Search

The journey to pursue and persist with a career in STEM is a complex process that begins at a young age, continues across secondary education and the end of school transition to university. Such decisions are influenced by a range of personal, social and environmental factors, highlighting the practical complexities of supporting young people in their transition to university. This paper explores the post-school transition of two students, one female and one male, with strong technological dispositions and aspirations to pursue careers in STEM fields. We focus on two STEM disciplines, Information Technology and Engineering, chosen by our participants. We employ the theory of practice (Bourdieu 1977) to analyse two students' experience of transition. The findings from these case studies are not intended to be generalised. Rather the in-depth stories and theoretical case analysis provides a nuanced account of transition to study STEM disciplines. Importantly, the pathways into university were not equal for the participants. Class and gender intersected with university structures to enable and constrain students' transition highlighting the significance of institutional supports within STEM disciplines to better support diverse students across the period of transition to university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines the design and impact of two commonly used education platforms for reading, PM eCollection and Epic. Framed by a data justice lens, the study employs a walkthrough methodology to examine the ways each platform (re)configures teaching and learning practice, and more broadly schooling. The study extends the method by engaging three primary school teachers in the walkthrough process embedded in their practice. Findings demonstrate significant asymmetries in the value derived from the data practices of the digital reading platforms by teachers, schools and EduTech companies. While of limited value in teacher's practice, the use of the digital platforms and data has implications for the way reading is represented, students are made visible and treatment of teachers, students and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite significant research in the field of educational technology, there is still much we do not fully understand about students' experiences with technology. This article proposes that research in the field of educational technology would benefit from a sociological framing that pays attention to the understandings and lives of learners. Within a broader study that aimed to investigate students' use and value of technologies guided by Bourdieu's sociological theory, this article reports on qualitative embedded case study data of 12 students in years 9 and 10 from two Australian secondary schools. The article provides detailed accounts of students' experiences with technologies in various contexts with consideration of the milieu in which technology use occurred, illustrating the heterogeneous and complex network of influencing factors on students' technology practices. The findings and discussion augment the application of Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus and capital as a tool to view and understand students' varied and complex experiences and relationships with technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]