Convergence of Technology and Cultural Boundaries

Convergence of Technology and Cultural Boundaries

Course Work from: ETEC 510, Design of Technology Supported Learning Environments

Date Submitted: January 26, 2022

Exercise Purpose: The objective in the keyword entries assignments is to summarize briefly how one or more authors utilized your chosen keyword and to articulate your thoughtful, inquiry-oriented questions related to this keyword and its scholarly significance.

Keyword Discussion Post Topic: Convergence

How Turvey & Pachler(2016) discuss convergence within Problem Space 3: Web 2.0 and School Cultures really caught my attention. Specifically, the converging of how and when new technology is used in the classroom and the converging of cultural boundaries are what I would like to explore here.

When reading about converging cultural boundaries that is afforded by Web 2.0 technology, I was reminded of Kalantzis & Cope’s (2010) term “lifeworld” and how, in school,we can work to connect and incorporate a student’s home-life with their school-life. Perhaps connecting students’ lifeworlds with education includes embracing their mobile devices in some capacity.

There has been a real effort made to keep mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, out of the classroom rather than incorporating them. In my classroom over the past three years, I’ve seen a steady rise in students requesting to use their own digital illustration application and tablet instead of using a sketchbook and traditional drawing tools for completing brainstorming/ideation sketches—this is something that we do a lot of. Using traditional tools is the way the design industry has been teaching students to sketch ideas for decades, which is also the way that I was taught and trained. At first I was reluctant to allow this outside technology into the classroom, but I realised if a student wants to practice their digital illustration skills, are having some enjoyment doing while completing the assigned work, there is nothing lost in that experience.If I were to decline, I would inadvertently be asking them to turn a part of themselves off for the purposes of maintaining traditional boundaries; keeping education “formal”. I’ve realised that in this instance it is really not so much the tool that matters, but how they use their minds and abilities to develop creative concepts. What really makes sense to me now, is allowing students to use a digital tool that they have been practicing at home,connecting that part of their life with what they do for school while training for a professional career all at the same time is a, “convergence and fluidity of identities,” that I think highlights a real opportunity for them to grow as people (Turvey & Pachler, 2010, p. 124). A concern that I have in allowing some students to use their digital tools is about inclusivity. I’ve wondered,is it fair to allow some to use these digital tools if not everyone has that option? 

The convergence of identities in different spaces of our lives has me reflecting on a common conundrum nowadays—"camera on or camera off?”. I wonder, are students reluctant to connect on-camera with their instructor and peers due to unsure feelings around the converging of their home and school boundaries? Was it the abrupt transition to an online classroom (for example, on Zoom) from a face-to-faceclass that has students hesitating to share themselves because they are also sharing their home and home-self? 

In allowing the use of tablets and applications for sketching as an alternative to traditional tools,I’ve opened the door for those students to experience some agency, trust and responsibility (Turvey & Pachler, 2010, p. 126). When students are given the choice to use their camera for online class, I wonder if those things are removed from them rather than afforded, as cameras can be thought of as a method of surveillance to some rather than an additional level of social connectivity.

References

Kalantzis, M. & Cope,B. (2010). The Teacher as Designer: Pedagogy in the New Media Age. E-learning and Digital media 7(3), pp. 200–222. https://doi.org/10.2304/elea.2010.7.3.200

Turvey, K., & Pachler,N. (2016). Problem Spaces. In N. Rushby & D. W. Surry (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Learning Technology, pp. 113–130. John Wiley & Sons,Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118736494.ch7