Toys or Tools? Using Tablet Computers for Open-Ended Literacy Learning

Full-day Kindergarten began to roll out in Ontario in 2010 and was fully implemented by the 2014-2015 school year. It is staffed by two professionals: an Early Childhood Educator and a Kindergarten Teacher who work as a team to implement the program. The program has two components: the ‘core day’ which runs from approximately 9am to 3pm, and the ‘extended’ day which runs before and after the traditional school day. It was meant to be a ‘seamless’ day for the children but in reality most school boards do not run the extended day, operating them instead with third parties. This project began as a one year pilot project in 2014-2015 with six classrooms (three core and three extended) to explore how children and educators responded to using open-ended tablet apps in their school programs. The project’s specific focus was literacy learning, but the educators could use the apps in whatever way they chose. The preliminary findings were very exciting and provided the findings needed to apply to SSHRC for an expanded three-year project.

Currently the team is working in eight extended day classrooms and six core classrooms in two school boards. The project focuses on looking at open-ended literacy learning for children using iPad apps, but also at educators’ attitudes, experiences, pedagogical strategies, and goals while using the iPad apps in their teaching.