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ChengDu ChaoYouAi Technology Co., Ltd. 

In 2020, as the coronavirus outbreak swept the globe, the online education industry boomed. The online approach has not only swept the higher education industry in China, but it has also had an influence on early childhood education. My employer is a pioneer in the Chinese edtech market, and my team, Yuzi Duck, is a freshly formed project team focused on creating the edtech product Yuzi Duck for infants and toddlers. For parents with children three years old and younger, Yuzi Duck offers a convenient way to establish a virtual relationship with qualified early childhood educators. The early childhood education instructor will make an animated Yuzi duck appearance and interact with 1-6 groups of families utilizing the toys provided by the Yuzi Duck team.

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As a teacher operations intern for the Yuzi Duck project team, I am responsible for three primary duties. The first duty is to discuss and produce lesson plans with the curriculum development team in light of the real-world scenarios the instructors will use. The second duty is to develop a training process and an assessment system for instructors to ensure the quality of their instruction. The third duty is to conduct online courses as well as connect with teachers and users to offer product revision ideas.

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In the course of my work, I have not only watched a lot of teachers' online lessons but also conducted lessons myself. After extensive observation and experience, I began to think about the meaning of online early childhood education for children. There is no doubt that online early childhood education gives children in remote areas the ability to receive a more structured early education. In China, the field of early childhood education for 0 to 3-year-olds is still in its developmental stage, and many infants and toddlers are exclusively cared for at home by their grandparents. Online early education expands the notion of early childhood education further and allows parents who lack access to local early childhood education facilities additional alternatives. However, is being exposed to screens and watching short, animated clips from seven months onward really appropriate for children? Can online early childhood education really help children grow better? I am not entirely convinced.

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Children in their first few months of life are unable to understand the teacher's instructions and do not have complete control over their bodies; as a result, they often do not play the games that are requested of them or behave in unanticipated ways. These behaviors are typical in terms of child development. Though, when it occurs in an online classroom for young children, it becomes an "unexpected scenario" that must be handled. This is due to two key factors. The first is that many parents care more about whether their child's performance meets their expectations than they do about understanding their child's current behavior. They are subliminally upset when they watch other children on the screen playing the game their kids are expected to play while their children are engaged in a different activity. Therefore, parents tend to compel the children to play, making the children sad as well. To keep the family in a good mood, teachers are required to deal with the problem. After all, parents with more compliant children are significantly more likely to purchase lessons than those with more active and distracted children. The second point is that when there are too many children in the classroom who are unable to follow instructions, other kids may be distracted as well, which can negatively impact the classroom experience for all families. Hence, early childhood teachers need to spend a great deal of time trying to refocus the children's attention on the game. On the surface, the intended audiences for online early childhood education are the children; yet, the parents' experience as customers and users appear to be more significant than the children's experience. In addition to teaching kids, online early childhood education teaches parents how to motivate and nurture their children.

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The disparity between parental experience and child development patterns prompted me to rethink the online early childhood education business model. I want to comprehend how actual offline childcare providers educate infants and toddlers. Are there any ICTs in the infant or toddler’s room? Besides online education, does new media offer other possibilities for early childhood education? I would love to find out the answers.

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Year: Winter 2020

Duration: 3 month (full-time)

2

Bank Street Family Center 

The ongoing debate about whether children should be allowed to use ICTs made me curious about how ICTs are used in early childhood educational settings. Therefore, I decided to become a student teacher in the infant and toddler room at Bank Street Family Center. As a caregiver, I prepared the activity materials, helped maintain the routine of the classroom, and responded to the needs of the children. They loved holding my hand and taking me to play with the pinwheel or sitting on my lap and waiting for me to read a picture book. I slowly developed a strong bond with them that the children would ask me when I would be able to come back during my breaks.

However, as a student who is studying educational technology, I also considered myself an observer. My participation and observation made me realize that those information and communication technologies (ICTs) which seem to be abandoned in early childhood classrooms are actually useful. These technologies infiltrate a toddler's classroom subtly. There are primarily three ways in which ICTs are used in Room1. The first method of utilization is for the instructor to use their phone or tablet to record and document the children. The second approach is for the instructor to utilize the computer and projector during circle time to connect with the music teacher outside the classroom through Zoom. The music teacher's video will be projected onto the classroom wall for toddlers to view and interact with. Thirdly, instructors may use their phones to play music in the mat room to entertain the children. Although children consistently demonstrate an interest in these technological devices, they are rarely given the opportunity to interact with them. Technical devices such as keyboards are used for sensory activities without plugging in. 

It is reasonable to believe that newborns and early toddlers should not be exposed to screens due to health and developmental concerns (Duch et al., 2013). However, is there any way for technology to improve childcare without having children view screens? Since how babies learn remains unclear, the effect of bringing in ICTs will make the question even more complicated. Recent studies indicate that detrimental effects caused by screen time are primarily associated with sedentary behaviors and lack of parental interaction. If technologies are employed to improve adult-child interaction and physical activity, they may prove helpful. The interaction between infants and toddlers with ICTs is a critical subject that has not been completely explored.

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Year: Spring 2022 

Duration: 3 month (part-time)