Learning, knowing and opportunities for participation: technologies and communicative practices

ABSTRACT

In recent decades, digitization, digital technology and the expansion of the Internet have resulted in significant changes in media ecology. Important consequences of these developments concern the socialization of new generations, where the values, skills and identities of young people are shaped through their participation in a range of online activities. One important consequence of the use of Internet and digital resources is that academic learning no longer is restricted to the school. Neither does it mainly imply being able to reproduce what is already known. The focus of this special issue section is on research on alternative settings for learning where digital technology plays a significant role and where it co-constitutes the activities of learners in significant manners.

KEYWORDS:

• Technology
• participation
• learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Thomas Hillman is an assistant professor of information technology and learning at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research examines the design and use of technology for learning with a focus on the mutually constitutive relationship between the development of technology and educational practices. This work spans a wide variety of contexts from schools to museums and online communities.

Roger Säljö is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He specializes in research on learning, interaction and human development in a sociocultural perspective. In recent years, he has worked extensively with issues that concern how digital technologies and new media transform literacy and learning practices inside and outside formal schooling. He is Director of LinCS, a national centre of excellence in research funded by the Swedish Research Council (2006–2017).

ORCID

Thomas Hillman http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3325-1204