4 Chapter 4: Discussion
Digital learning objects, by nature, can support and develop many skills and abilities that are important for ECEs. In my definition, to be classified as a DLO the learning resource must be intentionally created for learning, able to be reused and shared, and actively engage the target audience without overwhelming them. The three DLOs created for this project meet and exceed the minimum requirements for these points, as explored in the previous section. Having explored definitions, importance to the field, key research studies, and the intentional design of each of the DLOs created in this project, I return to the question asked at the end of the definition: so what?
The answer culminates here in a discussion of DLOs and major takeaways from the process of completing this project. Values of utilizing DLOs are explored in general and in the context of meeting the needs of ECEs, followed by the merits of creating DLOs as an alternative master’s project. Next, the limitations of the project, research, and technology used are discussed. Lastly, possible next steps and ideas for future research are discussed concerning advancing this unique approach to bridging a gap between theory and practice.
4.1 Value of Digital Learning Objects
The value of constructing understanding through the creation of digital learning objects is two-fold. First, the culmination and application of what you have learned in creating the DLOs. By creating DLOs, you are making learning visible and communicating that learning to others in a way they can understand. This change takes the initial learner from theory and moves them into practical applications, much like my utilization of the UDL guidelines (CAST, 2024) and multimedia design (Mayer, 2024) frameworks. Second, the users of the finished product construct their understanding and develop their skills as they immerse themselves in engaging with the DLOs. In that spirit, the design of the DLOs in this project are meant to be practical and useful for the everyday educator actively working in the field. Each DLO provides opportunities for specific skills building that will help ECEs in a multitude of ways, such as the learning environment hotspots that facilitate the development of observation, noticing, and problem-solving skills. As evidenced by the narratives presented in the design section, DLOs are a prime example of how technology has advanced beyond passive consumption and into active and interactive learning opportunities, particularly when intentionally designed from conception as a digital learning object that encourages cognitive action and engagement. DLOs, in brief, invite critical analysis of their contents as well as new contributions to teaching and learning that can benefit educators and learners at any level: in-service, pre-service, and continuous learners alike. This project also adds a unique and innovative perspective on addressing the learning needs of early childhood educators and completing master’s projects.
4.1.1 For the Needs of ECEs
The implications for professional development are staggering as DLOs have enormous potential for ECEs to develop essential skills needed in their work. Using DLOs supports a deeper understanding of the content covered in the objects, a better grasp of digital competencies, and a greater likelihood of incorporating digital technologies effectively into teaching and learning practices (Falloon et al., 2009; Hart & Passmore, 2010; Mcleod & Carabott, 2017). Being self-paced and flexible–typically also scalable and accessible from anywhere with internet, as is the case with DLOs hosted on H5P through eCampusOntario like mine–DLOs are potentially a major opportunity for meeting the professional development needs of ECEs. Specifically, they could be an excellent option for learning activities and reflection within the CPL portfolios RECEs must complete each year. Not only would ECEs have access to new and relevant information, but the content could be made more engaging and interactive while providing instant feedback and opportunities to apply new learning.
I posit that being able to critically engage with DLOs could provide in-service and pre-service ECEs with sufficient experience to lower some of the stress felt when entering new stages of their career by increasing their feelings of preparedness. For example, if another DLO similar to the first I created – titled Get to Know Your Learning Environment: All Parts 1-4 – were adapted and modified to show the classroom a pre-service ECE or placement student was assigned to, they would be able to become more familiar and confident with the room. This could lead to feeling more prepared and less stressed or anxious when first stepping into the classroom. This meshes well with one of the general benefits of DLOs, which is their ability to help learners cement understanding and address possible doubts or confusion (Dumitrica & Jarmula, 2022).
4.1.2 Master’s Projects
As an alternative approach to master’s projects, creating DLOs could potentially be an as-yet untapped source of high-quality open-educational resources that can further narrow the gap between theory and practice. Not only does it synthesize learning and hit many higher-order thinking skills, but creating DLOs also has numerous practical applications. For example, making good quality, accessible learning resources for continuous professional development. Constructing learning and making it visible through creating digital learning objects engages learners in actively developing tangible artifacts to advance teaching and learning in practice-oriented ways. As well, being able to apply what you know and create something new is a mark of mastery in a topic or field.
As the learning supported by using DLOs happens intrinsically, it could be said that DLOs develop the individual from within themselves. I opine that this is the same when creating digital learning objects. Based on my experience with this project, I am confident in saying that I have advanced my skills in research, development, scholarship, and digital technologies far more than if I had forgone creating the three DLOs. This experience has enabled me to cogitate deeply and challenge myself and my learning in new and innovative ways. I also feel a tremendous level of pride to know I have created something that has the potential to help others. As a lifelong learner and educator, supporting learning and meaningful change from within using accessible, non-disposable, open resources is important. The potential of DLOs for education in general and ECEs specifically could be the embodiment of those ideas.
4.2 Limitations
One of the most important aspects of any project to explore are any limitations. It is also important to acknowledge here that limitations are not inherently negative or positive–they are simply points a project is not designed to be capable of, or that which is beyond the scope or control of the researcher. In this section, I explore three main categories of limitations for my project: the project overall, the research available, and the technology I utilized to create the three DLOs.
4.2.1 Of the Project
As with all projects, one of the biggest challenges is time. While there are many more things I would have found greatly beneficial to create for pre-and in-service ECEs, I am constrained by the limits imposed by time. This project began long before enrolling in the two-semester-long project-based option, but even with this, there is only so much that can be accomplished by one person with a deadline. Another limitation came about as I was creating the various storylines and examples. This limitation led to simplifying the DLO storylines and the amount of information given to users so as to be manageable for the intended audience. While productive struggle presents a developmentally meaningful challenge, struggling too much becomes overwhelming on the cognitive load (Goh et al., 2018; Pollock et al., 2002) and can drain one’s mental well-being through feelings of mental exhaustion, stress and anxiety. Being early on in their RECE careers, many of the concepts in the DLOs are likely new, and there is a lot of information in the DLOs. Therefore, I decided using the DLOs as a place starter and support to develop and nurture skills from within, rather than as an end-all-be-all for learning about the topics, was the more effective approach for the target audience.
A limitation specific to the DLOs was the choice to use images I created through the use of Canva’s Magic Tools generative AI. Initially, I planned to either take pictures of a real ECE classroom or create a virtual 360 tour. However, creating a 360-degree virtual classroom is beyond my current capabilities within the time constraints of the project, and using images of a real ECE classroom opens up possibilities for privacy issues. As well, any pictures I might have taken of a real classroom would have needed to be edited to incorporate the learning opportunities I planned. This could, perhaps, not be a limitation at all, but instead a starting point for using generative AI to help design fictional digital classrooms and learning spaces.
4.2.2 Of the Research
Though learning objects and their digital counterparts are not new, there are several gaps within the available research. There is a lack of academic research concerning the use of digital learning objects for educator learning, and even more so a lack of the use of DLOs in the field of ECE. In searching for “learning objects” within early education, results consist of references to physical materials such as manipulatives, posters, books, and loose parts. Adding “digital” yielded a small selection of articles about mathematics, interactive whiteboards, and other tools dissimilar to the DLOs I have created. While there is a clear gap concerning the use of DLOs to support skills development within education, a number of studies have been performed in other fields of study. Most of the research within this paper consists of research performed for teaching and learning in engineering, health care, library technician, communications and media, sciences, and information technology/coding.
The absence of DLO research for educator’s learning could be due to a variety of factors. Within ECE specifically, it may be due to the general absence of digital technology in the field, as evidenced by the lack of relevant mentions of digital or technology in foundational publications for ECEs. Examples of those documents used extensively by early educators and ECE professors include: Excerpts from Early Learning for Every Child Today (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014a), How Does Learning Happen (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014b), the Kindergarten Program (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2016), and Early Childhood Education Program Standards (Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, 2018). For more on the absence and mentions of technology and digital in the listed seminal documents, refer to Appendix B.
Another possible influencing factor here is the difficulty associated with performing research that involves children, as they are underage and may not be able to give fully informed consent (Larsson et al., 2019). Although pre-service and in-service ECEs are adults, they work with children and any research into using DLOs to support ECEs’ skill development would inevitably impact and involve children. This is because the work of ECEs is largely centred around the children in their care, and any changes to the way an ECE does their work would directly impact their learners. Reflections for research on how their professional practices have changed would involve children and the impact the changes have on their interactions and approach. As well, it could be that performing research has historically been associated with university settings whereas ECEs generally learn in college systems. I posit it might make performing research seem intimidating or beyond the bounds of their position as college instructors. Indeed, performing research can be seen as intimidating for anyone, regardless of your position or profession.
4.2.3 Of the Technology
While research, time, and capability constraints are of vital importance to acknowledge, it also bears mentioning that in an area so dependent on the digital there are also limitations based on the choice of technology. Utilizing H5P through eCampusOntario brings with it many affordances, such as being scalable, shareable, and accessible as mentioned above. However, there are built-in limitations as well; some of the tool types have limited interactions and activities able to be integrated into them. For example, a branching scenario can have branching questions, text, images, image hotspots, interactive videos, and slide decks embedded within it. A slide deck (called a course presentation on H5P Studio) will enable the creator to add other interactive elements that otherwise cannot be added to a branching scenario, such as multiple-choice sets or drag-and-drop activities. The slide deck uses different navigation than branching scenarios – that is, you must click along the bottom using small arrows rather than a large green ‘proceed’ button at the top. Being that only some interactions are possible and learning happens better when we have multiple means of engaging with the content, this limitation was overcome by separating the slides into standalone pieces rather than one continuous deck with multiple slides.
4.3 Next Steps & Recommendations for Future
The first recommendation for the future is to perform research about the use of DLOs to support skills development for pre- and in-service educators. I posit that an educator inquiry or action research (Baumfield et al., 2013) approach would be the most appropriate, wherein the DLOs created in this project would be integrated into a course for postsecondary-level early childhood education students. I recommend incorporating them into the learning management system and asynchronous learning environment, with ties into the synchronous activities and an accompanying reflective journal to track the qualitative experiences of the learners. The DLOs could be particularly effective in placement seminars and courses about creating learning environments for the early years. This approach helps in identifying the impact and effectiveness of the DLOs and their intended learning with the target audience in-practice. As well, action research and teacher inquiry are research methods which can be performed formally or informally by educators at any level, while also encouraging critical reflection of their experience and the participation of the pre-service educators in the process. Alternatively, before performing research on the use of the objects, the DLOs could be sent out to ECEP professors and new ECEs for feedback on their designs and content. Garnering critiques from educators who could use them with their students will help to inform the best practice and feasibility for utilizing the objects with postsecondary students. Feedback from the target audience could also inform the relevance and effectiveness of the scenarios and the usability of the technology itself. This is a logical progression of the project from an instructional design perspective – moving from ideation and design into user testing of a finished product.
It is important to note here that when talking about incorporating DLOs into the asynchronous learning opportunities with ties to synchronous learning, this needs to be done intentionally. Meaning, the DLOs should be contextualized and used purposefully. If DLOs are simply embedded into a course shell on the learning management system without proper connections or context given to tie them to the course content, it would be the equivalent of what I call a drop-tech. Drop-tech here is a term I use to refer to instances when a piece of educational technology is added in a way that does not best support learning, as it is either added at the end as an after-thought or is not incorporated in a way that the learner would understand the purpose or context. In broader terms, drop-tech refers to when a DLO is used in the style of what a drop-quote would be in a written work.
The next steps for creating DLOs would be to create objects continuing the learning processes that started with the three made in this project. This would involve designing and creating DLOs which are more in-depth and continue building on learning. One possibility is to create more hotspot images, possibly advancing into using virtual tours, to showcase more diverse examples of learning environments and spaces. Interactive virtual learning environments, such as the one I have created or more sophisticated alternatives, have the potential to provide learners with more diverse examples of learning environments in the early years. They could include visuals that indicate different levels of quality and funding, daycares that are licensed or not, and the impacts being in geographically diverse locations might have on how we approach designing our classrooms. The creation of more diverse DLOs would require the participation of people from those populations so as to provide an accurate and realistic representation of the learning environment. For instance, a depiction of an ECE setting in the northern provinces of Canada should be collaboratively developed with ECEs who live and work there. This approach then provides ECEs with the opportunity to view realistic and accurate representations of diverse spaces, which can inform their own culturally informed and responsive practices. Hotspot images could also be used to help placement students and newly hired ECEs become familiar with where everything is located within the room before ever setting foot in its walls. For example, the first aid kit, documentation resources, nap supplies, health and safety equipment, and medication.
Finally, this project opens the door for other graduate students to do innovative and creative alternative projects to show and share their research while applying their learning. In this way, we can construct learning objects to support professional practice more directly by creating artifacts that give practical support back to our field of study. In addition, this also serves the dual purpose of creating high-quality open educational resources (OERs) and makes research projects more approachable for educators, both for performing research and incorporating it into their practice. Creating OERs can help to support the development of technological skills while applying learning and findings from the research process, and sharing them makes the information accessible to a wider and more diverse audience. Concerning the approachability of research projects, from experience, the idea of performing research for a project or major paper can be intimidating and lead to graduate students limiting themselves. My idea to focus on the creation of digital learning objects and applying knowledge for practical purposes made the entire concept of research more exciting and approachable for me. Being able to follow my interests and develop the DLOs shared above gave me something very practice-oriented to focus on – objects that are non-disposable, tangible and creative.
