Emergent Practices and Material Conditions in Learning and Teaching with Technologies

This book explores the complexities of interacting with digital technologies in the everyday flow of practices in schools, museums, and the home. In particular, the authors pay attention to the material conditions of such practices via the exploration of media discourses on information and communication technologies in the classroom; the ongoing digitization of the school; the use of video chat for language learning; the instantiation of CrossActionSpaces in an urban science classrooms; the development of symbolic technologies such as the Carbon Footprint Calculator; the design of apps and virtual museums for learning science; the use of text message tools for collaborative learning in teacher education and the design, implementation, and evaluation of Augmented Reality apps in outdoor learning. The book is grounded in case studies presented by scholars at the workshop, 'Changing Teaching and Learning Practices in Schools with Tablet-Mediated Collaborative Learning: Nordic, European and International Views' and the workshop 'Emergent Practices and Material Conditions in Tablet-mediated Collaborative Learning and Teaching' both of which have been held at the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning conference (CSCL). This volume brings together inspirational and high-quality chapters that raise a range of important ideas and showcase the importance of looking beyond technology-enhanced learning. Taken together, this volume unpacks a variety of everyday situations by engaging with what is really happening with digital technologies rather than what is expected to happen with them in educational settings. The take-away message is a call for research on learning, teaching, and digital technologies that enables engagement with the materiality of educational practices and, in particular, their constitutive relationships that configure the contemporary educational practices of the digital age.

Dr. Isa Jahnke is a Professor at Umea University in Sweden, Associate Professor of Information Science and Learning Technologies and Research Director of the Information Experience Lab at the University of Missouri. She was an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Research on Higher Education and Faculty Development of the Dortmund University of Technology, Germany. Her academic background is in sociology, educational and computer sciences. Isa Jahnke's research considers new forms of computer-mediated human structures by using new media. In particular, she focuses on the study of socio-technical learning by developing theories, concepts and methods such as Ipad-didactics. Her main research interest is the socio-technical design of learning environments for an attractive, innovative and creativity-enhanced learning model.