The Digital Literacy and Multimodal Practices of Young Children. COST Action Nr. IS1410.
European proyect funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) & EU RTD Framework in collaboration with 23 european universities and 65 researchers. The project leader is Prof. Jackie MArsh, University of Sheffield, UK. Funding: 7.000.000€. National managers are David Poveda and Cristina Aliagas.
GRETEL researchers involved: Cristina Aliagas and Cristina Correro
Description:
The digital literacy and multimodal practices of young children (DigiLitEY)
The ability to negotiate digital forms of literacy carries high stakes for life destinations but in early childhood education, literacy still tends to be approached as predominantly print-based. The technologies through which children now engage with all forms of knowledge are constantly changing with the widespread use of an array of digital, interactive, converged and personalised devices. These are transforming the skills and literacies needed by even the youngest children to be competent actors in the world while, at the same time, challenging the efforts of parents and teachers to support their learning. The development of relevant skills and knowledge for reading and writing contemporary texts is crucial for educational, economic, social and cultural progress in Europe. The proposed Action will create an interdisciplinary network to examine how young children’s literacy development is being shaped by changes brought about by the digitisation of communication. The Actionwill enable researchers across COST countries collectively to synthesise existing research and identify gaps in knowledge, thus avoiding duplication, fostering innovative avenues for future research and more effectively advancing knowledge in this area. The Action will also build capacity by facilitating systematic exchange between established and early stage researchers across the network.