The study of information and communication technologies and educational technology represents a rapidly growing area of LCT research, including studies of a major federal initative in schooling, mobile learning in informal contexts, young people's experiences with technology within and beyond formal education, and mythbusting the notion of 'digital natives'.
DIGITAL EDUCATION REVOLUTION
A major evaluation of the Australian federal government’s Digital Education Revolution is being undertaken for the Department of Education and Training of New South Wales by Sarah Howard, University of Wollongong.
This project has LCT(Specialisation) at its heart, with a series of survey questions that develop those created by Lamont and Maton for their studies of subject choices and school Music (see Schooling). It involves a large survey of schoolchildren and schoolteachers, as well as case studies. The survey alone will create the largest dataset ever generated within social realist sociology of education.
Howard, S.K. & Maton, K. (2011) Theorising knowledge practices: A missing piece of the educational technology puzzle, Research in Learning Technology 19(3), 191-206.
Howard, S.K. & Maton, K. (2010) A missing piece of the technology puzzle: The role of knowledge practices in the Digital Education Revolution, paper presented at Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Melbourne, Dec.
ONLINE PEDAGOGY & CONSTRUCTIVISM
This research explores how student sojourners from China acculturate to constructivist pedagogies in online learning. Specifically, the study examines the convergence of constructivist-inspired pedagogies, flexible delivery mode, and learners coming from educational backgrounds underpinned by an instructivist paradigm. The research explores how these students interpret the learning context, how they cope, and the impact of their experiences. It uses LCT(Specialisation) to analyse: the educational dispositions brought by Chinese students; the nature of the educational practices in the Australian teaching contexts; and their experiences and responses to these practices. IT shows how students from educational backgrounds dominated by a form of knowledge code experience knower code educational environments as relativist, i.e. as lacking legitimate knowledge or legitimate knowers. This code clash had deleterious educational and psychological effects for these students, whose response in the face of an experience of a vacuum or limbo was to continue their knowledge code practices.
Chen, R., Maton, K. & Bennett, S. (in press, 2011) Absenting discipline: Constructivist approaches in online learning, in Christie, F. & Maton, K. (eds.) Disciplinarity: Systemic functional and sociological perspectives. London, Continuum.
Rainbow Tsai-Hung Chen (2010) Knowledge and Knowers in Online Learning: Investigating the effects of online flexible learning on student sojourners . Unpublished PhD thesis (awarded without corrections), University of Wollongong, Australia.
Chen, R., Maton, K. & Bennett, S. (2010) Developing a language of description: Analysing students’ experiences of constructivist pedagogy online using LCT, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.
Chen, R., Bennett, S., & Maton, K. (2008) The adaptation of Chinese international students to online flexible learning: Two case studies, Distance Education 29(3) 307-323.
Chen, R., Maton, K. & Bennett, S. (2008) Knowledge and knowers in online learning: What constructivism does to students, paper presented at Disciplinarity, Knowledge & Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec.
Chen, R., Bennett, S., & Maton, K. (2007) The online acculturation of Chinese student ‘sojourners’. In C. Montgomerie & J. Seale (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007 (pp. 2744-2752). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
MOBILE LEARNING
Research by Andy Dong and Lucila Carvalho (Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney) has embedded LCT(Specialisation) in the creation of a mobile e-learning tool that has been used in a museum to enable informal learning of design.
As a field, design encompasses many disciplines. This research examines how knowledge and identity are specialized within four design disciplines: engineering, architecture, digital media and fashion design. The research implements ways of supporting new designers’ inquiry into legitimate design practices, through an e-learning environment. The research design involved a qualitative study and survey to explore designers’ perceptions of how knowledge and knowers are specialised within each design discipline, and which strategies designers are using to recognise and realise legitimate design practices. A model of designers’ perceptions of knowledge and knowers and strategies used within the four design disciplines is proposed. The model is used to create an e-learning environment to experience design in the Powerhouse Museum (Sydney, Australia).
Lucila Carvalho (2010) A Sociology of Informal Learning in/about Design, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Sydney.
Carvalho, L. & Dong, A. (2010) Bringing a social realist approach into computer-supported learning environments: The Design Studio case study, paper presented at Sixth Basil Bernstein International Symposium, Brisbane, June-July.C
Carvalho, L., Dong, A. & Maton, K. (2009) Legitimating design: A sociology of knowledge account of the field, Design Studies 30(5): 483-502.
Carvalho, L. & Dong, A. (2008) Sociology of education and the design field: Operationalizing the theory, Fifth International Basil Bernstein Symposium, Cardiff University, July.
Carvalho, L. & Dong, A. (2008) Recognising and realising legitimate disciplines of design, Disciplinarity, Knowledge & Language: An international symposium, University of Sydney, Dec
Carvalho, L., & Dong, A. (2007) Knowledge and identity in the design field. In Zehner, R. & Reidsema, C. (Eds.) Proceedings of ConnectED International Conference on Design Education. Sydney, UNSW. ISBN - 978-00646-48147-0
YOUNG PEOPLE & ICTs
A series of projects are exploring the issue of ‘digital natives’ or the ‘net generation’ and with young people's experiences with technology generally.
Living and Learning in a Knowledge Society: The implications of young adults’ knowledge-creating practices for higher education, S. Bennett & K. Maton, ARC Discovery Project grant ($80K, 2009-2010).
This project is investigating knowledge creation by young Australian adults who will be the workers and leaders in tomorrow's knowledge economy. By focusing on university students creating knowledge across their everyday and academic activities, the project examines how living and learning in a knowledge society impact each other. LCT is central to this project, providing the means for conceptualising and analysing different forms of knowledge and different modalities of knowledge-creating practices across different social contexts.
Maton, K. & Bennett, S. (2010) The Role of ICTs at the University of Sydney: A report on the experiences and expectations of students and teaching staff. Office of the DVC(E), University of Sydney.
A major study of experiences with and perceptions of digital technologies among staff and students in eight faculties of Sydney University. This is the largest study of its kind conducted in Australia. Report:
Educating the Net Generation: Implications for Learning and Teaching in Australian Universities, Kennedy, Krause, Judd, Gray, Bennett, Dalgarno, Maton & Bishop, ALTC competitive grant.
Mythbusting ‘digital natives’
Bennett, S. & Maton, K. (2011) Intellectual field or faith-based religion: Moving on from the idea of 'digital natives', in Thomas, M. (ed) Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young people, technology and the new literacies. New York, Routledge, 169-185.
Bennett, S. & Maton, K. (2010) Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students’ technology experiences, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5): 321-331.
Bennett, S., Maton, K. & Kervin, L. (2008) The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence, British Journal of Educational Technology 39(5): 775-786.
Media coverage:
Mather, J. (2007) Panic over digital natives’ IT mastery ‘premature’, Campus Review 4th July 2007, p.4
Rout, M. (2007) Research shows digital desire overrated, The Australian: University Teaching - A higher education special report, Oct 3rd, p.1
Brabazon, T. (2008) They come not to teach, Times Higher Education Supplement, 3 July 2008.
Leaver, T. (2007) A broad band of ideas: The Learning Futures Symposium, Screen Education,48: 74-77.
ONLINE LEARNING & COMMUNITIES
Jo Lander (PhD, current) Online Discourse: Learning online in postgraduate public health education: Expectations, experiences and the enactment of pedagogy, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. [see also Systemic functional linguistics]
Kesuma A. Bakar (PhD, current) Construction of Online Identity in Personal Ads, Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney, Australia. [see also Systemic functional linguistics]
Cathie Doherty (2007) The Production of Cultural Difference and Cultural Sameness in Online Internationalised Education, unpublished PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. [see also Systemic functional linguistics]