Educated Child research program

Digital learning and participation for all children

Our Educated Child program aims to advance understandings of how children in diverse communities participate in digital learning and explore how participation might engage with curriculum guidelines and educational and learning practices.

We will use these understandings to develop models, frameworks, technology innovations and good practices of digital learning that build children’s educational opportunities, to foster inclusiveness and equitable outcomes.

Key programs in the Educated Child

Learning in diverse settings

• investigate the uses of digital technology within a family context across diverse settings
• explore how children learn by using digital technologies across a wide range of informal and formal learning settings (for example, at home, in playgroup and childcare, museums, libraries and schools)

Digital technology design to inform learning

• design new technologies that are scalable and affordable to support early childhood curriculum and foster interactions in educational settings, including in face-to-face and distance modes
• collaborate with children, teachers and parents in technology design and implementation
• focus on aspects of curriculum and pedagogy in early childhood classrooms and other learning spaces

Active learning and play in digital worlds

• investigate children’s engagement with digital technologies that shape creativity, curiosity, inquiry, problem solving, and knowledge production to support curriculum and pedagogies of learning
• undertake research within a range of playful learning sites designed to spark curiosity and engagement by encouraging hands-on exploration and learning through play

Designing programs for impact

Our research is designed with a focus on impact in the areas of policy, innovation, and practice. For the Educated Child program, these areas of impact include:

Policy

• recommendations on digital technology access and digital proficiency for young children
• wide-scale curriculum change recommendations to transform learning with digital technologies in the early years

Innovation

• frameworks to support the design of new technologies for learning, learning applications and other practical technologies, including in STEM and literacy

Practice

• guidelines for assessing children’s digital content, products, services, and experiences
• resources for educators to support children’s digital interactions