ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we consider the introduction of iPads into the networked spaces of preschool classrooms, which involves complex relationships between children and adults, physical technology (iPads), virtual technology (wireless networks) and other materials such as desks and chairs, play stations, indoor and outdoor spaces, art and craft materials, toys, sandpits, smart boards, laptop computers, data projectors and storage devices. We argue that despite the accessibility of iPads as relatively easy devices to interact with, effectively networking them into preschool spaces is a complex process and requires consideration of the whole preschool ‘ecology’. To make this claim, we draw on a range of data, including our observations of the teachers and children interacting with iPads in the preschools, interviews with the teachers, children and parents, recordings of planning and evaluation meetings and teachers’ responses to survey questions. We employ actor–network theory (Fenwick & Edwards, 2010; Latour, 2005; Law, 2009) to demonstrate how the introduction of a new technology into preschool spaces has a broad range of consequences for learning, logistics, social dynamics and play. We consider examples of the implementation of the iPads in the three centres involved in the project to consider the ongoing negotiations that occurred between iPads, children and teachers mobilised by unexpected opportunities and challenges.
