Overview

Video and photos (visual media) can help our products, and the written content in them, come to life. We use media for a variety of reasons. For example, media helps us to demonstrate high quality environments, education practices, and family engagement. It can also enable the audience to see or hear directly from educators describing various elements of their practice. Seeing and identifying practices in action is a key element of the Intentional Teaching Framework.

When thinking about using media, be sure to review the Partnering for Product Development chapter. Collaborating or consulting with the production teams (media producers, graphic designers, instructional designers, and the media liaison) ensures high quality, relevant, and creative products! For more information about accessing the media database, review the Webdam and Media Lab chapter.

In addition to partnering for product development, follow the tips and guidance throughout the Choosing and Using Visual Media part of the guide when choosing media. Be sure to also review the Multimedia Tracking Sheet chapter when using visual media in your products. We use a multimedia tracking sheet as a collaboration and archiving tool. Work with the various production teams and the project manager to complete this document as part of content development.

Please note: For our purposes, early care and education refers to birth through school-age. Early care and education settings might include families or home visitors in family homes, family child care, center-based child care, community centers, and school-age or expanded learning opportunity (ELO) programs, to name a few.