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Understanding children's use and experience with digital technologies Final research report
Abstract
With a particular focus on education and learning activities, the researchers wanted to understand the factors and conditions that influence children’s use and experience of digital technologies in education and learning in the New Zealand context. The research also sought to understand what support might be needed for different groups of young New Zealanders in order to make the most of their online learning experiences and manage online risks.
Semi structured interviews with nearly 70 children across 12 schools from around New Zealand were conducted to help understand how primary school students (9-11 year olds) from various backgrounds use and experience digital technologies in their daily lives. The children were asked to describe what they do online, when they do it, why, what they most enjoy, what they learn, what worries them, and what they wish for but don’t currently have. Our data collection was slightly biased towards regional, rural and high Maori and Pacific population areas because prior research suggested that there was likely to be the greatest deficiencies in access and use in these areas.
The literature reviewed prior to the research and our findings challenge some commonly held assumptions such as that children born into the digital age are digital natives and all have the same experiences and opportunities to use of digital devices. The research findings reveal a large variation in children’s use and experiences of digital technologies that do not fully correlate with location or the socioeconomic status of the school community although these two factors cannot be entirely ignored. The findings are reported at five levels of detail: 1) a high level picture of children’s online experience and use of digital devices in the form of six archetypical profiles 2) a graphical snapshot from the questionnaires the children completed about the devices they use, and how often they use them; 3) a description of the different and various school contexts the children in our data came from; 4) four high level themes from the data which address the factors and conditions affecting children’s use and experience of digital technologies, namely: i) the children themselves; ii) the parents and home setting of the children; iii) the classroom teachers of the children; and iv) the children’s school; and finally, 5) factors and conditions influencing children’s use and experience of digital technologies explores the children’s interview data in more depth alongside data from the interviews we conducted with their teachers and principals. It addresses five themes in this data: i) access to digital devices and the Internet; ii) children’s activities and learning online at school, at home and elsewhere; iii) children’s behaviours online; iv) home-based factors affecting access and use; and v) school factors that are influencing digital access and learning.
Supplementary resource (1)
... Many teacher education programs have made attempts to respond to these new requirements, and they have invested an extensive amount of money and time to propose innovative approaches and strategies to help preservice teachers develop the necessary digital skills (Kay, 2006). These approaches include the adoption of new forms of communication to enhance collaboration through digital tools (Lips et al., 2017), the introduction of specialized applications designed especially for learning (Voogt et al., 2013), updating curricula to meet the needs of the digital age (Starkey, 2016). ...
... As in many countries, there are data on how New Zealand children engage with screen media, including the activities they carry out and the devices they use (e.g., Broadcasting Standards Authority, 2015; Hartnett, 2017;Lips et al., 2017;Pacheco & Melhuish, 2018). However, it is unknown whether user typographies similar to those identified for older children and youth, as per Brandtzaeg (2016), Eynon and Malmberg (2011), and van den Beemt et al. (2011), are already evident for children during middle childhood (i.e., at 8 years), or whether modes of use which may give rise to second-order "digital divides" are yet to be formed. ...
Digital divides occur when there are inequities in access to the benefits afforded by digital technologies. Originally conceptualised as inequitable access to digital technologies and internet, it is now recognised that the ways in which individuals use digital technologies and the competencies they subsequently develop may also contribute to digital divides. The aims of the current study were twofold. Firstly, to investigate categories of screen media use outside of school for children at age eight, and whether children of this age fall into “user typographies”, whereby different “modes” of digital technology use have already started to emerge. Secondly, to consider the implications of different modes of use at 8 years of age for the establishment of digital divides. Using a sample of 5010 children participating in the Growing Up in New Zealand study, the results of factor analysis indicated six categories of screen-based activities (Social, Creative, Shopping, Educational, Entertainment, and Interests), while four different modes of digital technology use were identified via cluster analysis (Creative, Entertainment, Emergent, and Limited). While Entertainment Users and Creative Users engaged with most activities on a fairly regularly basis, Emergent Users, and in particular, Limited Users, engaged with a narrower range of activities and at lower frequencies. We argue that Entertainment Users and Creative Users who engage with a broader range of activities, and engage in Creative activities such as coding and programming outside of school, may be at an advantage with regard to digital divides. Possible strategies to help mitigate digital divides are proposed.
... Effective learning nowadays requires the processing of a large amount of information from multiple sources, which may place high-cognitive demand on learners (Sweller, 1994;van Merriënboer and Sweller, 2005). Third, the wide adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has significantly changed the daily life and entrainment experiences of human beings including university students (Lips et al., 2017;Lu et al., 2019). Engagement in the extensive use of ICTs or media multitasking is likely to exert a negative influence on students' psychological well-being and cognitive performance (e.g., Young, 1998;Park et al., 2011;Shapiro and Margolin, 2014;Uncapher and Wagner, 2018;Luo et al., 2020aLuo et al., , 2020b. ...
Many university students have been struggling with multiple challenges that may cause mental fatigue. Exposure to the natural environment is found to have restorative effects on mental fatigue, which can be explained by its benefits in physiological, psychological, and cognitive aspects. While the natural environment contains both visual and auditory elements, research on the effects of auditory elements, such as nature sounds, is underdeveloped and limited to laboratory settings. It remains unclear what are the effects of exposure to nature sounds in daily life settings. The study was conducted with 71 students from a university, who were randomly assigned to the experimental group using a nature-sound mobile application in daily life and the control group not using the application. After a 4-week exposure to the intervention, the students in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group on psychological well-being reflected in positive affect, as well as cognitive performance reflected in flow state, attention (in terms of alerting) and working memory (in terms of accuracy and reaction time). The findings reveal the positive impact of exposure to relaxing nature sounds on university students’ psychological well-being and cognitive performance, as well as the potential of mobile applications to provide easy exposure to nature sounds.
... El ejercicio pleno de los derechos de la niñez sólo puede garantizarse si se incorporan, de forma transversal, estrategias metodológicas de participación infantil en los procesos de coproducción de conocimiento, con NNJ que son consultados, coinvestigadores o lideran procesos investigativos y en el diseño de las políticas e instituciones que buscan establecerse como garantes de sus derechos. Lo anterior adquiere especial relevancia en entornos digitales, donde NNJ tienen experiencias únicas como usuarios y creadores (Lips et al., 2017;Livingstone, S., & Third, A., 2017;Ribble, M., 2009), especialmente en contexto de pandemia y postpandemia por COVID-19, fomentando la colaboración entre investigadores adultos y niños ; proporcionando acceso a información y conexiones, recursos cruciales para el empoderamiento de los niños (Roll et al., 2017;Tisdall et al., 2009); y promoviendo la conciencia de diversas perspectivas, habilidades de comunicación y resolución de conflictos (Thomson & Gunter, 2007;Reimer et al., 2015). Estas herramientas pueden mejorar la acción colectiva y la creación para que los niños y las niñas defiendan su bienestar (Thomson & Gunter, 2007;Reimer et al., 2015). ...
... The infused stage is enabled by ubiquitous access to devices, the Internet, educational technology, online learning environments, artificial intelligence, digital data and communication tools ). This is a stage of maturity in which teachers and administrators have access to a range of data and tools including learning analytics to inform teaching and policy decisions (Collins and Halverson 2018;Selwyn, Henderson, and Chao 2015), specialised educational technologies are designed specifically for student learning targeting curriculum and ageappropriate activities (Voogt et al. 2018), school curriculum is evolved for the digital age (Williamson 2013), and communication tools enable dynamic interaction within and beyond the classroom environment with parents, teachers, and professional networks (Lips et al. 2017). ...
New Zealand schools are increasingly digitally infused with computer applications and tools underpinning education and influencing teachers’ work. Teachers entering the profession need to develop professional digital competence and while existing frameworks can guide initial teacher education (ITE), they might not be appropriate because student teachers have different needs to experienced teachers. This article evaluates three frameworks (DigCompEdu; International Society for Technology in Education standards; and the Norwegian professional digital competence framework for teachers) against the context of preparing teachers to teach in digitally infused schools. Findings conclude that the frameworks align with stages of digital integration and although developed for experienced teachers, could be applied to ITE. However, where ITE is underpinned by professionalisation of teaching, a framework that prepares teachers for digitally infused schools should include three dimensions: being a member of the profession; how to teach; and what to teach.
... El ejercicio pleno de los derechos de la niñez sólo puede garantizarse si se incorporan, de forma transversal, estrategias metodológicas de participación infantil en los procesos de coproducción de conocimiento, con NNJ que son consultados, coinvestigadores o lideran procesos investigativos y en el diseño de las políticas e instituciones que buscan establecerse como garantes de sus derechos. Lo anterior adquiere especial relevancia en entornos digitales, donde NNJ tienen experiencias únicas como usuarios y creadores (Lips et al., 2017;Livingstone, S., & Third, A., 2017;Ribble, M., 2009), especialmente en contexto de pandemia y postpandemia por COVID-19, fomentando la colaboración entre investigadores adultos y niños ; proporcionando acceso a información y conexiones, recursos cruciales para el empoderamiento de los niños (Roll et al., 2017;Tisdall et al., 2009); y promoviendo la conciencia de diversas perspectivas, habilidades de comunicación y resolución de conflictos (Thomson & Gunter, 2007;Reimer et al., 2015). Estas herramientas pueden mejorar la acción colectiva y la creación para que los niños y las niñas defiendan su bienestar (Thomson & Gunter, 2007;Reimer et al., 2015). ...
La Agenda Niñez se organiza en tres apartados. En primer lugar, se presenta «lo irrenunciable» que debieran asumir las políticas públicas en cuanto al resguardo y promoción de los derechos de la niñez y la adolescencia para el próximo periodo político chileno (2022-2026), desde la perspectiva de la Red de Universidades por la Infancia y la Adolescencia (RUPI) y la Cátedra UNESCO. En segundo lugar, se entrega un resumen ejecutivo de las 51 propuestas aportadas por casi un centenar de académicos(as) e investigadores(as) en torno a los derechos establecidos en la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño (1989) agrupados, con una perspectiva intersectorial e integral, en sus cuatro ejes: supervivencia, desarrollo, protección y participación. Por último, se presentan las propuestas aportadas por el mundo académico en extenso, incluyendo las fuentes y la evidencia que las sustentan e identificando a sus autores y autoras, también organizados en función de los cuatro ejes de la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño
... It has become increasingly apparent that many children live in a world filled with digital technologies (Lips et al., 2017). Some kindergarten teachers, in Australia the UK and China for example, have begun to use digital technologies in teaching and learning to provide young children with new learning experiences (Liu, 2017;Ludgate, 2019;Yelland, 2018). ...
Touchscreen technologies have become an important part of many young children’s lives. While kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of the use of touchscreen devices have been investigated across many countries, empirical research on the topic remains scant in mainland China. In an exploratory study, the lead researcher interviewed six teachers from an exemplary kindergarten in Nanjing and analyzed relevant documents to further explore the teachers’ beliefs around children’s use of touchscreen technologies. The Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model was used to understand the rationale behind teachers’ perceptions and self-reported practices. Findings showed that participants generally perceived touchscreen devices as useful tools for catering to children’s interests, believing they could provide active learning experiences. Teachers made decisions about children’s use of touchscreen technologies based on their understandings of learning, pedagogy, subject content, and the affordances of these technologies. Implications for future research on kindergarten teachers’ use of touchscreen technologies are also presented.
... Schools are also required to develop their plans to integrate digital technologies guided by the national curriculum and based on their contextual needs (Starkey & Finger, 2018). Using digital devices is becoming a common practice in primary classrooms (Lips et al., 2017). Still, some schools strive to provide a device for each student either by providing options to lease or purchase through trusts established to serve low socio-economic contexts (Starkey & Finger, 2018). ...
http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/9396
Using digital devices in primary classrooms has become a common practice in many schools around the world. A considerable amount of research has explored this phenomenon. However, the majority of studies published in highly ranked educational technology journals have focused on the effectiveness of interventions related to using digital devices in primary classrooms and few studies examine students’ use of digital devices during learning which reflects a dominance of the reductionist approach in studying classroom environments. While there is rich literature addressing the outcomes of using devices, much is still unknown about the use itself.
The present study aimed to understand how students use digital devices in classroom learning activities. It explored the ways of use, the factors that shaped these uses, and how the uses contributed to the purposes of learning activities. Approaches used to study phenomena in open recursive systems, such as classrooms, should be different from approaches used to study phenomena in closed systems under controlled conditions. Therefore, Complexity Theory provided a framework to understand the socio-materiality of digital devices in classrooms learning. In addition, Actor-Network Theory was used to study the phenomenon in action and Biesta’s (2009) framework of the functions of education to understand the contribution of the uses to educational purposes.
This multiple case study was conducted in New Zealand within two schools where two teachers and seven upper-primary students participated in the study. Data were collected across six months through observations, semi-structured interviews, group interviews, informal conversations, student think-aloud interviews and artefacts from learning including video screen-captures. Data were coded and analysed using the thematic analysis and an abductive strategy.
From a synthesis of the findings a ‘Using Devices for Classroom Learning’ model was developed in which seven patterns of use were identified. The children used their devices as a source of information, means of communication, production medium, external personal memory, collective memory coordinator, trial-and-error learning space, and as a research tool. Interconnected factors shaped these uses which were related to the educational system, school and classroom environment, teachers, students, and digital technologies. The findings showed how the seven uses contributed to the educational purposes of classroom learning which were classified into students’ qualifications, socialisation, and subjectification. However, some of these uses led to undesirable influence on students’ learning.
This study provides theoretical and practical contributions to the field of using digital technologies in education. Complexity thinking, as a holistic approach, sheds light on blind spots of the educational process and acknowledges the complexity and uncertainty when using devices for learning in social complex systems such as classrooms. What emerges in classrooms does not result from separate factors but from a network of relationships and interactions of interconnected factors. The model developed provides an analysis tool for researchers and assists educators and policymakers to understand and anticipate the role of digital devices in classroom learning.
Dijital teknolojiyi farklı amaçlarla kullanan çocukların ve ebeveynlerinin kullanım amacı, süresi, çocukların dijital cihaz kullanımlarına yönelik ebeveyn tutumları ve bu tutumun etkileri ile ilgili çocukların görüşlerini belirlemek amacıyla gerçekleştirilen araştırmanın çalışma grubu, amaçlı örnekleme yöntemlerinden aykırı durum örneklemesi ile oluşturulmuştur. Dijital teknolojiyi üretim odaklı kullandıkları belirlenen, bu konuda kendilerini geliştirmek için bir eğitim programına katılan ve bu veya benzeri bir programa katılmayan, ebeveynleri tarafından dijital cihaz kullanımının üretim odaklı gerçekleşmediği belirtilen 7-15 yaş aralığındaki toplam 61 çocuğa ulaşılmıştır. Çalışmada nitel ve nicel verilerin bir arada değerlendirildiği karma yöntem kullanılmış, araştırma deseni yakınsayan paralel karma yöntem olarak belirlenmiştir. Çalışmanın verileri kişisel bilgi formu ve yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu aracılığıyla çocuklarla yüz yüze görüşme yapılarak toplanmıştır. Elde edilen nicel verilerin frekans ve yüzde değerleri hesaplanmış, nitel veriler için kodlama sonrası kategoriler oluşturulmuş ve içerik analiziyle değerlendirilmiştir. Çocukların teknolojik cihazlarını kullanım amaç ve sürelerindeki farklılıklar; ebeveynlerinin kullanım amacı, süresi, ebeveyn tutumları ile etkileri değerlendirilerek tartışılmış, farklı ilgiye sahip çocukların kullanabileceği üretim odaklı uygulamalar geliştirilmesi, bu uygulamaların örgün eğitim aracılığıyla yaygınlaştırılması ve dezavantajlı çocuklara ulaşılır hale getirilmesi önerileri sunulmuştur.
Digital technology is changing every aspect of life from how we communicate to the way we learn. International trends would suggest that digital access is becoming increasingly widespread in developed countries. But general trends may hide the fact that some households still do not have access to the internet for a variety of reasons. Differences in digital access and use, particularly along socio-economic lines, may be less visible but are still present. This paper reports on a two-phase study that explores home digital access and use of young people (16–17–years-old) from a range of socio-economic backgrounds across New Zealand. Phase one sought to establish what home access is available, while the second phase explores what kinds of digital technologies are used and for what purpose among a subset of young people. Results indicate that differences in digital access do exist among young people from different socio-economic backgrounds. These differences include the number of digital devices in the home, the types of devices available, and whether the device(s) are shared or individually owned. These findings are particularly important in light of the finding that these young people perceived that digital access and use at school is inadequate and lagging behind everyday use. This suggests that there is still a considerable way to go to ensure equal digital opportunities for all.
Many hopes and fears surround children's increasing immersion in the digital and networked culture of the internet. Arguing against technological determinism, this chapter locates internet adoption and appropriation within the wider context of changing childhoods in late modernity and the risk society. It provides an overview of the EU Kids Online network. It then examines three core debates over the question: of childhood (contesting the notion of ‘digital native’), risk (contesting moral and media panics) and responsibility (arguing for effective multi-stakeholder alliances to improve children's online experiences). The chapter concludes with the working model that has guided the data collection, analysis and interpretation in the chapters that follow.
A trend, where voluntary groups teach children and youth basic computer coding skills, has spread throughout the world. After-school clubs invite children to create games in visual programming environments. The activities emphasize play, while teaching principles of computer science. We explore this phenomenon based on observations and interviews at a code club in Norway, asking whether coding represents an important skill for children and how it is distributed to include all children. We find that coding through play activity is perceived as teaching more than simply the technical skills of programming. Although the fun aspect draws in children and volunteers, parents and instructors describe the code club as being about learning to understand and control the computer, and digital competence required for achieving success in society. The Code Club is described partly as being a ‘necessity for becoming a good/efficient/empowered citizen in our digital society’, and partly as ‘children are playing with computers anyway’. These arguments have different consequences for the gender imbalance at the Code Club. Our findings suggest that the code clubs need an explicit recruitment strategy targeting girls in order to become an arena where girls can develop interest and competence in digital technologies.
Ensuring online safety has become a topic on the regulatory agenda in many Western societies. However, regulating for online safety is far from easy, due to the wide variety of national and international, private and public actors and stakeholders that are involved. When regulating online risks for children it is important to strike the right balance between protection against harms on the one hand, and safeguarding their fundamental freedoms and rights on the other. The authors in this book grapple with precisely this theme: striking the right balance between ensuring safety for children on the internet while at the same time enabling them to experiment, to learn, to enrich their lives, to acquire skills and to have fun using this global network. The authors come from various scientific disciplines, ranging from law to social science and from media studies to philosophy, thus presenting both empirical and theoretical/conceptual approaches, and shedding a multi-disciplinary light on the complex topic of regulating online safety for children.
This article explores digital divides identified in research literature and considers educational policy directions that may mitigate or enhance future inequities. A review of literature identified three categories of digital divides in society; access, capability, and participation. To explore the strategic focus in schooling, data were gathered from a national survey of New Zealand school board chairs and the interviews of eight school principals. The focus in schooling was found to be on the access divide for students with variation across socioeconomic contexts. Developing capability was centered on teacher rather than student capability, which may reflect the notion of the teacher as a “digital immigrant” and students as “digital natives.” To bridge future digital divides, schooling policy needs to focus on developing student digital capability and preparing all future citizens to be able to participate in a digital world. (Keywords: BYOD, digital, divide, equity, inclusion, New Zealand, policy)
The infusion of digital technologies and the Internet into society presents a challenge to school leaders who aim to provide equitable opportunities for students at school and prepare them for their lives beyond formal education. There is the potential for digital divides in society to widen in the future, and the opportunity exists for schooling systems to play a role in mitigating these resulting inequities. This article explores the digital divides identified in research literature and considers the potential for digital divide mitigation within the strategic vision of school leaders.
This survey study investigated 186 secondary 2–5 school students from two schools to understand how and why they used new social media both in and outside of school to consume, share, and create content. It found that whereas students tend to consume and share more social media content outside of school they create more in school. Perceived importance of sharing content with peers or others is the most significant predictor having positive impact on all social media activities, both in and outside school. However, the negative impact of self-regulation ability on outside school social media activities implies the conscientiousness of their social media engagement, which calls for a further investigation on the quality of the social media content.
This paper investigates whether or not the proposition that the second digital generation (or so-called digital natives) is more engaged in social use of the Internet than older generations is tenable. By analysing nationally representative questionnaire-based survey data collected from Finland in 2011 (N = 612), the study shows that rather than social use of the Internet in general, it is the synchronicity of online communication that distinguishes user generations. Results show that, in contrast to asynchronous modes of online communication (e.g. social networking sites, blogs and online discussion forums), synchronous modes (e.g. instant messaging and Internet calls) are clearly generationally differentiated practices. They are more frequently used by the second digital generation than the first digital generation and digital immigrants. Furthermore, the study shows that asynchronous uses of the Internet are clearly gendered in nature. Women are more typically users of social networking sites and blogs than men, whereas men are more often engaged with discussion forums than women. These results are discussed in light of two concepts: privacy and communicative efficacy. The studied forms of synchronous online communication provide more privacy as well as an instant and abundant channel for effective communication, which are all features especially appreciated by the youngest user generation.
Online sexual harassment is increasingly encountered by adolescents and is associated with various negative psychosocial outcomes. In particular, social networking sites (SNSs) may facilitate sexual harassment. This study used focus groups to examine sexual harassment on SNSs from adolescents’ (aged 12–18 years) point of view: what do they perceive as severe cases and who do they think should play a role in addressing them. The qualitative data suggested that sexual harassment was appraised as more severe when it concerned personally targeted gender harassment, situations with restricted escape possibilities, the use of insulting words, the non-consensual use of pictures for sex-related purposes, or frequent adult-initiated sexual attention. Adolescents think that educating potential victims and harassers is important. In addition, SNS providers can play a crucial role in decreasing the impact of sexual harassment by providing a safe environment and by warning or sanctioning harassers.
Mapping the digital divide in America is a multifaceted issue; however, the influence of underlying socioeconomic causes, the shift in the conversation to new divides including broadband accessibility and digital literacy, and the importance of the library in narrowing the divide are all prominent points of focus in the literature today. As conversations surrounding the digital divide begin to shift from a divide in access to a divide in skills and/or literacy, attention must be drawn to meeting those needs in equal measure to maintaining access as the primary means of closing the digital divide in America.
What is new about how teenagers communicate through services such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? Do social media affect the quality of teens' lives? In this eye-opening book, youth culture and technology expert danah boyd uncovers some of the major myths regarding teens' use of social media. She explores tropes about identity, privacy, safety, danger, and bullying. Ultimately, boyd argues that society fails young people when paternalism and protectionism hinder teenagers' ability to become informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizens through their online interactions. Yet despite an environment of rampant fear-mongering, boyd finds that teens often find ways to engage and to develop a sense of identity. Boyd's conclusions are essential reading not only for parents, teachers, and others who work with teens but also for anyone interested in the impact of emerging technologies on society, culture, and commerce in years to come. Offering insights gleaned from more than a decade of original fieldwork interviewing teenagers across the United States, boyd concludes reassuringly that the kids are all right. At the same time, she acknowledges that coming to terms with life in a networked era is not easy or obvious. In a technologically mediated world, life is bound to be complicated.
