The+Theoretical+Model+for+the+project

=Structures, Agency and Cultural Practices=

This project seeks to explore the use of handheld learning devices through a socio-cultural lens which means it is not focused entirley on the technology but tries to identify the role of technology in terms of the wider social and cultural practices going on in and between the participating schools. This is a model which has been developed by the London Mobile Learning group led by Pachler, Bachmair and Cook (reference here).

Mobile Learning Workshop: June 22nd 2011 (The Faculty of Education, University of Hull)
On 22nd June staff from the University of Hull, local and regional schools and the Yorkshire and Humber grid for Learning, attened a workshop run by Professor John Cook and myself (Kevin Burden). The workshop explored the theoretical model which John and his colleagues int he London Mobile learning Group have developed (see above). Participants were set the task to explore their own mobile learning project through the lens of this theoretical devices, producing A3 sized matrices of thier results. (these are shown below).

Feedback

The school-based groups felt the framework offered some value in helping this to talk about and think about their project. They found the Agency and Structures strand fairly straight-forward, but were less clear about the Cultural Practices strand. Some practitioners suggested the terms need simplifying or modifying for a school-based audience, and most agreed that more exemplars would be useful. It was also noted that the framework offers no temporal axis so it is difficult to know at what point in time the framework applies. One participants suggested using the approach at the start of a project to model and identify a base-line, and then to use it again at the end of the project to measure progress and change.

Briefly this means:

[[file:Sociocultural matrix template]]
Please download the template and complete it for your own project. Label it with your name and the name of the school + a date.

You can see two examples below:



Cultural practices
// Things people do in stable situations (sometimes seen as barriers to using technology but can also be seen as enablers) for example //


 * Using mobile technologies as part of their daily life (texting, etc)
 * Not using mobile technologies in schools because they are banned? (is this a cultural practice in your school?)
 * Official (stated) and implicit trust policy of the school – do teachers trust pupils to be independent learners with technology (to what extent? What is the tangible evidence?)
 * Tension between official positions (e.g. policy statements) and actual practices

// Question to consider: //

Which existing cultural practices in your institution does your intervention/project:
 * Relate to?
 * Build upon?
 * Challenge? (e.g. you may wish to change?)

Agency
// Agency is the amount of capacity/freedom you or your pupils have to act on the World //


 * How far do pupils feel they are in control of their lives in school or controlled by others? (empowerment; self-efficacy, etc)
 * How much freedom/agency do pupils have to select when and when not to use technologies in school? (e.g. is the decision always made for them or is it entirely pupil led?)
 * Are students capable of using these technologies (e.g. mobiles) to interact with the world (e.g. do they have the right mindset?)
 * What apps and technologies do students currently use to impact on the world (agency) – e.g. Facebook to create a sense of personal identity

// Question to consider: //

How does Agency (human capacities to act in the world) affect the intervention, or how is the intervention dependent on Agency?

Structures
// These are the digital media, the technologies and the systems which these are built upon (e.g. the school or authority filtering policy). Examples //


 * The school technology infrastructure – is it tightly locked down, open (e.g. can pupil add their own applications?)
 * What media devices/technologies are students familiar with in the organization?
 * What are the restrictions imposed by structures (e.g. exams, assessment structures, curriculum, lessons, timetables, bells, inspections,)
 * What opportunities do the existing structures promise?
 * Do the structures need modifying to enable grater student agency with mobiles?
 * Are attitudes of staff/parents/pupils a form of structure?
 * What security systems exist with regard to technology – as these barriers or enablers for your intervention?

// Question to consider: //

What Structures will your project utilise or build upon?

Are these “standard” structures (e.g. already existing) or “bespoke” (e.g. needing to be created or modified)?