The influence of parents in the discursive construction of technology-mediated learning experiences

Abstract

In the new learning ecology, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) promote the learning of children and young people in a variety of contexts and also shape their learning trajectories. However, empirical studies that investigate how people learn through ICTs often ignore how they construct narratives about their own learning trajectories and about what it means to learn with ICTs. Thus, we propose Subjective Learning Experiences (SLEs) as a unit of analysis for studying personal learning trajectories. SLEs allow us to investigate learning both across settings and over time. To illustrate our empirical approach, we present a brief study in which we explore how dominant discursive constructions from parents about what it means to learn with ICTs influence the learning experiences of children and young people. For this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 Spanish children and their parents, using thematic analysis to identify their discursive constructions. Our results provide evidence that discursive constructions about what it means to learn, present in the contexts of activity in which children and young people participate, influence their learning experiences. We conclude that our empirical approach advances the analysis of personal learning trajectories by allowing us to capture the fluid and boundless nature of learning across settings and time.