I know this should seem obvious, but when I started to dive into the vast amount of information out there on digital learning in kindergarten, I started by reading. This illustrates where I am starting from because I am first and foremost a lover of books. When I think about resources in the classroom, my first thought goes to finding the best book for the job. This assignment is holding up a mirror for me to see all of the space I have to grow. So, after finding many articles, combing through them, taking notes, I finally realized that there must be much more video content online…I feel antiquated admitting it; nonetheless, the learning has begun.
VIDEO:
Creative Kindergarten YouTube channel
This video was very gentle and easy to approach for a beginner like myself. She is a kindergarten teacher and so I found her explanations of Sphero’s and Google Jamboard really straight forward. She also gave realistic examples of usage of these technologies in the classroom. For example, I have never thought of using Sphero’s to paint! Brilliant! I am still figuring this platform out and could not successfully embed the video, but I will keep trying!
WEBSITE:
Augmented Reality in the Classroom
This link is to a website for a company called eLearning Industry and I found it a result of reading an article from the UBC reserve materials about a study that was conducted in Hong Kong using AR to teach art in early years education. Virtual reality and Augmented reality seem quite controversial but I would love to see it in action to be able to imagine all of the possibilities. One of the barriers that comes to mind is that it must be cost prohibitive for many schools and districts and also that the pandemic has made us leery of sharing anything among students that goes over the nose. I am very curious about the possibilities this technology offers and how it will evolve both as a tool in life and in the classroom.
ARTICLE:
This article had many practical ways to help kindergarten students, not only improve drawing skills, but also ways to inspire the kids to stretch their imaginations of what is possible. Fine motor skills are elemental in kindergarten, and it is incredibly inspiring to imagine the self-expression we could see from kids with more tools at their disposal. Not to mention, the sheer size of the Smart board becomes an immense canvas for the children to create and collaborate with one another.
You have curated, linked, embedded, and annotated a good list of preliminary resources to support your inquiry. I appreciate the way you document your thinking and learning. You may want to end your posts with a little more narration. Personal, reflective dialogue, like you used at the beginning of your post, helps the reader understand where you are in your learning journey and keeps them coming back to connect with you.