Abstract:

By introducing mobile devices into formal education contexts, the present study is focusing on ICT-enhanced learning opportunities in the classroom and beyond. The proliferation of mobile computing and ubiquitous internet access creates enhanced opportunities for digital engagement and interactive learning in everyday life for adults and youngsters.

The emphasis of this paper is to:
1) map the ICT environment, that children face in their home context,
2) document the ICT-related practices this age group experiences within the family context, e.g. patterns of usage, frequency,
3) identify the kind of ICT-based activities which kids prefer and in which they are actually engaged,
4) trace differences in ICT-enhanced classroom activities between students with a strong or a weak ICT home background.

The present paper combines data from an online survey and stimulated recall interviews with 8- to 12-year old students. All data had been gathered in the ongoing national project “Creative inquiries with tablet-cloud systems in elementary science”. This project aims at exploring the impact of interactive technologies on inquiry-based learning in elementary science education (Max & Hack, 2014; Max & Song, 2014).

The survey data were collected through an online tool, which was implemented on the tablets that the students normally use during their classroom activities. The research team supported the students (n=220) during the data collection by reading for example an item aloud or replying to questions concerning an item.

The stimulated recall interviews were conducted within the four project schools at the end of the school year. The students reflected on their learning activity by selecting own documents from the school cloud that they explained in relation to personal experiences, relevance and progress.

The results from the online survey show that the students have large use of ICT equipment at home and extended access to the internet. Children access the web through a wide range of ICT devices (e.g. PC, laptop, tablets, mobile phone and/or MP3 player). A majority of this age group goes online alone so that their internet activities are not necessarily guided and supervised by parents.

Our analysis identified different patterns of use in relation to time, space and social context, i.e. whether they achieve these activities with family members or together with peers.

Most kids use a range of different ICT devices for specific purposes on a regular basis ranging from simply consuming digital resources such as watching videos, listening to music clips or playing games to searching online information up to creating digital content such as taking pictures and/or making videos. Considering their young age (8-12), our results show that sharing digital content through social media activities is somewhat limited.
Some cases of selected students’ learning experiences provide evidence to what extent students’ participation in ICT-enhanced classroom activities and their role in the student group changes according to their home background. Relevant learning achievements however are barely related to strong or weak ICT home context.

Keywords:

Children's use of ICT, primary education, digital literacy, mobile learning, qualitative research.