Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/youtube-twitter-skype-and-webinars/5020214/
As our world becomes increasingly integrated with technology, the urgency is increasing for early childhood professionals to strengthen their knowledge and experience with digital communication and social networking tools. This is especially true for those engaged in policy and advocacy work where staying informed requires daily attention to shifting budgets, new legislation, and current events. Although using digital tools is comfortable and easy for some, others find it intimidating or simply question how Facebook or Twitter could possibly enhance, and not detract, from the demands of their professional work. Here four early childhood professionals share, in their own words, how they are meaningfully inserting technology into their daily practice.Bryce Skolfield:
The Power of YouTube for Community Mobilization and Advocacy
Late on a Friday afternoon of an October holiday weekend in 2010, California’s newly elected Governor, Jerry Brown, blue penciled, or otherwise eliminated, funding for Stage 3, a voucher program serving low-income parents who had successfully transitioned off welfare into work. This swift action meant that thousands of children and parents would lose their child care and early childhood providers across California were in jeopardy of losing their jobs. At the time, I was a policy and communications director for a large child ...