Assignment 2: Advocacy Strategy Advantages and disadvantages of technology in early childhood Due date: Worth: 25% Early Learning and Child Care professionals will often find themselves in the role of being an advocate for change within the systems. Advocacy is a means to raise awareness and call for action on an issue. Based on the research that you have done for assignment 1,( Advantages and disadvantages of technology in early childhood )you are now ready to advocate on behalf of children and families. Working in groups you will design an advocacy strategy based on the topic each of you individually researched for assignment one. For this advocacy to be successful you will need to consider the following: • • • • • • • • Who is your audience (give reasons)?(Asma ) What is your key message? (Farhana) What is the importance to the child care field? What changes do you expect from this advocacy initiative? What can you do to make change or improve your issue? How can you raise awareness on this topic? How can you mobilize others to help in making change? What would you say to opponents of your idea? Part 1: Infographic Please use Venngage to design your infographic. It is available free for students online. You can find a tutorial for the program here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=jb1kY64ywBk&feature=emb_logo Things to consider: • Who is your audience? (Asma ) • What is your key message? (Farhana ) • What are the most important things people need to know? • How can people get involved or take action? (Asma ) Your infographic should tell a story: what is the issue? Why is it important? What can I do about it? In other words, you should answer the questions ‘What?’, “So What?” and “Now What?” in a visual way. Part 2: Elevator Pitch(Janeleen /Tyra ) Format: Power point/Prezi/Video An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive presentation that is used to spark interest in a topic or issue. It should be interesting, memorable, and succinct. It needs to explain what makes your issue or topic important and meaningful, as well as provide a concrete step for taking action. You and your group will create a 3-5 minute powerpoint/prezi/video presentation that makes a powerful statement that answers the questions above (about 10-12 slides in powerpoint). Consider your topic. • Who is your audience (give reasons)? • What is your key message? • What is the importance to the child care field? • What changes do you expect from this advocacy initiative? • What can you do to make change or improve your issue? • How can you raise awareness on this topic? • How can you mobilize others to help in making change? • What would you say to opponents of your idea? You will need to include in-text citations and a reference list (this can be your final slide). Assignment 2 Rubric Criteria Comments Score Strategy: • The students had an advocacy approach with clear goals and key messages. • The students clearly understood their issue, what needed to change, and what they would do to make the change. • The students could identify who their target audience is, and who potential supporters or opponents of their strategy would be. o How they would get their message across, o Who they may need to partner with and how they would partner o How they would manage those opposed to their plan • The students knew which systems they needed to influence to make change. • Proper citations and referencing used (APA format) • Presentation was clear and easy to follow Infographic: • • • • • • • Includes key ideas Attractive and inviting Names issue or topic Describes key aspects of issue/topic Includes information about what people can do No spelling or grammatical mistakes References included Total: /15 /10 /25 Assignment 2: Advocacy Strategy Advantages and disadvantages of technology in early childhood Due date: Worth: 25% Early Learning and Child Care professionals will often find themselves in the role of being an advocate for change within the systems. Advocacy is a means to raise awareness and call for action on an issue. Based on the research that you have done for assignment 1,( Advantages and disadvantages of technology in early childhood )you are now ready to advocate on behalf of children and families. Working in groups you will design an advocacy strategy based on the topic each of you individually researched for assignment one. For this advocacy to be successful you will need to consider the following: • • • • • • • • Who is your audience (give reasons)?(Asma ) What is your key message? (Farhana) What is the importance to the child care field? What changes do you expect from this advocacy initiative? What can you do to make change or improve your issue? How can you raise awareness on this topic? How can you mobilize others to help in making change? What would you say to opponents of your idea? Part 1: Infographic Please use Venngage to design your infographic. It is available free for students online. You can find a tutorial for the program here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=jb1kY64ywBk&feature=emb_logo Things to consider: • Who is your audience? (Asma ) • What is your key message? (Farhana ) • What are the most important things people need to know? • How can people get involved or take action? (Asma ) Your infographic should tell a story: what is the issue? Why is it important? What can I do about it? In other words, you should answer the questions ‘What?’, “So What?” and “Now What?” in a visual way. Part 2: Elevator Pitch(Janeleen /Tyra ) Format: Power point/Prezi/Video An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive presentation that is used to spark interest in a topic or issue. It should be interesting, memorable, and succinct. It needs to explain what makes your issue or topic important and meaningful, as well as provide a concrete step for taking action. You and your group will create a 3-5 minute powerpoint/prezi/video presentation that makes a powerful statement that answers the questions above (about 10-12 slides in powerpoint). Consider your topic. • Who is your audience (give reasons)? • What is your key message? • What is the importance to the child care field? • What changes do you expect from this advocacy initiative? • What can you do to make change or improve your issue? • How can you raise awareness on this topic? • How can you mobilize others to help in making change? • What would you say to opponents of your idea? You will need to include in-text citations and a reference list (this can be your final slide). Assignment 2 Rubric Criteria Comments Score Strategy: • The students had an advocacy approach with clear goals and key messages. • The students clearly understood their issue, what needed to change, and what they would do to make the change. • The students could identify who their target audience is, and who potential supporters or opponents of their strategy would be. o How they would get their message across, o Who they may need to partner with and how they would partner o How they would manage those opposed to their plan • The students knew which systems they needed to influence to make change. • Proper citations and referencing used (APA format) • Presentation was clear and easy to follow Infographic: • • • • • • • Includes key ideas Attractive and inviting Names issue or topic Describes key aspects of issue/topic Includes information about what people can do No spelling or grammatical mistakes References included Total: /15 /10 /25 SOCIAL POLICY 1 Advantages and disadvantages of technology in early childhood ELCC2501: Social policy and Advocacy in Early Childhood Education Instructor’s Name SOCIAL POLICY 2 Advantages and disadvantages of technology in early childhood The appropriate use of technology in early childhood education can prove very beneficial by helping children to learn and grow especially when early educators and families play an active role. The children can use technology to engage actively in challenging tasks and explore a new world. For example, some educational apps and games are highly interactive which keep students focused and engage in a task. Children learn vital concepts and skills that result in a better academic outcome and early communication. The key message includes • Special attention must be given to the use of technology with children • Limitation on the use of media and technology is important. • Professional development and ongoing research are important • A system of change management is important for schools integrating technologies for the first time. • Technology will help teachers to improve their teaching practices. Children are relatively the most powerless group who rely on adults to speak on their behalf. As children cannot look after their own interest therefore advocacy is very important to protect their rights. This is important to the child care field as it will help teachers and other stakeholders to know about the importance of technology in early childhood education. It will provide unique learning outcomes for children with different abilities and interests. Other than creating awareness, it will protect and promote the rights of children by empowering them. Advocacy is important in the child care field as it provides children with encouragement and confidence that they have someone who believes and raises voice for them. This can have a great effect on the lives of children by providing them the confidence to survive in this competitive world (Brien, 2017). The perspectives of the teacher will change by this advocacy initiative. They will understand better how technology can be used to improve and support the child in early education. This initiative will help teachers to design unique learning environment and provide children with more interactive experience by taking online quizzes and sessions. Another change that is expected from this advocacy initiative is that administration of school will work towards improving the process of technology integration such as training of teachers. The goals will be identified and SOCIAL POLICY 3 technology that best supports the goals will be implemented. The main change that is expected from this advocacy is the integration of technology in early childhood education to promote quality education and help children develop to their full potential(Hollingsworth, Knight-McKenna, & Bryan, 2016). To improve advocacy, both personal, private and public sector advocacy will be used. Personal advocacy is mainly informal and in this everyone parents, teachers and other stakeholders will be given education about the use of technology in schools. Other than this, policymakers will also be educated about the importance of technology in early childhood education. The research will be conducted before taking the initiative of advocacy. This will help to determine the policy unintended consequences after it has been enacted. The personal and social barriers that prevent the integration of technology in early childhood education will be determined and strategies that can be used to remove these risks will be adopted. Effective communication skills will be used to convey the importance of technology in early childhood education. The advocacy will focus on bringing together parents, teachers, student groups and policymakers on one platform to share the ideas about the integration of technology in early childhood education(Hollingsworth et al., 2016). SOCIAL POLICY 4 References Brien, J. (2017). A focus on advocacy. Every Child, 23(4), 2. Hollingsworth, H. L., Knight-McKenna, M., & Bryan, R. (2016). Policy and advocacy concepts and processes: innovative content in early childhood teacher education. Early Child Development and Care, 186(10), 1664-1674. Assignment 2 Social Policy: 1. Who is your Audience? Give reasons? The audience are the parents, teachers, staff, and management. They all are connected with the children. Parents are the first providers to the children for all needs of children. Then comes the teachers who have to teach them, and the management also has to provide all the materials to teachers and children for learning. To better inform the decision-making group and management is to have them understand the importance too---to create more space and opportunities in class for learning with technology. Parents, guardians, educators in early childhood are responsible to provide safe environment for play and new technologies. It is important for educators to utilize technology to achieve desired outcomes and maximized learning. while having the parents understand technology use is not a taboo topic and can be beneficial. 2. How can you raise awareness on this topic? Providing awareness to parents through workshops, conferences, or sending pamphlets about benefits of introducing technology in early childhood education. As the lives of the children, parents, families, and the educators are shaped by technology. Early childhood education can benefit the learning opportunities through DT technology. It is possible to use technology. To give parents that how new technologies are changing the very definitions of literacy. Parents, guardians, educators in early childhood are responsible to provide safe environment for play and new technologies. 3. How can you mobilize others to help in making change? Providing information about the use of technology and how it benefits the future of the children, saves money and time for buying books. Children can get knowledge about all subjects at one spot. New interactive technologies facilitate in creating an environment in which children learn through action, providing the opportunity to create and explore. As the lives of the children, parents, families, and the educators are shaped by technology. Early childhood education can benefit the learning opportunities through DT technology. 4. What would say to opponents of your idea? • • • • • Technology improves cognitive skills of children and that technology addresses many senses of children. Improves psychomotor skills. Technology improves the curiosity of children, and improves hand-eye coordination, selfconfidence, improves creativity of children are the benefits of technology for children. Preschoolers with adequate pre-literacy knowledge turn into better readers and writers than preschoolers whose knowledge is inadequate [15]. Education for students with disabilities has made significant strides over the past 30 years, (p.208). Your infographic should tell a story: What is the issue? Why it is important? What can I do about it? In other words, you should answer the questions’ What?’ “So What?” a visual way