Search

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is a crucial part of digital literacy that all individuals should possess in today's technologically advanced world. Despite the potential benefits that AI education offers, little research has been done on how to teach AI literacy to children. Objectives: This study aimed to fill that gap by investigating how children were engaged in AI literacy activities that are supported by intelligent agents. These activities were implemented in a Hong Kong kindergarten with a class of six 5‐year‐olds (Mage = 62.83 months, SD = 2.91) over a 6‐week period. Methods: The study gathered data from multiple sources, including classroom observations, teacher interviews, and documents/artefacts. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that children could learn about AI through interaction with intelligent agents in embodied learning contexts. The findings of this study have implications for the broader field of digital technology education, particularly in the context of early childhood education. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is essential in today's world.Little research exists on engaging young children in learning AI literacy. What this paper adds: Technology‐enhanced embodied learning approach affords multimodality in enabling young children's learning with AI‐related agents.Project‐based learning and real‐life examples can enhance children's learning. Implications for practice and/or policy: Early exposure to AI can help children navigate the increasingly digital world.Practical approaches, such as embodied and multimodal learning, seem to be effective.Teachers can enhance children's digital learning by using pedagogical strategies like project‐based learning and real‐life examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To support young children's learning during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, preschool educators in Hong Kong were required to teach with digital technologies. In this study, 1035 educators from 169 preschools reported their views and practices in an online survey, which we examined via multilevel mixed‐response analysis and thematic analysis. More than half of the respondents (53%) expected future online teaching to continue, and only 11% of educators believed that parents would reject this form of delivery. Administrators and teaching assistants were more likely than teachers to expect online preschool teaching to continue in the future. In addition, respondents with existing online platform experience, who taught the upper levels of preschool, or incorporated specific teaching practices (eg, after the online lesson, they assessed children and assigned homework tasks), were more likely than others to expect online teaching in the future. Many of these respondents also reported (a) difficulty with engaging their children when online and (b) inadequate support from parents for learning activities, which reduced the respondents' perceived likelihood of future online teaching. Administrators and teaching assistants were more likely than teachers to believe that parents would accept online teaching in the future. Respondents who felt they had inadequate training to teach online, children in families with inadequate technical skills and parents who believed that online lessons harmed children's well‐being, were less likely than others to believe that parents would accept online teaching in the future. These educators believed that online learning communities could connect parents and schools and foster interaction that could help align with educator's support for children's learning needs. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about technology integration for young children during COVID‐19COVID‐19 led to the closure of many schools, requiring teachers to teach online.Barriers to integrating technologies in preschool settings existed before the pandemic.Online teaching can support students' learning, but few studies have examined technology integration for preschoolers at home during a pandemic.What this paper addsThis paper adds new data on schooling during a pandemic. During the closures, preschool teachers applied two major online teaching approaches: (a) digital content interaction and (b) online human interaction.Technology integration was added to provide evidence of how teachers applied online learning resources for young children during COVID‐19.During closures, teachers often delivered learning resources via digital‐mediated learning platforms, but they were less likely than other educators to expect online teaching in the future.Educators who perceived greater engagement of children or support from parents were more likely to expect online teaching in the future.Implications for practice and/or policyThis study showed that some preschool teachers integrated technology into their teaching during a pandemic, and future studies can explore how to facilitate or extend this integration after the pandemic.This study showed the need for more interactive online teaching preparation to address young children's learning needs.Some teachers were responsive to feedback from children and monitored their learning during the online teaching process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East‐Asian practitioners aspiring to engage in the design thinking (DT) practice—a human‐centred approach to innovation developed and primarily used in Western cultures—may experience a "cultural clash" or "cultural misfit" that may inhibit the acceptance of DT logic. To tap into this still underexplored terrain, this qualitative study explores the enablers and challenges of effective DT practice in achieving service innovation in Hong Kong organizations. Based on a dozen in‐depth interviews, we identified numerous sociocultural and institutional enablers and challenges, which we interpreted based on the postulates of structuration theory proposed by Giddens. Our conceptualization and empirical investigation of DT through a practice lens offers a new perspective when studying the contextual antecedents of DT. Specifically, the findings show that the choice to engage in DT practice is shaped by cultural specifics in the plurality of influences that move beyond the Western perspective and previous DT studies. From a practical point of view, our research informs policymakers and managers about the importance of being culturally sensitive and humanizing digital transformation when organizing service innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]