Perspectives on Digital Equity, Cultural Responsiveness and Open Materials for Early Ed Prep Programs

Teacher preparation programs can provide pre-service educators with experiences that develop their cultural responsiveness and technology knowledge and skills. Because there is little research about early childhood and elementary education faculty combining culturally responsive education (CRE), technology-based pedagogies, and open educational resources (OER) in their programs, learning directly from faculty is one way to address this gap. In May of 2023, New America convened a roundtable with early childhood and elementary education teacher preparation faculty to learn how they integrate CRE, technology-based pedagogies, and OER and consider digital equity when teaching pre-service educators in higher education institutions. This post provides discussion points and takeaways from this roundtable.

Frameworks

Faculty participants identified frameworks they use to address cultural responsiveness and technology in their courses and programs.

Participants highlighted the importance of first knowing pre-service teachers’ baseline of understanding about CRE concepts before building course content. Many of the participants noted their state of residence, like New York, established a culturally responsive and sustaining framework for education, and this framework informed how they approached designing their course and programs. Another participant noted the use of the concept “mirrors, windows, and sliding doors,” developed by Rudine Sims Bishop, to initiate and guide conversations about identity, systemic racism, and CRE topics. Indigenous Montessori was another approach mentioned, which emphasizes the connection to land and focuses on children’s needs. Other sources stated included: Learning for Justice materials, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s Historically Responsive Literacy Framework, and social cognitive theory, a concept that explains the social context of learning and the influence interactions between people and the environment have on a person’s behavior.

Participants listed several frameworks they use to build pre-service teachers’ understanding of technology use. Such frameworks included ISTE Standards, which have competencies for students, educators, and education leaders, and the Digital Play in Early Childhood Education on informational literacy module. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an inclusive approach to creating learning experiences that meet individual needs, overlapped as both a framework to guide CRE practices and technology. Some faculty stated they customized a technology framework or principles based on the needs of their programs, such as integrating technology pedagogy in educational psychology programs.

In some cases, faculty addressed both CRE and technology simultaneously. For instance, one participant noted using Learning for Justice’s digital literacy framework to have conversations with pre-service teachers about bias. KidMap was also stated as a source for evaluating technology tools through a diversity and equity lens. Another program developed and applied an approach for evaluating, examining potential discriminatory bias in, and modifying apps. One participant highlighted their current work combining UDL with CRE to address both responsiveness and inclusivity.

Challenges for Implementing Frameworks

While faculty found ways to integrate these frameworks in their courses and programs, they also identified challenges. Pre-service teachers lack familiarity with technology as a basis for inquiry, creativity, and constructive uses. When they learn better practices in teacher preparation programs, they often lack confidence in using their voices to shift practices and share this knowledge and skills with veteran teachers. There are also peer learning situations, where professionals and mentors teaching pre-service teachers do not know the effective uses of technology and lack confidence to try new practices. Additionally, edtech companies may make projections of what their tool can deliver. As a result, teachers learn how to use tools in ways that are problematic and contrast to promising practices of technology use taught in teacher preparation programs.

Faculty noted the challenge of teaching pre-service teachers in the late teenage and young adult years. Pre-service teachers of these age groups often have limited understanding and experience teaching. In some cases, they may have limited understanding of CRE and perceive CRE as an add-on rather than a necessity. These teachers need more experience in the classroom. Also, pre-service teachers in general need support in navigating the political and legislative cultures that impact their educational setting. Other challenges stated were the prioritization of standardized curriculum over students’ needs and development, teacher shortages, and teachers’ lack of time and familiarity with using technology to support project-based learning. They also mentioned AI is becoming more frequently used in educational settings and is both problematic and positive. Because AI is based on inequities and biases embedded within American societal structure, it can perpetuate those biases. At the same time, AI is a tool that can support student learning, such as creating multiple choice questions and modifying them based on students’ needs.

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Roundtable participants identified several ways they use OER in their courses, often supporting CRE and technology practices. In courses, pre-service teachers learn to use OER for creating social studies, literacy, expressive arts, science, and mathematics curricula as well as projects that integrate different topics and use expressive arts. They also learn how to use an e-library and materials, like Project Zero and Google apps, to create lessons and assessments. Additional resources participants referenced were: Storyline Online, Learning for Justice, Earthtime, Gigapan, TED talks, and ¡Colorín colorado!. In addition to using OER in school classrooms, faculty also use OER to teach their courses. Some participants preferred OER over textbooks because the materials are widely accessible, explain topics better than textbooks, and allow for flexibility of use with a Learning Management System, software used by institutions to create, deliver, and manage courses and programs.

While there are many benefits to using OER, participants identified areas for improvement. Many OER materials are not culturally relevant and have limited social group representation. There is also inconsistent quality within these materials and a lack of resources designed specifically for pre-service teachers. Faculty iterated that OER needs to improve in representation, quality, and audience. Teachers educators need to build awareness about OER and teach pre-service how to be critical users of OER and use OER in meaningful ways.

Digital Equity in Early Childhood and Elementary Education

In addition, faculty participants discussed the challenges and generated solutions related to digital equity that need to be considered for early childhood and elementary teacher education.

Challenges

Broadband, technology tools, and experiences were identified as challenges of digital equity. Participants stated that socio-economic status and region impacted students’ and pre-service teachers’ broadband access with some residing in digital deserts due to the cost and infrastructure of broadband. Digital deserts are locations that have little or no access to high speed internet. Students also have different access to technology at home and need opportunities to develop their technology skills. Even though some schools received funding during the Covid-19 pandemic to purchase devices, there is still variation in the type of technology students can access.

There is a lack of knowledge about the science of learning and good practices with edtech, and educators vary in their preference of using technology or not. Those pre-service teachers who use technology may do what feels good or replicate school edtech practices that may not be supported by the research. Teacher educators have the challenge of ensuring they do not reproduce technology integration practices that foster rote learning and isolation, and instead teach pre-service teachers to design learning experiences with technology that foster collaboration, creativity, and imagination.

Solutions

While faculty participants noted several challenges, they also generated solutions to support faculty and pre-service teachers.

Faculty

• Teacher educators need access to technology and training on how to use these tools and access educational materials.
• When teaching courses, faculty need to know the tools pre-service teachers can access and how that access impacts the digital quality. For instance, there is variation in the quality of pre-service teachers’ Zoom and Canvas experience based on if they use a smartphone or computer. Understanding the type of technology pre-service teachers can access needs to be considered when designing courses.
• Faculty need to learn and use UDL options that are available at the higher ed institutions. They also need to have resources for teaching with technology that address the variability of teachers’ technology preferences.

Pre-service teachers

• Pre-service teachers need to be prepared to consider students’ varied technology experiences and be prepared to address learner variability, assistive technology, and the balance between digital and non-digital experiences.
• Pre-service teachers need to be prepared to become better experts of the tools that students access in their home and workplace and use tools in different environments.
• Having consistency in the use of tools and time to explore the features of tools, like Google apps, can help pre-service teachers understand how to use the tools in educational settings.
• Pre-service teachers need to learn how to use technology in ways that ensure all students have access to the creative potential that can be enhanced through digital modalities. This includes examining materials for accessibility and understanding that access does not equate to being accessible.

By providing insight about the benefits and challenges of embedding CRE and technology frameworks and OER in higher education programs, roundtable participants provided strategies for leveraging the affordances of current and emerging technologies that are responsive to learners. Applying takeaways from this roundtable can help teacher preparation programs cultivate pre-service teachers that can design and implement technology learning experiences that support all students.