E-books

Thirty years ago an early literacy revolution began, but it didn’t start how you might think. It began with a single computer, well, millions of them to be exact. In 1982, the Commodore 64 personal computer became available to the general public making it affordable for parents, teachers, and schools to integrate technology into learning, including early language and literacy development. Now, preschool and elementary classrooms often include multiple computer workstations logged into early literacy websites, such as StarFall, that teach phonemic awareness, and iPads or Kindles loaded with favorite e-books.

Best practices for using e-books to boost early literacy and language development

Source: Akron Beacon Journal Online

Early childhood researchers continue to learn how to best use the latest technology to impact the early literacy and language abilities of children. A recent study from the University of Akron wanted to see how e-books affected the early literacy skills of at-risk students. For three years, the researchers followed 16 Head Start classrooms in Ohio. Half of the classrooms used traditional books and methods for learning early literacy and language, whereas the other half used e-books. The researchers found that e-books can indeed increase a child’s early literacy and language abilities.