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With an increase in technology to mediate learning and a shift to more student-centred approaches, open-ended online assignment tasks are becoming more common in higher education. Open-ended tasks offer opportunities for students to develop their own interpretations of the requirements, and online technologies offer greater flexibility and afford new types of interactions with teachers and other students. This paper presents a study of students' task interpretation and self-set goals in the context of five open-ended online assignment tasks. The findings presented in this paper demonstrate the importance of a high-quality task understanding for goal setting and suggest practical implications for task design and support.

While online assessments can provide new opportunities to redesign traditional assessments, they also present challenges related to design and communication to support students. Open-ended online assessment may place more onus on students to make choices, interpret assessment requirements and self-regulate their learning. This chapter presents some challenges of re-imagined online assessment design for teachers and students in one case study example, drawn from a collective case study. The chapter outlines student, teacher and contextual challenges that affect how a task may be interpreted and reflects on practical implications for the design of online assessment for learning.

Disparities in the technology practices, skills and knowledge of school students still exist, despite widespread investment, and use in schools. In order to understand why inequalities remain, we first need a more nuanced understanding of students’ technology practice, including understanding how their backgrounds, circumstances and experiences shape their perceptions of and engagement with technology. This paper proposes that research in the field of educational technology would benefit from a sociological framing in order to highlight how and why students use technology at school and in their everyday lives. The paper reports on a qualitative embedded case study of 13–16‐year‐old students in two Australian secondary schools. In‐depth case studies of two selected students illustrate the complex nature of students’ technology practice. Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and capital are used as a lens through which to view and understand inequalities in students’ technology practice. The findings demonstrate the utility of sociological theory in educational technology research by highlighting systems and structures of reproduction and transformation. Furthermore, the findings can inform an approach to teaching and learning that considers students’ varied experiences, knowledge, perspectives and backgrounds relating to technology.

With an increase in technology to mediate learning and a shift to more student-centred approaches, open-ended online assignment tasks are becoming more common in higher education. Open-ended tasks offer opportunities for students to develop their own interpretations of the requirements, and online technologies offer greater flexibility and afford new types of interactions with teachers and other students. This paper presents a study of students' task interpretation and self-set goals in the context of five open-ended online assignment tasks. The findings presented in this paper demonstrate the importance of a high-quality task understanding for goal setting and suggest practical implications for task design and support.

This article presents Bourdieu's theory of practice as a tool for exploring school students' technology practice in empirical research. The authors provide educational technology researchers with an accessible introduction to the theory of practice. They then detail the conceptual, methodological and analytic application of the theory of practice in two educational technology studies. The application of the theory in the two studies highlights the potential of the sociological framing for informing a robust critical research agenda and understanding the circumstances that can contribute to digital inequalities. Practically, knowledge gained through theoretically informed research is critical for researchers, governments, schools and teachers in working to overcome digital inequalities.

Online technologies can facilitate new assessment designs, where students develop, analyse and reflect upon their learning. Online multi-stage assignments provide students with opportunities to submit and share their work over an extended period in social sharing spaces such as blogging and discussion forums. This study explores the challenges experienced by students while completing online multi-stage assignments and the processes of self-regulated learning students engaged with to overcome such challenges. We present interview data from three qualitative case studies involving 34 students across two Australian universities. The results show all students experienced challenges while working on multi-stage assignments. Students engaged with both online and offline social cues to regulate their learning and overcome task challenges. We discuss the design implications and provide recommendations for further research.

Disparities in the technology practices, skills and knowledge of school students still exist, despite widespread investment, and use in schools. In order to understand why inequalities remain, we first need a more nuanced understanding of students' technology practice, including understanding how their backgrounds, circumstances and experiences shape their perceptions of and engagement with technology. This paper proposes that research in the field of educational technology would benefit from a sociological framing in order to highlight how and why students use technology at school and in their everyday lives. The paper reports on a qualitative embedded case study of 13-16‐year‐old students in two Australian secondary schools. In‐depth case studies of two selected students illustrate the complex nature of students' technology practice. Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus and capital are used as a lens through which to view and understand inequalities in students' technology practice. The findings demonstrate the utility of sociological theory in educational technology research by highlighting systems and structures of reproduction and transformation. Furthermore, the findings can inform an approach to teaching and learning that considers students' varied experiences, knowledge, perspectives and backgrounds relating to technology.

Evidence from large-scale studies of primary and secondary students’ technology practices at school over the last decade show disparities in student practices and suggest that schools need to do more to cater for all students. Research that explores the influence of social and cultural factors may be useful for understanding such inequality in student practice. Bourdieu’s theory of practice [(1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. London: Cambridge University Press] is proposed as an example of a sociological theory that can be adopted in educational technology research to move towards understanding the wider complexities of technology practice. To encourage discourse and application of Bourdieu’s sociology in the field of educational technology research, this paper provides an introduction to the theory, a review of its application in research of primary and secondary students’ technology practice and relevant conceptual work. The paper presents a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu’s theory that has been developed through two recent studies, and review of empirical and conceptual works and invites its application in future research so that it can be critiqued and further developed.

The term "digital native" entered popular and academic discourse in the early 1990s to characterize young people who, having grown up surrounded by digital technology, were said to be highly technologically skilled. The premise was mobilized to criticize education for not meeting the needs of young people, thereby needing radical transformation. Despite being repeatedly discredited by empirical research and scholarly argument, the idea of the digital native has been remarkably persistent. This chapter explores the myth of the digital native and its implications for higher education. It suggests that the myth's persistence signals a need to better understand the role of technology in young people's lives. The chapter conceptualizes technology "practices," considers how young adults experience technology in their college and university education, and how their practices are shaped by childhood and adolescence. The chapter closes with some propositions for educators, institutions, and researchers.

Evidence from large-scale studies of primary and secondary students' technology practices at school over the last decade show disparities in student practices and suggest that schools need to do more to cater for all students. Research that explores the influence of social and cultural factors may be useful for understanding such inequality in student practice. Bourdieu's theory of practice [(1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. London: Cambridge University Press] is proposed as an example of a sociological theory that can be adopted in educational technology research to move towards understanding the wider complexities of technology practice. To encourage discourse and application of Bourdieu's sociology in the field of educational technology research, this paper provides an introduction to the theory, a review of its application in research of primary and secondary students' technology practice and relevant conceptual work. The paper presents a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu's theory that has been developed through two recent studies, and review of empirical and conceptual works and invites its application in future research so that it can be critiqued and further developed.

Schools have a role to play in preparing students for their digital futures, but need to do more to cater for all students. Despite significant government investment and increased prominence in educational curriculums worldwide, there is a lack of conclusive evidence to demonstrate that technology has had a significant impact on student learning. Despite its use in schools, research suggests that disparities in the technology practices, skills and knowledge of school students still exists. In fact, there is much that is not fully understood about students’ experiences with technologies, specifically how and why they use technologies in particular contexts. In order to effectively integrate technologies in secondary schools to benefit all students’ learning and future opportunities, there is a pressing need for evidence-based practice. This study extends educational technology research into secondary school students’ technology practices by investigating how and why students use technology at school and in their everyday lives. Guided by the sociological framework of Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the study design considers not only technology use but also context to provide an understanding of the interrelations between technology practices, the students and their surroundings. The multiple embedded case study reported in this thesis comprised four class cases and 12 student cases from two Australian public secondary schools. Student questionnaires and teacher interviews were conducted with 64 Year 9 and Year 10 students and four teachers from the class cases. From these class cases, 12 student cases provided in-depth accounts of students’ technology practices through interviews and diary records. In reviewing the study findings and literature, this thesis presents a theoretical framework that conceptualises student technology practices. Data analysis was guided, first, by the emergent themes and patterns from the data and, second, by the theoretical framework. The