Evaluation Framework Workshop: Young Children’s Digital Media Use

How do parents move beyond simply counting “screen time” and instead choose digital media that truly supports their child’s learning, development, and growth?

For years, there has been no clear answer. This is why the creation of a digital media evaluation framework has become essential. Developed through a partnership between the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, New York University Abu Dhabi, New York University and City University of New York, this framework is designed to assess how apps and videos support a child’s development, agency, motivation, and interaction, while also ensuring alignment with the needs of young children and their families.

As part of Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Week, the Teaching, Learning, and Development (TLD) Lab convened a workshop to gather cross-sector feedback on the applicability and practicality of this evolving evaluation framework. We brought together 25 key stakeholders, including regulators, early childhood educators, wellbeing experts, and content creators.

The workshop focused on two core objectives:

• Collecting detailed feedback on the clarity and usefulness of the framework’s categories and the draft materials prepared for rater training.

• Discussing practical implementation challenges, such as scaling, prioritizing which media to evaluate, and strategies for rater recruitment.

Thank you to Jan L. Plass, Bruce Homer, and Charles Raffaele for guiding us through the framework.