Finding the Education in Educational Technology with Early Learners

There is growing recognition of the importance of incorporating technology in meaningful and authentic ways into classroom curriculum and day-to-day practices, and of the teacher’s crucial role in the full development and use of technology in the early childhood classroom. The May issue of the Young...

5 Simple Steps for Progress Monitoring in Early Childhood Programs

  In previous posts, I discussed what progress monitoring is and how we know it works. I’d like to dive a little deeper to give you 5 easy steps for monitoring child progress in your education program.   1. Identify Goals for Learning In order to know if you’ve achieved success, you must...

How Do We Know Progress Monitoring Works?

Research has demonstrated that when teachers engage in the progress monitoring of their students, the children learn more, the decision making of the teacher improves, and children become more aware and reflective of their own performance. A large body of research carried out over the past three decades...

What is Progress Monitoring?

Progress monitoring is vital to effective early learning instruction and the key to improving child outcomes. Monitoring a child’s progress is a scientifically-based practice for assessing their performance and evaluating the effectiveness of instruction. It’s cyclical, targeted, standardized and...

NHSA Annual Conference 2012: Technology Supporting Social-Emotional Development

 Conference Take-Aways on Using Technology to Support Young Children’s Social-Emotional Development I recently had the pleasure of attending the 2012 National Head Start Association Annual Conference and presenting ‘Using Technology to Support Young Children’s Social-Emotional Development’. In...

Digital Decisions: Choosing the Right Technology Tools for Early Childhood Education

As a preview to our upcoming Hatch Super-Power Webinar, Fran Simon & Karen Nemeth offer a conversation about the purpose of their presentation and what you can expect to take away from their shared experience.

The Research We’re Following

If you’re craving more early learning technology research, we’ve updated our website with the latest studies. Enjoy! Learning: Is There an App for That? Investigations of Young Children’s Usage and Learning with Mobile Devices and Apps Reports the findings of three new mobile device surveys...

iPad or iPlay? The Difference between iPads and Specialized Tablets in Early Learning Classrooms

What are the real differences between the iPad and tablets loaded with appropriate software applications for early education, like the iStartSmart® Mobile by Hatch? Do these differences really matter when you are choosing a tablet for kids to use in your classrooms? The answer depends on the age of the children, how the tablets will be used and your long-term goals.

OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FIELD: What I Learned at EETC

Last week I attended the 2012 Early Education and Technology for Children (EETC) conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, where I led and attended several breakout sessions and roundtable discussions along with my colleague, Susan Gunnewig, Director of Product Development. The conference was small but focused and allowed early education professionals interested in educational technology to connect with peers and share insights into influential topics that impact how we teach and learn about technology for young children.

If Technology Was Candy, What Would You Feed Your Child?

How can we tell our children not to take candy from strangers and to only interact with people we trust, but then turn around and educate them with un-tested technology apps, media and content that are not based on evidence, created by experts and not running on hardware developed for schools? Last week,...

Observations from the Field: Testing New Education Technology

I recently conducted a field test to observe preschoolers using WePlaySmart™, new educational technology developed around the SMART Table™. As a follow up to an earlier observation at this child care center, I had the pleasure of observing the same children using WePlaySmart a second time. Overall I was...

Special Education Students Get Engaged and Feel Successful

Cheryl Roitsch is Special Education Coordinator with El Campo Independent School District in El Campo, Texas. For Cheryl and her teachers, what makes a difference in both educator and student success is the ability to keep students engaged and focused on learning. Teachers were hungry for tools that could...