Apps and E-books in Early LIteracy Programs

Thursday, March 13th,  2pm - 3:45pm
Saroj Ghoting
Cen Campbell

I enjoyed this workshop because I saw apps in action and the presenters were very good!  We're working with Cen on our Digital Literacy Grant and it will be interesting to see how much of the information she repeats for our upcoming March workshops.  She did a sample storytime incorporating a variety of digital media. First she made us sing which was weird having 400 people singing a hello song. It was interesting seeing how an app would look on a big screen. The app version of the book Bean's Baby was very cute and simple. You can see how our storytellers would use the app to enhance the parents storytime experience.

Her storytime included:
Hello song
Bean's Baby app - very simple book with cat and baby
Jim Gill song - movement activity with raising our arms every time the song "my bonnie lies over the ocean" had the b sound
Boom Boom song
Wee Sing Alphabet app - B - Bear playing a banjo - activity - air guitar
Nonfiction book - Smithsonian Ocean House Media app for beluga whale nonfiction book. Adding nonfiction element something new to consider. You don't have to read a book - just mention we have lots of books to learn about animals that begin with the letter b.
Blow a kiss song (Laurie Berkner - actually I put in a request to purchase some of this artists cds. She was recommended also at the ELF 2.0 conference.)

Saroj gave some preliminary findings with children and the use of digital media. When children interacted with books they found that children had focused more on reading comprehension. Children focused more on what happened in the story with books and also e-books. When children interacted with advanced e-books, children had focused more on physical engagement, how touching or swiping changed what was happening in the story.

Saroj said that no matter where you fall onto the use of children's digital media discussion - pro or con - as librarians it's our responsibility to understand how digital media may be used to enhance the child's experience with language acquisition. We cannot ignore apps!  As devices become more prominent in our society we have to be nonjudgemental media mentors. Children learn through interpersonal communication and library staff should foster the parent or caregiver's understanding how digital media such as apps will engage their children's early learning. The use of digital technology in storytimes must support the parent's role in their child's language acquisition.

Overall - I enjoyed this program and am looking forward to Cen's trainings later in March.