Growing in digital technology

Towndrow, P., & Fareed, W. (2015). Growing in digital maturity: students and their computers in an academic laptop programme in Singapore. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 35(4), 438-452. doi: 10.1080/02188791.2013.876387

Background

The authors highlighted that research on one-to-one laptop computing in secondary schools has tended to focus on what teachers and students do or can do with their devices rather than on how technology can enhance learning.

Aims

This study sought to identify and explain the meanings, beliefs and culture that influenced the feelings, attitudes and behaviours of students in a laptop programme.

Sample

The participants were nine Secondary 2 students and 12 Secondary 3 students in Singapore. They had one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half years’ prior school and home experience, respectively, with their laptops.

Method

Two focus group interviews were conducted with the 21 participants. The authors triangulated the findings with lesson observations, minutes from departmental meetings, and interviews with teachers.

Findings

The students’ reported activities related mostly to responding to teacher-directed, classroom-based work. The types of ‘laptop activities’ they engaged in during English language and literature learning were predominantly language skills-based work such as reading and preparing oral presentations, writing, and downloading instructional materials. While the students appreciated the convenience of having access to text revision, materials and communication via these laptops anytime and anywhere, they had two main concerns about their laptop use. The first was regarding instructional and learning practices, and the second related to usefulness. In terms of instructional and learning practices, the concern related to the low usage of laptops in the classrooms. The students also questioned the usefulness of their laptops in school-related work if the assessment mode only demanded memorisation and reproduction of knowledge learnt. They wished for more interaction with their teachers and peers and were especially keen to explore online to express their views. In terms of the students’ views and behaviour in and through the academic laptop programme, they were complex and contradictory. First, there was an obvious disconnect between the students’ in-school capabilities such as public speaking, filming, music, and out-of-school interests such as gaming and travel. Second, the laptops caused disturbance in class. Third, students used their computers to access social media as platforms for alternative communicative space.

Implications

The authors highlighted both positive and negative affordances in mobile technology use in the research study. They suggested that educators and policy-makers needed to consider how growth in the digital maturity of students developed in different contexts and that research into one-to-one laptop learning needed to delve more into the minds, motivations and skills of students.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost.