Accessing flexible learning opportunities: children’s and young people’s use of laptops in a paediatric hospital

Abstract

Hospitalised children and young people not only face challenges to their health but also to their continued education and social connections. These challenges can impact on future life trajectories, so it is crucial to maintain learning and socialising. Educational technologies, such as laptops and iPads, are used in the multidisciplinary educational programme provided to patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. This paper reports on the use of laptops by 71 patients at the hospital, who represented a range of ages, gender, home location and type of hospital admission (short, long, infrequent and frequent). Surveys revealed these technologies were used throughout the hospital with use varying according to the stage of development; however, restrictions to academic and social networking sites were problematic. The results highlight how educational technologies can provide access to flexible learning opportunities and socialising for hospitalised children and young people.

Keywords:

• education
• illness
• hospital
• technology
• children
• learning

Acknowledgements

This research was a nested study of the Australian Research Council-funded study LP0776809. Julie Green receives salary support from the National Health and Medical Research Council through a Health Professional Research Fellowship. The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr Tsharni Zazryn for reviews of early drafts of this paper.