Digital documentation apps and data use in early childhood education

Overview

This project investigates the unintended workplace demands that digital documentation apps are creating for educators and organizations in early childhood education.  Almost nothing is known empirically about documentation app use by educators, or how the data entered into apps are being used by educators and early childhood services in the name of quality. This project investigates which apps are selected by early childhood services and why, how data are generated, why educators generate particular data, what use is made of these data, who has access to the data, and with what consequences. The project aims to

• generate Australia’s first evidence base of practices and purposes of documentation app use in early childhood education
• work with early childhood practitioners, lead educators, and policy personnel to describe and theorize practices, purposes, and effects of digital data use in early childhood education, and
• describe and theorize implications of aggregated data use for early childhood education practice, policy, and research.

Chief Investigators

Professor Joce Nuttall

Professor Susan Edwards

Research Partner

Associate Professor Alexandra Gunn (University of Otago)