Donna Bregmen originally studied film and television production at South Seas School of Film and Television in 2003 before enrolling for a Bachelor of Education: Teaching, specialising in Early Childhood Education, in 2009, at the University of Auckland. She completed a summer scholarship in 2011 with The First Years Ngā Tau Tuatahi New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education project. Her interests are in the effects and influence of resourcing and economic status, and current research that is focused on the ECE sector. donnabregmen@hotmail.com

Marisa Bromhead studied at the University of Auckland qualifying in 2010 with a Bachelor of Education: Teaching, specialising in Early Childhood Education. She is now teaching in an early childhood care and education centre in Auckland. She has been involved with two summer research scholarships in 2010 and 2011 with a focus on placing The First Years Ngā Tau Tuatahi New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education online, providing open access for the benefit of all those involved with infants and toddlers. Her further research interests are in the arts and issues of sustainability. mbromhead@yahoo.co.nz

Lisa Kervin is an experienced primary school teacher, with significant experience in the early years. She is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong where she coordinates the language and literacy research theme of the Interdisciplinary Educational Research Institute (IERI). She is the NSW State Director of the Australian Literacy Educators' Association and will convene the National Conference in Sydney, July 6-9 2012.

Pernilla Lagerlöf is doing her PhD, Education within the EU funded project on technology-transformed musical improvisation and learning in children. Pernilla has a background as a preschool teacher and holds a master degree in special education.

Neelam Parmar is currently engaged in PhD studies associated with playfulness and the changing role of the use of narrative in New Media, at the University of Bournemouth. Her MSc in information systems and management was obtained at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in nurseries and preschools and has also worked as a Learning Technologist in the educational development services at the University of Bournemouth. Previous to this, she worked in a variety of disciplines, focusing on e-commerce and e-finance, and has consulted independently on several e-learning projects. Her work has been presented at a number of research conferences and in journals. She is married and has three children of her own under the age of eight.

Jean Rockel is a strong advocate for increased public awareness of the important place that early childhood care and education experiences have in the lives of young children and their families. She is the editor of The First Years Ngā Tau Tuatahi New Zealand Journal of Infant and Toddler Education. Her current research interests relate to the content of teacher-education programmes in providing current knowledge of infant-toddler curriculum and pedagogy for teachers in early childhood care and education services. j.rockel@auckland.ac.nz

John Roder is Senior Lecturer in the School of Teaching, Learning and Development at the University of Auckland. John spent many years teaching five year olds right through to eighteen year olds. He has been a secondary art teacher and also a principal of a primary school. He is particularly interested in Early Years Education and is currently involved with educators in an early childhood education centre in Auckland, setting up an ICT related projects. His interests are in ICT, elearning and the development of a new pedagogy within a socio-cultural perspective. j.roder@auckland.ac.nz

John Siraj-Blatchford is an Honorary Professor at the University of Swansea and is a co-director of their Supporting Playful Learning with Information and Communications Technology (SPLICT) project. He also works with 327Matters as an independent educational researcher and consultant, and is the Research and Development Director of the award winning early childhood software development company Made in Me. He was previously employed at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and served as an Associate Director of the Economic and Social Research Council Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Recent work has included contributing to a major equalities review report for the UK Cabinet Office, and to international research reviews of family based support for early learning and the integration of children's services. He is currently working with OMEP in the development and promotion of education for sustainable development in early childhood education. John is the author and co-author of numerous books and research papers, including Education for sustainable development in the early years (2010); A curriculum development guide to ICT in early childhood education (2006); Supporting information and communications technology in the early years, (2003); and Developing new technologies for young children, (2004). His book Supporting science, design, and technology in the early years was first published by the Open University Press in 1999.

Irina Verenikina is Director of Graduate Teaching at the Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, Australia. She holds a PhD in Developmental and Educational psychology from the Russian Academy of Education. Irina is a full member of the Australian Psychological Society. She lectures in the area of Educational and Developmental Psychology across the major programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her research interests relate to the application of socio-cultural psychology and activity theory to the study of teaching and learning, as well as to the effective use of information technologies for education and work organisations.

Cecilia Wallerstedt has a background as a teacher in music and mathematics in upper-secondary school and a PhD in Arts Education from the Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg. Her primary research interests are music listening as an informed perception dependent on cultural tools and how teachers can contribute to the development of this skill in children. Cecilia has worked in a cross-faculty (Humanities, Arts, and Education) research project dealing with young children’s learning in the arts in pre-and primary school. She is currently working in a project funded by the EU (Framework Seven) on technology-transformed musical improvisation and learning in children.

Nicola Yelland is a Research Professor in the School of Education at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Over the last decade her research has been related to the use of ICT in school and community contexts. This has involved projects that have investigated the innovative learning of children as well as a broader consideration of the ways in which new technologies can impact on the pedagogies that teachers use and the curriculum in schools. Her multidisciplinary research focus has enabled her to work with early childhood, primary and middle school teachers to enhance the ways in which ICT can be incorporated into learning contexts to make them more interesting and motivating for students, so that educational outcomes are improved. Her most recent publications are Contemporary perspectives on early childhood education (OUP) and Rethinking learning in early childhood education (OUP). She is the author of Shift to the future: Rethinking learning with new technologies in education (Routledge, New York). She is also the author of Early mathematical explorations with Carmel Diezmann and Deborah Butler and has edited four books: Gender in early childhood (Routledge, UK), Innovations in practice (NAEYC) Ghosts in the machine: Women’s voices in research with technology (Peter Lang) and Critical issues in early childhood (OUP). Nicola has worked in Australia, the USA, UK and Hong Kong. Professor Yelland is the founding editor of two journals: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood and Global Studies of Childhood.