Rotary4Kitas
Project titel:
Rotary4Kitas: Enhancing the Digital Media Competency in Kindergartens
Type of profect and funding:
Evaluation and research project funded by Rotary Germany
Duration:
07/2021 – 12/2022
Project team:
Project description:
This intervention project analyses the potential to enhance the digital media competency of educators and children in kindergartens. About 50 intervention kindergartens in South-East-Germany participate and two to three educators/directors of these kindergartens are going to attend one of several identical workshops in September/October (currently, 36 kindergartens in the area of 12 Rotary Club of District 1880 that were approached by Rotary Governor Reinhard Höpfl agreed to participate). Here, information on children’s media competencies and their development and on children’s digital media usage will be provided. Further, individual advice on how to incorporate digital media in everyday kindergarten life in a meaningful and good way will be given. In addition, the kindergartens will receive recommendations for suitable learning apps to support specific competencies in young children according to the curricula provided by the ministries of culture in the three participating states within Germany.
After the workshop, the intervention kindergartens will be provided with tablets and learning apps to be used in the everyday activities in kindergarten. During this intervention phase, the research team will be in close contact with these kindergartens and support the implementation of digital media with monthly information. These intervention kindergartens will be compared to about 15 kindergartens in the control group who will not receive any information and material.
This intervention project will be evaluated by surveying the educators and the parents of participating children with a questionnaire on educators’ and children’s media competencies, the media usage, and information about the implementation of digital media in the kindergartens. The participants are asked to fill-in these surveys at the beginning of the study and after the end of the intervention phase to identify any potential changes in the intervention and control kindergartens. During the course of 2022, a new cohort of kindergartens will begin to participate in the Rotary4Kitas project.
Research question:
Does the intervention (workshop and provision of tablet computers) improve the educators’ and children’s media competency?
Does the supervised usage of high-quality learning apps by children support their competencies’ development?
Cooperation partner:
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Rotary Germany (Prof. Höpfl, President of District 1880)