”Just dare to give it a go!”

Preschool teacher Sara Tinglöf and product developer Matilda Staberg have greatly benefited from their joint collaboration via Swedish Edtest and are calling for more participants.

Curiosity and the Swedish curriculum’s requirement for pupils to develop digital competence are what motivated Sara Tinglöf, a preschool teacher at Lilla Nacka preschool and primary school outside Stockholm, to start exploring and evaluating digital learning resources via the national platform Swedish Edtest four years ago.

”I felt that I didn’t know much about digital tools, so I thought: ’Why not learn more about it together with the children and at the same time find some good apps to use in my teaching?'” she says.

Since then, she hasn’t stopped. The more she explores them, the better she becomes at identifying which learning resources work and how they can be used pedagogically. And she always involves the children in the evaluation process.

”The children think it’s fun that we take their opinions into account, and sometimes when they have provided feedback, they can see how functions have been modified or added. I am constantly talking to them and their parents so that they are aware of what we are doing and the feedback I am giving to the developers.”

Sara Tinglöf chooses digital learning resources based on the children’s interests and needs. For example, when she taught the preschool class last year, she evaluated iMAL, which aims to map and streamline the learning of children’s letter skills.

During the six-month evaluation period, she saw that the teaching material could serve as a good complement to the Swedish National Agency for Education’s benchmarking material, and also that it helped children find joy in reading and writing training.

”This was particularly true for one pupil who only wanted to do things he was best at and another pupil who did not want to participate at all. When we let them do exercises on the computers or sit next to other children doing them, their interest and self-confidence were awakened. Both learned to read.”

For Matilda Staberg, Education Manager at iMAL, the evaluations provided detailed feedback on their new digital interface. It also confirmed that the learning resource, usually used on tablets in primary school, worked just as well on computers with touchscreens in preschool classes.

”We have previously let teachers try our product, but usually only on isolated occasions. Here there was a continuity that allowed us to delve deeper and get feedback on changes while we were making them,” she says.

Among other things, she learned that the children had difficulty perceiving the recorded letter sounds, which resulted in new sound recordings like ”s as in sun.” It also became clear that it needed to be more obvious which exercises the children had completed and that some of the images needed to be replaced.

Matilda Staberg is grateful for working with such an engaged teacher as Sara Tinglöf and would gladly participate in more evaluations.

”Unfortunately, we have so far been unable to find more teachers willing to test it. Now that we are considering redesigning the digital part again, it would be extremely useful to exchange opinions, and we would also like to collaborate with teachers who have older pupils,” she says.

Sara Tinglöf believes that lack of time is one reason more teachers do not participate. However, she does not see the evaluations as a burden but as a help in her teaching. She also emphasises that several of her colleagues are involved too, allowing them to help each other.

”All the meetings are held online, so the only thing you need to do is schedule times with the developers and write an evaluation. Considering all the positive things you get from exploring the learning resource, I don’t think it takes much time.”

However, she would like to see more products for preschool in Swedish Edtest. Some of her colleagues have not found anything that suits their needs, as most products are aimed at older children.

At the same time, she is aware that many preschools avoid digital learning resources due to the negative debate about children’s screen time. She thinks this is unfortunate, as she has seen that digital tools can contribute both variety and greater engagement among the children.

”Children who have difficulty holding a pen and paper can actually learn better with digital tools. But I think it’s good to discuss these issues, as it shouldn’t be that children just sit passively and consume. I believe it’s important that the tools have a clear purpose.”

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More about EmpowerED and Swedish Edtest:

• EmpowerED runs from 2023 to 2025. The project is funded by the European Commission and coordinated by European Schoolnet (EUN), a network of 34 European education ministries and authorities.
• Swedish Edtest began as a Vinnova project in 2020 and was taken over by Ifous two years later. It is a national platform where teachers and edtech companies meet to explore and evaluate digital learning resources using a scientifically grounded method.

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Author: Staffan Eng
Translation from Swedish to English: Helen Garrison

This is part three in a series about Ifous and Swedish Edtest’s participation in EmpowerED. The first article, “Don’t forget the benefits of digitalisation,” can be found here and the second, ”Focus on the educational benefits” here.