Left to their own devices: the everyday realities of one-to-one classrooms

Abstract

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 organizational 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 organization and control.

Digitalise and capitalise? Teachers’ self-understanding in 21st-century teaching contexts

“…The vulnerability of teaching can be understood not only from a personal psychological perspective when the pressure becomes emotionally too much, but also in terms of structural conditions of the teaching profession (Kelchtermans, 1993(Kelchtermans, , 2009)-being exposed and held accountable. Digitalisation has added further layers of complexity to teaching and learning (Mishra & Koehler, 2006;Orlando, 2013;Selwyn, Nemorin, Bulfin, & Johnson, 2017) in that it changes the circumstances and processes of teaching and learning as well as the roles, expectations, power, and values in educational contexts (Fransson, 2016). Although digital technologies can contribute added pedagogical value (George & Sanders, 2017;Haelermans, 2017), teachers may lack systematic strategies supporting students (Blikstad-Balas & Davies, 2017; and technologies may also result in teachers feeling pressurised to use them, even though this may be at odds with their own knowledge, practical skills, emotions, doubts about their potential, or their preferred ways of teaching (Convery, 2009;Howard, 2013).…”

Dysfunctional devices in the classroom meet the habitus of the new

“…Despite this, it was often observed that the so-called 'serious' devices (for learning) were often used to 'work around' teacher directives and enable students to game, socialize and listen to music which might constitute off-task behavior (see also Wiklund and Andersson, 2018). As detailed elsewhere (Selwyn et al, 2018;Selwyn et al, 2017), there are many crucial aspects for consideration in the schoolwide development and implementation of digital device policy and practices and their deployment in the bid to enhance learning and teaching.…”

“…It also explores teachers' understandings of the usefulness of these smartphones and of digital devices in general. In other publications, we have analysed and contrasted the different 'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) and information and communication technology policies of the school (Selwyn, Nemorin, Bulfin and Johnson, 2018;Selwyn, Nemorin, Bulfin and Johnson, 2017;Bulfin, Johnson, Nemorin and Selwyn, 2016). In this research project, three secondary schools were included in the study.…”

Modelos de negócios educacionais: uma revisão sistemática de literatura

“…Esses recursos não possibilitaram apenas o fortalecimento de indústrias, mas também o desenvolvimento de novas abordagens educacionais, como o E-Learning, os MOOCs e a utilização de muitas plataformas digitais (Pathak, 2016). Neste sentido, pesquisas buscam compreender o uso da tecnologia da informação em universidades, avaliando o uso de eletrônicos em sala de aula (Gökçearslan, Uluyol, & Şahin, 2018), as mudanças no cenário educacional devido às tecnologias (Selwyn, Nemorin, Bulfin, & Johnson, 2017), e o crescente uso de tecnologias móveis para ensino (Felisoni & Godoi, 2018) e etc.…”