Didactical Considerations in the Digitalized Classroom

Abstract

The interest in this doctoral thesis is how information and communication technologies (ICT) impact on classroom interaction and may challenge and transform teaching and learning. A reason for considering this as a field of investigation is grounded in the fact that in Sweden, digital tools and they are considered a natural part of elementary education. A lot is expected from ICT in education and the ongoing debate is based on the premise that they will be a catalyst to create change. The aim here is to explore in what way the use of ICT may affect the interaction between subject content, teachers and learners. Two theoretical approaches: the sociocultural perspective on learning (Säljö, 2000; Vygotsky, 1986; Wertch, 1998) and the tradition of Didaktik (Hopmann, 1999; 2007; Klafki, 1995; 2000) are used to answer the study’s overall aim and the different aspects of the research questions. The ambition is to contribute to the field of ‘didactics and ICT’ and also to the ongoing debate about ‘digital competencies’ in the twenty-first century. The empirical data is derived from a case study in a primary school. Ethnographic techniques were used in order to collect the data during a period of four years. The research questions have been explored through different analytical lenses and the findings are presented in four papers. The main findings of the study highlight relations between the subject content and the digital tools and challenges notions about what to teach, which affects possibilities for and limitations in how pupils interact with ICT but also the distinguishing features of the pupils’ final outcomes. This opens the way for a discussion about teaching the subject content in relation to the digital affordances, the understanding of pupils’ meaning-making in connection with the premises of digital school tasks, and what competencies are important in the digitalized classroom.