Jl.

of Technology and Teacher Education (2020) 28(2), 373-380

Live Virtual Sessions with Toddlers and Preschoolers

amid COVID-19: Implications for Early Childhood
Teacher Education

JUDIT SZENTE
University of Central Florida, USA
judit.szente@ucf.edu

This paper shares reflections on over 50 live Zoom instruc-

tional lessons with toddlers and preschoolers amid the first
three weeks of school closures due to COVID-19 in the State
of Florida. Reflections resulted in three themes: 1) imple-
menting digital sessions with young children; 2) establish-
ing and maintaining home-based child engagement through
technology; and 3) ensuring family involvement/engagement
through technology. Implications and research recommenda-
tions are provided for early childhood teacher education pro-
grams and in-service professional development opportunities
to ensure that teachers are better prepared for teaching and
learning in an online environment.

Rationale

About two months ago, children’s lives got turned upside down as they
could no longer engage in their typical daily routines amid the COVID-19
disaster. Personal contacts were soon replaced by on-screen contacts with
teachers and friends. At the same time, parents/caregivers/older siblings
became the ones who were placed in an emergency home-schooling role–
many of them also trying to balance their full-time job or trying to cope
with the loss of loved ones or loss of jobs.
374 Szente

Meanwhile, teachers from preschools to universities placed content on-

line in record speed and many started to offer live virtual sessions for stu-
dents. Since the need and speed of such work was unprecedented, many
early childhood teachers used their knowledge of best practices related to
technology and young children (National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning
and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College, 2012; NAEYC, 2018; Rosen
& Jaruszewicz, 2009; U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, 2016) to complete such tasks. At the same
time, many early childhood teacher educators reflected on whether teacher
preparation programs fully prepared our teacher candidates for such prac-
tices and what we could do to better prepare them.

Process

During the first three weeks of school closures in the State of Florida
due to COVID-19, the researcher observed over 50 live instructional Zoom
sessions from her home. The lessons originated from three teachers of a
private early childhood center that stayed open during the pandemic. These
teachers connected with children from their classrooms daily from either
school or their home. Half of these sessions were held for toddlers and the
other half for preschool-age children. The researcher had one of her own
children in both age-groups. Daily sessions were conducted in the mornings
and in the afternoons–each lasting for 20-30 minutes at a time. For toddlers,
the lessons focused on colors, shapes, sign language, stories, and short ac-
tivities during both morning and afternoon sessions. Older children’s les-
sons in the morning included a morning meeting, weather report, pledge,
stories, and activities usually around letters of the alphabet. They also re-
ceived one or two assignments for the afternoon sessions based on what was
learned in the morning. The researcher took notes in each session with the
intent to see what worked well and what did not work, and what implica-
tions these sessions had for early childhood teacher education programs in
order to better prepare our candidates for providing online experiences for
young children. Qualitative methodology was implemented to analyze the
notes and recurring themes were identified. The study was determined by
an IRB as not to be human subjects research under DHHS and FDA regula-
tions.
Live Virtual Sessions with Toddlers and Preschoolers amid COVID-19 375

RESULTS

Three themes resulted from the observations. These were: 1) imple-

menting digital sessions with young children; 2) establishing and main-
taining home-based child engagement through technology; and 3) ensuring
family involvement/engagement through technology.

Implementing Digital Sessions with Young Children

Teachers seemed comfortable with operating the Zoom program in

their classroom or home. They were able to screen share, utilize digital
books, and online links for the activities. They were also able to appropri-
ately mute/unmute children, so their instruction was heard by all partici-
pants. Teachers shared additional learning resources for the online meet-
ings each day in their Google Classrooms. They were able to record their
Zoom sessions and post them for families who were not able to participate
in the sessions and/or wanted to review the lesson later. Teachers quickly
adjusted the security measures on the Zoom meetings once some inappro-
priate uses of Zoom were reported nation-wide. These were requiring pass-
words for meetings and locking meetings after they started. Unfortunately,
the locking mode disabled some families to participate in an entire session
if they were a little late to join. The need to implement digital sessions with
young children is supported by prior work in the field (e.g., Edelman, 2020;
ISTE, 2008; ISTE, 2020; Kurt, 2018; U.S. Department of Education, 2017;
U.S.O.E.T., 2018).

Establishing and Maintaining Home-Based Child Engagement Through

Technology

Children had more turns and were able to share more when the num-
ber of participants was small. When there were more than 10-15 students
in the preschool meeting, children had fewer turns, were less actively en-
gaged, and seemed to be losing their interest in the activities sooner. They
got in and out of their seats/chairs more often or played with other materi-
als. The length of the online sessions influenced children’s attention. For ex-
ample, when sessions lasted for 15-20 minutes for toddlers, they were more
focused at the end than when the sessions were 20-30 minutes in length.
Preschool-age children seemed to be able to stay engaged until the end of
the 25-30 minute-sessions. Children responded well in both age groups to
songs, engaging stories, and music/movement and teachers utilized them
376 Szente

well when needed to regain children’s focus. Prior work in the field supports
the need for establishing and maintaining home-based child-engagement
through technology (e.g., Robson, 2020).

Ensuring Family Involvement/Engagement Through Technology

Teachers maintained communication with families regarding the dai-

ly sessions in the Google Classrooms and welcomed families in the actu-
al Zoom sessions. There were more parents present on the Zoom screens
with the toddlers than with the preschoolers. Teachers were understanding
if children did not complete their assignment for the afternoon session due
to a page not being able to be printed, or printer not working in the homes,
etc. They also tried to troubleshoot audio/video issues and assisted parents/
caregivers with making sure children were visible on the screen. Sometimes
adjusting the tablet/computer screen was needed, so children’s whole face
was visible not just their foreheads. At all times, teachers were patient and
understanding with parents/caregivers if they skipped a session or more. En-
suring family involvement and engagement through technology is supported
by prior research (e.g., Blagojevic, 2016; Grant & Ray, 2016).

IMPLICATIONS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION AND IN-

SERVICE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

There are several implications of this study for both early childhood
teacher education programs and in-service professional development. These
implications are organized in a taxonomy as presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Taxonomy for Developing Online Learning Opportunities for

Young Children.
Live Virtual Sessions with Toddlers and Preschoolers amid COVID-19 377

As the figure indicates, there are three main components or access lev-
els that build upon each other. Without formal access, actual access and/or
functional access cannot happen. This study suggests that teacher education
candidates and in-service teachers should be able to engage in activities at
all three access levels. Therefore, teacher preparation programs should as-
sess their courses and practices to ensure they are preparing candidates for
such knowledge and skills.
The first component, formal access, includes access to an actual work-
ing computer/laptop/tablet and printer as well as internet in the homes of
children, families, and teachers. It also includes access to hardware and in-
ternet in schools if remote learning happens from there. Further, it should
also include assisting candidates/in-service teachers with ways to provide
equitable access to technology for their students (e.g., How School Leaders
Support Equitable Student Access to Digital Tools, 2017; ISTE, 2020; U.S.
Department of Education, 2017). These may involve partnering with other
schools or community organizations to share or obtain resources; collabo-
rating with companies to obtain lower price points for devices to be used in
schools and/or getting access to broadband for classrooms and communi-
ties; and being able to utilize government resources for digital access such
as Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Title IV, Part A, Student Support
and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) Program (National Center on Safe Sup-
portive Learning Environments, 2020).
The middle component, actual access, includes the ability of candi-
dates/in-service teachers to be able to decide on the frequency of online ses-
sions and the number of children in each session. It is important that candi-
dates/teachers adhere to the guidelines for recommended adult-child ratios
while teaching online as well. For toddlers, the ideal number is about 3-6
while for preschoolers it is 6-10 children in a group setting (NAEYC, 2013).
Further, candidates/teachers should be able to utilize additional resources
and strategies for children with special developmental, cultural, and/or lin-
guistical needs (e.g., Edelman, 2020; U.S. Department of Education, 2017).
They should also be able to relate to the diverse characteristics, needs, and
responsibilities of families in terms of when/how/where they are able to
connect digitally.
Lastly, the third component, functional access, includes developing
candidates/in-service teachers’ digital knowledge, skills, and competence
(Koehler et al, 2014; U.S. Department of Education, 2017; U.S.O.E.T.,
2018); embedding such skills in all methodology classes (Instefjord &
Munthe, 2017; International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE),
2008; Koehler et al, 2014; Kurt, 2018; Rokenes & Krumsvik, 2014; U.S.
378 Szente

Department of Education, 2017); familiarizing candidates/teachers with not

only various digital platforms such as Zoom, GoToMeeting, Google Class-
room, and/or Skype (e.g., Edelman, 2020) but also with ways to utilize these
platforms to teach young children appropriately. Further, this component
also includes the development and utilization of appropriate assessment
tools to evaluate such skills of teachers/candidates (ISTE, 2008; U.S. De-
partment of Education, 2017).

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Since teachers now have been able to provide online learning experi-
ences for young children for over two months, the replication of such study
pauses some challenges because teachers may have been able to reflect on
their practices and modified their instruction based on these reflections. The
study, however, can be replicated by observing similar home-based online
sessions with toddlers and preschoolers and reflecting on what works/what
does not work in those sessions and what may need to be addressed in early
childhood teacher preparation programs/in-service professional develop-
ment based on such observations. This study also suggests some recom-
mendations for future studies. These include: 1) studying teachers’ recorded
Zoom sessions and utilizing this information for both self-reflection and
professional development opportunities; and 2) administering a reflective
survey to teachers and parents who have participated in such online learn-
ing experiences and asking them to reflect on their level of preparedness
with carrying out online sessions and to provide recommendations for both
teacher preparation programs and in-service professional development op-
portunities in order to better prepare teachers to work with children and
families in future digital environments.

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