Digital devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, are becoming commonplace in young children's lives for play, entertainment, learning and communication. Recently, there has been a great deal of focus on the educational potential of these devices in both formal and informal educational settings. There is now an abundance of educational 'apps' available to children, parents, and teachers, which claim to enhance children's early literacy and numeracy development, but to date, there has been very little formal investigation of the educational potential of these devices. This book discusses the impact on children's learning when iPads were introduced in three very different early years settings in Brisbane, Australia. It outlines how researchers worked with pre-school teachers and parents to explore how iPads can assist with letter and word recognition, the development of oral literacy and digital literacies and talk around play. Chapters consider the possibilities for using iPads for creativity and arts education through photography, storytelling, drawing, music creation and audio recording, and critically examine the literacies enabled by educational software available on iPads, and the relationship between digital play and literacy development. iPads in the Early Years provides exciting insights into children's digital culture and learning in the age of the iPad. It will be key reading for researchers, research students and teacher educators focusing on the early years, as well as those with an interest in the role of ICTS, and particularly tablet computers, in education.

This book investigates the relationship developed between the researcher/evaluator and the commissioning arts and cultural producer in providing an opportunity to rethink the traditional process of reporting back on value and impact through the singular entity of funds acquittal. Using three commissioned evaluations as examples, the discussion outlines the two positions most often adopted by researchers/evaluators, external and distanced or embedded and collaborative, and will argue the merits and deficiencies of the two approaches. This text also investigates the role of the researcher/evaluator as a broker of stakeholder interests; how cultural organizations can partner in data gathering and develop a participatory approach to the research; what role the researcher/evaluator can have in the dissemination of evaluation findings and recommendations; and makes recommendations on which partnership type is more affective in a commissioned evaluation model for an arts and culture organization in the Australian landscape.

This book brings together discussions about Australian arts policy and funding, outcomes of arts engagement in terms of social inclusion, well-being and education. It presents exemplars of creative programs or case studies that build capacity and lasting impact for communities in urban and regional Australia. This book describes the impact of the arts using narrative case studies. Through this, it develops conceptual understanding and frameworks that can be used to dynamically assess the value and impact of arts engagement across the three types of cultural value: intrinsic value, instrumental value and institutional value. It focuses on how arts engagement creates, supports and extends factors such as well-being, social inclusion and educational achievement. This book provides an innovative examination of the evidence from Australian projects depicting the impact of the arts on a range of indicators and sectors.

Digital devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, are becoming commonplace in young children's lives for play, entertainment, learning and communication. Recently, there has been a great deal of focus on the educational potential of these devices in both formal and informal educational settings. There is now an abundance of educational 'apps' available to children, parents, and teachers, which claim to enhance children's early literacy and numeracy development, but to date, there has been very little formal investigation of the educational potential of these devices. This book discusses the impact on children's learning when iPads were introduced in three very different early years settings in Brisbane, Australia. It outlines how researchers worked with pre-school teachers and parents to explore how iPads can assist with letter and word recognition, the development of oral literacy and digital literacies and talk around play. Chapters consider the possibilities for using iPads for creativity and arts education through photography, storytelling, drawing, music creation and audio recording, and critically examine the literacies enabled by educational software available on iPads, and the relationship between digital play and literacy development. iPads in the Early Years provides exciting insights into children's digital culture and learning in the age of the iPad. It will be key reading for researchers, research students and teacher educators focusing on the early years, as well as those with an interest in the role of ICTS, and particularly tablet computers, in education.

This book brings together discussions about Australian arts policy and funding, outcomes of arts engagement in terms of social inclusion, well-being and education. It presents exemplars of creative programs or case studies that build capacity and lasting impact for communities in urban and regional Australia. This book describes the impact of the arts using narrative case studies. Through this, it develops conceptual understanding and frameworks that can be used to dynamically assess the value and impact of arts engagement across the three types of cultural value: intrinsic value, instrumental value and institutional value. It focuses on how arts engagement creates, supports and extends factors such as well-being, social inclusion and educational achievement. This book provides an innovative examination of the evidence from Australian projects depicting the impact of the arts on a range of indicators and sectors.