Early-years education online: the rise of the virtual preschool

Neil Selwyn

By Neil Selwyn
Community contribution / July 24, 2019

Legislators in North Carolina in the US recently passed a bill to fund an online preschool program for ‘at risk’ children. This means that children aged three and four years can take their preschool education at home in the form of online ‘kindergarten readiness programs’. Children engage with online games, ‘virtual field-trips’ and other digital learning activities, while parents are sent teachers’ guides and boxes of resources.

North Carolina families will be enrolled in the non-profit UPSTART preschool program, which already operates in Utah, Idaho, Indiana, South ...

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By Neil Selwyn

Community

Neil is an expert on technology and digital media in education. His research focuses on the place of digital media in everyday life, and the sociology of technology (non) use in educational settings.

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The idea of online preschool education has been roundly criticised by educational experts and the news media – branded a “shockingly bad” idea in the Washington Post. Yet despite such push-back, these forms of early-years education provision look set to grow in prominence over the next few years."

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