How Technology for Child Care CentersHelps Directors, Staff, & Parents

Overview: Learn how technology can benefit daycare centers while providing assistance for families and staff involved

Flexible Childcare: A How to Guide

Assistive technology for child care isn't only ideal for parents — it also helps center owners and Directors long-term to manage a facility successfully.

"Child care technologies are digital solutions built specifically for child care centers to help them solve problems, accomplish business and learning goals, and carry out their daily operations," says Procare Software.

>> READ MORE: Child Care Technology Your Center Needs

While technology in the child care space hasn't always been the norm, there's no denying that businesses across all industries have been utilizing technology over the years to operate more efficiently, reduce costs, and deliver amazing customer experiences. Technology for the child care industry has its own set of benefits, too. Let's conside:

a. the importance of technology in the child care industry

b. types of technology that exist for child care centers and

c. our tech for child care management – Child Care Seer® and how to use it to your

advantage.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CHILD CARE INDUSTRY:

Technology plays an important role in child care for Directors, staff, and children and their parents in the following ways:

1. For child care providers, adopting child care technology can mean spending less time on paperwork or administrative tasks and more time face-to-face with kids.

We talked about this before in our article, "Spend More Time with Your Staff and Kids vs. Managing Their Schedules." The article addresses some important facts, such as how research shows that managers spend only 17% of their day managing employees, with less than half of that in active rather than passive supervision.

2. For parents, technology in child care centers can address concerns like child safety and help parents stay connected and involved in their child’s daily growth.

Parents might not have the time needed to talk to teachers about their child’s day during pick-up or drop-off at the child care center. With child-focused technology, centers can keep parents up-to-date on their child's activities in class; parents can log in while on lunch breaks or during quiet times at work and communicate with teachers.

“Engaging families in a child’s earliest educational experiences in child care can make a huge difference for both the family and the child,” said Quality First Director Leslie Totten, who oversees the program statewide.

The article addresses how technology gives parents the opportunity to get more involved in their child’s education by providing them a wider time window to engage. You can read more about the benefits of technology for parents here.

TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY THAT EXIST FOR CHILD CARE CENTERS:

There are several apps available to child care centers to keep parents informed. Below is a list of some technology that have been used for child care centers; most of these programs have been designed to give parents access to reports of their child’s daily behaviors, eating habits and activities, among other things.

• Surveillance cameras are used in many daycare centers. This technology allows parents and daycare center administrators to login securely over the Internet and view children in the center. ○ Children View and Skyway Security Digital Security Solutions are two companies that provide daycare surveillance systems and equipment. This technology enhancesthe safety of the childrenand gives parents peace of mind. (Source)

• A Smart Board is an interactive white board used as an educational tool to help enhance learning. People can write on them with special pens, but also have additional features due to their connection to a computer/internet. You can read more about this here.

• Some apps are devised to facilitate excellent d igital l earning e xperiences for kids in the comfort of their homes. ○ Teachers can share assignments, conduct quizzes, and plan the schedule of kids, and user-friendly interfaces allow for efficient evaluation of the kids’ performance.

OUR TECH FOR CHILD CARE MANAGEMENT – CHILD CARE SEER®

“Other daycare business software programs that are out there allow you put [sic] in the children’s information and staff information, but they don’t marry the two," says Karen Inman, director of Callahan Learning Center.

Our Seer app has an integrated dashboard that allows us to view:

- children who are coming that day

- the amount of staff that's needed to hold that room

- how to make it all work.

Seer handles all the behind-the-scenes work that center Directors used to have to do manually with paper and pencil. "You don’t have to think about it," continues Inman. "It’s the easiest software out there to use.

>> RELATED READING: Better Communication Helps Teachers Do Their Jobs Better

Using Our Seer App to Help Staff & Families:

The Seer app is ideal for child care centers that are interested in becoming more efficient, increasing earnings, and simplifying day-to-day tasks. Browse this page for more product feature spotlights and updates! Some app highlights include:

• Quick Family Add has a new feature: Add Enrollment. When you add a new family via the New button on your Dashboard, you can also enroll the child into a program without leaving the page. Simply click the + to get started!

• Your Daycare Inbox will help you to keep track of all communications between your daycare and your families. To get started, just click on the messaging icon on the top of your Dashboard!

• Visit Child Care Seer’s new Waitlist tab in the daycare settings area to assign a custom score, -10 to 10, to any Child Highlight in Seer.

IN SUMMARY:

Parents whose children attend a daycare center with good communication tools and technology gain a better understanding of their child’s development. The more parents and teachers interact, the more seamless care is from the child care center to home.

Avoid sitting through product sales demos and start building your own center right now by downloading Child Care Seer® for free. Take as much time as you need, and then upgrade when you are ready.

Need help getting started? Our training and how-to videos are available to everyone. No matter the size of your center, Seer could help.