Australian children today are growing up in digital contexts. In 2018, Early Childhood Australia launched the Statement on young children and digital technologies. The Statement recognises that young children have opportunities for play and pedagogy in digital contexts.

Play and pedagogy in the digital realm involves children using a range of devices for exploration, meaning-making, collaboration and problem solving. Educators engage in active decision making about the use and non-use of digital technologies for learning, using the learning outcomes of the EYLF to guide and shape their thinking. 

The team at Modern Teaching Aids (MTA) understands that Interactive Audio Visual solutions, such as an educational interactive flat panel, can be transformative in an early learning environment, supporting educators and other professionals to work to develop children into effective communicators and confident and involved learners. 

Interactive AV technology offers brilliant displays for powerful play-based exploration and collaboration through engaging interactive activities.

The MTA Panel designed for educators and children 

The MTA Interactive Flat Panel for Education is designed specifically with educators in mind. It’s packed with features that allow children and educators to display and interact with content like never before.

Internet connectivity makes the panel the perfect vehicle for introducing children to the sights and sounds of the world from the safety and security of their familiar service. Using the panel, early childhood services can take children to the heart of Australia on a visit to Uluru, to the Louvre, or to see Van Gogh’s work in Amsterdam

With the MTA Interactive Flat Panel, the touchscreen technology offers one of the most powerful benefits for open-ended or active learning. Writing on the panel is effortless, even for the littlest hands. The multitouch display allows for multiple users at once, creating opportunities for imaginative group play at the panel. Tracing letters, exploring early numeracy or letting children express themselves through art and painting becomes a joy. 

And if the mark making and early handwriting efforts of the children need to be captured, that’s easy – simply save the screen! It’s a great way to share with parents or carers at pickup, or to send through mobile apps to show what children have worked on. Educators can pick up where they left off, reviewing earlier work to continue an activity. 

The educational whiteboard software package includes a range of features, especially useful in early childhood settings.The Statement on young children and digital technologies notes that preschool aged children in early childhood education and care settings can benefit from touchscreen technology use that involves the considered use of apps. 

Apps have various levels of quality and educational design, and educators can apply their specialist knowledge to consider how different apps meet the play interests of children or to create new opportunities for children to mix and match modes of communication in digital form, such as video, audio, images and text.  

The MTA Interactive Flat Panel has a wide range of applications, tools and features included which provide children with opportunities for touchscreen exploration in these areas. For example, they could become astronauts for the day. Educators can pull up an image of the solar system and explore space, draw a path through the stars or plan a voyage in outer space.  

Exploring animals or plants or volcanoes in an interactive way is another option, with the educator or the children using the panel’s annotation tool to draw on screen and the multitouch display to write, draw, express and build stories.

Spinner tools with the children’s names on them create a fantastic way to select names and assist in transitions and support the children to move from one activity or planned experience to another.

For music or activities that require quality sound, front facing speakers mean that sound is shared directly through the panel, with no need for an additional soundbar.

Educators can also customise their favourite apps and files with shortcut tools, allowing them to easily move from one display to another smoothly. 

Promethean panels bring early learning environments to life

MTA also offers a wide range of Promethean panels in a range of sizes to make any early learning environment come to life.

The Promethean ActivPanel Nickel 65″ is a crowd-pleasing interactive flat panel in any early learning environment with award-winning educational software ActivInspire and an Android 8 operating system that delivers speed and reliability with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. 

With a boundless canvas, writing space on the whiteboard is never ending, with a canvas that can be expanded in every direction, supporting creative expression in children.

Screen-sharing between other devices in an early learning environment is easy too with an interactive flat panel. Share content for lessons, connect with any device whether it’s iOS, Android or Windows… from photos to videos to number games, it’s easy to share content from a smaller device to the panel.

Wushka – designed specifically for educators to develop early literacy

For educators, one of the most special times in an early learning day is story time, and with an interactive flat panel, this activity takes on a new digital dimension. With a digital reading program for young minds, such as Wushka, educators can use decodables on the panel to help children practise emerging reading skills and build confidence. 

Developed by MTA, Australian-based Wushka also has a carefully levelled library of readers to support reading. Storytime can work on a scale that will captivate children as they develop their literacy skills in group learning activities.

An interactive panel really can be an educator’s go-to tool throughout a day or week. It can play a key role in supporting wellbeing programs such as yoga, exercise or mindfulness.

Whether it’s playing a YouTube video or using one of the many programs through the panel’s browser, children’s senses can be explored, and developing gross motor skills can be supported.

Flat panels can be wall-mounted at a fixed or adjustable height or be on a mobile trolley to move around the space – all flexible options to invite engagement and learning.

To learn more about MTA’s IAV technology, for any further information or to book a demo, contact your MTA rep, reach out by phone on 1800 251 497 or email [email protected]