Seesawing (Dis)Connections: Digital Parent Involvement in a Culturally Diverse School Community

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Abstract

Conducted in a high diversity, high poverty elementary school, this study investigated familial networks and digital practices, impacts of language and culture, and teacher understanding and support. Framed concepts included digital inclusion, funds of knowledge, and Actor Network Theory. Data sources included network diagrams and transcripts of interviews with children, parents and educators. Analysis found that linguistic exclusion was perpetuated in digitised school-home communications, and parental digital skills and difficulties were misrecognised. Additionally, the digital learning platform did not operate as a fix to the perceived problem of family engagement but rather created new complications. This study adds nuance to the concept of digital inclusion and cautions against the persistence of cultural and linguistical exclusion in the digital domain.

Authors

• Sue Mary Nichols, University of South Australia

• Karen Dooley, Queensland University of Technology