Report on Multimodal Media and Digital Technology in Early Childhood

This report comprehensively examines the integration of multimodal media and digital technology in early childhood education, focusing on the Australian government's approach and its impact on learning and development. It explores the evolving landscape of digital technologies, including their use in classrooms and the shift away from traditional teaching methods. The report discusses the government's initiatives to incorporate digital technology and multimodal media into preschool and early childhood curricula, emphasizing the importance of providing equal opportunities and fostering active, informed citizens. It also analyzes various teaching pedagogies, such as inquiry-based learning, game-based learning, and the flipped classroom method, evaluating their effectiveness in promoting student engagement and understanding. Furthermore, the report addresses the challenges and potential negative impacts of excessive technology use, emphasizing the need for guidelines and responsible integration. The report draws on research from various authors and highlights the importance of multimodal media for effective teaching and learning in the digital age, aiming to equip educators with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate this evolving educational environment.

Running Head: MULTIMODAL MEDIA & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
MULTIMODAL MEDIA & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

MULTIMODAL MEDIA & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
There are billions of users in social media, along with this digital technology is also
getting advanced every day. Children in present generation receive a lot of information in
profound ways as compared to the previous generations. The old ‘stand and deliver model’
has been changed in classrooms, and this technique should be replaced with state-of-art forms
such as smart classes, conferencing, podcasts, virtual presentations, and so on. Use of
multimodal and digital media is essential to endure effective teaching methods; as students
would comprehend more competently with contemporary methods and they will remain
updated. The report highlights the present-day Australian Governments’ approach towards
encompassing the digital tech & multimodal media in preschool and initial childhood. The
multimodal media would allow the children to grasp the educational content through multiple
forms, and students would also get a chance to comprehend the subject in multiple languages.
Further, discussions on multimodal and digital media are deliberated in the report by
highlighting the viewpoints of different authors. Influence of multimodal media and digital
technology on learning and development is also elaborated in the report. Lastly, several
teaching pedagogies for digital technology and multimodal media is deliberated in the report.
Multimodal media can be described as the method of reading and writing that now
embraces digital media. The digital technologies comprise gestures, digital text, images,
various sounds, movement, and print as well. These technologies could be combined to form
a hybrid and used to communicate with an individual or a group (National Association for the
Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 2012). These are contemporary modes of
communication through which media could be crafted and manipulated for suitability. The
listeners or readers would also get an ability to comprehend the matter more effectively than
the traditional methods of communication or teaching (Friedman, 2018). In these days,
multimodal media are being used in school and in early childhood, as children could
comprehend their subjects more effectively and they could also comprehend the practical
aspects of the subjects as well (Schwartz, 2015). In these days, students are sharp and
competent with technology, while there are some students who are not that competent with
the technology; the use of multimodal media and digital technology would also keep the
students up to date with technological advancements (Ardies, et. al., 2015). In the present era,
multimodal media is at its peak; the media is being molded and manipulated in numerous
ways for convenience. For instance, Amazon’s Kindle is an e-book through which readers
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can purchase any book in any language and access according to the convenience (Hussain, et.
al., 2017).
Government of Australia is enlightened for establishing multimodal media in school
curricula and in initial childhood. Many steps have been taken by the government that shows
that the government realizes the prominence technology in the present era. One of the prime
reasons behind Australia’s strong economic status and stable democracy is education. The
Australian government is capitalizing enthusiastically for educational provision to make sure
that the country has adequate expertise to be productive and flexible (Department of
Education and Training Australia, 2014). The Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
declared their plan for Educational development for young Australians; the goals were
connected with achieving excellence and embracing the multimodal media in education. The
Australian government looks forward to providing equal opportunities along with even-
handed outcomes; the government proposes to make effective use of information technology
in order to develop young and successful learners from the childhood level, and to develop
active and informed citizens in the country (Zabatiero, et. al., 2018). The Australian
government is enhancing the educational standards in order to accomplish the mission of
being the world’s leading digital economy. The government is ensuring that the schools and
colleges have the proficiency to collaborate with flexible and innovative educational
resources and services to enhance the online learning service and children could get access to
more resources to mug up efficiently. The Australian government has a future-directed vision
in all the institutions including governmental and private institutions are targeted to reform
and build a strong foundation for empowering a future-guided idea for Australian education
(Australian Government Department of Education, 2009). The government of Australia is
proactively working to improve the efficiency of learning and enhance the teaching style as
well. There are many educational institutions that are still following the traditional teaching
methods; but the students in this era are towards technology and they learn more effectively
(Hesterman, 2013). Considering these factors, the government is working on various
outcomes as requirement for building the learner capacity, need for bringing innovation in
education, reduction of negative aspects of implementing the advanced technologies,
redirecting students towards the positive use of technology and practical learning (Epstein,
2013). Technology is getting integrated into each and every aspect in the present era. The
efforts by the Australian government would not only enhance the efficiency of learning, but
student’s skills such as decision making, problem solving skills, communication,
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collaboration, & creative thinking skill would also be enhanced (Styles & Arzipe, 2001). The
government of Australia is encouraging the use of multimodal media in school prospectuses
and in initial childhood as well .Government is investing a good sum for the development of
schools and universities whether it is public or private. Several new ideas such as bring your
own device and performing tasks online at home through cloud computing are being
visualized by the educators, and the government is affirmative for the ideas (Australian
Government Department of Education, 2009)
The current research on digital technology and multimodal media in initial childhood
and preschool has been deliberated in various ways. Some of the imperative teaching
pedagogies have been explained in order to analyse the challenges as well. Children are
highly motivated and enthusiastic to work with technology. They feel delighted to learn with
technology integrated environment; according to the author, there are also some cases in
which students feel thrilled when they see that the teachers are not proficient with technology
and they are ahead of teachers. The author describes the prominence of Multimodal Media
and Digital technology by illustrating with Multi literacies Pedagogy in a classroom setting.
This pedagogy provides real-life applications and various choices to the students. This
framework enhances the students’ abilities by focusing on their background and mother
tongue (Ryan, et. al., 2010). Main challenges of Multi literacies model is, coping up with the
curriculum changes; teachers would have to amend and update the changes to the system. It is
very challenging to programme the device with some limitations to ensure that the students
do not misuse the technology (Simon, 2011). Children are mainly influenced by the system
transformations and globalization. Discoursing about technology, children and young adult
are the ones who attain knowledge and understanding about the technological changes at the
first place; they encounter ongoing changes and also experience different events which make
them more curious and well-informed. There has been a significant increase in smartphone
use in the recent years; the author has recommended the use of mobile learning pedagogy
which enhances learning in the classroom setting with the use of a smartphone (Ozdamli,
2012). The author has proposed the use of mobile for student-teacher interactions, learning
using apps, online learning, and so on. Even though there are numerous positive aspects of
multi model media learning in a classroom setting, there are challenges of this method as
well. Students can get easily deviated from their course applications and use other
applications; for this, teachers and other facilitators have to make sure that students could not
misuse the devices provided to them. Teachers must have to be competent with the
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smartphones and other devices that are associated with the digital environment to (Asiimwe,
2017). Whereas, there are many students who have not even established elementary expertise
with the technology; this happens because of uneven access to technology, all the students are
not fortunate enough to get the opportunity to get access to digital technology in literary rich
schools. Using Multimodal Media and Digital Technologies Teachers sometimes have to face
several difficulties to address students from different groups in a single classroom. The author
also detailed that the blending of oral, visual and textual media should also be competent in
order to influence a positive impact on the learners (Yi, 2014).
Positive aspects of digital technology in a teaching space are numerous, but there are
some severe aspects of the technology that should be considered by educators such as eye
discomfort can be caused due to glare and reflection in the screens, high quality sleep is
required to maintain good health; the technology may impact negatively on the children who
have irregular sleeping patterns and the screen-based technologies can impact children’s
sleep; evidence shows that exposure to TV, computers, videogames and other gadgets might
reduce the duration and quality of the sleep hours in children (Donohue, 2015). Children are
presently growing by using the latest technological gadgets and most of the time they are
spending their time using these gadgets. At some cases, students do not get required nutrition,
social interaction, physical activities, and exercise as they are totally involved in technology.
Parents should ensure that their children are subjected to a set of rules and regulations for
their children to ensure good health. Therefore, digital technology and multimodal media
have numerous positive impacts in children’s lives, but the negative effects of the digital
technology may negatively influence children’s life until they are subjected to specific
guidelines (Mesman, et. al., 2013). Use of technologies for the development of children is
becoming prominent in day after day, but excessive use of technology may also impact
children’s mental wellbeing. Therefore parents wants that their children are using technology
in a good way. According to the author, children’s social life is becoming worst these days;
as most of their relationships are made through social media, or they don’t prefer to interact
with people. This may influence children’s personality in many aspects; therefore parents are
responsible to ensure that their children are sharing a healthy relationship with people (Yi,
2014).
Teaching pedagogy should be effective to ensure that the children are learning
effectively through technology. There are some of the prominent teaching pedagogies
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through which multimodal media and digital technology could be effectively used in a
classroom setting (Grushka, 2012). First is Inquiry-based learning, it is one of the effective
teaching pedagogies that focuses on to force the students beyond their curiosity and enhances
their critical thinking and understanding. In this teaching method, a question is posed and
students are asked to use their critical thinking skills to work on that question. Through this
pedagogy, children can make effective use of technology and they would explore things far
beyond their understanding (Gormally, et. al., 2009). Second one is Game-Based Learning, it
is a type of pedagogy which has defined learning outcomes. One of the prime advantages of
this method is the subject which is applied in the gameplay can also be applied in real-world
situations. It is an approach to teaching where teachers design the game context and students
are required to explore each and every aspect of the game. Effective game-based learning
would motivate the students to work towards their goals, selecting the choices and facing the
consequences of choices (Qian & Clark, 2016). Third one is Flipped Classroom Method, in
this method, students are provided with content when they are at home, and they required to
practice and working on the content at home. This is a blended learning approach which
involves liberated study through the help of technology; students need to perceive pre-
recorded videos or any content at home and they would have to attain some background
knowledge when they come back to school. This method would allow the student to learn
independently along with the guidance of a teacher (Tolks, et. al., 2016). Last one is
personalized learning, this is a common but effective type of learning method, as the teacher
identifies the needs of every student or groups and use the technology accordingly. This type
of learning method would cultivate each and every student inside the classroom. This
learning method would involve a lot of communication with the students (Huang, et. al.,
2012). So, the above teaching pedagogies could be used in a classroom environment having
multimodal media and digital technology. Inquiry-based learning and game-based learning
are considered more effective because students explore far more beyond their understanding.
Hence, digital technologies have been used prominently in initial childhood and
preschool. There are numerous positive aspects of multimodal media in a school atmosphere,
students can attain more practical knowledge and their critical thinking skills &
understanding would be much enhanced. The government of Australia is affirmative towards
the integration of Digital technology & Multimodal media in initial childhood and preschool.
Many steps have been taken by the government to ensure that every child is thriving and
learning. Education is one the prime aspects of the Australian economy, therefore the
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government ensure that the educational standard has to be increased and make sure that each
and every child learns effectively. Through the report, the fact can be comprehended that the
Australia government takes several initiatives to ensure that the children are subjected to
good educational standards. Through technology, students can interact with their teachers
anytime and they have access to huge resources as well. With the competent use of teaching
pedagogies in a classroom setting, teachers can enhance students’ competencies and learning
skills as well. Even though there are numerous positive aspects of multimodal media and
digital technology in school curricula, but there are negative sides of the technology as well.
Parents must ensure that their children are getting proper nutrition and exercise, apart from
this; social interaction should also be maintained in a child’s life.
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