Methodological capacity within the field of "educational technology" research : an initial investigation
- Authors: Bulfin, Scott , Henderson, Michael , Johnson, Nicola , Selwyn, Neil
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Journal of Educational Technology Vol. 45, no. 3 (2014), p. 403-414
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- Description: The academic study of educational technology is often characterised by critics as methodologically limited. In order to test this assumption, the present paper reports on data collected from a survey of 462 "research active" academic researchers working in the broad areas of educational technology and educational media. The paper explores their familiarity and expertise with various methods of data collection and analysis. Data from the survey highlight a preference for relatively basic forms of descriptive research, coupled with a lack of capacity in advanced quantitative data collection and analysis. The paper concludes with some directions for "methodological capacity building" to broaden the use of methods in educational technology research.
Left to their own devices : The everyday realities of one-to-one classrooms
- Authors: Selwyn, Neil , Nemorin, Selena , Bulfin, Scott , Johnson, Nicola
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Oxford Review of Education Vol. 43, no. 3 (2017), p. 289-310
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- Description: The past decade has seen the expansion of personal digital technologies into schools. With many students and teachers now possessing smartphones, tablets, and laptops, schools are initiating one-to-one and ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) policies aiming to make use of these ‘personal devices’ in classrooms. While often discussed in terms of possible educational benefits and/or organisational risks, the actual presence of personal devices in schools tends to be more mundane in nature and effect. Drawing upon ethnographic studies of three Australian high schools, this paper details ways in which the proliferation of digital devices has come to bear upon everyday experiences of school. In particular, the paper highlights the ways in which staff and students negotiate (in)appropriate technology engagement; the ordinary (rather than extraordinary) ways that students make use of their devices in classrooms; and the device-related tensions now beginning to arise in schools. Rather than constituting a radically ‘transformational’ form of schooling, the paper considers how the heightened presence of personal technologies is becoming subsumed into existing micro-politics of school organisation and control. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Nagging, noobs and new tricks - students' perceptions of school as a context for digital technology use
- Authors: Bulfin, Scott , Johnson, Nicola , Nemorin, Selena , Selwyn, Neil
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Educational Studies Vol. 42, no. 3 (Jul 2016), p. 239-251
- Full Text: false
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- Description: While digital technology is an integral feature of contemporary education, schools are often presumed to constrain and compromise students' uses of technology. This paper investigates students' experiences of school as a context for digital technology use. Drawing upon survey data from three Australian secondary schools (n=1174), this paper considers the various ways in which students use digital devices and applications in school and for school. After highlighting trends and differences across a range of digital devices and practices, the paper explores the ways in which students perceive school as a limiting and/or enabling setting for technology use. The findings point to a number of ways that schools act to extend as well as curtail student engagement with technology. This paper concludes by considering the possible ways that schools might work to further support and/or enhance students' technology experiences.