Invisible Potential: The Social Contexts of Technology in Three Ninth-Grade English Language Arts Classrooms

• In Event: 14.045 - Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: 14.045-9 - STEM Education in Local Contexts

Abstract

This paper explores how teachers’ uses of technology shapes and remediates the social contexts of classrooms. Specifically, we argue that the contexts of social interaction and academic engagement in classrooms is largely dictated by assumptions about what “counts” as technology by teachers. Considering the role technology plays in classroom infrastructure and the ways digital tools mediate classroom interactions, this case study of three 9th grade ELA classrooms presents a micro-analysis of how assumptions about technology fall short in classrooms. By scrutinizing the research community’s enchantment with digital tools as a quick-fix to systemic inequities in schools, we argue that the social context of invisible technology use in the classroom reveals that the conversation is and should be much more nuanced.

Authors

• Kristina M Stamatis, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Mary Rose Kelly, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Antero Garcia, Stanford University