Play in the Digital Age

Final Assignment for E-Learning and Digital Cultures
Kevin Shawn Hudson

Dora the Explorer and Literacy

As a parent, as much as I try to interact with my daughter, there are times when we both need some down time, and we have allowed her to watch Dora the Explorer. Although she is very young, she now clearly recognizes the characters, and can identify them by name. She has various Dora toys and activity books, and has purposely picked out Dora labeled items in the store. While marketing of items to children is certainly not new (Calvert, 2008), Dora the Explorer is touted as being an educational program. But what is she learning from pasting Dora stickers everywhere? Is the educational content of one medium transferable to another?

If as she gets older we allow her to use the Dora the Explorer website and play the associated games, are we encouraging her learning development, or are we making her a stronger consumer of Dora products? Is her affinity for the product more related to the amount of time spent with it, or the type of activities associated with it? Jackie Marsh states in The techno-literacy practices of young children (2004) that my daughter's interactions with the television show, the characters, and the related products should be valued in that they aid in the development of children as competent users, and that "Literacy as a means of pleasure and self-expression is strongly evident throughout children's engagement with television."

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