Beyond the Screen and Beyond Borders: A Collaborative Narrative Inquiry of Technology-Mediated Learning

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Perspectives from teacher education: technology-mediated learning, cultural responsiveness, and cultural heritage

Proposal

The Covid-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for the integration of technology into educational systems, showcasing the innovative potential of digital tools to not only enhance learning but foster a sense of community and belonging across geographical and cultural borders. Using a collaborative autoethnographic narrative inquiry approach, this study investigates the challenges and adaptations that the authors faced during the pandemic, and how their negotiation of these complexities, particularly the increased reliance on technology, influenced the many hats they wore, be it that of a learner, educator or parent. The authors of this paper are early childhood and elementary educators and current doctoral students in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, hailing from Pakistani, Sudanese American, and Turkish backgrounds. By examining our personal narratives, this paper explores how technology provided a virtual space for connection during the pandemic, fostering a sense of community and belonging, and ultimately reshaping our current identities as teacher educators. These stories show how our multinational journeys intersect, creating a collective experience that connects us all. Personal journals, videos and photographs, and other mementos such as social media posts were used as additional data sources for this study. To analyze the data, we employed a sociocultural lens, borrowing from the work of renowned theorists like Vygotsky, Rogoff, Wertsch and Bakhtin, which served as a robust theoretical framework for this research. The findings highlight how the use of digital tools and media in the classroom contributes towards students’ learning by developing their multiliteracies, while simultaneously cultivating inclusion, community engagement, and belonging. This research will add to the growing body of literature on the educational implications of the augmented use of technology post Covid-19 and prove to be a significant contribution for researchers, policymakers, and future educators to understand how and why the integration of technology in early education settings is beneficial.

Authors

• Madiha Noor, Pennsylvania State University

• JUBARA ALI ABUSIN, Penn State University

• Ozge Ergin, Pennsylavania State University