A tale of Two Schools

Abstract

Digital devices and learners cannot be seen as separate entities but as a functional entanglement that come (and stay) together in a performative encounter in which they are mutually saturated with each other's agencies. This research intends to explore the nature of the entanglement between secondary school learners and their digital devices as well as the implications of this entanglement when theorising a framework for learning in secondary school. This presentation proposes a language and a series of metaphors to describe and understand why the integration of technology in the classroom seems to have failed to deliver the promised transformation. 

From an enactive perspective, it primarily uses a mix of phenomenological and ethnographic methodology to analyse students’ experience of learning with digital devices. Whilst a micro-phenomenological approach attempted to explore the unfolding of particular experiences, a socio-material micro-ethnographic approach was used as a form of contrasting the phenomenological first-person account with a socio-technical analysis of the entanglement. . 

Bio

Cristian Rodriguez is Deputy Principal at Whangaparāoa College, a secondary school in Auckland, New Zealand. His portfolios include Technology & Innovation and Future Learning Pathways. He has a background in education leadership, and a particular interest in change management, contemporary education and the future of schooling. Cristian is a final-year PhD Candidate at AUT. His thesis, ‘The Digital Entanglement: how students and devices come (and stay) together’, looks into the role of digital technologies in supporting cognitive processes in the context of secondary school. His work aims at creating a better understanding of the impact of design and adoption of digital technologies for learning in educational settings. Cristian’s areas of expertise include: Philosophy of Education, Embodied Cognition, Contemporary Education and Pedagogies, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Digital learning implementation, The digital as a structure of perception, and Microphenomenology.
ResearchGate Profile & Linkedin Profile.