Treading softly in the enchanted forest: exploring the integration of iPads in a participatory theatre education programme

ABSTRACT

While it is commonplace to argue that technology integration in educational contexts should be pedagogically appropriate, in some contexts, the notion of “appropriate” integration can be slippery. This is the case in the context of educational theatre, which builds on the experience of “liveness” and of being together in a shared space. In this article we report on a collaborative qualitative study of one iteration of a participatory theatre programme delivered to 7–9 year olds at a primary school in England, through which artist/practitioners worked with researchers to investigate the integration of iPads in ways that were appropriate to the programme’s underpinning pedagogy. Drawing on a sociomaterial analysis of what happened moment to moment in practice, we describe three aspects of the experience that appeared to amplify, shift and/or dissipate as iPads came into play, particularly with respect to the iPad’s video function: narrative complexity; multiplicity; and togetherness. Considering these in relation to the programme’s established principles and practices, we argue that part of “appropriateness” in this context involves responding to the unexpected pedagogical possibilities that open out as digital technologies combine with other people and things.

KEYWORDS:

• Theatre
• participation
• education
• technology
• drama
• iPads

Acknowledgments

This research was partly funded by the University of Nottingham. We would also like to thank all those who participated in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cathy Burnett

Cathy Burnett is Professor of Literacy and Education at Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University, where she leads the Language and Literacy in Education Research Group. Her research explores relationships between digital technologies and literacy within and beyond the classroom. She is President ofthe United Kingdom Literacy Association.

Becky Parry

Becky Parry is a lecturer in Digital Literacies in the School of Education at The University of Sheffield where she leads the EdD programme. Her research is underpinned by a commitment to the rights of children to access media that represents their lives as well as opportunities to use media to represent themselves.

Guy Merchant

Guy Merchant is Professor of Literacy in Educationat Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University. He specialises in research into digital literacy and the inter-relations between children and young people, and new technologies of communication. He is widely published in international journals and is a founding editor of Early Childhood Literacy. The ground-breaking “Web 2.0 for Schools” (2009) was co-authored with Julia Davies, and “New Literacies in the classroom” (2018) with Cathy Burnett.

Vicky Storey

Vicky Storey is Creative Director of Chol, a live story-making company based in Yorkshire, England. Vicky is committed to developing playful and dramatic processes that position children, young people, teachers, group leaders and artists as “equal playmakers”. Vicky is a PhD student at the University of Manchester and is using her research to question how Chol’s flagship story-making process, Imaginary Communities, can position children and teachers as “equal playmakers” through 5 key stages of dramatic practice.