning?
or

34. that the ability to set the difficulty level in for
example an app gives children learning experiences
in their zone of proximal development? The child
and/or the teacher can in a way decide how
“capable a peer” the computer or tablet should be.
or
that the preschool teacher/grown up by using a
new app together engage in “real” collaborative
learning (as opposed to when the teacher ask
questions that he/she already knows the answer
to, which the children also realize)?

35. Questions, comments?
Thank you for your attention!
Jörgen Holmberg
jonhog@hig.se