NHỮNG ĐÓNG GÓP MỚI CỦA LUẬN ÁN 1. Về mặt học thuật, lý luận của luận án: Làm phong phú thêm cơ sở lý luận về ứng dụng CNTT trong tổ chức HĐGD cho trẻ mẫu giáo cũng như cơ sở lý luận về bồi dưỡng kỹ năng ứng dụng CNTT trong tổ chức HĐGD cho GVMN. Xác định 5 thành phần của kỹ năng ứng dụng CNTT trong tổ chức HĐGD của GVMN. Xây dựng 4 tiêu chí và mức độ đánh giá (biểu hiện) của các tiêu chí đánh giá. 2. Những điểm mới rút ra được từ kết quả nghiên cứu, khảo sát của luận án: Phân tích thực trạng bồi dưỡng kỹ năng ứng dụng CNTT trong tổ chức HĐGD cho GVMN. Đề xuất cách thức thiết kế và tổ chức HĐGD có ứng dụng CNTT cho trẻ mẫu giáo. Xây dựng được nội dung và quy trình bồi dưỡng giúp khắc phục hạn chế về ý tưởng cũng như tăng khả năng liên kết giữa kỹ thuật thiết kế và ý tưởng triển khai hoạt động; giúp GVMN có thể chủ động lựa chọn theo nhu cầu và nâng cao kỹ năng ứng dụng CNTT trong tổ chức HĐGD cho trẻ mẫu giáo.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND FOSTERING THE VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES -TRAN THI TAM MINH FOSTERING SKILLS IN APPLYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN ORGANIZING EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOL TEACHERS Major: Theory and History of Education Code: 9140102 SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE HA NOI, 2022 The project is completed at: THE VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES Science instructors: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Tuyet Nga; Prof Dr Huynh Van Son Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: Reviewer 3: The doctoral dissertation is defended in front of the Institute – level dissertation Committee meeting at: The Vietnam National Institute of educational sciences, 101 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hanoi At… , day… month……year 2022 The dissertation can be found at: - National Library of Vietnam - Library of Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences LIST OF PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH RELATED TO THE THESIS Tran Thi Tam Minh (2018), Information technology application of teachers at some preschools in Ho Chi Minh City, Journal of Education and Society, Volume 2, Special Issue, June 2018, pp 324-327 Tran Thi Tam Minh (2018), Applying ìnormation technology in organizing educational activities for preschool children, Vietnam Journal of Educational Sciences, Volume 12, December 2018, pp 83-87 Tran Thi Tam Minh (2020), Some researches on the application ị ìnormation technology in ỏganizing educational activities for preschool children, Vietnam Journal of Educational Sciences, Volume 30, June 2020, pp 37-42 Tran Thi Tam Minh (2020), Assessment criteria and rating scale of e-learning lesson for preschool children, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education Journal of Science, Volume 17, May 2020, pp 913-919 (English version) Tran Thi Tam Minh (2021), Fostering skills in designing and implementing educational activities with information technology application of preschool teachers, Vietnam Journal of Education, Special Issue, September 2021, pp 16-21 Tran Thi Tam Minh (2021), Applying information technology in the design of learning games to educate the emotions of preschool children, Journal of Education and Society, Volume 129 (190), December 2021, pp 65-70 Tran Thi Tam Minh (2022), Some measures to improve preschool teachers’ information technology application skills in designing and implementing educational activities for preschool children, Vietnam Journal of Educational Sciences, Volume 49, January 2022, pp 50-54 Trần Thị Tâm Minh (2022), Some design orientations of e-learning lessons in the education of preschool children – years old, Scientific Journal of Saigon University, Volume 83, April 2020, pp 100-107 INTRODUCTION THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH PROBLEM Applying information technology in educational activities at kindergartens gives children excitement and enjoyment when they approach new things in a vivid and intuitive way At the same time, IT also actively supports preschool teachers in the process of organizing educational activities The application of IT in the organization of educational activities is therefore necessary Additionally, in the Digital Age, IT application skills have also become one of the career requirements in general and the professional requirements for preschool teachers in particular However, while meeting professional computer certifications, preschool teachers’ IT skills are still limited Simultaneously, the activities to foster IT application skills for preschool teachers are not really abundant, and diverse as well as meet practical needs For all above reasons, it is appropriate to apply IT in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children, and to conduct research on fostering IT application skills for preschool teachers in organizing educational activities for children that are immensely essential As a result, the thesis “Fostering skills in applying information technology in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers " was established RESEARCH PURPOSE Developing content and proposing a fostering IT application skills process in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers in order to improve their IT application skills in exploiting digital information, designing, and implementing educational activities with IT applications for kindergarten children OBJECT AND RESEARCH SUBJECT - Research object: Fostering activities on IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers - Research subject: The correlation between fostering activities and the level of improvement in IT application skills in educational organizations SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS If fostering activities on IT application skills is implemented with content focusing on skills in digital information exploitation, and in design and implementation of educational activities with IT applications in step-by-step method that corresponds to the mechanism for skill formation (repeatedly practicing exercises with gradually increasing difficulties in terms of design techniques and educational content) as well as ensuring that a link between design techniques, design ideas and ways of implementing educational activities with IT applications is created in each step, that will help improve preschool teachers’ IT application skills in organizing educational activities RESEARCH MISSON - A system of theoretical basis for fostering skills in applying IT in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers - Determining the level of skills in applying IT in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers, the reasons why these skills are still limited; identifying the current situation and the need for fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers - Proposing and organizing pedagogical experiments on the content and the process of fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY * Limits on research content: - The thesis only considers IT as an educational means educating kindergarten children in the process of organizing educational activities - The fostering content only focuses on IT application skills in learning activities of kindergarten children - years old - Surveying the current status of IT applications in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children in the form of computers, simple electronic devices, and common computer softwares * Limits on the research area: - A survey on the current situation with the participation of preschool teachers working in preschools in 24 districts of Ho Chi Minh City and teachers working in preschools in other provinces - Pedagogical experiment on preschool teachers working in preschools in 24 districts of Ho Chi Minh City APPROACHES AND RESEARCH METHODS - Methodology: structural system perspective; practical point of view, operational approach, capacity approach - Research methods: Theoretical research methods: analyze, compare and synthesize theories related to the research problem Practical research methods: survey methods (questionnaires, interviews, testing exercises); product analysis methods; observation method; experimental method in pedagogical research Mathematical and statistical methods DEFENSIVE ARGUMENTS - Skills in applying IT in organizing preschool teachers’ educational activities have included skills in applying IT to exploit digital information for professional work, skills in applying IT in educational planning and preparing lesson plans, skills in applying IT in designing educational activities, and skills in implementing educational activities with IT applications These skills are closely related to each other to ensure that preschool teachers can organize educational activities effectively - The process of forming skills in applying IT in the organization of educational activities takes place through the practice of using design techniques in accordance with the idea of organizing educational activities with gradually increasing difficulties in terms of design techniques and educational content - The fostering of IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers will be effective if the content and process are built based on a close combination of design techniques and the idea of organizing educational activities which ensure that preschool teachers can participate in the fostering with a flexible process which are suitable to their ability and current working conditions NEW CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE THESIS * Theoretical contributions: Enriching the theoretical basis of IT application in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children as well as the theoretical basis for fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers Determining the components of skills in applying IT in the organization of educational activities of preschool teachers Developing criteria and tools to evaluate IT application skills in organizing educational activities of preschool teachers * Contributions of the thesis to practice: Analyzing the current situation of fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers Proposing ways to design and organize educational activities with IT applications for kindergarten children according to the domains of development Developing the content and process of fostering both to help to overcome the limitations of ideas as well as the ability to link design techniques with the idea of implementing activities and to be flexible that can help preschool teachers actively choose the content and form of fostering depending on their needs and improve their skills in IT application in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children 10 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS In addition to Introduction, Conclusion, and Recommendations, the thesis has following chapters: Chapter Theoretical basis of fostering skills in information technology application in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers Chapter Reality of fostering skills in information technology application in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers Chapter Developing content and process of fostering skills in information technology application in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers CHAPTER THEORETICAL BASIS OF FOSTERING SKILLS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION IN ORGANIZING EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 1.1 Research overview of the problem * Research on the role of IT in the development of kindergarten children * Research on IT application skills in organizing educational activities of teachers in general and preschool teachers in particular * Research on fostering skills in IT application in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers Based on domestic and international studies on fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers, it can be summarized that: - There are many research in this field all over the world, notably the following directions: the impact of the application of IT on the development of kindergarten children; the forms of IT application in the organization of education activities for kindergarten children; skills of applying IT in organizing educational activities of preschool teachers and influencing factors; building indicators to evaluate ICT application skills of preschool teachers; and content - processes - measures to foster IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers The results of these studies not only created favorable conditions for IT implementation in organizing educational activities for children but also helped teachers orient themselves to practice related skills, and then helped educational institutions organize effective fostering programs on IT for teachers in general and preschool teachers in particular Some of the above content, however, needs to be studied and adjusted to suit the locality before being applied due to several cultural and regional characteristics, and differences in the speed of scientific and technical development, etc - Compared to other countries’ research, the number of studies in Vietnam are still small and they are only focused on two main directions including IT implementation and the current situation of IT application in preschools whilst other research directions remain unanswered To be more specific, it focuses on the assessment of the application status and surveys of the software or the purposes of using IT in preschools whereas it does not deeply concentrate on research on IT application skills in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children as well as other related matters Furthermore, studies in Vietnam only make suggestions to improve the effectiveness of IT application in preschool education in general in terms of management or instruct teachers in the use of softwares basically but not focusing on helping preschool teachers have an obvious understanding of IT applications in preschool education and specific implementation skills that is close to reality 1.2 Tool concept 1.2.1 Organizing educational activities: “Organizing educational activities at the preschool is the selection, setting, arrangement, and implementation of activities affecting the aspects of children development to accomplish goals, tasks, and content of kindergarten children's education; therefore, it develops general psychological functions and forms the initial foundations of personality for children” 1.2.2 Skills of applying information technology in organizing educational activities: skills of applying IT in organizing educational activities of preschool teachers are the ability to effectively perform manipulations and actions using electronic equipment, especially computers and computer application products such as electronic databases, computer software, peripheral devices, etc., based on applying relevant knowledge to the process of organizing activities affecting all aspects of the child’s development (cognition, language, emotion, aesthetics, constitution) to realize the goals, tasks, and content of the preschool education program 1.2.3 Fostering skills in information technology application in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers: fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers is a process of influencing preschool teachers to update and supplement necessary knowledge as well as skills to improve their ability to effective implementation of manipulations, actions using electronic devices and computer application products in the process of organizing activities that impacts on the aspects of children development to accomplish goals, tasks, and early childhood education program content based on previously trained qualifications 1.3 Applying information technology in organizing educational activities for preschool children 1.3.1 Organizing educational activities for kindergarten children According to the preschool education program, educational activities in preschool include play activities, learning activities, labor activities, eating and sleeping activities, and personal hygiene Such activities can be held either in indoor or outdoor classrooms; in individual, group, or whole-class work; based on purposeful activities in teachers’ work and children’s interests, or in festivals To organize educational activities, teachers need to perform the following tasks including seeking information or exchanging expertise, making educational plans (year - month - weekday), preparing lesson plans, building an educational environment, conducting activities built in the educational plans, observing, and evaluating children 1.3.2 The role of information technology application in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children Applying IT in educational activities contributes to improving humanity and democracy because of creating learning conditions for all children in all parts of the country, especially children with disabilities, children with developmental delays, autistic children The application of IT in educational activities brings about better effective special education conditions In general, the application of IT in children's education overcomes the limitation of traditional educational means in many aspects such as economy, safety, limited information environment As a result, it contributes to enhancing the effectiveness of education and promoting children’s positive curiosity 1.3.3 Forms of information technology application in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children In terms of educational activities, the IT application is suitable for playing and learning activities * Application of IT in play activities: it can be done by games with IT applications that preschool teachers organized or by modern technological means In addition, learning games are very suitable for designing using technology because it is possible to design many activities affecting many psychological functions of children with rich, attractive, and safe sounds and images while the remaining games are still possible to apply IT but are more limited than are in favor of creating contexts, situations or simulating movements, and providing children with playing ideas * Application of IT in learning activities: can be done by multimedia presentations including stories with illustrations (moving or static objects), scientific films, series of images to provide information, illustrated songs, interactive computer games, or products designed by combining the above categories according to the structure of the regular classroom Teachers can flexibly arrange and use them at appropriate hours: class time, playtime, and activity time depending on the requirement and purpose of the activities When it comes to stages in the organization of educational activities, the application of IT is appropriate for following tasks such as information search or professional exchange, educational planning, lesson planning, and implementation of educational activities for kindergarten children Nevertheless, children’s evaluations are not necessary to apply IT since traditional assessments such as observation, conversation, conversation, and product analysis will be more suitable for children’s psychological characteristics 1.4 Skills in applying information technology in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children 1.4.1 Information technology application skills in organizing preschool education activities - IT application skills in exploiting digital information for professional work that is represented through the use of the Internet to search, store, exchange, implement - Skills in applying IT in educational planning and lesson planning that is represented through the use of word processing software such as Word, Mindjet Manager, Edubot, or alternative applications - Skills of transferring educational activities’ content (learning activities; play activities to develop language, cognitive, emotion – social skills, constitution) to the electronic design by software computer (IT application in the design of educational activities for short) that is expressed through the use of image and sound processing software and the creation of multimedia presentations in the educational planning and the lesson planning The multimedia presentations can be stories with illustrations (moving or static objects), scientific films, series of images to provide information, illustrated songs, and products designed by combining the above categories according to the structure of the regular classroom - Implementing educational activities with IT applications is represented through the use of projectors, interactive whiteboards, and electronic devices such as televisions and music players to carry out educational activities that have been transferred to the electronic version 1.4.2 Assessment of information technology application skills in organizing kindergarten children’s educational activities Assessment of skill proficiency is based on Bloom’s psychomotor scale, version Dave, R.H (1970) 1.5 General issues of fostering information technology application skills for preschool teachers in organizing preschool education activities 1.5.1 Occupational and learning characteristics of preschool teachers 1.5.2 Organize fostering on skills of applying IT in educational activities for preschool teachers * Objectives of fostering: providing opportunities and conditions for teachers to develop their professional capacity that would be used in their profession * Fostering content: focusing on updating, supplementing, and improving foundational knowledge and skills in both IT and early childhood education; concentrating on improving skills in organizing educational activities with IT, not teaching IT * Fostering process: due to skills characteristics, the mechanism of IT application skill formation in educational activities involves three stages, including receiving information through observation and imitation, practicing many times to form manipulation, and practicing in many similar situations and circumstances to be more proficient Therefore, the fostering process should follow these stages * Form of fostering: Tradition: - Intensive fostering in long-term courses or short-term courses at a fostering institution or a fostering institution – Distance education - Onsite education Modern: - B-Learning (Blended Learning or Hybrid Learning) - M-Learning (Mobile Learning) - P-Learning (Pervasive Learning) - U-Learning (Ubiquitous Learning) * Fostering materials: Each type of above document has advantages and disadvantages depending on the purpose and subject of the fostering to choose the appropriate form of document compilation * Evaluation of learners after finishing fostering courses: there are some common forms of assessment such as exercises, student records, learners’ activities (discussion, interaction, presentations, group activities, etc.), learners’ final product, and multiple-choice questions 1.5.3 Factors affecting the fostering of IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers: - Subjective factors as learners - Objective factors as fostering activities 10 2.2.3 Needs of preschool teachers on fostering IT skills in organizing educational activities The survey shows that the need of preschool teachers for fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for children is to focus on solving problems of lack of ideas and linking ideas with design techniques and implementing educational activities More specifically, the fostering program should provide “design ideas by giving many highly generalized examples” and “Focus on instructions which are ways to design educational activities with computer software that helps teachers know how to connect design ideas with design techniques as well as how to implement these activities” Besides the general orientation for fostering activities, preschool teachers and some administrators also expressed specific needs such as having more fostering programs depending on the needs and conditions of the school; providing electronic data sources for preschool teachers to self-study; fostering content that helps teachers use software to design activities for kindergarten children or processing movies as activity design materials Most preschool teachers choose the form of centralized fostering at the institution to foster their IT application skills (except for content about educational planning software, and class group management) CONCLUSION CHAPTER - Survey results show that preschool teachers have a basic understanding and awareness of IT application in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children The skill of applying IT in organizing educational activities of preschool teachers is at level – Doing it correctly To be more specific, the skill of applying IT in educational planning and lesson planning has outstanding scores compared to other component skills Some limitations in teachers’ skills: not fully exploiting the advantages of IT in preschool education activities; little exploitation of activities that combine hearing - seeing - movement, group interaction, and fostering other aspects of development for children The idea of designing activities as well as the way to conduct lessons with IT applications in the classroom is quite monotonous and does not take advantages of the means to improve the effectiveness of children’s education The main reason is the lack of ideas and difficulties in linking ideas with design techniques Other causes include work pressure, lack of information knowledge about IT application in preschool education and limited software use skills, and lack of an electronic database - Although the activities of fostering IT application skills have existed, they have not met the needs of preschool teachers Preschool teachers still need more fostering programs in IT application skills in organizing activities The fostering content should focus on the expertise in designing and implementing educational activities with IT applications for preschoolers The method of fostering needs to affect the limitations of preschool teachers’ IT application skills in terms of understanding and practical skills; overcome the limitations of the fostering activities that teachers have participated in; and simultaneously ensure to meet the specific wishes of preschool teachers such as suggesting ideas, helping teachers to link ideas with design techniques, providing information on the theoretical basis of IT applications in early childhood education, lecturers are knowledgeable about IT and early 11 childhood education to be able to answer questions, combining self-study and focused learning with instructors, documents, facilities, and reference database… CHAPTER DEVELOPING CONTENT AND PROCESS OF FOSTERING SKILLS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION IN ORGANIZING EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOL TEACHERS 3.1 Principles of fostering 3.1.1 Ensuring the scientific validity 3.1.2 Ensuring the flexibility and openness 3.1.3 Ensuring the suitability 3.1.4 Ensuring the connection between knowledge of organizing educational activities with knowledge of IT application in fostering skills of IT application in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers 3.2 The content of fostering information technology application skills in organizing educational activities of preschool teachers To meet these requirements, the fostering content is recommended that: a Skills to exploit information for professional service: introduction to specialized resource pages and advanced search techniques b Skills in applying IT in the design of educational activities: - Theoretical basis for applying IT in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children: the role of IT application in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children; the content, form, and ways of applying IT in organizing educational activities for preschoolers, principles of applying IT in organizing educational activities for preschoolers - The approaches of designing educational activities for children based on educational purposes, topics, or domains of development by using computer software c Skills in implementing educational activities with IT applications: the way to implement educational activities with IT applications in the classroom and to handle common situations The above contents are distributed in the form of modules, the specific contents of the modules are as follows: Module - Searching and exploiting digital information for professional work for preschool teachers Module - Instructions for applying Powerpoint software to design educational activities according to the domains of development Module - Instructions for applying Activ Inspire software for interactive whiteboards to design educational activities according to educational purposes or educational themes Module - Guidelines for designing and implementing educational activities with IT applications according to educational purposes or educational topics 12 Module - Instructions for applying some other software or programming websites - games to design educational activities for kindergarten children Module – Implement educational activities with IT applications for kindergarten children The choice of IT refresher module depends on the skill level as well as the needs of the trainee With content (b), although the modules have different approaches, the fostering content needs to stick to the objectives - content - methods - principles of organizing educational activities for kindergarten children, make connections between design techniques and product ideas and operational ideas; extend or connect between the types of activities in the field (how to modify the product design form of one field to apply to the other one), the theme (the form and design technique of a topic can be applied to the other one), the technique (the technique of the previous lesson is continued to apply or develop in the next lesson) 3.3 Process of fostering skills in applying information technology in organizing educational activities of preschool teachers The process of implementing the proposed fostering contents includes stages: Stage - Self-fostering guidance, Stage - Fostering with the guidance of experts/lecturers, and Stage - Self-fostering in groups - Stage – Self-fostering guidance (skills for searching and exploiting information for professional work; skills in applying IT in the design of educational activities - theoretical part) - Stage – Fostering with the guidance of experts/lecturers (IT skills in designing educational activities): Built on the skill formation mechanism: information acquisition - practice - doing, it is divided into steps to ensure the maintenance and continuous reinforcement of existing skills, serving as a foundation for preschool teachers can self-study advanced in the next stages At the initial stage of information acquisition and the level of imitation, students will be taught how to perform a specific effect or technique, and then guide the application to the design of specific educational activities in the classroom Subsequent consolidation exercises are built in the direction of gradually expanding the original idea such as increasing the difficulty of activity, designing the same activity but different themes, designing the same activity but in the other domains of development This design technique creates a common framework of steps for each type of educational activity; therefore, it would help teachers to have many ideas as well as to apply creatively and easily to design similar activities with different topics, different children’s ages, or other domains of development The process of repeating technical steps would be beneficial for learners to familiarize themselves with it, to have retentive memories about design ideas but not it stereotypically Since each new step is upgraded based on the old step, the ability to 13 memorize and the link between steps of learners will be tighter After a long time, learners may forget or be confused when doing it, but after reviewing it, they will remember faster than learning in the usual way The repetition of old operations to design different activities or the same type of activity with different topics will help learners better understand the function of this operation On that basis, the design of similar activities will be more efficient This process applies to all techniques including that in the fostering content (b) and (c) Using the learned operations (old operations) to design a similar content or topic can help learners associate the operations with the appropriate activities, and simultaneously have more related ideas Learners designing the activity “Find the fruit that corresponds to the flower”, for example, will probably think of the content “Find the shirt that matches the pant”, “Find socks that match the shoes”, “Find the right lid for the pot”,… that are suitable for many commonly implemented educational topics As a result, it would help learners to enrich their ideas and increase their excitement because they could be able to think of many new ideas by themselves This is very important because it indirectly nurtures learners’ interest and motivation in applying IT, and at the same time helps them orient the activities that need IT application to avoid overusing or using inappropriately That can cause the waste of equipment - Stage - Self-fostering in groups (with or without experts’ support) (skills to implement educational activities with IT applications): As it is related to the implementation of activities with children’s participation, it should be built based on the “Lesson study” model in professional activities This stage is major for preschool teachers to work with each other during their work By jointly designing, implementing, commenting, and adjusting products, teachers will selfimprove their skills in designing and implementing educational activities with IT applications The details of each stage are as follows: - Step 1: Learners work in groups to jointly design finished products (themed or educational learning games; illustrated stories/poems; games or products are designed by combining the above categories according to the structure of the regular class based on the theme or the type of activity of the preschool child, or the domains of development) Team members will volunteer or will be selected by drawing lots to present products in the class in the form of teaching practice (organizing activities without children) to experience and evaluate the products in terms of technical design, feasibility, and attractiveness of activities Although there are some good design ideas, they are difficult to implement in overcrowded classrooms Besides, some preschool teachers did not visualize the way to carry out when designing; therefore, there are some disadvantages when they implement those ideas such as the quiet atmosphere in the class and the lack of vitality Thus, this experience and selfassessment would help learners gain more experience in designing and implementing educational activities with IT applications 14 Using incomplete designs to teach directly children that can cause negative impacts on children’s feelings and emotions, which can lead them to be discouraged and have an aversion to IT There may or may not be the support of the lecturer The lecturer will analyze and evaluate the products and the way to carry out the learners’ IT activities in terms of technical and pedagogical methods, the approach to implement, and expand preschool teachers’ ideas Instructors mainly provide support for the last step (analysis, evaluation), directly or indirectly via the online website (in case learners record videos and send it via the Internet It depends on the conditions for organizing the fostering program) At the same time, instructors actively provide more self-study support materials or relevant websites (domestic and international websites) to maintain learners’ interest and their attention in fostering application skills IT and actively apply it in professional work - Step 2: Learners continue to cooperate to perfect the product according to the suggestions in step Next, group members will volunteer or will be selected by drawing lots to present the product in the class in the form of teaching practice (organizing activities), the remaining members play the role of children to experience and evaluate the product again There may or may not be supported by the trainer The instructor mainly supports the final step (analysis, evaluation), directly or indirectly via the online site - Step 3: Learners continue to cooperate to perfect the product according to the suggestions in step Group members will choose a member who will implement an activity with children’s participation The rest of the group members attend the class together (They can watch online or record class videos if there is no opportunity to attend in person, this also helps children to act naturally because there is less influence by the attendees) Learners then analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the activity based on the “Lesson study” form together To be more specific, learners only analyze or discuss the following three questions: What are the children doing? Why children this? and How to maintain or change the child’s activity or attention? Instructors mainly support the last step (analysis, evaluation), directly or indirectly via the online site Simultaneously, they maintain a connection to support when necessary or recommend products, related applications, or resources that help learners maintain their interest as well as conditions for self-study based on their needs This process is repeated until the learners have completed the design and implementation of the educational activities in the domains and find it confidence to it without the support of peers or instructors Repeating this 3-step process in both stages and with a lot of refresher content helps learners understand and design a more detailly structured product, pay more attention to ensuring the opportunity for all children (with multiple turns or having collective interactions), are interested in designing activities from easy to difficult levels that both attract children and bring them into the zone of proximal development In fact, learners know this requirement when designing a normal lesson plan, but they not yet clearly understand how to implement it appropriately when designing activities with computers; therefore, they could be confused or perfunctorily design products For 15 example, the game has only one turn on a slide As a result, only 3-4 children can participate in answering the question and then move on to other activities, leaving other children with no opportunity to participate 3.4 Performance conditions In addition to ensuring the content in section 1.5, it is necessary to comply with the following requirements: * In terms of form: The fostering content of phase can be implemented in the centralized, remote, or semi-centralized (traditional or B-Learning) form if the requirements of the system, equipment, transmission lines, and electronic learning systems are ensured * In terms of personnel: -It is an advantage when preschool teachers participating in fostering have basic informatics certificates, especially when they take part in the remote or semi-centralized fostering form - Objects of fostering: lecturers and experts in IT application in preschool education who have knowledge of both preschool education and IT and the ability to ensure the prompting of learners’ ideas and the connection between technology design and design ideas that overcome limitations mentioned in chapter * About the means of support - Documentation - Reference Electronic Data System: It is necessary to ensure systematicity, richness, and diversity, creating opportunities for self-study The content of the reference electronic data system is as follows: images with appropriate topics for IT application (animal world, landscape, climate, weather, the life cycle of animals and plants, change of things ); images with appropriate topics for IT application (animal world, landscape, climate, weather, the life cycle of animals and plants, change of things, experiments or videos explaining abstract concepts, living values education situations, and life skills ); learning games (by topic, by domains of development, especially games that develop psychological functions such as concentration, memory, grouping, classification, generalization, understanding the meaning of words, expansion of vocabulary and creativity); The product is designed by combining the above-mentioned types of activities according to the structure of the lesson (by topic, by domains of development) 3.5 Pedagogical experience 3.5.1 Experimental purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of the content and process of fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers 3.5.2 Experimental subjects: - The first round of experiments was conducted on 100 preschool teachers selected from among 727 subjects participating in the survey on the current situation in Ho Chi Minh City There are two groups including the experimental and control group, each group has 50 participants consisting of 16 preschool teachers with intermediate qualifications, 16 preschool teachers with college degrees, and 18 preschool teachers with university degrees Based on a comparison of equivalent input measurement 16 results, groups were selected and divided Selected teachers met the conditions for participation in the experiment and voluntarily participated in the survey It means that they had the same need for fostering IT application skills in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children - Experimental round was conducted with over 237 preschool teachers selected from the 727 objects participating in the survey on the current situation in Ho Chi Minh City Based on selection was the result of the input survey below - doing correctly; such preschool teachers voluntarily participated in the survey It means that there is the same demand for fostering the skills of IT applications in the organization of educational activities for preschoolers 3.5.3 Experimental limit: - The experimental content: modules and The thesis selected module (in modules in design skills) because PowerPoint software is the common software, and is usually pre-installed on computers that everyone is easily accessible This software is also easy to use and most preschool teachers have learned about it in the outcome standards of the Preschool Teacher Fostering Program or by participating in the exam in the educational position - Fostering process: stages and - Means of support: + The illustrated lessons system is only set at a small scale with technical video guides with illustrative examples; illustrative files about design ideas, common errors, and ways to fix errors; 25 multimedia illustrations, 66 video games based on the domains of development, forms of kindergarten children’s activities and themes (noted that comments and ways to fix them) + Fostering documents are compiled based on the content of Modules and 3.5.4 Experimental organization 3.5.4.1 Experimental time: - Input survey from November to December 2019 Experimental round (from December 2019 to March 2020): Fostering the skills of using PowerPoint software to design educational activities, and how to implement educational activities with IT applications in class - Output survey from April to May 2020 - Input survey round from June to July 2020 - Experimental round (from July to October 2020): Expanding experiments with content that is similar to that of experimental round - Output survey from November to December 2020 3.5.4.2 Experimental content: - Experimental group: fostering process in stages and 2; fostering content includes module and module In the process of teaching, lecturers use reference electronic data systems and allow students to use respective learning materials Control group: Fostering in a normal way that usually does not use the process in section 3.2, the content of fostering includes learning how to use the software, designing some educational activities by using that software, not using reference electronic data systems, learning materials only have the content of the software manual and some processes and illustrations of general education design 3.5.5 Experimental results 3.5.5.1 Experimenting Round Experimenting Round 1, there are changes in scores in both groups However, the experimental group reaches level - Coordination, and the control group stands at level Doing exactly Specific scores are as follows: 17 The post-experimental group’s scores are much different compared to that of the control group, indicating the fostering of IT application skills in the educational activities as proposed by the thesis is more effective than the usual fostering method In the usual way: The content does not follow the characteristics of preschool education and does not focus on linking ideas with computer engineering; therefore, the score of educational design skills has increased but it does not achieve higher levels, and this change does not make a change of the two remaining component skills By contrast, the scores of the component skills increased in the experimental group Observation results show that learners have changed in exploiting information for professional services For example, they open a search page, then type keywords with accents and put keywords in quotation marks rather than type keywords without accents, and not use quotation marks as before they did Participants in the experimental group, however, are not highly intentional when searching for information They only look for materials when having new ideas Besides, they tend to search for images first During the information search process, it may be difficult for them because many keywords used cannot help learners find the desired images or movies After being guided in keyword selection techniques, participants knew helpful approaches to searching and finding interesting database sources Besides, when having good technique, learners are interested in searching documents and are passionate about finding and downloading a lot of electronic data that can help them save time to search later On the other hand, although much data is stored, learners not make file names in a directory in a uniform format They could then be confused when finding them They ask the instructor the way to store and manage files correctly As a result, the above learning activities have contributed to improving the skills of the experimental group to exploit information for professional work higher than that of the control group For the control group, the change is not really obvious and cannot make a gap with the initial point This means that refresher activities usually pay little attention to equipping learners with skills in searching and exploiting information Even with a basic computer science program, there is little mention of this content, even though it is the key to ideas and motivation In addition, because there are not many systematic exercises that gradually increase the difficulty, and there are not many opportunities to expand ideas, students almost not have the need to exploit online information effectively or have specific requirements when searching The results also show that the orientation of the fostering process and the content of documents following the process is initially effective since it affects the main cause that limits IT application skills in educational organizations in general and skills in designing educational activities with IT applications in particular A new way to foster helps teachers better understand the requirements in the design and understand the approach for implementing specific educational activities, so they are more active and confident when designing The systematization of design techniques simultaneously helps teachers grasp the method firmly because they have been trained many times Each time teachers just add or subtract a few operations that can create a new effect; thus, it would reduce the pressure 18 of memorization for them rather than their need to learn many types of effects or various techniques Next, the illustrated lessons with correction instructions help learners understand and better remember the design principles, which the previous fostering programs have not mentioned Since then, it helps learners to participate in a series of continuous fostering activities from ideas to techniques When component skills have changed, they have contributed to changing skills in implementing educational activities with IT applications Because organizing educational activities belongs to the teacher’s pedagogical skills, the more experiences the teachers have, the better the implementation experiences The teachers are only confused when they not know how to design activities with IT, so the products have not been created suitably and lively Additionally, due to a lack of technical proficiency, the products have many errors that confuse teachers who not know how to handle them in class On the contrary, if teachers’ design skills are good, it can be seen that although their first organization may have errors due to inexperience, following times will definitely perform better At the same time, it has a back effect on design skills that impact the improvement of IT application skills in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children in general Of course, this depends on the learners’ experience of ITapplied lessons in the fostering process If there are no illustrative examples from the lessons, their skills will also be limited After a period of time, when requested to implement a lesson, those who are in the experimental group actively select the option that they will design a new product because they think that their old products were incomplete Basically, the products still retain good quality It only takes a lot of time at the early stage but learners’ speed has been faster after designing some activities The most important thing is that they can confidently share the lessons with their colleagues when needed, especially when composing online lessons during the pandemic compared to a sense of their unconfidence in the past When considering the ideas, the products of the experimental group are richer in ideas and forms than before carrying out the experiment and compared to the control group However, there are some errors such as not adjusting the layer order properly causing the image to be obscured when the object moves, and some unreasonable sizes or details not match the reality For instance, there is a winter forest covered with snow in Antarctica, turtles in ponds, and a lion’s avatar in the far distance that is bigger than a horse’s avatar in the close distance The overuse of effects has decreased but the teachers still choose unreasonable effects that can be a waste of time and ineffective Besides, interacting in games and lessons is not enough, and that does not guarantee the opportunity for the whole class to take part Teachers also pay much attention to the effects and not focus on factors related to pedagogical methods in the organization of educational activities It is, therefore, necessary to implement more educational activities with IT applications to increase teachers’ experiences It then helps them to create more complete products Finally, it is necessary to continue to carry out stage to maintain and promote the results achieved Besides, it is necessary to hold many activities to connect, exchange, and support preschool teachers in self-improvement when needed Such activities need to have 19 close coordination with specialized fostering units in early childhood education to ensure expertise Most importantly, determining the success and effectiveness of fostering activities is the ready, proactive, and positive attitude of the students The choice of time, organizational form, content, and supporting means should thus be flexible to create favorable conditions for them 3.5.5.2 Experiment round Results of experimental round shows that there is a significant change in the scores before and after the experiment The results of the T-test of the mean scores show that there is a significant difference Although the average score does not make a significant difference, the quality of the products shows obvious progress The overuse of effects and using effects with unclear purposes have decreased dramatically From the initial basic ideas, on the basis of personal experience, teachers have developed numerous new ideas One of the biggest differences is that teachers begin to notice the association between the idea of implementing the activity and the contents of the multimedia presentation They can think of many ways to organize lessons with IT applications, coordinate with other means or movement games to create excitement, and ensure children’s movement needs Hence, they are really convinced of the value that IT brings In the process of being fostered with defective products, teachers realize that these are also mistakes they often make, which helps them reduce many limitations in later-designed products However, there are still inevitably some other unsuitable limitations The experimental results also show that the skill of implementing educational activities with IT applications does not only completely depend on the design level but also is influenced by the experience of organizing educational activities and the understanding of the technical principles of designing educational activities by software It means that preschool teachers only need to understand the principles and regulations when designing and organizing lessons, they will quickly adapt and operate well Another change that cannot be assessed by scores is a positive and exciting attitude towards IT application activities During the fostering process and afterward, many teachers actively take advantage of their social distancing time to design lessons with IT applications that they will use when the social distancing is ended Simultaneously, some teachers are confident and active when assigned to create interactive films used to teach children during the period of social distancing Many teachers have created videos that meet both technical requirements and other professional factors That result also affected some administrators at preschools Some of them previously did not advocate IT applications because they found them inappropriate When they saw their preschool teachers’ products implemented after being trained, they actively contacted experts to learn more and even proposed fostering for teachers of the whole school This also shows that the goals and the content of the fostering activities have met the needs of using IT application products in the practice of young children’s education, helping teachers to better perceive the value as well as the positive impacts of IT in organizing preschool education activities 20 There is no difference in the assessment results for each district In other words, this is similar to the survey results: there is no difference in the level of IT application skills in the educational organization of preschool teachers between the urban and suburban areas More specifically, there are some suburban areas with managers’ concerns about conducting many fostering activities It could lead to the result that teachers’ IT application skills in suburban areas are higher than that in central areas Conversely, there are also many urban areas that are better at these skills than other ones This means that the managers’ concerns and the self-study consciousness of teachers are the main reasons for the difference rather than the areas Finally, the assessment and evaluation by experts through multiple-choice tests on the system has created satisfaction for students because of fairness At the same time, through multiple-choice questions, students also learn a lot of relevant information (Because there is no limit to the number of repetitions, some preschool teachers have to it again until they get the desired score) It can be seen that the use of questions does not only evaluate students but also strengthen their knowledge; therefore, it is necessary to invest carefully and focus on professional factors If self-fostering and fostering activities in phase are continually maintained, it will be able to raise teachers’ skills to a higher level At the later stage of fostering activities, the support from specialized units in providing ideas, updating how to use new software in accordance with preschool education, updating the database (films, photos, music in accordance with the contents of kindergarten educational education) that is essential, and professional exchange activities between different areas in Ho Chi Minh City as well as nationwide, between experts and learners to promptly update information as well as enrich the idea, experience design, and implement educational activities with IT applications for preschoolers CONCLUSION CHAPTER - The fostering needs to focus on key issues to overcome the limitations in the current situation of skills in applying IT in organizing educational activities of preschool teachers, including providing knowledge, expanding ideas, the connection between ideas, and design techniques - techniques for implementing activities in the classroom Simultaneously, it is necessary to create the most favorable conditions for teachers to participate in fostering, and avoid pressure on them - The fostering content includes: Exploiting digital information skills for professional work: introducing specialized resource pages and advanced search techniques Skills in applying IT in designing educational activities (Theory of applying IT in organizing educational activities for kindergarten children, the way to design educational activities for children using computer software based on educational purposes, topics, or domains of development), skills in implementing educational activities with IT applications These contents are systematically built from basic design skills to apply them to the design of activities based on the domains of development (or topics or educational purposes), then gradually develop into activities or complete chains of activities to organize in classes This 21 way of building and implementing educational content will help preschool teachers understand how to apply IT in designing and implementing activities for children which are flexible and rich in ideas The content is distributed in a modular form so that it can be flexibly selected depending on the needs, skill levels, and existing conditions of teachers - To ensure the formation of fundamental skills, facilitate maintenance as well as selfimprove when needed or share expertise with teachers’ colleagues, it is necessary to conduct the fostering content according to a 3-step 3-stage process: Stage – Self-improvement instruction, Stage – Fostering with the guidance of experts/instructors, Stage – Selfimprovement in groups This makes the teachers’ manipulation more competent and their memories longer, but it does not make them become mechanical The reason is that each practice step is applied to a situation similar to what is known, and the teachers not have to memorize too many techniques Besides, grasping the implementation rules ensures that teachers can it with flexibility and creativity This largely determines the effectiveness of fostering activities - The implementation of fostering needs to ensure specific requirements on documents, reference electronic data systems, lecturers, methods, and forms of organization Specifically, the document is compiled in the modular form, a data-oriented system that suggests to learners The instructors need to be knowledgeable about both IT and preschool education so that they can help learners connect their ideas with the design techniques or vice versa It ensures direct interaction between teachers and learners in the exchange of questions and illustrations Fostering can be implemented in many forms such as face-toface, online, or a mix of online and face-to-face depending on the conditions of facilities and the ability of preschool teachers It is necessary to choose a reasonable assessment to stimulate the self-learning motivation of learners - The results of pedagogical experiments show that the suggestions on the content and process of fostering IT application skills of preschool teachers in organizing educational activities are basically feasible and can be widely implemented The use of supporting media such as documents and illustrations has a significant impact opening a research direction for this content to contribute to supporting the self-study and self-improvement activities of preschool teachers later on - To maintain and promote the results of the fostering, it is necessary to ensure the implementation of self-fostering activities in groups based on the model of “Lesson research” (as proposed in stage 3) or organize exchange activities such as contests, seminars, and conferences but it must ensure that they focus only on professional improvement, and not create more pressure in terms of competition or achievement for preschool teachers 22 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions There are some conclusions drawn from the study: 1.1 The application of IT in educational activities in preschool education has many positive impacts on the development of kindergarten children if done properly On the contrary, without understanding and wrong application, IT can prevent the sustainable and comprehensive development of children Therefore, in the IT era, preschool teachers need to be trained in this skill to apply it in practice to improve the effectiveness of preschool program implementation 1.2 Skills in applying IT in educational activities include four components: skills in applying IT to exploit digital information for professional work, skills in applying IT in planning and preparing lesson plans , skills in applying IT in designing educational activities, skills in implementing educational activities with IT applications The survey results show that preschool teachers have a basic understanding and awareness of IT applications in organizing educational activities, but there are still some limitations: not yet proficient, ideas for designing activities As well as the way to conduct classroom time with IT application in the classroom, it is still monotonous and has not yet fully exploited the advantages of IT in educating kindergarten children There are many objective and subjective reasons affecting preschool teachers' IT application skills: lack of ideas and difficulty in linking ideas with design techniques - implementing activities, work pressure , lack of information - knowledge about IT application in preschool education and limited software use skills, lack of electronic databases 1.3 Although activities to foster skills in IT application are available, preschool teachers rate the overall effectiveness of these programs as average Some units have never had related fostering activities for many reasons Pre-school teachers still need more fostering programs on IT application skills in organizing educational activities The fostering content should focus on the expertise in designing and implementing educational activities with IT applications for preschoolers The method of fostering needs to affect the limitations of preschool teachers' IT application skills in terms of understanding and practical skills; overcome the limitations of the fostering activities that teachers have participated in, and at the same time ensure to meet the specific wishes of preschool teachers 1.4 The fostering content needs to focus on impacting skills in exploiting digital information, skills in designing educational activities, and implementing educational activities with IT application in the direction of step-by-step in accordance with the mechanism of skill formation Specifically, fostering content is systematically built from basic design skills to apply them to the design of activities based on the domains of development (or topics, or educational purposes), then activities or complete chains of activities are gradually developed to organize in classes to ensure a connection between design techniques and design ideas and ways of implementing educational activities with IT application Follow the 3-step 3-stage process: Stage - Self-fostering instruction, Stage - Fostering with experts/lecturers guidance, Stage - Group self-fostering 23 1.5 At the same time, it is necessary to equip documents and electronic databases that are systematically built based on the content and fostering process to ensure synchronization and improve efficiency It is recommended to foster Powerpoint software first because of its popularity and ease of use Other software will be then guided (these are software with many suitable functions for children’s audio-visual characteristics) It is necessary to suggest ideas and overcome limitations in design techniques by showing learners many illustrations with different methods and purposes: the finished products to learn about design and presentation standards, the products attached corrections for learners to how to evaluate and remember it longer, and the ways to expand the idea of design forms and content In addition, lecturers need to understand both IT and early childhood education, and always know how to put IT into their lessons so that learners can find more fully about the effectiveness as well as how to implement educational activities Also, the form of organization needs to be flexible to facilitate learners in accordance with actual conditions Recommendations 2.1 With the Ministry of Education and Training - Enhance digital resources for preschool teachers to refer and use by researching and compiling many documents related to IT application as well as building electronic database products to serve the organization educational activities for children On that basis, the IT library website in preschool education will be built - Pay attention to the formation of an ecosystem in education in the implementation of the digital transformation strategy to mobilize resources in the community, especially training institutions - technology research centers and other educational institutions non-profit organization to create a safe online space for preschool teachers and children, create rich and high-quality digital resources for preschool teachers to refer to and use - Coordinate with relevant departments, ministries and experts to implement the above contents in a scientific, reasonable and effective manner 2.2 With Training institutions specialized in preschool education - Supplementing the IT application course in preschool education and regularly updating the course content in the fostering program to promptly respond to the needs of society - Coordinating with Departments to projects to support teachers in self- fostering: + Building an electronic database to help teachers have many appropriate and scientific resources to use when designing activities for children, which is both effective and time-saving, and also indirectly suggests design ideas for teachers; + Developing many fostering materials to meet the needs of many subjects such as teachers and managers; for a variety of purposes: designing activities for preschoolers, planning, managing documents, managing children’s profiles, creating learning communities between families and preschools, mobilizing communities in early childhood care and education 24 - Opening fostering courses depending on learners’ demand at the IT center with a program that has the flexibility in choosing the content, flexible combination of on-site fostering and self-fostering, or centralized and online fostering to create the most favorable conditions for learners 2.3 With the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Preschool Education - Coordinate with training units, businesses or technology research centers and nongovernmental organizations to organize fostering programs on skills in applying IT in organizing educational activities for preschool teachers according to the content and the proposed process at many different levels and scales Depending on their functions, organizations can participate in providing transmission lines, providing information systems, sponsoring funds, being in charge of expertise, etc to assist in fostering activities (especially training with B-Learning model) more effective - At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention and encourage the spirit of applying ICT of preschool teachers in organizing educational activities for children, contributing to helping teachers properly perceive the role of ICT in education 2.4 With the Management Board of preschool educational institutions - Proactively propose or plan on-the-job training for preschool teachers - Advise the upper levels in the formation of an ecosystem in education in the implementation of digital transformation, avoiding creating more pressure on preschool teachers - Create favorable conditions for teachers to have the spirit and motivation for self-study through encouraging as well as creating a favorable environment: a rich library of documents, convenient for reference, a low-stress working atmosphere to can absorb good knowledge 2.5 With preschool teachers - Preschool teachers should be more active and proactive in cultivating IT applications in organizing educational activities for children because this is a means of greatly supporting teachers' work, and also contributes to improving the quality of children's education - Preschool teachers need to practice more and more regularly to maintain and improve IT skills because this is a skill that needs regular practice to become proficient, not confused or forget how to use - Teachers with strengths in IT can be the ones to support colleagues in the process of selfstudy, contributing to increasing self-improvement efficiency ... creation of multimedia presentations in the educational planning and the lesson planning The multimedia presentations can be stories with illustrations (moving or static objects), scientific films,... skills is implemented with content focusing on skills in digital information exploitation, and in design and implementation of educational activities with IT applications in step-by-step method that... implementation and the current situation of IT application in preschools whilst other research directions remain unanswered To be more specific, it focuses on the assessment of the application status